Travelogue, cookbook, wine guide, diners' journal, and a sampling of annual festivals: Region by region and season by season (grape harvest, pruning, bud-break), the Walkers (he: a San Francisco food-and-wine writer; she: a caterer) trace their travels and recall with enthusiasm and style the friendly people, delicious food, memorable encounters, vineyards and cellars and wine. Along the way, they entertain with stories—of gypsies blamed for stealing the bathroom in a bar; of a man who made his living teaching English to the whores of Barcelona—and they enlighten about local foods (traditional and new) and wine (down to the different approaches to barrel-aging in Spain and California). A random sampling of the recipes might turn up olive sauce, Basque tuna with potatoes, salmon in saffron sauce, rabbit with snails, and salt cod in a soup, in a splendid flan, or in pastry puffs. They're quite simple to make, although, occasionally, directions are mystifying. (One recipe says to ``cut the eggplant into quarters lengthwise,'' bake 20 minutes, ``split open their tops lengthwise,'' sauce, and continue baking. Another calls for an 11- inch slice of bread.) A compelling inducement to cook—or to book a flight to Spain. (Maps, line art.)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-671-69662-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1992
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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