Readers of Weiss's popular cooking blog, thewednesdaychef.com, know some of her personal history: a childhood split between her father in Boston and her mother in Berlin, her young adulthood working in publishing in New York City, the broken engagement and subsequent move to Berlin, followed by falling in love all over again with the city and the man who would eventually become her husband. This memoir fills in some of the blanks, exploring the loneliness and alienation of a child who never quite feels at home wherever she is, the postcollege time in Paris when she learned that "there was no shame in realizing that living in Paris was far less magical than visiting it," and the debilitating heartbreak when an important relationship fails. But there is plenty of joy, too: summers at her grandparents' Italian farmhouse, falling in love, and, always, the pleasures of the kitchen. Each chapter closes with a recipe for a dish referenced in the text, most of which represent one of the places Weiss has called home: German dishes like Pflaumenkuchen (yeasted plum cake) and Erbsensuppe (pea soup), Italian specialities like Peperoni al Forno Conditi (roasted pepper salad) and Bracioline di Antonietta (grilled beef skewers), French fare including Braised Endives and Poulet Sauté à la Paysanne Provençale (a rustic chicken dish), and a few American dishes, like her father's recipe for something called Depression Stew. VERDICT This charming food memoir will prove enjoyable to anyone who loves Laurie Colwin or M.L.K. Fisher.—Stephanie Klose, Library Journal
It takes courage to turn your life upside down, especially when everyone is telling you how lucky you are. But sometimes what seems right feels deeply wrong. My Berlin Kitchen tells the story of how one thoroughly confused, kitchen-mad romantic broke off her engagement, quit her dream job, and went across the ocean in search of happiness.
Luisa Weiss was working in New York after college and living with her future fiancé when she decided to bake, roast, and stew her way through the huge collection of recipes she'd been clipping and hoarding for years. The blog she wrote to document her adventures, The Wednesday Chef, soon became a sensation. But she never stopped longing for her childhood home in Berlin. After months of heartache and a painful breakup, Luisa decided to take the plunge and move back to Berlin.
Anyone who enjoyed Julie and Julia will laugh and cheer and cook alongside Luisa as she takes us into her heart and tells us how she gave up everything, only to find love waiting where she least expected it. Luisa will seduce you with stories of hunting for an apartment with her new German boyfriend, battling with white asparagus at the tail end of the season, orchestrating an awkward three-family Thanksgiving dinner, and working through the difficulties of settling into her new life by baking batches (and batches) of impossible German Christmas cookies.
She will have you rooting for Max, the first man to really understand her divided heart. And she will convince you that while Paris has its magic, when it comes to real inspiration in the kitchen, and in life, there is nothing like Berlin.
It takes courage to turn your life upside down, especially when everyone is telling you how lucky you are. But sometimes what seems right feels deeply wrong. My Berlin Kitchen tells the story of how one thoroughly confused, kitchen-mad romantic broke off her engagement, quit her dream job, and went across the ocean in search of happiness.
Luisa Weiss was working in New York after college and living with her future fiancé when she decided to bake, roast, and stew her way through the huge collection of recipes she'd been clipping and hoarding for years. The blog she wrote to document her adventures, The Wednesday Chef, soon became a sensation. But she never stopped longing for her childhood home in Berlin. After months of heartache and a painful breakup, Luisa decided to take the plunge and move back to Berlin.
Anyone who enjoyed Julie and Julia will laugh and cheer and cook alongside Luisa as she takes us into her heart and tells us how she gave up everything, only to find love waiting where she least expected it. Luisa will seduce you with stories of hunting for an apartment with her new German boyfriend, battling with white asparagus at the tail end of the season, orchestrating an awkward three-family Thanksgiving dinner, and working through the difficulties of settling into her new life by baking batches (and batches) of impossible German Christmas cookies.
She will have you rooting for Max, the first man to really understand her divided heart. And she will convince you that while Paris has its magic, when it comes to real inspiration in the kitchen, and in life, there is nothing like Berlin.
My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story, with Recipes
My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story, with Recipes
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169527773 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Brilliance Audio |
| Publication date: | 09/13/2012 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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