Restaurant owner and chef Phillips (Working a Duck, not reviewed) brings together old favorites and newfangled inventions in this very polished and helpful volume. Phillips's organization is a little loose: Although she provides advice for pairing sides with meals in individual recipe headers, an index of which sides go best with meat, which with fish, and so on would have been helpful, and sometimes the division into chapters like ``Grains, Purees, and Other Soothing Sides'' and ``Homey Sides'' seems random. Cooking- wise and eating-wise, however, these recipes are just terrific. Roasted carrots, turnips, and shallots sprinkled with fresh rosemary were browned and tender in just the right amount of time, and corn cakes were packed with just enough scallions to keep them from being either too bland or too strong. The inventive salad selection includes a recipe for a hijiki seaweed salad, but Phillips does not neglect to offer one for a classic coleslaw as well. A chapter on breads and crackers is a surprising inclusion, but it turns out to be a smart move, providing not yeast breads, but quick-baking starches like popovers and biscuits. Although none of the results are plain, recipes like Warm New Potato Salad with Dill are designed to add a maximum of flash with a minimum of fuss. A well-rounded endeavor to help round off meals.
Pub Date: May 3, 1995
ISBN: 0-517-59687-3
Page Count: 208
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995
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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