Blogs I read
Review: All the Presidents' Pastries
user warning: Unknown column 'u.signature_format' in 'field list'
query: SELECT c.cid as cid, c.pid, c.nid, c.subject, c.comment, c.format, c.timestamp, c.name, c.mail, c.homepage, u.uid, u.name AS registered_name, u.signature, u.signature_format, u.picture, u.data, c.thread, c.status FROM drup_comments c INNER JOIN drup_users u ON c.uid = u.uid WHERE c.nid = 17 AND c.status = 0 ORDER BY c.thread DESC LIMIT 0, 50 in /home7/bryanan6/public_html/bookstasted/modules/comment/comment.module on line 991.
beth — Fri, Jun 1 2007
I can't believe it's been a month since I posted. Sadly, there's no good excuse - I just plain wasn't reading much during this time. I've been trying to conquer Tom Jones, but it's been slow going, and I've spent a lot more time looking for houses (we're buying!) and playing Super Paper Mario on the Wii.
But then the other day I popped into the library to grab a book for my hubby, and saw All the Presidents' Pastries by Roland Mesnier (with Christian Malard) on the New Books shelf. I grabbed it lickity split! I had heard about this book two weeks in a row on NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and my interest was highly piqued.
The book is a memoir of Roland Mesnier's twenty-five years as the White House pastry chef, as well as his life leading up to that time. On Wait Wait, they talked about funny tidbits about the presidents' likes and dislikes (dessert-wise) and it sounded pretty funny and interesting. Well... to be honest, I thought the best bits were already covered on Wait Wait. Monsieur Mesnier's childhood is pretty interesting, but once he gets to the White House, it reads a little like the book of Numbers (and then Jeb begat Hob, who begat Paul. Paul begat Larry, Moe and Curly, etc.). It was stories of "So-and-so visited for such-and-such event, and we made this dessert." Again. And again. Occasionally, an interesting tidbit about the presidents and their families would come out (President Clinton is allergic to dairy, chocolate, and possibly pollen and wheat, so Mr. Mesnier often made him carrot cake or fruit pies), but mostly, it's a litany of scrumptious sounding desserts. But even when you love dessert as much as I do, reading a list of them gets a bit old.
There are photos in the book, but sadly, very few of his actual dessert creations. I really wanted to see more photos of the things he described in the book. There are 17 recipes in the back of the book, a few of which I photocopied before returning it to the library, but many sound a bit too difficult for a novice baker like myself. Also, I don't own 8 individual ramikins!
If you really love reading about desserts or love learning about the presidents so much that you'd hunt down the tiniest bit of trivia, I recommend this book. Otherwise, I'd skip it and check out his recipe book, Dessert University. You can also view some videos of his work at http://www.whitehouse.gov/chef/.
But then the other day I popped into the library to grab a book for my hubby, and saw All the Presidents' Pastries by Roland Mesnier (with Christian Malard) on the New Books shelf. I grabbed it lickity split! I had heard about this book two weeks in a row on NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and my interest was highly piqued.
The book is a memoir of Roland Mesnier's twenty-five years as the White House pastry chef, as well as his life leading up to that time. On Wait Wait, they talked about funny tidbits about the presidents' likes and dislikes (dessert-wise) and it sounded pretty funny and interesting. Well... to be honest, I thought the best bits were already covered on Wait Wait. Monsieur Mesnier's childhood is pretty interesting, but once he gets to the White House, it reads a little like the book of Numbers (and then Jeb begat Hob, who begat Paul. Paul begat Larry, Moe and Curly, etc.). It was stories of "So-and-so visited for such-and-such event, and we made this dessert." Again. And again. Occasionally, an interesting tidbit about the presidents and their families would come out (President Clinton is allergic to dairy, chocolate, and possibly pollen and wheat, so Mr. Mesnier often made him carrot cake or fruit pies), but mostly, it's a litany of scrumptious sounding desserts. But even when you love dessert as much as I do, reading a list of them gets a bit old.
There are photos in the book, but sadly, very few of his actual dessert creations. I really wanted to see more photos of the things he described in the book. There are 17 recipes in the back of the book, a few of which I photocopied before returning it to the library, but many sound a bit too difficult for a novice baker like myself. Also, I don't own 8 individual ramikins!
If you really love reading about desserts or love learning about the presidents so much that you'd hunt down the tiniest bit of trivia, I recommend this book. Otherwise, I'd skip it and check out his recipe book, Dessert University. You can also view some videos of his work at http://www.whitehouse.gov/chef/.
Recent comments
20 hours 30 min ago
20 hours 45 min ago
21 hours 3 sec ago
21 hours 14 min ago
21 hours 29 min ago
21 hours 44 min ago
21 hours 58 min ago
22 hours 12 min ago
22 hours 27 min ago
22 hours 41 min ago