Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style from the Heart of Italy
Author: Frances Mayes
I always imagine each of the signoras who lived in this house—where she shelled peas, rocked the grandchild, placed a vase of the pink roses. Now I would like to take one of these women back to my house in California to show her how Bramasole traveled to America and took root, how the doors there are open to the breeze from San Pablo bay and to the distant view of Mount Tamalpais, how the table has expanded and the garden has burgeoned…
The “bard of Tuscany” (New York Times) now offers a lavishly illustrated book for everyone who dreams of integrating the Tuscan lifestyle—from home decoration and cooking, to eating and drinking, to gardening, socializing, and celebrating—into their own lives.
When Frances Mayes fell in love with Tuscany and Bramasole, millions of readers basked in the experience through her three bestselling memoirs. Now Frances and her husband, In Tuscany coauthor Edward, share the essence of Tuscan life as they have lived it, with specific ideas and inspiration for readers stateside to bring the beauty and spirit of Tuscany into their own home decor, meals, gardens, entertaining and, most important, outlook on life. In her inimitable warm and evocative tone, Frances helps readers develop an eye for authentic Tuscan style, with advice on how to:
• Choose a Tuscan color palette for the home, from earthy apricot tones to invigorating shades of antique blue.
• Personalize a room with fanciful door frames, unique painted furniture, and fresco murals.
• Cultivate a Tuscan garden, adding fountains, vine-covered pergolas, and terra-cotta urns amongthe herbs and flowers
• Select the best Italian vino. (Frances describes lunches at regional vineyards and imparts tips for pairing food and wine.)
• Create an atmosphere of irresistible, anytime hospitality—a casa aperta (open home).
• Make primo finds at local antiques markets. (And to help truly bring Tuscany home, shipping advice and market days for several Tuscan towns are included.)
• Set an imaginative Tuscan table using majolica and vintage linens.
• Enjoy the abundant flavors and easy simplicity of the Tuscan kitchen, with details on everything from olive oil and vino santo to pici and gnocchi, plus special homegrown menus and recipes.
• Make the most of a trip to Tuscany, visiting Frances’s favorite hill towns, restaurants, small museums, and other soothing places.
With more than 100 photos by acclaimed photographer Steven Rothfeld (including several of the Mayes’s California home and its Tuscan accents), twenty-five all-new recipes, and lists of resources for travelers and shoppers, Bringing Tuscany Home is a treasure trove of practical advice and memorable images.
Publishers Weekly
Only those who love sitting through slides from other people's vacations are likely to warm to Mayes's latest, on the joys of owning a renovated Tuscan villa. Mayes's first book on the subject, Under the Tuscan Sun, sold two million copies and spawned a Hollywood film, but with each return visit to familiar territory (Bella Tuscany; In Tuscany) Mayes finds less fresh material. This work is a grab bag of guess-you-had-to-be-there anecdotes (Mayes devotes an entire paragraph to the activities of a wasp that flies into her study while she's writing) and suggestions for how readers can, as Mayes and her husband, Ed, do, live the good life in northern California and Italy. (Hint: it takes a lot of money.) The book includes 25 recipes, though few are specifically Tuscan. Instead, Mayes devotes space to Nancy Silverton's Italian Plum Tart (Silverton, founder of Los Angeles's Campanile restaurant, has her own villa one valley over) and several recipes of Ed's. The listing of Mayes's own "At Home in Tuscany Collection" of furniture at book's end adds to the coyly self-indulgent feel. (Oct.) Forecast: The conceit that readers can live this lush lifestyle rings hollow, and the mishmash of decorating advice, travelogue, recipes and random musings never gels. Mayes's name carries weight, but this is unlikely to come close to Under the Tuscan Sun's success. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
When it comes to decorating in a rustic Italian style, Mayes should know everything Under the Tuscan Sun. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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Crescent City Collection: A Taste of New Orleans
Author: Staff of The Junior League of New Orleans
Crescent City Collection: A Taste of New Orleans presents culinary and historical traditions, lovingly passed down from generation to generation. Gene Bourg, former restaurant reviewer for the Imics-Picayune, expresses our passion: "New Orleanians have their own scale of cultural values, but none is more deeply imbedded in the municipal psyche than food." Over 250 recipes from members of the Junior League of New Orleans, contributors, and over twenty-five famous local restaurants symbolize the continuously evolving cuisine. Standards such as Red Bens and Rice. Seafood Okra Gumbo, and Bananas Foster are joined by dishes with new twists: Iried Crawfish Remoulade on the Half-Shell. Dixic Brisket. Shrimp Strecotash, and Strectear Strata. Lively culinary sidebars cover topics from Creole tomatoes to how to make a roux to recipes for -- popular New Orleans cocktails. Intertwined with the culinary offerings are fascinating narratives of JLNO Show Houses by Robert J. Cangelosi, Jr., A.I.A. Explore the architectural styles and anccdotal tales and enjoy photographer David G. Spiclman's artistie views into some of the most elegant private homes in New Orleans. The rich, colorful heritage of the Crescent City is displayed in non-culinary sidebars. Did you know that Spanish moss is a member of the pincapple family or that Carrollton was once a separate city? Crecent City Collection: A Taste of New Orleans brings a mosaie of culinary cultures past and present into your home.
Table of Contents:
| Preface | 6 | |
| Committees | 7 | |
| Introduction | 8 | |
| Appetizers | 10 | |
| Soups & Salads | 34 | |
| Seafood | 62 | |
| Poultry | 94 | |
| Meat & Game | 126 | |
| Side Dishes & Sauces | 152 | |
| Brunch & Breads | 180 | |
| Desserts | 210 | |
| Acknowledgments | 241 | |
| Resource Guide | 246 | |
| Index | 248 |
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