I'm amazed at how superior your vanilla is!
– Des, The Grommet
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While it may seem unlikely to find a review for a children’s cookbook on a site like this, many of us have kids or grandkids, and You’ve Got Recipes is such a special book that it deserves all the reviews it can get.
Jerry Anne Di Vecchio, a food editor at Sunset magazine for four decades, and Francoise Dudal Kirkman, a Paris trained artist, who worked with Jerry at Sunset and created many children’s cooking and crafts stories, collaborated on this deightful book to create much more than a simple cookbook for young chefs.
A charming cast of animal characters who live in Paris and San Francisco, share their recipes and thoughts with one another and readers on healthy, fresh French and California cuisine by way of the internet. The recipes are simple enough for children to execute (with adult assistance for the younger culinarians), but tasty enough to please kids and grownups alike.
Raccoons Cleo and Henry, who live by the Bay under a Victorian home in San Francisco, and Sophie, a Parisian mouse with numerous relatives, share information, stories and lots and lots of food.
What’s more, the book is filled with French words and contains a glossary at the back with both a translation and pronunciation guide. It also includes a real e-mail address where children may write to the the menagerie for assistance and tips.
Recipes are well laid out and contain step-by-step instructions along with a list of tools for each recipe. Readers learn a variety of techniques that will serve them well as they grow and continue to expand their culinary adventures. The book offers appetizers, soups, salads, entrees and desserts. Cheese Puffs (gougeres), Tomatoes Stuffed with Vegetable Salad, Crisp Pizza, Spring Lamb Stew, Spicy Pork Rips, Eclairs and Coconut Cooky Cream cake are just a few of the delicious recipes.
Notable chef-parents who have shared their prise for You’ve Got Recipes include Alice Waters, Jacques pepin and Wolfgang Puck. But even more impressive, Jerry and Francoise received Grandy Awards as grandparents who have produced meaningful artistic endeavors!
You’ve Got Recipes is self-published. You can order it here. It’s the perfect gift for the children in your life.
I was given a small bottle of Rain’s Choice in a gift basket and I have been hooked ever since. The flavor makes all of my baking so much better! I will never use grocery store vanilla again!
