A rich guidebook for dedicated foodies and newcomers alike that will inspire readers to make their own travel memories.
Higgins offers a work that’s part love letter and part travel guide to Mexico’s underappreciated wine regions.
An experienced world traveler and devout oenophile, the author opens this book with an admission: Despite his interest and access—he lives close by in California—he had never taken the time to dive into the rich and diverse viticulture in Mexico. This work is, in many ways, the diary of that finally undertaken journey. The guide is split up by region. Readers follow Higgins first to Valle de Guadalupe, where they learn about the area’s unique terroir and are presented with the author’s theory as to why certain wines there taste “salty” or “rotten” (sterilization, or, in the case of “rotten” wines, not enough sterilization). Higgins goes on to describe the fantastic and surprising gastronomy to be found in the locale and provides readers with a helpful list of wineries and restaurants, complete with lush photographs of enviable dishes. (Several restaurants receive full pages of praise and description.) Readers will partake in Higgins’ sense of wonder at his surroundings as he narrates moments like finding a nearly entirely hidden eatery: “You are… meandering along a dirt road as it winds amongst oak trees, eventually, you will arrive at a massive oak tree that must be hundreds of years old. The entire restaurant is under this ancient tree. It’s a totally natural dirt floor.” The author then proceeds to Guanajuato and Querétaro, dining with friends along the way; he takes in some art at Casa Frida, and even encounters some wild animals in Ensenada. Higgins’ book is essentially a travel guide, and it is an excellent one, not only for its wealth of useful information—the specificity he provides for each highlighted winery and restaurant is truly impressive—but for the joy which animates the entire project. From the world-class photographs to the enthusiasm for the region’s offerings—“gastronomy and libation opportunities,” as the author calls them—Higgins’ work succeeds in shining a warm light on an underappreciated destination.
A rich guidebook for dedicated foodies and newcomers alike that will inspire readers to make their own travel memories.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780996966061
Page Count: 340
Publisher: International Exploration Society
Review Posted Online: Jan. 30, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Top Chef fans might savor this detailed account, but others will find it bland.
The Top Chef host describes her journey to new heights.
For those who don’t know, Kish is a “gay Korean adopted woman, born in Seoul, raised in Michigan” and “a chef, a character, a host, and a cultural communicator—as well as a human being with a beating heart.” Though this book covers every step of her journey, every restaurant job and television role, and also discusses her experience as an adoptee (very positive) and a queer woman (late bloomer), the storytelling is so straightforward, lacking in suspense, character development, or dialogue, that it is basically a long version of its (longish) “About the Author.” Seemingly dramatic situations are not dramatized—when she was eliminated on her first Top Chef run, she assures us that she did the best she could, and drops it. “I can spare you the gory details (bouillabaisse and big personalities were involved).” Later, she cites a belief in protecting the privacy of others to omit the story of her first relationship with a woman. With no character development, neither does the reader get to know those who fall outside the privacy zone, like her best friend, Steph, and her wife, Bianca. When she gets mad, she says things like, “It’s a gross understatement to say I was crushed, beyond frustrated, and furious with the situation.” The fact that “I’ve never been a big reader” does not come as a surprise. It is more surprising when she confesses that “I believe the universe is selective about the moments in which it introduces life-changing prospects.”
Top Chef fans might savor this detailed account, but others will find it bland.Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9780316580915
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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