The Apprentice

Pepin, Jacques. The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen. New York: Houghton Mifflin 2003. Print.

First Sentences:

My mother made it sound like a great adventure.

Description:

Although I know next to nothing about food and its preparation, I still can appreciate quality writing and interesting, real-life stories from someone at the very top of this profession. Therefore, I highly recommend Jacques Pepin's autobiography, The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen for a glimpse into the world of kitchens, training, restaurants, and innovation by a renowned chef.

Pepin's mother opened a simple restaurant, Le Pelican, in rural France with a few recipes, no business experience, and certainly no restaurant training. Here Pepin and his brother Roland learned how to cook, clean, wait tables, and all other roles necessary to a professional enterprise. And where he learned to love cooking and restaurante, although his brother hated that life.

Pepin left school at 13 for Paris, boldly getting a position at Le Grand Hotel de l'Europe. More on-the-job training, growth, and then moving on to other restaurants. He climbs from being a gopher called "P'tit" [Kid] to tending a stove, an honor recognized when the chef finally drops the nickname and calls him by his real name, "Jacques." He moves up to be the commis [chef assistant] and finally head chef. Pepin brings readers into each kitchen and their head chefs, carefully describing the environment of a first-class restaurant and the tasks necessary to produce the highest quality food. 

There are humorous stories as well, as when the very young Pepin was sent by the head chef to several restaurants to pick up their "machine a dessosser les poulets [chicken-boning machine] from another restaurant. Each location had an excuse for not having that machine and sent him along to another location, over and over until Pepin returned sadly empty-handed to his chef. Only then did he realize there was no such machine and he had passed an initiation into the restaurant family. In another story, Pepin's love of juicy pears is tested as he sneaks one of the chef's "des poires avocat" [avocado pears], biting into the leathery skin and hard seed of an avocado for the first time.

Later, Pepin travels to New York and contrasts the restaurant standards and chefs with those from France. His experiences lead him in the 1960s to, of all places, Howard Johnson's restaurants to help them upgrade the quality of their food and make it consistent in all their one thousand restaurants, a unique concept at the time. Instead of cooking for only a few restaurant patrons, Pepin now learned how to prepare clam chowder, a HoJo specialty, in stockpots of 500 or 1000 gallons.

Story after story are simply told as if Pepin is sitting next to you recalling his life. He has a charming writing style that fully reveal the picture he is painting:

Then there was [the chef's] look, a look that will recur in my nightmares as long as I live, not so much a look of anger as one of disdain, a gaze that lasted but a fraction of a second, yet made it clear that your pathetic little error was far beneath the level of his contempt. 

From cooking for Charles de Gaulle to working with Julia Child and every other great chef, from writing the classic book on the exacting techniques of preparing and cooking to traveling the world conducting cooking workshops and television shows, Pepin shows he is a giant in the kitchen and the world of cooking. Highly recommended for lovers of food, kitchen life,and fine writing.

Happy reading. 

Fred

(See more recommended books)
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Fechtor, Jessica. Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals That Brought Me Home. 

After a chef suffers an unexpected aneurysm, she rediscovers her love of cooking and eating. The book is filled with beautiful writing, recipes, and stories of the joy and struggles in her life. (previously reviewed here) 

Gaffingan, Jim. Food: A Love Story

The opposite end of the food spectrum. Stand-up comedian Gaffigan is a self-proclaimed "Eatie," who will eat and enjoy simple items like hamburgers. He reviews food choices in the United State and some international cuisines, as well as comments on several restaurants both ordinary and pretentious. Very funny. (previously reviewed here)

Special Post - Short Reviews #3

Here are a few short reviews of very interesting books that I enjoyed but just don't have the energy to compose a full review each. These books are all well-written, with great characters and interesting plots. It is only my lack of time (laziness?) that they don't get the full attention they deserve.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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Born on Snowshoes - Evelyn Berglund Short

First Sentences 

I suppose that on the banks of American Creek in Alaska the hills were green with spruce and birch, and that wild flowers and berries spotted them and the valleys below. 

      

Description:

Author Evelyn Berglund Short recalls her extraordinary life in the wilds of Alaska during the 1920s and '30s with her two sisters, mother, and an old trapper who took them in when Evelyn was 12 and her father died. Her memories revolve around poling boats 280 miles away from civilization to their trapping cabin where they wintered, hunting, fishing, and trapping marmots, beaver and shooting caribou, bears, and moose. Despite only one year of schooling, Evelyn's stories are gripping, honest, and clearly narrated as she braves 70 below zero weather, freezing water, hungry wolves, sled dogs, and the threat of starvation. The four women and trapper lived for ten winters in that cabin, and her stories describe the beauty, humor, and harshness of that world wonderfully.

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Bruno, Chief of Police - Martin Walker

First Sentences  

On a bright May morning, so early that the last of the mist was still lingering low over a bend in the Vezere River, a white van drew to a halt on the ridge that overlooked the small French town. 

Description:

A small town in France is quietly supervised by a gentle police chief known to all as Bruno. A former soldier who never wears a gun, Bruno knows everyone, understands their lives, and enjoys the quiet life he has built for himself. But then there is a murder in his village, the killing of an old French war hero who had recently moved to St. Denis to live in seclusion near his son, grandson, and unborn great-grandson. The murder appears to be a hate crime, but Bruno cannot understand how this could happen in his peaceful community. Adding local police and state law officers complicates the investigation that Bruno feels may point to activities during the French Occupation during World War II and the Resistance Movement.

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Scouting for the Reaper - Jacob M. Appel

First Sentences  

Miss Stanley was new to the ninth grade that autumn, and we could all sense that she wasn't cut out for it.

        

Description:

Seven exquisitely constructed stories compose this book and each one is a gem. Full of characters with secrets and relationships that are grudgingly uncovered, Scouting for the Reaper engrosses readers in the common lives that turn unexpected. From the tombstone salesman who meets his former wife now as a customer, to a young girl who discovers via a simple schoolroom blood type experiment that her parents cannot genetically be her real parents, to a reclusive fairy tale researcher to a truck driver who crashes his load of penguins, each story is unexpectedly compelling and unpredictable. Strongly written and completely believable in its characterizations of ordinary people forced to reveal buried stories and make difficult decisions.

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My Life East and West - William S. Hart

First Sentences  

I was born at Newburgh, New York.

My first recollection is of Oswego, Illinois. My father was a miller, and we lived near the flour mill on the Fox River. There were only two houses. 

   

Description:

William S. Hart was not only one of the first Silent Screen movie stars as a gun-toting cowboy, he actually lived a fascinating live among the world of cattle drives, Sioux Indians, gunslingers, bronco busting, and prairie schooners in his unsupervised youth. His autobiography is cleverly told, full of anecdotes of both his upbringing and his film career and early departure into seclusion while he was still on top.

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I, Fatty - Jerry Stahl

First Sentences  

Daddy referred to my mother's reproductive organs as "her little flower."

In my earliest baby-boy memories, the man's either looming and glum -- not drunk enough -- or bug-eyed and stubbly after a three-day bender, so liquored up he tilts when he leans down to snatch me off the burlap rags my brothers and sisters piled on the floor of our Kansas shack and called our "sleep blankets." 

"You broke her little flower, pig boy!" 

--WHACK! -- 

Description:

Here is a fictionalized memoir of the silent film comedian, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Narrated by Arbuckle, the book reveals Arbuckle's rise from an abusive home of poverty to his early success on the stage as a 375-pound singer and comedian, from his rise to superstardom along with Chaplin and Keaton in the earliest silent films, to the horrific public trials and disgrace when he is accused to a rape/murder occurs. During that period, he is vilified by audiences to the extent that his films are removed from cinemas and he cannot work for years. A gritty, personal, and in-depth look at one man and his rollercoaster life of fame and shame on the stage and screen of that fascinating, greedy era.

What do you do when the world thinks you're a monster, and you know it's the world that's monstrous?

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The French House

Wallace, Don. The French House: An American Family, a Ruined Maison, and the Village That Restored Them All. Napierville, IL: Sourcebooks. 2014. Print

First Sentences:

Bonjour et Bienvenue ---

There are a few things that have to be done immediately when you open the house. Please read ALL these points carefully.

First, however, apologies if the ocean was rough on the ferry ride over. We hope nobody got seasick. If somebody did, please check, and clean, the soles of their (not yours, I hope) shoes.

Description:

There are many books (e.g., Don't Stop the Carnival, A Year in Provence) that tell the dream and nightmare of people who discover a lovely destination, desire to live in said destination, purchase a run-down building, then suffer the pains of trying to make it into a livable home. All steps involve a lot of hair-pulling frustration, lackadaisical local builders, and angry words.

Well, here's a different version of that scenario. Don Wallace's  The French House: An American Family, a Ruined Maison, and the Village That Restored Them All is full of
intelligence, wit, and humor, along with heart-felt respect for the locals and their tiny, historic town. The biggest problem Wallace faces is having the funds to even begin restoring a dilapidated house that, without major work in the first year, will be a heap of stones by the following summer.

Marshall and his wife, Mindy, both budding writers living in New York City, fall in love with the small French island of Belle Ile off the coast of Brittany. Through strict building restrictions, the architecture there has remained the same since the 1700s, untouched by tourist shops, fast food, and other amusements. Families have fished and farmed there for generations. Belle Ile even has deserted beaches with waves (and inconveniently cold water) that are a bonus for Hawaiian Mindy and surfer Don. What's not to love?

When an ancient house comes up for sale, Don and Mindy invest all of their tiny savings and future earnings to buy it. Sitting in the center of a tiny town, their "brand-new ruin" is an eyesore, but a piece of history that needs tender (i.e., specific and expensive) attention. Broken shudders, collapsed floors, horrendous roof, and a road that runs inches from their front door are shocking to these first-time owners, but they've signed the papers and the deed is done. Oh, and Mindy just discovered she is pregnant, another drain to their non-existent bank balance. They are naive, broke, and justifiably nervous about every decision.

And they learn that not just any rebuilding of the house will do. It must be a maison saine, one that makes sense in layout and utility. According to local custom, every house must make:

an orderly and attractive first impression, one not overcluttered or fussily decorated or unduly idiosyncratic....[It] had to look welcoming from the get-go -- to reflect its occupant's readiness to offer a seat, a cup of coffee, and a slice of buttery kouign amann to anyone who happened to stop by.

More illusive, their new house also has to a "moral" house. It has to "put the character and beauty of the village and island above any and all personal claims and architectural pretensions." Without a saine and moral house, the Wallaces will never be accepted by locals as people with respect for the traditional culture of Bell Ile.

Yes, they discover neighbors with unusual backgrounds, characteristics, and motivations for the house as well. Gwened who lives next door is arbitrator of everything to make sure if conforms to the proper Briton way of doing things. Madame Morgane on their other side, when first seen out the window working in her fields, "looks like Death dressed as a Girl Scout." Then there's the unknown driver of the phantom silver Porsche who is rumored to fly down the roads at high speeds late at night. Sarah Bernhardt once owned an ancient fortress on the island and enjoyed an eccentric life of:

shooting seabirds while lying in bed taking her morning coffee and receiving the Prince of Wales for a farewell-to-all-that night of love while en route to his coronation as king.

With jobs in New York City, the Wallaces are only able to visit their home for a month in summer, but what a wonderful month of belle temps Wallace describes. From surfing to walking to shopping in tiny fish stalls to cooking lovely local produce, parties, and of course writing and napping, the Wallace family and residents of Belle Ile live an envious life. Wallace and his family become part of this ancient organism, both absorbing and contributing to the Breton culture, bringing guacamole, surfing and baseball to the island for the first time.

Gradually the locals warm to les Americains. When the Wallaces returned to Belle Ile after an year's absence following the shock of 9/11 which occurred in their neighborhood, they were greeted at their door by their insurance man:

 M. Grancoeur stood in a coat and tie, cheeks freshly scraped, a profusion of Belle Il'e's glory in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other.

"Please," he said, "accept the condolences of France." 

This quiet action shows sympa, the underlying code of behavior on Belle Ile depicted throughout this wonderful book. Sympa is "an all-purpose word used frequently on Belle Ile, it meant to display tact and generosity." Yes, there are ancient buildings, lovely seascapes, rolling hills, and farmlands. But it is sympa that makes Bell Ile and The French House so compelling and memorable. The book continually renews one's faith in quality of people who strive to preserve a culturally rich life as well as their own individuality in a changing world that threatens their way of life.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Wouk, Herman. Don't Stop the Carnival

Delightfully funny novel of a New Yorker who decides to run away to a Caribbean island to start his life over as a hotel keeper. Unfortunately, everything about this plan and the hotel goes awry.

Mayle, Peter. A Year in Provence

The classic tale of the transformation of a ruined property and its owner.Referred to by Wallace's parents in The French House as the exemplary way to restore a French property and live a quality life (something they are shocked to see Wallace has not done).