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4.5
Full disclosure: I tested recipes for this book, so, of course I am biased. I own many of Susan's cookbooks and have taken classes with her in Normandy and Paris. I think she's a wonderful, creative, and innovative cook. What I loved about this book was that while it has incredible recipes (my favorites are the Beet & Goat Cheese Towers, Rabbit with Dried Plums, New Potato Fries, Soufflé with Cheese and Chicken (or try duxelles for a vegetarian version), and Rhubarb and Ginger Tarte), it also showed her skill as a perceptive, adept, and humorous writer. I loved reading her insights into French culture and her respect for their love and reverence for food. It's not a book with haute cuisine recipes that is a beautiful coffee-table book, but one which never makes its way into the kitchen! Rather this is homecooking at its best, as well as fun bedtime reading for the wonderful essays and stories, and sweet food-filled dreams. Brava, Susan!