The Maine Summers Cookbook (Linda and Martha Greenlaw)

I don't really know what my obsession with Maine cooking has been all about lately. I think having just reviewed Lobster Claws & Blueberry Pie (about summers in Kennebunkport), I wanted something to compare it to. While Lobster Claws seems to be an anecdotal record with some recipes thrown in, The Maine Summers Cookbook is all about the recipes, with just a few anecdotes.

The subtitle of Linda and Martha Greenlaw's book (mother and daughter), Recipes for Delicious, Sun-Filled Days, says it all. As I look out my window on this beautiful, sunny, July 3rd in Philly, eating a lobster roll by the pool sounds like my cup of tea. Maine is known, obviously, for the lobster, but I never knew that it was also known for its blueberries. The reader of this cookbook runs into somewhat of a problem, however, when the recipe calls for Maine blueberries or Maine crabmeat, and he or she does not live in Maine (like me). But just like a Key Lime Pie only tastes delicious when using key limes (hence the name), making the recipes like the Greenlaws call for requires the authentic ingredients.

Short anecdotes about pig roasting and "rafting up" come between the real "meat" (no pun intended) of the book...the recipes. From cocktails to desserts, the Greenlaws have you covered. The heart of the book is, of course, seafood (Maine stuffed clams, Red crab cakes, Lobster rolls, etc.)., but I was surprised by the number of other types of food (Moxie Island baked steak, Cilantro and cholula corn bread, Cinnamon-blueberry ice cream, etc.). You literally could put a whole meal together every day for a month just using this book.

The Greenlaws are true "Mainers", and as the pictures show, they know their stuff (witness the picture of soaking wet Linda Greenlaw digging for clams). When you can't get to Maine, this is the next best thing.

MY RATING - 4

This review can also be found at http://www.bookloons.com.

Lobster Rolls & Blueberry Pie (Rebecca Charles and Deborah DiClementi)

I just love cookbooks that combine recipes with stories of family. Food and family are two "F" words that go together. It is no coincidence that the traditions that many of us enjoy with our families combine the two. Such is the case with Lobster Rolls & Blueberry Pie: Three Generations of Recipes and Stories from Summers on the Coast of Maine.

Having never been to Maine, I lived vicariously through this book. Rebecca Charles is currently the owner and head chef of Pearl Oyster Bar in Greenwich Village. The namesake of the restaurant is Pearle Goldsmith, Rebecca's grandmother. Lobster Rolls & Blueberry Pie recounts the Goldsmith's summers in Kennebunkport, from the time Rebecca's great uncle Sam first took the family there to Rebecca's weeks there now. The pictures in the book are worth the price alone. Seeing the male striped bathing suits in the early 1900s makes you realize just how much things have changed. Charles also includes shocking stories about Jewish prejudice in Maine at this time and the heroes who dared to stand up to it.

I have not tried any of the recipes yet, but I am most looking forward to trying Pearle's Shortbread. This is not so much a cookbook as it is an extremely heartwarming, worthwhile memoir of summers gone by.

MY RATING - 4

Red Hook Road (Ayelet Waldman)

In literary history, what are most remembered are the characters and their inner turmoils. Even to those unfamiliar with To Kill a Mockingbird's plot, they know Atticus Finch and Scout. A reader may not remember how Alice met The Mad Hatter, but they know the characters. Red Hook Road excels in character study. If the entire novel stayed true to this, it would be Waldman's tour de force. Alas, it does not.

The novel begins at the Red Hook, Maine, summer wedding of Becca Copaken and John Tetherly....young, vivacious, with their whole lives in front of them. While their families and guests wait for them at their reception, they are given the tragic news that the couple has died in a limousine accident. Two families, of very different social classes, have become unwittingly united in their grief in the succeeding summers in Red Hook. Broken apart at times, but forever together, Red Hook Road is the story of the Copakens...Iris, Daniel, Ruthie, and Mr. Kimmelbrod, and the Tetherlys...Jane, Matt, and Mr. Kimmelbrod's protege', Samantha.

I found myself engrossed in these characters until the last few chapters, when Waldman no longer focuses on them. Somehow a microburst (a tornado-like storm) pops up right over the Copakens' annual Fourth of July gathering (how convenient). The Tetherlys and Copakens must work together to survive this out-of-nowhere storm. And lo and behold, they do, and they are not separated anymore! Waldman's coda then comes out of nowhere.

I couldn't wait to finish this book to rush to my blog and give it a 5! Why, oh why, did Waldman have to go and write a cliched plot device at the end? Focus on characters, Ms Waldman, and you'll have a winner every time!

MY RATING - 4