by Marlene Vadell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 14, 2012
An author living her life with her “heart in two places” gives readers a taste of the culinary pleasures she remembers.
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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
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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