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Summary: Enticing gift to any soul including your own
Review: A magical farm in the south of France where heartfelt maladies are cured with potage, tea, and mystic. Enchanting fairy tale for romantics.Contains recipes with removable cards and beautifully illustrated letters
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Summary: Magical Tale
Review: A magical tale of food, wine, France, and flowers, Secrets of Pistoulet is a great book to read and cherish. I love the accompanying dishware recently launched by Pfaltzgraf. A perfect hostess gift-- the only problem is that you may change your mind in the last minute and keep it yourself.
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Summary: Magical Tale
Review: A magical tale of food, wine, France, and flowers, Secrets of Pistoulet is a great book to read and cherish. I love the accompanying dishware recently launched by Pfaltzgraf. A perfect hostess gift-- the only problem is that you may change your mind in the last minute and keep it yourself.
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Summary: A beautiful tale of a reborn human spirit
Review: A truly enchanting book, the apparent simplicity of which is deceiving. The book tells the story of the heroine's journey from a place of dispair to a spiritual rebirth. I found the book to be sensitive, uplifting and heartwarming. Yet it isn't cloying or obvious. It left me with a smile and a sense of peace. I strongly recommend it for anyone with an appreciation of illustrated books, and also for those who can enjoy a fine book, even if it doesn't quite fit the ordinary mold.
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Summary: Not quite Nick Bantock
Review: Anybody thinking this will measure up to Nick Bantock's wonderful illustrations and writing will be very disappointed. The writing is choppy and the illustrations are childlike, but charming ... yet, the story is captivating and hard to put down. You want to know what happens to Mademoiselle J. Just don't expect another sensual tale like Griffin and Sabine.
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Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: Compared to Hodgson and Bantock, which this book is imitative of, this book is boring, non-creative, and the art, in my opinion, leaves a lot to be desired. I got it as a gift and wish I could return it.
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Summary: For the wondering, wandering many...
Review: Enchantment, beautiful artwork, and empathic cooking mark the success of this book that touches readers' hearts in places often forgotten.At first, because of a marketing display at a local department store, I thought The Secrets of Pistoulet was not for individual sale, but could only be obtained by purchasing Pistoulet dinnerware. The book so touched me, I briefly considered buying the darn dishes! Luckily, I found the book right here, standing on its own. It hardly needs its own china to promote sales; in fact, the opposite may just be true. This little book is a great marketing ploy to sell the whimsical, pastel dishes that are said to be the very plates used to serve the magical Potages created at Pistoulet. A marketing genius, I tell you, but that is beside the point. The book is lovely, simple and true-to-heart. Tucked with mouth-watering recipes, paintings, photographs and excellent folklore, this book reminds us that food does not just feed the stomach - it feeds the soul. I plan to keep it displayed in my kitchen with a simple spray of herbs and oils, to be read by any lost soul who happens to pass by...
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Summary: How can I thank Jana Kolpen?
Review: Having actually met 'Mademoiselle J' on her mystical journey when she was in New Mexico recently, I can promise you, dear reader, that this beautifully conceived and carefully scripted masterpiece will be a treasure to any who receive its blessing. I consider it to be, in addition to a perfectly magical cookbook of enchanting (and workable!) potions and potages holding age-old secrets of healing, the perfect gift to someone with a recent loss--of any kind! An answer to prayers, even. Blessings to you, Jana Kolpen!
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Summary: Don't bother...
Review: I bought two copies of the book to give as gifts. Fortunately, my curiousity got the best of me and I carefully opened and read one of them. While the pictures are cute and cheerful, the characters and plot lack depth and substance. (and, yes, I greatly enjoy cooking) Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I found the book to be a waste of both time and money. I am glad to have read the book for the sole purpose of saving myself the embarassment of giving it to anyone I know.
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Summary: A Feast
Review: I just received this book as a gift...what a gift! It is a feast for my eyes, my mind and my hands. It is a beautiful "pop-up book" for adults, it has a wonderful feel in my hands as I drift away to a place such as I will never see. I will read and re-read this book many times.
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