Hallelujah! the Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes by Maya Angelou

“I can no more think of my own life without thinking of wine and wines and where they grew for me and why I drank them when I did and why I picked the grapes and where I opened the oldest procurable bottles, and all that, than I can remember living before I breathed.”
M. F. K. Fisher

I ordered “Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes” written by Maya Angelou from my Cook Book club as soon as it was available (and I had to wait for months because there were so many orders for it that they placed mine on backorder.). I had read her poetry long ago and was very excited when she read her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning,” at President Clinton’s first inauguration in 1993. Since that time I have come to know her as a friend and mentor to Oprah Winfrey. If there ever was a renaissance woman, her name is Maya Angelou. She’s been a singer, a dancer, an author, a poet, a college professor, and a cook. When she was on Oprah’s show to promote the book, she told a couple of the stories (smothered chicken and banana pudding) and Oprah had a near orgasmic look on her face the whole time.

Story

“Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes” is a series of twenty-eight stories from Maya Angelou’s life that revolve around food. They start when she was a young girl who, along with her older brother had been taken in by her grandmother and lame uncle. Her Momma (as they called her grandmother) was an enviable cook in their African-American part of a small Arkansas town who had pulled her own self up by her bootstraps after her husband abandoned her to raise two little boys on her own. The first story is actually one her Momma told them every time she made lemon meringue pie and tells of an old wrinkly woman who was fond of young men. She lured them in with her Sunday dinner of chicken and dumplings, lettuce and pea salad and fried summer squash followed by the tantalizing pie. She’d run through all the local men and was reduced to pouncing on strangers as they passed through town. She was finally outsmarted by a young man who had been warned by the locals. At the story’s conclusion, she sets out the recipes for the meal clearly, with plenty of room to jot down my own notes as I need.

There are six more stores from Maya’s Arkansan childhood and then she moves to San Francisco as a teenager with a baby. She reconnects with her mother who also nurtures her and her son, Guy. These are stories of having to make ends stretch until they meet and when they don’t, the ability to go back home without recriminations until she can get back on her feet. Of these seven stories, I think my favorite is how she got a job as a cook in a Creole restaurant with sheer chutzpah and a little stretching of the truth. After she got the job, she went to one of her mother’s friends who had once cooked in New Orleans. He told her that the secret of Creole cuisine was to add garlic, onion, green peppers, celery and tomatoes to every dish (and oh by the way, some spicy pepper flakes too.)

The next seven stories tell of her amazingly diverse life. From the Thanksgiving dinner in Tuscany with world leaders in the arts to a perfect onion tart with a group of acerbic artists in England to the tale of one of her writers' group members who treated them to a gourmet meal of Beef Wellington and all the trimmings by calling the renowned chef and food writer, Craig Claiborne claiming to be the wife of a Uruguayan ambassador whose staff had quit on the day of a state dinner. He provided step-by-step instructions over the phone all day and the dinner for the writers was a smashing success for this woman who ordinarily served herself and her son salad and take-out pizza every night.

The final seven stories are mostly from her personal experiences, cooking for her family and friends like Oprah, M.F.K. Fisher, and Ashford and Simpson, but the funniest story is about a woman who bought a cast iron cooking pot from the kitchen store that Maya frequented. The woman asked the shopkeeper about any special help in using the pot to cook a roast and while the woman was asking more about the roast than the pot, the proprietor of the store misunderstood and gave detailed instructions on how to season the cast iron pot in preparation for cooking. The poor woman ended up scouring her roast with a Brillo pad, among other atrocities, and then cooking this inedible piece of meat in a 120 degree oven overnight. She served it to her future in-laws who had no sense of humor.

Characters

Maya Angelou has known everyone from lodgers in a boarding house, to dignitaries like President Clinton in the White House and she carries it all off with aplomb, treating everyone with respect and consideration. The way she tells these stories, I felt as if I knew all of these characters, myself. Although her writing is clean and sparse, it also has the color of a poet and lacks nothing essential.

Setting

I traipsed along the dusty Arkansas roads, hovered around Momma’s store, smelled the hog butchering pit, and felt the damp grey fog of England. Maya Angelou is very conscious of time and place in her stories and I often felt like I could taste the chilled gazpacho or the succulent spareribs as she wrote about them. She has a marvelous ear and the words flow without any hesitation or tricky passages.

What I Like

I love the way she puts the recipes in context with the time and place as well as usually giving all the recipes for a meal. The book is ordered mostly by the chronology of her life and we see regional foods as she moves from place to place. There is a very comprehensive index listing recipes, main ingredients, and meal element alphabetically. The full color, full-page pictures are beautifully arranged and photographed. Finally, I love finding out about people and what they eat is as good a map as any in determining where they are at and where they’ve come from.

What I Don’t Like

“Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes” has twenty eight stories, seventy four recipes and only fifteen photographs. Even though Angelou’s words paint tasty pictures, I hungered for more photographs.

Final Recommendation

“Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes” is a beautiful life story of Maya Angelou told artistically, poetically, and tastefully. I recommend this book to anybody who wants to know about her, southern cooking, penny pinching, and celebrating life with food.

Book Details
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (September 21, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1400062896
ISBN-13: 978-1400062898
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 0.8 inches

Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah by Tim Mackintosh-Smith

“I have milked the Teats of Time, pair after pair, Wandered the world around, and rivalled al-Khadir in my circumambulations.”
Abu Dulaf, “The Ode of the Banu Sasan”

In the 1300’s, Ibn Battutah, a classically educated Muslim Berber growing up in Tangiers (in present day Morocco) began a 29 year pilgrimage to Mecca and the lands of the east. I am a great believer in synchronicities and coincidences, so also is Tim Mackintosh-Smith, a Brit who’s lived in Yemen for many years. In 2001, his book “Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah” chronicling his retracing of Ibn Battutah’s travels was published. It began with a series of synchronicities and coincidences. The first was a neighbor challenging him to come up with the origin of the Arabic word for potato—batatah. Hs friend contended that its root came from Ibn Battutah (IB). Mackintosh-Smith was shopping for a Yemeni history book, when he ran across IB’s travel diary, so he picked it up. Later that day, his friend Hasan popped in and began reading IB’s travels aloud. He stopped in mid-sentence. He was so excited because that particular passage told of IB meeting with Hasan’s direct paternal ancestor. These coincidences piqued Mackintosh-Smith’s interest and he decided to do his own trip; attempting to find places and people referenced in IB’s book.

I received this book as part of a book ring – where it is going around the world being read by a large group of people. I chose it because I’ve been broadening my world by reading books written by authors from around the world or books about other parts of the world and this one really intrigued me. I really do believe that all coincidences sign post things that are meant to be heeded. Several other books I’ve read recently touched on similar places or people as “Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah.” Since IB traveled in the 1300’s I didn’t expect that, but “Crusade” by Robyn Young is an historical novel and many of the characters and places are mentioned in IB’s Travels. Also, “A Year in the World” by Frances Mayes went to several of the same places and enjoyed some of the same foods. I’ve found that the connections I make from books I read, music I listen to, films I see, and food I eat strengthen the memories I make.


What I Liked

Even though, I probably won’t retain nearly enough of this book, I loved learning about all the people and places Mackintosh-Smith encountered as he followed IB’s path. He ate a lot of weird things (1 ¼ inch birds on a skewer, lamb brain burger, dried shark), went to places I’ve only seen on a map and actually went to a multitude of mosques, chapels, shrines and temples that were around for IB to see and touch and hear (church bells in The Crimea). I remember the awe I felt the first time I saw a painting by Caravaggio and considered how many hundreds of years ago it was painted and then was even more enthralled when I thought about Caravaggio touching paint to that canvas. Or the times I visited Monticello and Mount Vernon and thought about the great presidents living there and sitting under the trees that were still growing there. Mackintosh-Smith lets his awe shine through all the dust and bugs and discomfort of his trips when he comes across one of these historical touch points as he travels from Tangiers, across North Africa, through Egypt, Syria, Oman, Turkey, and the Crimea. It made it all worthwhile.

I also loved all the great historic quotes heading each chapter, and it was fun to find that the woman he talks about in the first chapter pops up in the last.


What I Didn’t Like

I have to admit that I’m hopeless when it comes to pronouncing Arabic, Persian, or Russian names. I had to just scan past the names of people and places sometimes and then regretted it later when Mackintosh-Smith brought them up again and I had to try to place them.


Final Recommendation

“Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah” by Tim Mackintosh-Smith is a great book for picking up a lot of history, reading about the present day issues in the Middle East, and making a new, really smart friend.

2008 © Susan K Barton


Book Description
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (June 8, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0812971647
ISBN-13: 978-0812971644
Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches

All that Matters by Stef Ann Holm

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
Henry David Thoreau

Okay, you caught me. I picked up “All that Matters” by Stef Ann Holm because I judged a book by its cover. It’s autumn and the picture on the cover of the book sucked me in; a bakery with pumpkins and fall leaves and all of those yummy looking pastries. I’ve been immersing myself in various forms of romance novels this year because I intend to write one of my own and a combination of food and romance was too tempting to pass up.

Chloe Lawson is single (divorced ten years earlier), turning forty, finally making a real go of her Boise, Idaho bakery when she gets a letter out of the blue; the company managing the lease on the bakery property not only turned down her application to take the empty space next door so she can expand, they let her know that her lease won’t be renewed in seven months because a large grocery chain wants her space as well as all of the open spaces near her. One of her customers pleads her case with his brother, who finally decides to help her push back against the grocer even though he knows she doesn’t have a chance. John Moretti (widowed for three years) drops by for a blueberry muffin before letting her know he’ll help her and immediately falls in love with the muffin and the beautiful baker.

Not only is Chloe’s business concerning her, but suddenly she’s getting a lot of phone calls where the caller hangs up after Chloe answers. All of these things have her on edge, and John just might be the guy to help her out.

What I Liked

Holm creates characters and a setting that feel genuine and give a nice flavor of Boise. I loved all of the family dynamics—John with his two teens as well as his extended Italian family—Chloe with her grandma Ethel who raised her when her unstable mother dumped her off and split with her bohemian friends. It all works, even when Chloe finally realizes that the young construction worker who comes in each morning for black coffee and a walnut muffin and advice about his dad, ends up being John’s son.

I also (ahem) love all the food talk. I so want a blueberry muffin and a glass of milk now. Or maybe some of Chloe’s marbled pumpkin cheesecake.

The romance itself is fairly tame without anything getting too explicit; lots of well described kissing and a little bedroom intimacy.

What I Didn’t Like

The only thing that was a little annoying was Holm’s use of repetition. I don’t need to read the same information multiple times from each character’s point of view or even to have it reiterated by one character overthinking a situation. It makes me feel like she’s filling space.

Final Recommendation

Overall, “All that Matters” is a nice light romance; just right for a Sunday afternoon. I laughed, I cried, I sighed with relief.

2008 © Susan K Barton

Book Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: HQN Books (November 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0373773137
ISBN-13: 978-0373773138

The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi

“Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the numbers of books that were written because authors couldn't find anyone to talk to.”
Alain de Botton

I first saw Helen Oyeyemi, the author of The Icarus Girl interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning or the Saturday Early Show and was absolutely entranced by her and her story. I kept the book on my wish list for quite awhile and when it was added to my online book club—Quality Paperback Books—I immediately ordered it. I picked it up off of Mt. To-Be-Read and dove into new and unexplored depths. It read quickly and very enjoyably.

Author

Helen Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria and moved to England when she was four. Oyeyemi is quite remarkable in that she is still just 21 years old and going to college, yet she’s written a bold, textured tale as if she were someone who has lived and experienced so much more. I expect to see many more stories in the future.

Characters

The Icarus Girl, Jessamy Harrison (Her grandfather has given her the Nigerian name of Wuraola and calls her that exclusively) is eight years old, half Nigerian and half English, half black and half white. She often feels like she is only half of something and not whole. She has alienated herself at school by pitching screaming tantrums whenever she gets angry or scared and there are a lot of things that can scare her. She has a huge imagination and is very articulate for a child her age, unless she is asked to explain what it is she is feeling and why. Jessamy has a propensity for eating very interesting concoctions like cheddar cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches.

Sarah Harrison is Jessamy’s mother, a writer who left Nigeria to attend college in London in order to become a doctor and go home to heal her people. Her father has not forgiven her for going her own way. She becomes very scared of Jessamy and her own inability to parent this wild child.

Daniel Harrison is Jessamy’s father, a caring man who often sees things from Jess’s point of view and tries to intercede when his wife gets exasperated.

Titiola is a mysterious girl who makes friends with Jess when she and her parents go to visit family in Nigeria for the summer. Jessamy thinks she is just the perfect friend and is amazed at some of the impossible things her friend can do. Her name is difficult for Jess to pronounce so she calls her TillyTilly. When the Harrisons go back to England, Jess misses her terribly and amazingly she shows up in the neighborhood.

Setting

Most of The Icarus Girl takes place in a city in England though about a third of the story takes place at Jess’s grandfather’s compound in Nigeria. Jessamy lives in a dreary small house with a postage stamp yard and attends a school where a girl who is bullied at home—Colleen—bullies the kids on the playground and in the classroom. The weather is always damp and friendless Jess often plays or reads indoors by herself. Her grandfather on the other hand, lives in a large house in Nigeria surrounded and shaded by the houses in which his children and their families live. It is hot and dusty and they continually worry about the electricity being shut off by the poorly run government. Jess is surrounded here by her Nigerian cousins, but she feels just as lonely as home because she can’t speak Yoruban with them.

Story

In “The Icarus Girl” Jessamy scuffles through life looking down at the ground because she is afraid of being spoken to and having to carry on a conversation. She spends a lot of time in her own imagination without any friends and is delighted to finally find the perfect friend (almost like a sister) when she visits her grandfather in Nigeria. TillyTilly knows just what to say and has some remarkable abilities. Jess accepts these mystical happenings because she is so lonely and then things begin to turn ugly. Shortly after Jess and her family return home, TillyTilly moves into the same neighborhood and seems to know whenever a person has slighted Jessamy in any way. She pledges to “get” the wrong-doers and though Jess feels a little guilty about it, she doesn’t really mind that her classmates and acquaintances are hurt physically or mentally until her own dad is “gotten.” Jessamy learns a secret about herself that changes everything and a darkness falls deeply over Jessamy and her family. In order to set things right, Sarah takes her ailing family back to Nigeria the following summer and her father determines what must be done, if it’s not already too late to save his beloved granddaughter from the evil that threatens to snuff her out.

What I Like

The Icarus Girl rings true for anybody who has ever felt lonely, different or not accepted by the rest of the people around them. It also shows the lengths some will go to in order to secure friendship and loyalty from others. Even though the story is written about 8-10 year old children, I never felt like I didn’t belong in the conversation. The language is colorful and articulate, but not flowery or overdone. The characters are full and rounded. Though some of the action gets very metaphysical, it is still believable and overall the story is quite enjoyable. I finished it, hoping that I will find out more about Jessamy or characters like her in future novels. I would recommend this to mature teenagers and adults. I’m not sure but think that the mystical bits might be too scary for a child younger than that, though they’ve been reading Harry Potter and seem none the worse for wear.

What I Don’t Like

The only thing that I could complain about The Icarus Girl is that most of the threads of the story get woven together toward the end except that the family is all left a bit raw and damaged. Sarah never fully dealt with her tragedy, nor did Jessamy completely resolve her rift with her mother. I’d be interested to see how their lives move forward.

Final Recommendation

The Icarus Girl is an enchanting tale of a lonely girl who feels like she is only half a girl and whose new friend teaches her to fly until she goes crashing disastrously to the earth.

Book Description
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Anchor (April 11, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 140007875X
ISBN-13: 978-1400078752
Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches

Blood Orange Brewing by Laura Childs

“It pleases me so when I sip orange pekoe/ such color with taste crisp and clean”
Robert Ford, “Tea”

I‘ve loved mysteries since I was a little girl. My Gramma introduced me to the joys of Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner and over the years, I’ve added to many sleuths both amateur and professional to my bookshelves. Laura Childs has a series of murder mysteries set in Charleston, South Carolina’s historical district and presided over by Indigo Tea Shop owner, Theodosia Browning. “Blood Orange Brewing” is the seventh book in the series. Each of the books are peopled with Theo and her tea shop assistants, Drayton and Haley. Haley is a gifted baker and Drayton is a tea-blending wizard. Like most cozy mysteries, you need to watch out for those business people who are new to town, and it is probably best if you don’t befriend Theo, because your murder might be next on the list. People around her do not have a good track record.

In this particular story, The Indigo Tea Shop folks are catering another fund-raising event at which one of the guests will be murdered. This time, it is for the Historical Society and retired businessman and full-time philanthropist, Duke Wilkes appears to have meddled where he shouldn’t have as he gets stabbed with a Civil War era dirk just before the tea sandwiches and blood orange tea is served.

What I Liked

One of the things I like about Laura Childs’ writing is that it is clear and easy to read, while imparting tea knowledge, recipes, Charleston history and flavor, as well as dealing with news topics of the day. Since it would spoil the surprise ending, I won’t get specific about the current events.

Coincidentally, the story takes place in early autumn, which it is as I am reading and I find the fall flavors and scents to be quite mouth watering. The food and tea serve almost as another character and are given prominence throughout the story. Conveniently, several of the recipes for items served in the tea shop during this story are included in the special section in the back of the book. I can’t wait to try out the sweet potato muffins and the low country black bean soup.

Although series stores can begin to sound alike and there s always the need to reintroduce continuing characters and plot lines, Childs does this very unobtrusively and “Blood Orange Brewing” could easily be read as a stand alone.

What I Didn’t Like

Since food and drink play such a major role in Childs’ books, I always finish them not only hungry for more of her writing, but also for food; lots of food. In this book alone they catered the fund-raiser, a political campaign tea party, attended an oyster roast, as well as setting the menu for day to day operations of the tea shop. I need food and I need it now!

Final Recommendation

“Blood Orange Brewing” is a fast paced murder mystery with plenty of twists, turns, and red herrings. I learned more about Charleston and tea. And Theo helped catch the killer, much to the dismay of her detective friend, Officer Tidwell. Well done!

2008 © Susan K Barton

Book Description
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley (March 6, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 042521057X
ISBN-13: 978-0425210574
Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches

The Book of Proper Names by Amelie Nothomb

"Vision is the art of seeing things invisible."
Jonathan Swift

Since the end of 2005, I have been participating in a reading challenge whereby the participants are attempting to read a book by an author (or if there isn't one translated into English, about the country) for each of the 200+ countries participating in the 2008 Summer Olympics. We have until the end of the Beijing Games to finish our reading, and I will apparently need every minute of that time as I've only read books representing 25 countries so far. The twenty fifth of these is "The Book of Proper Names" by Belgian author, Amelie Nothomb.

Nothomb is being hailed as a bright new voice in French literature."The Book of Proper Names" is set in France and is a twisty tale of a little girl who starts out very wrongly. Lucette was 19, 8 months pregnant, living off her parents' money when she realized that she'd married a mediocre man who would drag her exceptional unborn child down to his level of mediocrity. In order to save her unborn daughter she murders the average Joe, gives birth in prison and bestows (against the wishes of all concerned) upon her child the hideous name "Plectrude" before hanging herself with bed sheets. Providentially, Lucette has an older sister who graciously adopts her niece as her own daughter.

Plectrude finds her way in the world despite many obstacles until she stumbles upon the details of her birth. It is a block that may do her in prematurely.This is a brilliant story told by turns in fantastical wit and then stark reality and absurd conclusion. I recommend this funny tale especially to mothers of girls as a cautionary one.

Book Details:
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Faber and Faber; New Ed edition (May 5, 2005)
ISBN-10: 0571223443

On Love: A Novel by Alain de Botton

“Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas

I have been faithfully reading books from the “1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die” book written by Dr. Peter Boxall and at the same time I’ve been fulfilling another challenge to read books from around the world. Therefore, “On Love: A Novel” by Alain de Botton killed two birds with one stone. de Botton is a British writer, but was born in Switzerland, so I could claim another country down and one more of the “must reads” accomplished. While reading it, I kept wishing I had an appointment with the dentist for a root canal or maybe for road construction to begin in the street outside in order to dull the pain of reading this short book. As with many things (spinach, orthopedic shoes, liver and onions, braces on the teeth) I was glad to be on the other side when I finished and could see the value of the experience. At least that’s what I tell myself.

The narrator is a smart, witty young British architect (with superb vocabulary) who hasn’t had the greatest success in relationships. Then he meets by chance, Chloe, a graphic designer. In fact he works out the odds of that chance encounter with a cute cut-away drawing of the Boeing airplane that British Airways assigned to that flight from Paris to London, the mathematics of it all, and further analysis. He’s deliriously in love, but can’t just leave it at that and enjoy love, life, Chloe, or himself.

And so it goes. He analyzes every twist and turn in the nearly year-long relationship. And then re-examines the analysis. If he and his thought processes are indicative of men or even some men or some men’s thoughts, then it’s a wonder men and women get together long enough to marry and have children at all. On the other hand, this does seem to explain a lot that I didn’t want to accept before. Despite having been with the same man for 32 years, I admit that the male of the species is sometimes simpler than I give them credit.

What I Liked

I liked the fact that this was an extremely quick read, what with all the witty banter and funny pictures thrown in. And of course, it is always funny to watch a couple implode. They only had themselves to blame and it was like watching an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos where a parent gives a child a plastic bat and is immediately rewarded with a shot to the crotch. It hurts, but we laugh superior laughs to indicate that we would never do something so stupid.

What I Didn’t Like

If you aren’t already feeling my pain, let me chart it out for you. The book is broken down into chapters and each represents another step in the progression and then meltdown of a relationship. Each paragraph is numbered from one to whatever at the end of the chapter. He explained in detail each plus and minus. “Few things are as antithetical to sex as thought.” That is the first sentence in the fifth chapter entitled, “Mind and Body.” Let me add: few things are as antithetical to romance as analysis. He’s a buzzkill. But then I repeat myself.

Final Recommendation

“On Love: A Novel” by Alain de Botton is actually very well written if looked at from a writer’s viewpoint. And, it gave me great insight into how unromantic the male psyche can be. It is mercifully short, but filled with angst and a desire to prove that true love really can’t exist. Sometimes I doubted that it was a novel and considered hunting up all of the author’s former girlfriends to see which one he was skewering. Read it with a glass of wine and just laugh at it as if the narrator is one of your former lovers, come to call and complain about his freshest bit of pain and suffering and remind yourself that he deserved every bit of it.

Book Description
On Love: A Novel (Paperback)
by Alain de Botton
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Grove Press; Revised edition (January 6, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802142400
ISBN-13: 978-0802142405
Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.6 inches