Al Dente or Little Cafe Cakes

Al Dente: The Adventures of a Gastronome in Italy

Author: William Black

Bill Bryson meets Elizabeth David in this witty gastronomic tour of Italy.

William Black is serious about Italian food. Except when he’s joking, which is often. And he will stop at nothing to discover the whys and wherefores of la dolce vita. In Al Dente, our intrepid gastronome eats whatever gets in his way. He travels the length and breadth of Italy in his quest for the most authentic cooking and the very finest ingredients: one minute he’s chasing after rabbits in Ischia, the next he’s scoffing eel brodetto and waxing lyrical about frog risotto. Although he prefers roadside establishments and local trattorie to high–end cibo nuovo, whatever he’s eating is a revelation. A joy from cover to cover, this is a must for anyone who thinks they know about Italian food. William Black, with his partner Sophie Grigson, is the author of several best–selling books, including Fish and Organic.

Kirkus Reviews

Lighthearted travels through Italy that get tightly focused when it's mealtime. "I drove on, deviated, climbed inland and stopped for lunch." So it goes as British food writer Black (Fish, 1999, etc.) makes his way about Italy, cobbling together this gustatory portrait of the country from regular fortnightly doses of cheap travel. There are politics in these pages, from short regional histories to the seriousness with which Italians take their gelati; there is some pursuit of genealogy, of the Rossellis on Black's mother's side; and these chapters can easily be deployed as travel guides, organized as they are by specific areas, happy to give directions. ("If you head straight down to the Tiber from here you should get to the ghetto. . . .") And there are those deviations, such as time to "reflect a little on tales of exploitation and lust among the rice fields of Vercelli." But ultimately, this is about eating well—and often: of apricots and capers from Stromboli, of casu marzo (rotten cheese) that "is quite difficult for anyone but a Sard to eat," of Neapolitan pizza and the importance of frogs in brodo. It is about the iconic cacciucco ("the cooking of piscatorial detritus, a dish eaten to keep fishermen's hunger at bay") and the role played by the town of Comacchio in "the sacred act of eel jigginess." It is also gratifyingly opinionated: "Her house began to stink, so she said, like a Greek fisherman's crotch [from the smell of stewing octopus]. This is wimpish talk, frankly. I am of the opinion that octopus is quite one of the most exquisite things to come from the sea." And it is full of good advice: "Now, a word about panissa," he will state, as befits the son-in-law of foodhistorian Jane Grigson; or, "Let me offer you a few hints, a few truffle do's and don'ts." A garden mix of personal history, political history, and food all'Italia.

Book about: El Edificio de Inteligencia Cultural (CQ):Nueve Megahabilidades

Little Cafe Cakes

Author: Julie Le Clerc

There is something very appealing about a small, individual cake. Enticing and charming, the versatility of the little cake means it can double as the perfect dessert. It's not suprising that smart little cakes are featured on café menus all around the world. And it is not suprising that Julie Le Clerc is the creative genius behind these fabulous recipes with seriously good flavours.