Between Two Fires : Intimate Writings on Life, Love, Food, and Flavor

Rating:
Summary: A collection of thoughts.
Review: For those of you who expect something along the same lines as "Like Water for Chocolate" and "The Law of Love," you will be disappointed. "Between Two Fires" is basically a collection of thoughts, or short essays, taken from articles published in "Vogue de Mexico;" prologues to books such as "The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking," by Rick Curry; or speeches made at book fairs and psychoanalyst workshops.

"Between Two Fires" does not carry the heady aroma and full body of Esquivel's previous books. One feels as though someone forgot to keep stoking the fire and the meal, so to speak, has well ... gone cold in places.

If however, you want a quick, short read to pass the time on the bus, train, underground, in the doctor's waiting room or waiting for the kettle to boil whilst in the full knowledge that you can finish a chapter by the time you get to your destination, are called for your appointment or need to make tea for the neighbours, then this is an ideal book to carry along with you. It is basically an anthology of memories, thoughts, ideas, short stories, interwoven with the ever present taste and aroma of the kitchen.

Rating:
Summary: This return to the kitchen is a gift from Esquivel
Review: For those of you, as I was, who were less than lukewarm to Esquivel's "The Law of Love", "Between Two Fires" is a fabulous return to the warm hearth of Esquivel's upbringing- from the proper way to make home made salsa (in a molcajete, not a blender)to instructions on how to make low fat mayonnaise, BTF is a cook's essay on life, love, and the journey back home to the heart of the family- the kitchen. After going out to join her sisters in their quest for political and social equality during the 60's, Esquivel tells how she realized, after getting married and having her own daughter, that the sacrafice for equality, while noble, cost her the heritage of lifelong recipes and tradition passed on from her mother, grandmother, and all the women before her. She forced herself to remember those recipes, and soon, could hear her mother and her grandmother's voices dictating these recipes to her. BTF is an incredible mix of these recipes, plus life lessons Esquivel has learned along the way. If you have a true love for the kitchen, as I always have, this book will probably make you a bit teary (if you're not into cooking, you wouldn't understand). The message I got out of it is this: NEVER take your heritage for granted, and never sell it for higher social acceptance or prominence. If you do, your family's voices and stories will die with each successive generation, until they become extinct. BTF is amazing, and I thank Laura Esquivel for inviting us into her personal experiences and specific instructions that make her food perfect. I am especially grateful for her recipe for mole- it is one of my favorite foods. For anyone, male or female, who considers cooking to be their art, you must have a copy of this book. It is a return to "Like Water for Chocolate" and so much more.