An earnest, if uneven, cookbook for Sunday occasions.
In this debut cookbook, Morgan fondly recalls foods from past Sunday afternoons and evenings that she spent visiting her relatives’ houses, strolling the farmers market, having picnics at the beach, or watching football games.
The author’s recipes here serve up nostalgia, along with some newer ideas to shake things up. Various chapters address breakfast food (“Carpe Your Diem”), picnic fare (“Perfecting the Piqué Nic”), TV-viewing snacks (“Couch Potato Fan Food”), fancier entrees (“Culinary Class”), and desserts (“Sundaes & Confectioneries”). These are all are rich, hearty foods made from scratch, and they’re not aimed at dieters, although the author does encourage sourcing ingredients from local farmers markets. The type is large and easy to read, and most recipes include large, full-color photographs by the author, which would have benefited from professional lighting and food styling. Although she includes serving sizes, she doesn’t supply preparation times. There are additional tips at the end of many recipes, such as “Gotta-Have Gadgets,” including a cherry-pitting tool, and “Sunday Jump Start,” offering tips on how to use leftovers. The recipes range from such classics as “Chicken ‘n Dumplins” to more exotic entries, such as “Roasted Pepper Chutney on Welsh Rarebit Sandwiches.” Many recipes are somewhere in between these categories—classics with a twist, such as “Tequila-Spiked Berry Shortcakes” or “Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Bread Pudding.” The introduction paints the cookbook as a tour through memory lane, but anecdotes about specific recipes are sparse. Some instructions could have left more room for adaptation; for instance, instead of saying “drop the batter into the lined muffin cups using a 3-inch ice-cream scoop,” the author could have simply described how full the cups should be. Other recipes depend on specific appliances, such as a bread machine, which isn’t always mentioned right away. That said, there are some fun recipes here for readers to try for their next family gathering or afternoon at the park.
An earnest, if uneven, cookbook for Sunday occasions.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4809-4049-9
Page Count: 334
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
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
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