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GREAT FOOD WITHOUT FUSS

Name: GREAT FOOD WITHOUT FUSS
Author: Frances McCullough
ISBN: 0-8050-2230-9

SIMPLE RECIPES FROM THE BEST COOKS

by Frances McCullough & Barbara Witt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1992

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The compilers of this collection—a cookbook editor and a restaurant owner—have gathered easy recipes for a contemporary assortment of simple dishes (the publishers call it ``new-style comfort food'') from dozens of other well-known cookbook authors and recipe writers, many of whom are perky interpreters themselves. The result is an anthology that anyone might find handy, although no one is going to learn to cook from these often clever little toss-offs, and many will prefer to put together their own recipe scrapbooks. Then too, directions and descriptions are sometimes too sketchy for a novice, yet the survey approach and occasional oversimplification won't satisfy serious cooks. (In perhaps the worst sequence, the one pilaf recipe starts with cooked rice and is not a real pilaf, the one risotto is Barbara Kafka's microwave version, and the one couscous has you mix the packaged product with water and bake—an insult to the real, properly steamed thing.) Isn't there something a little tacky about this kind of recycling job when our shelves are already bulging with bright but ephemeral creations and adaptations?

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-8050-2230-9

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.