Kitchen Conundrum

  • Home
  • About
  • Eat
    • Appetizers
    • Bread
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Desserts
    • Fish
    • Meats
    • Pasta
    • Poultry
    • Side Dishes
    • Sauces, Dressings and Condiments
    • Soup and Stews
    • Vegetables
  • Drink
    • Beer
    • Cocktails
    • Wine
  • Recipe Index
  • Travel
    • NYC/Metro
    • Cambodia
    • England
    • France
    • Greece
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • Vietnam
  • Kitchen Sink
    • Classes
    • Contests
    • Cookbooks
    • Cook The Book Fridays- My Paris Kitchen
    • French Fridays with Dorie
    • Kitchen Gear & Gadgets

One Soufflé at a Time and The Paris Gourmet- Book Reviews

November 25, 2013 by Renee

As a lover of all things French, I was happy to receive these books on my doorstep last week. One, a memoir of a life fulfilled dream featuring a  move to Paris and running a culinary school, the other a guide to many restaurants, shops and even some recipes and travel tips to enjoy around Paris and to prepare you for your next visit.

One Soufflé at a Time: A Memoir of Food and France by Anne Willan with Amy Friedman

Founder of the world famous La Varenne Cooking School—originally located in Paris and then later in Burgundy, Ms. Willan has trained chefs, food writers and home cooks alike.

One Soufflé at a Time is the life story of Ms. Willan as well as the story of her interactions with some of the food-world’s best—including Julia Child, James Beard, and many others. She writes from her English girl roots in Yorkshire to her move to France, and how she overcame the male dominated world of French cuisine to start and run her own culinary school in the late 1970’s.  Willan’s warm and funny personality shines through and shows a different, more approachable side of traditional French cuisine.

This lovely book, although mostly memoir also features fifty of Ms. Willan’s favorite recipes, from Coquille St. Jacques to Chocolate Snowballs and includes some of my favorites, Gratin Dauphinois and Pistou. You will often earmark pages to return to just so you can keep reading her narrative.

Ms. Willan shows her tremendous courage, her downfalls and her resounding strength all the while making this memoir truly fascinating, entertaining and authentic right from the first page. She has certainly led a life full of food and adventures and her unique and lively voice resonates through her writing style.

I quite enjoyed this book and I think you might too. Now I have to go back and cook some of the recipes I marked!

One Souffle at a Time

 

The Paris Gourment by Trish Deseine

This guide book will lead you from arrondissement to arrondissement where Ms. Deseine notes all of her favorite foodie spots in Paris.  From restaurants, hotels, and bakeries to markets and even places to purchase kitchen wares, she shows the readers “her Paris” in this lively round up.  This is a fun, lighthearted book featuring the characteristic Flammarion graphics- trendy, bold and colorful.

Although I think Ms. Deseine left out some major spots in her listings, (the Marché de la Bastille for instance only appears as a side note with a list of places open on Sunday and not at all in the section of Markets), I do think she covered a great deal and I know you can’t possibly list every wonderful place in Paris. There really are too many!

It’s certainly a pleasurable read and perfect for anyone visiting Paris for the first time or the tenth time. It’s chock full of tips and information, sure to make any food lover happy.

41uhSf2mh1L

 

 

Disclosure: I received a copy of  each of these books to review. As always, the thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links to my Amazon Store.  So if you buy the books, I’ll make a few pennies. 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Kitchen Sink, Cookbooks Tagged With: Anne Willan, Cookbook Review, NaBloPoMo, Trish Deseine

« Chicken and Dumplings Recipe
Cardamom Goat Cheese Phyllo Triangles with Spiced Maple Yogurt Sauce »

Categories

Archives

kitchconundrum

It’s a two cocktail kind of night. Mojito and G& It’s a two cocktail kind of night. Mojito and G&T. #rum #sevenupmojito #hendricks #gin #cocktail #adultbeverage #roevwade #womensrights #voteblue
Britakakku. A Finnish summer cake made with layers Britakakku. A Finnish summer cake made with layers of cake, meringue, a whipped yogurt cream and fresh berries. It may look a mess but it’s quite tasty! Only two layers here but I’ve seen them quite tall! #britakakku #finnish #finnishfood #pastry #berries #summerfruit #summerdessert #dessert #summer #cake
Mint chip ice cream with fresh mint from the garde Mint chip ice cream with fresh mint from the garden. Cool and refreshing. One of the best recipes from David Lebovitz’s A Perfect Scoop. #cookthebook #cookbook #icecream #homemadeicecream #gardening #herbgarden #mint #chocolatechip #davidlebovitz #recipe
First flowers of the season! And a few vegetables First flowers of the season! And a few vegetables are here too! I was going to prune the crazy overgrown rosebush on the arch but there are robins nesting in it so we’ve let it go wild. Will have to wait to cut it back until after the summer. We don’t mind and they have a safe spot to just be. Last year they built their nest in the grape vines. We feel honored to watch Mr & Mrs fly back and forth all day with food or twigs. They are very busy! #gardening #backyardgarden #growyourownfood #robin #nest #robinsnest
We finished working in the backyard today and cele We finished working in the backyard today and celebrated a power washed deck and cleaned out boxes primed for veggies and flowers with a bottle of rosé. It’s apéro season in the garden! #apero #wine #rosé  #gardening #garden #flowers #vegetablegarden #growyourownfood
A really nice Asian supermarket opened nearby so w A really nice Asian supermarket opened nearby so we restocked our pantry. We met a nice couple there who told us which brands they liked best- love their personal recommendations! Super nice of them! 

We also said goodbye to our old, burnt and wonky bamboo steamer. It served us well but it’s time for a new one. #ranch99 
#asiancooking #asiangrocery #grocery #groceryhaul
Lunch today was @ottolenghi ‘s Cauliflower Cake Lunch today was @ottolenghi ‘s Cauliflower Cake from #PlentyMore #Cookbook It was really quite good. Though we felt it needed a little something…more. It’s a versatile recipe so next time we will add garlic, cumin, or coriander and maybe switch up the cheeses and vegetables. I can see it with feta and spinach or asparagus even,  or even broccoli and a good cheddar. That is the magic of a good base recipe. You can make it however you want! Just have fun with it! #greatrecipes #cookthebooks #ottolenghi #cooking #lunch #eatyourveggies
A bit of spring popped out this week. Hopefully, w A bit of spring popped out this week. Hopefully, warm weather will come and stay. It’s been cold and raining so much (I guess that’s good and needed) so I’ve not been outside much. I need to rake the leaves! But it’s lovely to see some color come through! Soon the tulips will bloom and that also means its time to plant the vegetable garden. Summer really is on the way! #spring #flowers #flowergarden #vegetablegarden #gardening #gardeningcalendar
Taco Thursday’s is a thing right? Well, we can e Taco Thursday’s is a thing right? Well, we can eat tacos any time! Leftover grilled chicken put to good use. #tacothursday #tacotuesday #dinner #corntortillas #yum
Who wants some ooey gooey cheesy melty spinach art Who wants some ooey gooey cheesy melty spinach artichoke dip? It was really good and we have sooo much leftover! Going to be eating it with grilled chicken, pasta and bread for the next week or so. #toomuch #artichokes #spinach #cheese #dip #appetizers #artichokedip
Sunday afternoon snacks. Warm pretzels with cheese Sunday afternoon snacks. Warm pretzels with cheese sauce. #pretzels #snack #cheesesauce #gouda #cheddar #tvsnack #afternoonsnack
Bœuf Bourguignon for dinner today. With mashed po Bœuf Bourguignon for dinner today. With mashed potatoes of course! It’s s project but so worth it. #dinner #beef #boeufbourguignon #frenchcooking
Not much to look at but so tasty! I’ve been want Not much to look at but so tasty! I’ve been wanting to make choucroute garnie since returning from Strasbourg, where I had it a lot. Good sausages are hard to find but a slightly smoky kielbasa, thick cut bacon and uncured hotdogs did the trick. Also, the sauerkraut with apples and white wine had just enough sweet and tang. This is a really easy but absolutely delicious dish. #choucroute #choucroutegarnie #alsace #sauerkraut #strasbourg #dinner #onepotmeal
This is a seriously elevated cauliflower gratin. M This is a seriously elevated cauliflower gratin. Made with an olive oil béchamel, garlic and feta cheese. So delicious and comforting on this cold winter day. Recipe by @aglaiakremezi  #cauliflower #cauliflowergratin #vegetarian #dairy #sidedish #sogood
Some days you just need to make chocolate mousse a Some days you just need to make chocolate mousse and use so many bowls in the process. I think I’ll have two please. (They’re small!) #chocolate #chocolatemousse #mousse #dessert #madefromscratch #delish #chocoholic #darkchocolate
Mushroom Barley Soup and Netflix is perfect for st Mushroom Barley Soup and Netflix is perfect for staying cozy today while there’s a blizzard outside. Stay safe everyone! #lunch #soup #mushroombarleysoup #blizzard #stayinside #fozen
Before the big girl headed back to college this we Before the big girl headed back to college this weekend, we decided to honor her time in Strasbourg by making a tarte flambée. I had bought a wheel of Munster in Colmar and it travelled home with us. Unfortunately, it was a bit overripe when we opened it so we ended up using Comté instead. It was still very tasty. Just wish we had the same wood fired crust they have there. #tarteflambee #strasbourg #colmar #france #munster #cheese #comte
2021 is a wrap! We made it! What a blur this year 2021 is a wrap! We made it! What a blur this year was. But gardening, renovating, a couple of trips and a lot of cooking and eating good things helped get us through. Thanks to you too for being a part of this year! May we all be blessed with another year- healthy, happy and well fed!  #topnine #top9of2021 #diy #2021 #newyears #goodtidings #yearinreview2021 #yearinreview
Load More... Follow on Instagram

© Copyright 2017 Kitchen Conundrum · Privacy Policy & Disclosures · All Rights Reserved ·

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.