LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, By Laura Esquivel

I have to thank my baby cousin Sofie for recommending this one to me! It was an absolutely great read. It is, to quote the author, "a novel in monthly instalments with recipes, romances and home remedies". There are two things I am taking away from this book:

1) The really exquisite parallel between the moods and feelings of Tita, and the food she creates. So, if she is sad, the food turns bitter; if she is crying while cooking, the dessert refuses to set. She is so resentful while cooking for the wedding of her sister and the love of her life, that all guests fall violently sick after consuming the main course. This reminds me of what my mother used to say: "Never eat food while angry, it will turn into poison inside you!"

2) When Tita's sister returns home after several years, she wants to taste her favourite childhood dessert, cream fritters. Living away from home, the following words really touched me: "Gertrudis got onto her horse and rode away. She wasn't riding alone - she carried her childhood beside her, in the cream fritters she had enclosed in a jar in her saddle-bag." Indeed, every time I taste something my mom has made, or something Bulgarian, I feel closer to my family and to the place of my roots.

RECIPE FOR CREAM FRITTERS

1 cup of heavy cream

6 eggs

cinnamon

syrup

"While she greased the pot where Tita would pour the beaten cream, she [Gertrudis] never stopped talking... "

From the vague description that follws, I assume she makes custard with the egg yolks and cream and lets it thicken in a pan over the flame.

"Once the custard is cool, it is cut into small squares, a size that won't crumble so easily. Next the egg whites are beaten, so the squares of custard can be rolled in them and fried in oil. Finally, the fritters are served in syrup and sprinkled with ground cinnamon."