Fennel-and-carrot bisque; poached sole with chanterelle sauce; leek, red-pepper, and goat-cheese frittata; spaghetti squash with turkey meatballs—or with olives and sun-dried tomatoes: These are typical of the recipes contrived by Ferrary (Between Friends, 1991) and Fiszer (Season to Taste, coauthored by Ferrary, 1988) and presented here in alphabetically arranged chapters, from artichokes to tomatoes, as suggestions for what to do with the produce you might pick up at greenmarkets. If you see many new cookbooks, the general drift of these combinations can seem numbingly familiar and arbitrary. Then there's a fruit section, from apple to ``stone fruits,'' that seems to stretch for novelty—if not oddity—with such dishes as halibut with apple-curry salsa, grape-and-garlic risotto, and curried turkey-salad with mango and cashews. To this marginal collection, the authors have added, for each featured fruit and vegetable, a page or so of text that is more chatty than enlightening. The concept of a cookbook for market day could bear a substantial treatment, but this is capricious, ephemeral stuff. (Line drawings throughout.)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-671-70084-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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