Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsSimple Family Recipes You Can Make for Your Busy Family. Great photos of beautiful food and a wonderful family.
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2014
If you can't see what a wonderful person Ann Romney is from reading through this book, I am quite unsure what to tell you. This is a book of a person who cares about family and has no pretension to being elite or above the rest of us. Sure, she and Mitt are very wealthy. Good for them. They earned it. But they certainly have lived without wealth. And they have shared their blessings with many other folks in and out of their Church.
I grew up as a Mormon in Detroit when Mitt's father was an important church leader in Michigan before and after he became governor of Michigan. I was a teenager and did some gopher work for Mitt's mother's campaign for the senate. But I was no intimate of the Romneys. However, I saw how they lived. Sure, they had more than my working class family. However, they lived in one of the more unpretentious homes in Bloomfield Hills. And they had zero airs of importance. They were all about helping others and organizing people to make things better for everyone. Period.
That is the message of this book, as well. The recipes are simple home fare, not fancy gourmet fare for the elites. Basic family stuff that any family can afford to make and simple enough for people with busy lives to make and enjoy meals together. And family is the message and core of this book, through and through. If you know any Latter-day Saint families, you will understand this message and it will resonate with anyone who places a high value on family togetherness. This is about family recipes handed down, Sunday meals, Family Night, Traditions each family has and keeps as a way to unite generations, and Holiday Meals.
The book is also full of simple breads, soups, salads, and family style main dishes, side dishes, and desserts. Lots of desserts! The emphasis is on flavor, ease of preparation, and feeding a group.
The book is full of gorgeous photos of the dishes and the Romney clan and unless you for some reason you hate the Romneys (I cannot imagine a good reason to not admire them), you will find a lot to love in this book.
I recommend it for families looking for good recipes for their home and for those who want to delve more deeply into the Romney views on life and family.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Saline, MI