Romancing the Stove: Celebrated Recipes and Delicious Fun for Every Kitchen Goddess [Paperback]

Margie Lapanja (Author), Andrew F. Smith (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002

Margie Lapanja believes in awakening all the senses when it comes to eating, and for that matter, pre- and postprandial activities, too. In Romancing the Stove, she shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes along with goddess tales, practical tips, fascinating food facts, and a fine seasoning of quotes. Recipes range from the classic pain perdu — a resourceful solution for bread that would otherwise go stale — to the more unusual Love Apple Linguine, Cookie Dough Pancakes, Mango Tapioca Pudding, and Pumpkin Spice Muffins. This lively tribute to the sensual arts of cooking, loving, and living is illustrated throughout.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Margie Lapanja made a fortune baking and selling her Cowboy Cookies. She shares the chocolate, nut, oat, and coconut-studded recipe in Goddess in the Kitchen while urging you to bring more play and passion into your cooking. As one of many inspirational quotes in this book suggests, "Communion, union with divinity, is accomplished by means of food" (Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul). If Chicken Soup for the Soul is your cup of tea, then Goddess in the Kitchen is likely a cookbook for you.

Lapanja, a card-carrying member of the Wild Woman Association, is passionately dedicated to encouraging uninhibited behavior. Her indulgences--mostly benign--lean toward daydreaming about eating virtuously lean Mango Tapioca Pudding on a desert island, sipping champagne with buttery shortbread (a sweet once associated with the Celtic spring celebration Beltane), and the like. Before each recipe, she provides historical and mythological information, particularly about the earth-mother Demeter and other goddesses, or some New Age inspirational advice, often combined with provocative personal ramblings. Since Lapanja's motto is "Eat dessert first," many of her recipes focus on sweets.

Written in an all-out style, this is a book you will love or hate. It's for you if advice like "We need to fall back in love with our food, the cooking process, and ourselves" speaks to you, or if your heart melts at the true story of the passionate romance between a priest and an ex-nun who ultimately wed, had six children, and still love to linger over a bowl of Pasta with Ginger Shrimp Soul Sauce. --Dana Jacobi --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Booklist

New Age philosophy illumines every page of this unique cookbook. At the book's outset, Lapanja lays down her guidelines for cooking, and she follows these precepts religiously. Her rules call for food that is wholly a pleasure, both for the cook and for diners. Her guiding-star recipe appears to be a kids' favorite, cookie-dough pancakes, a novel breakfast treat calling for cookie-dough bits--any dough will do--dropped onto pancakes as they sizzle. Lapanja wants cooks to follow wherever their imaginations lead. Her own inspirations run to sweet treats above all. Even her main-course dishes combine sweet and savory components for no-holds-barred cooking. Lapanja's island casserole mixes fresh fish and rice with garlic, canned crushed pineapple, cheese, and canned artichoke hearts in curry sauce. Other dishes, such as her profiteroles, adhere to more disciplined tradition. Mark Knoblauch --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: Conari Press (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573248584
• ISBN-13: 978-1573248587
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,019,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It does bring your family together., May 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Goddess in the Kitchen: 201 Heavenly Recipes, Spirited Stories & Saucy Secrets (Paperback)

I wouldn't of believed it...but it's true. Putting these dishes together brought a lovely spirit into our home. I actually had all the ingredients in my pantry for most of the recipes and they were easy to prepare and my family thought I was a goddess. DREAM PUFFS are a must when you want to show your kids just how much you love them in the kitchen. When I have to work a long day and need to get back in touch with the family, GODDESS IN THE KITCHEN is the cookbook I pull out first. Let the spirits in.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nourishment!, August 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Goddess in the Kitchen: 201 Heavenly Recipes, Spirited Stories & Saucy Secrets (Paperback)

This book is chock-full of luscious, easy to prepare recipes that delight all the senses. It transformed me from a one dish wonder to a gourmet gal! Margie Lapanja makes cooking a pleasure. The stories, trivia, folklore, and facts on food are astounding, quirky, amusing, and always interesting. I find it so wonderful to whip up a recipe and read an engaging tale while I wait for it to cook up in the oven or on the stove. This book helped me unleash my creative culinary skills and to discover the power of great food, lovingly prepared. I especially appreciate that this cookbook is just as appropriate for a skilled chef as well as the "can't boil water" set. It makes a great gift.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Amazing!, December 26, 2001

By 

Inga Kharik (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goddess in the Kitchen: 201 Heavenly Recipes, Spirited Stories & Saucy Secrets (Paperback)

This book is an absolute treat! It's not just another cookbook -the delicious tales that go with the recepies are food for the imagination and for the soul, while fabulous and pretty simple recepies are wonderfully surprising treats for the tastebuds. I especially love the Cowboy Cookies which were a huge hit at my Christmas potluck party.