An author living her life with her “heart in two places” gives readers a taste of the culinary pleasures she remembers.
A nostalgic debut that’s half memoir of a childhood in 1950s Cuba, and half cookbook with traditional recipes.
Vadell simply and honestly tells of her early upbringing in Cuba, before her family left and eventually settled in the United States. Born in Havana in 1950, the author tells stories of birthday parties with piñatas, daily swimming at the beach at Santa Maria del Mar and gathering around the table with her extended family for lunch and dinner. “Dinner time was not only a time for nourishment but it was also the arena in which many discussions took place,” she writes. Politics was a common, often heated, topic; Grandmother was “considered a socialist,” while Grandfather and Mother were “more conservative.” Most memorable, though, were the aromas, textures and flavors of the authentic Cuban food. After old Cuba began to unravel in 1960 under the new government of Fidel Castro, the family sought refuge in Spain, Puerto Rico and finally Miami and Los Angeles. Although the memoir’s prose is sometimes repetitive, the author delivers a candid, engaging first-person account of a disrupted life and the making of a new one. The book’s second half details 40 classic Cuban recipes for soups, seafood, beef, poultry, egg dishes and desserts, including sopa de ajo, tortilla de platanos maduros, carne mechada and arroz con pollo, among others. The recipes’ ingredients are basic and readily available, and Vadell’s instructions are clear. She includes family stories with many of the dishes, as well as a few color images, including enticing photos of a flan ring and a bowl of sweetened corn meal.
An author living her life with her “heart in two places” gives readers a taste of the culinary pleasures she remembers.Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-1479219780
Page Count: 90
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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