by Steven Rinella ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2006
The manly response to Julie Powell’s Julie & Julia (2005).
A captivating culinary project was born when a friend gave Outside magazine correspondent Rinella a copy of Le Guide Culinaire.
Published by master chef Auguste Escoffier in 1903, the guide featured exotic recipes for bird’s-nest soup, pigeon giblets in puff pastry and selle de chevreuil Briand (saddle of antelope with bear fat and poached pears in red wine). Rinella became obsessed with Escoffier’s cookbook because of its assumption that any chef worth his salt kills his own antelope, catches his own trout and digs for his own oysters. Rinella, you see, is an avid hunter. He eats everything he kills and prefers to limit his diet as much as possible to food he procures himself. So he decided to devote one year to gathering the ingredients for a 45-course, three-day Escoffier feast. Readers follow him to Iowa, where he collected sparrows; to San Juan Island, where he fished ling cod; and to a place in Montana where he hunted elk. (He won’t divulge the exact spot, lest a horde of eager readers encroach on his hunting ground.) All the while, he tried to convert vegetarian girlfriend Diana to a meat-eater. The final, hilarious scenes of this mouth-watering memoir depict Rinella and his friends preparing, savoring and occasionally being revolted by the Escoffier fête. Even Diana adored the oysters and caviar, but the crayfish mousse didn’t go over well. The author never indulges in ideological ranting, but readers will inevitably find themselves thinking about how radically removed most of us are from the sources of the food we eat. A vivid description of foie gras production may put you off the stuff forever.
The manly response to Julie Powell’s Julie & Julia (2005).Pub Date: March 15, 2006
ISBN: 1-4013-5237-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Share your opinion of this book
More by Steven Rinella
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Steven Rinella with Brody Henderson ; illustrated by Peter Sucheski
BOOK REVIEW
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
Share your opinion of this book
More by E.T.A. Hoffmann
BOOK REVIEW
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson
BOOK REVIEW
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis
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
Share your opinion of this book
More by Ludwig Bemelmans
BOOK REVIEW
developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
BOOK REVIEW
by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.