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HOPPIN' JOHN'S LOWCOUNTRY COOKING

Name: HOPPIN' JOHN'S LOWCOUNTRY COOKING
Author: John Martin Taylor
ISBN: 0-553-08231-0

RECIPES FROM CHARLESTON AND THE CAROLINA COASTAL PLAIN

by John Martin Taylor ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 1992

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As Carolina lowcountry native and Charleston cookbook-store owner Taylor indicates in his introduction, the cooking of his native region has been sophisticated since earliest settlement, blessed by an abundance of fish and game (especially birds) and a year-round growing season, and enriched by a world of cultural traditions: Recipes gathered here include ``awendaw'' hominy (grits) cornbread derived from Native Americans; a gumbo that came to South Carolina with the slave trade before Louisiana was settled; a carrot-and-orange salad with ``a North African feel'' that Taylor attributes to the Sephardic Jews in Charleston; a hasenpfeffer from the area's 18th-century German farm community; some rice breads from the 19th-century Carolina rice culture; and versions of the collard greens, squirrel burgoo, biscuits, and other dishes well known throughout the South. Many of these dishes have turned up in other recent southern cookbooks, but Taylor's historical background and stories—and his expert observations (for example, that southern biscuits should be made with soft southern flour) and his local concentration—make this of major interest for serious followers of American regional cooking.

Pub Date: March 16, 1992

ISBN: 0-553-08231-0

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Bantam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 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.