Recipe Weekend / Book Review: Freedom Fries and Café Crème by Jocelyne Rapinac

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from NetGalley for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it

Does Mom have an affinity for all things french?

Is she a Francophile?

Then she may love this new book that is fictional short stories combined with recipes!

Synopsis:

Lucas sits in a Boston coffee shop, longing for a proper cup of French café . . .

Juliette returns to Burgundy and the love she turned her back on . . .

In Manhattan, live-in chef Armand is content with his life. And yet . . .

This delicious story collection brings together a cast of characters from both sides of the Atlantic who all share a genuine delight in good food. Each story captures a moment when love is found, lost, or rejected. There is a story for each month of the year, accompanied by easy-to-follow recipes.

Review: 

There are 12 stories, all written by the author, that correspond to each month. The stories feature Americans in France and vice versa, along with French Canadians. The thing that binds them all together of course is FOOD! The making of it, sense of it, smell of it,.and eating it! And LOVE. Which to many of us is what food equals- a showing of how much we love. And each story ends with recipes that were talked about within the story, adding to a greater reader fulfillment (personally that drives me nuts when a character in a book talks and talks about a certain recipe and then you're left wondering what made it SO special in the book, when you hunt down the recipe on line (if you're lucky) and try it at home!).

All the tales allow for the reader to make up in their mind what happens next to the characters. Much like a basic recipe the stories offer the reader a foundation, on which to form their own tale of the characters(with the exception of the first story- info on those characters is in the last tale).  Which actually makes this book great for a writing class or reading group- think how much fun you could have continuing the stories, and sharing each other's follow up stories! This is a fun book and would make a great gift basket idea, with food stuffs from the book, to make the recipes with, for Mother's Day, or any special occasion!

Ready for a recipe from the book?

This recipe is really four in one, but it will get your creativity going, and you'll be making up more variations in no time! Also, if you're not big on cottage cheese, you can substitute creme fraiche or Ricotta instead.

About the Author:

Jocelyne Rapinac: Rapinac is a modern languages teacher in London. Born in France, she has lived in the US, Switzerland and the UK with her husband James.Freedom Fries and Café Crème is her first novel.