On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town
Author: Susan Herrmann Loomis
Susan Loomis arrived in Paris twenty years ago with little more than a student loan and the contents of a suitcase to sustain her. But what began then as an apprenticeship at La Varenne École de Cuisine evolved into a lifelong immersion in French cuisine and culture, culminating in permanent residency in 1994. On Rue Tatin chronicles her journey to this ancient little street in the midst of Louviers, and how she came to call it home.
With lyrical prose and wry candor, Loomis recalls the miraculous restoration that she and her husband performed on the dilapidated convent they chose for their new residence. As its ocher and azure floor tiles emerged, challenges outside the dwelling mounted. From squatters to a surly priest next door, along with a close?knit community wary of outsiders, Loomis tackled the social challenges head?on, through persistent dialogue?and baking.
As fresh ingredients abound in this rural haven, along with a reverence for the kitchen, On Rue Tatin features fifty delicious recipes that evoke the essence of the region, such as Apple and Thyme Tart and main courses including Duck Breast with Cider and Braised Chicken in White Wine and Mustard.
Transporting readers to a world whose cobblestone lanes shirk commercialism in favor of cherished tradition, On Rue Tatin provides a touching glimpse of the camaraderie, exquisite food, and simple pleasures of daily life in this truly glorious corner of Normandy.
About the Author:
An internationally recognized journalist and chef, Susan Herrmann Loomis is also the author of six books, including Farmhouse Cookbook (more than 90,000 copies sold) and The Great American Seafood Cookbook (more than 70,000 copies sold). A regular contributor to national publications such as The New York Times and Gourmet, she lives with her husband and their two children in Louviers, France, where she owns and operates On Rue Tatin, a cooking school.
Publishers Weekly
Loomis, an American chef and author of Farmhouse Cookbook and The Great American Seafood Cookbook, enthusiastically recounts every aspect, both intriguing and mundane, of her immersion into the cuisine and lifestyle of northern France. She moved to Paris in 1980 to study cooking and, after a rough start, found her place as a weekend visitor at one family's home in Normandy. After cooking school, she went back to the States, returning to France frequently to visit friends. It wasn't long before she became addicted to Normandy's fresh ingredients goose, garlic, rabbit, wild mushrooms and rich gastronomy, and found herself longing to live there. In 1994, Loomis and her husband moved to the region and bought a dilapidated convent in the small town of Louviers. Her tales of adventures in restoration and run-ins with locals (e.g., the crotchety priest next door, the incorrigibly gregarious rug salesman) are funny, but certainly familiar, especially given that many recent books have told similar stories about ambitious expatriates' forays into rural European life. The cookbook/travelogue/memoir hybrid has become an overcrowded genre, and Loomis's doesn't distinguish itself. Nevertheless, few food writers have depicted Normandy so attentively, and Loomis has compiled an impressive collection of savory recipes that evoke the region's best, including Civet D'Agneau (Hearty Lamb Stew) and Roti de Cuisse de Sanglier (Roasted Leg of Wild Boar). Furthermore, classic Gallic personalities are accurately and engagingly rendered, making this more than just a culinary memoir. (Apr.) Forecast: This work targets Francophilic gastronomes, but probably won't break out of that niche. Nonetheless, the success of Loomis's cookbooks should help boost this title's sales. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Here are two culinary memoirs by American women now living in France. The similarities end there, as one author went to France for the food and stayed for the life that grew up around her, while the other moved to France for its own sake and realized that she'd better learn to cook once she became engaged to a Frenchman. In On Rue Tatin, Loomis, a food writer and an accomplished cook, recalls her initial journey to Paris to attend cooking school. Her apprenticeship at La Varenne cole de Cuisine led to a job as an assistant to food writer Patricia Wells and a lifelong fascination with French cooking and culture. Eventually, in 1994, she and her family permanently settled in a medieval convent on Rue Tatin in the Norman town of Louviers. Interspersed with her lyrical descriptions of daily life in urban and rural France are 50 recipes from a simple frittata to a complex pot au feu culled from both famous chefs and the local fish seller. The author prepares most of the dishes in her own home, and American readers should be able to do the same in a well-equipped kitchen though they may have trouble finding a leg of wild boar at their local supermarket. In French Fried, Rochefort (French Toast) writes about how her obsession with French food became a personal one when her French husband-to-be announced that they could not afford to keep eating in restaurants for the rest of their lives. There are a few recipes, most of them for "basics" such as vinaigrette or homemade mayonnaise. More of a general commentary on life in France as seen through its cuisine (one helpful tip for tourists: don't go into a restaurant and order only a salad or a sandwich because this is something you do in a caf ; restaurants are for meals), French Fried is the book to purchase if your patrons are looking for an informal travel guide. Buy both books if you are able; and if you regularly answer reference questions about the cooking of wild boar, you'll definitely need On Rue Tatin. Wendy Bethel, Southwest P.L., Grove City, OH Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook
Author: Patricia Telesco
Mercy Bread from Arabia. Oat apricot muffins for forgiveness rituals. Mustard Sauce of Valor for fire festivals. Apricot Fricassee for initiation rituals. These are just a few of the 300 recipes you'll find in A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook by Patricia Telesco.
More than a collection of recipes, A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook weds modern ingredients and utensils with potent traditional preparations for a truly magical resource. Whether in the sacred space of the hearthstone, or anywhere cooking takes you, your meal preparation experience can be both creative and consuming as you sample the helpful hints, superb resources, and fascinating lore in A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook.
From food preparation to mealtime presentation, the goal of this book is to make your world more magical. You'll learn measurement conversions, alternative ingredients, magical correspondences with foods, and appropriate dishes for a wide variety of rituals, celebrations, and festivals.
·Gain insight into how creative personal magic can be — not only at festivals, but in daily life
·Use these recipes for everyday cooking
·Attain a refreshing historical perspective on the diversity and "flavor" of magic
·Create new approaches to magic at little expense
A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook provides step-by-step instruction for transforming meals into manifestations of your magical life. Get your copy today.
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