Charming and insightful tales about the ten-plus cats that share a bustling household with Caras and wife, Jill, on their 35- acre rural Maryland farm, Thistle Hill. Caras (A Dog Is Listening, 1992), currently the president of the ASPCA and the author of numerous fine volumes on pets and wildlife, never seems to run out of choice material. Here, he sets about discovering what his cats do ``with a whole world of a farm to explore'' and reports back on their adventures. We learn of Omari, a marmalade-and-white tomcat who stalks marshes and woodlands and returns to his owners' front door not with captured prey but with captured sticks; of an oversized Siamese adoptee, Teddy, who transforms himself from hater of all four-footed creatures into fabulous foster dad to three abandoned kittens. We also find out that the Thistle Hill cats interact surprisingly well with the other animals in the Caras menagerie. And it is a menagerie: The farm is home to over 30 pets (almost all of them rescue cases), including dogs ranging from big bloodhounds to tiny terriers, several captive-bred macaws, a donkey, a llama, some horses, two heads of cattle (one of which is named Steakums), and an alpaca. Throughout, Caras waxes philosophical about the nature of cats (``They can't look ahead, but can they look back?'' he ponders), comments on responsible cat ownership (cats should be spayed or altered, he says, given shots, kept indoors in city or suburban settings, and never abandoned), and gives useful tips on deterring destructive feline behavior (furniture scratching, refusing to use the litter box). ``We are one big happy ark,'' says Caras about his Thistle Hill family, and for cat lovers, this is one big enjoyable read.
Pub Date: May 4, 1994
ISBN: 0-671-75462-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It is a sign of this book's lackadaisical presentation that even the subtitle (``from apples to zucchini, and everything in between...'') is inaccurate. This alphabetical guide to shopping for familiar and exotic fruits and vegetables, with the occasional recipe, begins with ``apples'' and ends with ``watercress''; zucchini are listed under ``squash.'' Napolitano, who owns a New Jersey produce store and makes occasional TV appearances, has exactly the opposite attitude toward produce that one might expect: He pays no heed to local growing seasons. By his measure, the delicate, warm-weather green arugula is ``available year round.'' He also has a devil-may-care attitude about chemicals, at one point boasting, ``I've been eating apples all my life—they're practically my favorite fruit—and I don't worry about alar.'' Recipes are tired versions of the same old thing (the world doesn't need another recipe for eggplant Parmesan) and seem geared to masking any fresh taste. Portobello mushrooms looked juicy and tempting after being broiled, but the lime-juice marinade overwhelmed them with tartness; strawberries were coated in sugar before being added to muffins, which covered up their natural sweetness. Napolitano revels in old, bad jokes. For storing strawberries he recommends, ``Rule 1: Refrigerate. Rule 2: Refrigerate. Rule 3: Refrigerate.'' Those who appreciate this kind of humor are in luck, because they'll get another sample under the Ts: ``The three most important rules to remember about tomatoes are 1. Never refrigerate! 2. Never refrigerate! 3. Never refrigerate!'' Corny year-round. (75 illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: Nov. 22, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-12847-5
Page Count: 196
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1994
Passmore (Asia the Beautiful Cookbook, not reviewed) was inspired to put together this group of Asian noodle recipes when she left Hong Kong and experienced ``noodle withdrawal,'' and she has done a bang-up job of collecting and replicating dishes. In fact, this book's only major flaw is that the recipes are a little too authentic for Western taste buds. Perhaps that's why the final chapter, containing Passmore's own vigorous innovations, like cold sesame noodles with grilled eggplant and squash, is so pleasing. Descriptions of unfamiliar products like dried rice sticks and bean-thread vermicelli are helpful, and margin notes are innovative and fun, covering everything from creating scallion-curl garnishes to noodle-slurping and how to avoid it. Sometimes, however, cross- referencing is out of whack. A note on how to fry tofu is mentioned in one recipe where fried cubes are called for, but other recipes command the reader to fry without explaining how. Not all of these recipes are foolproof, either. Three of the ingredients in a recipe for spicy Chinese bean threads are listed separately as seasonings but must be added along with the other ingredients, a move that is sure to cause confusion in the middle of a stir-frying frenzy. And in a cookbook calling not only for exotic noodles but also for hard-to-find items like kecap manis (sweet Indonesian soy sauce) and lap cheong (Chinese pork sausages), it's thoughtless not to include a list of mail-order sources. Far above Spaghetti-Os but not quite up to Tampopo standards on the noodle achievement scale. (14 illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-02-594705-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1994
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