A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family Review

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(More customer reviews)Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan grew up in Singapore with no interest in the family traditional cooking that surrounded her youth. Cheryl's dreams were bigger than that. At the age of 18 she left home and family for America to become the fashion writer she had always hoped to. Yet in her 30's, Cheryl began to long for that taste of Singapore, the dishes that defined her childhood. Was it too late to learn the secrets that surrounded her youth and now were embedded within the kitchens of her Grandmothers and Aunts?
A memoir of not only the beauty of tradition and food but also the strength found in unlocking the stories of the past.
In this mouth-watering sensation of a book - I learned about the history of Singapore flavors to the point that I felt as though I could almost smell the scents of fried crab, peppery pork rib broth, and Hainanese Chicken Rice...
During one trip back to Singapore when Cheryl has decided to actively pursue learning more about her Singapore heritage in cooking and offers to help make the traditional Pineapple tarts, I had to laugh when she walks into the kitchen to help to find not one or two pineapples for the tart making - but seventy. The plan was to make 3,000 tarts.Written and told by Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan herself, I enjoyed the humorous style of writing and had to laugh because she sounds a little like me - biting off more than she can chew (pun intended) such as traveling back and forth to Singapore to capture the family traditions, and in the midst of it all taking on the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge which was an on-line challenge to bake your way through every recipe in this book.... which includes triumphant stories "Bagels that were perfection right out of the oven!", as well as not so triumphant stories. "I knew the day would come when I would almost burn down my kitchen".
Oh - and just wait until she calls her maternal grandmother a liar. :D
Honestly I have not had so much fun reading a food memoir style read in a long time. I tasked myself to look up the words I did not know and turned this whole culinary adventure into a learning experience as well. As Cheryl makes her way through New York restaurants that feature Singapore favorites, and heads home to learn the "how to's" of her heritage she grows in more ways than she could have imagined.
I thoroughly enjoyed every morsel of this book. If you are looking for a real treat in culture, food, and everything in between, I would highly put my stamp of approval on this book. This book includes recipes in the back.See more details on this review at my Book Blog: Book Journey

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"Starting with charred fried rice and ending with flaky pineapple tarts, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan takes us along on a personal journey that most can only fantasize about--an exploration of family history and culture through a mastery of home-cooked dishes. Tan's delectable education through the landscape of Singaporean cuisine teaches us that food is the tie that binds."--Jennifer 8. Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
After growing up in the most food-obsessed city in the world, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan left home and family at eighteen for America--proof of the rebelliousness of daughters born in the Year of the Tiger. But as a thirtysomething fashion writer in New York, she felt the Singaporean dishes that defined her childhood beginning to call her back. Was it too late to learn the secrets of her grandmothers' and aunties' kitchens, as well as the tumultuous family history that had kept them hidden before? In her quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore by cooking with her family, Tan learned not only cherished recipes but long-buried stories of past generations.
A Tiger in the Kitchen, which includes ten authentic recipes for Singaporean classics such as pineapple tarts and Teochew braised duck, is the charming, beautifully written story of a Chinese-Singaporean ex-pat who learns to infuse her New York lifestyle with the rich lessons of the Singaporean kitchen, ultimately reconnecting with her family and herself.
Praise for A Tiger in the Kitchen
"Cheryl Tan, a Tiger in the Kitchen, keeps coming back to Singapore in pursuit of the haunting flavors of childhood meals and finds a part of herself she didn't know existed in the kitchens of her loving aunties." --Gael Greene, InsatiableCritic.com
"How does a NYC fashion journalist find herself in Singapore tackling 3000 pineapple tarts, rice dumplings, and other Teochew dishes? Along with the author, we discover the secrets of a culture through the language of the kitchen in this ultimate cure for culinary homesickness."--Kim Sunée, author of Trail of Crumbs

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A Mayan Astronomer in Hell's Kitchen: Poems Review

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(More customer reviews)Martin Espada's tumultous language rushes forward in this unforgettable sixth collection of firey work: white heat surrounded by the cooler, blue streaks of history. Rather than hold a mirror up to the broken time-barrier of his people's seemingly eternal struggle, he captures it by the hair of its head and drags it onto the page where it still lives, thrashing. Emotive and layered with textural surreal images, his words continue to carry the torch through the subterranean tunnels of fresh consciousness, where the shadows first cast by Neruda still dance. He is a worthy carrier of that kind of genuine magic. His is a poetry of sharp blades that cuts through the toughest-rooted dream territory, as we see in "The Shiny Aluminum of God:" "The scar carves her husband's forehead/ where the doctors scooped the tumor out,/ where cancer cells scramble like a fistful of ants." No other present-day Mayan, or present-day prophet, for that matter, writes with such warp and texture. Warning: the poet talks texture at the table: the communion table of collective consciousness. Because he seems to hear more and see more than other spiritual chroniclers, his readers can be with "the preacher who first heard the savior's voice/ bleeding through the plaster of the jailhouse." He is one who has a gift to let the blood speak-- to let the truth seep through. The title is appropriate; he may well chart the stars of the past and future, and his poems are our hotline to his vision in Hell's Kitchen. Espada never shies away from the drama of his subject matter. Each poem is loaded with the special energy that only he can impart. The message is usually violent, requiring a sizeable talent which has yet to let us down.

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Georgia's Kitchen Review

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(More customer reviews)After a terrible review (as the result of her idiot boss seducing the reviewer's barely legal daughter), head chef Georgia is out of a job and quickly finds herself without a fiancé as well. Seems the coke-addicted entertainment lawyer she intended to marry (even though she had a few doubts) feels their commitment drove him to drugs. Smartly, Georgia doesn't buy it and encourages the split; it's time to focus on her career and starting a restaurant of her own. It was incredibly refreshing to read a book with a female protagonist who didn't fall apart and who didn't do the happily ever after (yes, she does briefly flee to Italy for work, but her job options were minimal in New York); Georgia indulges romantically, but the restaurant becomes her focus as soon as the fiancé is out of the picture. Georgia later has a great conservation with her soon-to-be business partner where she tells him how she realized in Italy that she can be alone and that it's okay to ask for help.
The dialogue is great as are the relationships. The dynamic between Grammy (Dorothy's deceased mom) and Dorothy (Georgia's mom) and Georgia is incredibly well done.
Copy received from the publisher.

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At thirty-three, talented chef Georgia Gray has everything a woman could want—the top job at one of Manhattan's best restaurants; a posse of smart and savvy gal pals who never let her down; and a platinum-set, cushion-cut diamond engagement ring courtesy of Glenn, the handsome entertainment lawyer who Georgia's overbearing mother can't wait for her to marry. The table is set for the ambitious bride-to-be until a scathing restaurant review destroys her reputation. To add salt to her wounds, Glenn suddenly calls off the wedding. Brokenhearted, Georgia escapes to the Italian countryside, where she sharpens her skills at a trattoria run by a world-class chef who seems to have it all—a devoted lover, a magnificent villa, and most important, a kitchen of her own. Georgia quells her longings with Italy's delectable offerings: fine wine, luscious cheeses, cerulean blue skies, and irresistible Gianni—an expert in the vineyard and the bedroom. So when Gianni tempts Georgia to stay in Italy with an offer no sane top chef could refuse, why can't she say yes? An appetite for something more looms large in Georgia's heart – the desire to run her own restaurant in the city she loves. But having left New York with her career in flames, she'll need to stir up more than just courage if she's to realize her dreams and find her way home.

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