Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts Reviews Breaking Bread in L’Aquila

Hi Everybody,

When Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts takes time to review your book, it’s like winning a Cooking Oscar! WOW ! I wanted to share it with you! Here’s the link: http://lcbpghlibrary.wordpress.com/

For the cook with the sophisticated side, and an affinity for family-style Italian meals, Breaking Bread in L’Aquila is the perfect book. Maria Filice divulges an entire week of dinners which include five courses each: Antipasta, Primi Piatti, Secondi Piatti, Contorni, and Dolci. All have explanations of their original place in a family-style Italian dinner and variations that can be used to create smaller meals. Filice has planned the dishes to complement one another; however she makes it abundantly clear that picking and choosing favorites is entirely okay. Wine is an important aspect of any truly Italian dinner, and Filice makes sure to include wine suggestions, all native to Abruzzo, Italy.

Breaking Bread in L’Aquila is an organized and nostalgic book, giving Filice the opportunity to share both recipes and family tradition with the world.

Check out this book today in the library!! To see the author’s signature, come to the library to view it in our special collections!!

It is indeed another great day ! !

maria

Two more reviews for Breaking Bread in L’Aquila

More great news !

I wanted to share two reviews in i-Italy Magazine.

You can find Sam Dunham’s on this link: http://www.i-italy.org/node/14133.

Marina Melchionda is written in Italian and is pubished on the homepage of the Italian section. Here is the link: http://www.i-italy.org/node/14130).

maria

Thomson-Shore Chooses Breaking Bread in L’Aquila as Book of the Month

We’ll freely admit it—we’re suckers for a good cookbook. But do not let our predilection for highlighting customer cookbooks affect your judgment about this month’s featured book. Breaking Bread in L’Aquila by Maria Filice is an unequivocal joy. Not only does Filice welcome you into her private world with open arms, she makes you feel as if you can cook a multi-course Italian (dishes primarily from the Abruzzo region) dinner every single night of the week. And that’s because you can with her masterful, yet simple instruction.
This cookbook is more than a compilation of delicious recipes; it’s a true labor of love. From her introduction we learn that Filice’s late husband, Paul, introduced her to his home country L’Aquila, and taught her the techniques of cooking in the region’s local style. By combining her lessons on creating a tasteful meal with a natural love of entertaining, Filice is able to create a manual that allows a reader to master the art of breaking bread like a true Italian.
After a heartfelt introduction in which she bares a personal short story of love, loss, and
dedication, Filice follows with “How to use Breaking Bread in L’Aquila”, a primer on Italian meal courses that is especially useful to one who is a novice at European-style entertaining.
Don’t know your Contorni from your Primi Piatti? Fear not, it’s plainly discussed.
Equally valuable is the “Wines of Abruzzo” overview that is so much more than “pair a red with steak.” Filice takes great care to ensure that we also understand the tradition of wine in the Abruzzo region. “The red wines of Abruzzo are distinctive. The Montepulciano grape is the base for Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, the top red wine of the region. In fact, Montepulciano’s roots can be traced to L’Aquila’s Peligna Valley, as far back as the eighteenth century.” Filice delivers both an appreciation, and a discussion starter to use with your guests.
She is clearly passionate about connecting with her reader and developing a shared relationship in the kitchen. And while we were certainly allured by her easygoing nature, we needed to find out if the enticing recipes—complete with a gorgeous, full-color photograph for each dish, which is both attractive and helpful—were as satisfying as the writing. We chose to go right for the red sauce and try Spaghetti al Pomodoro. In the brief conversation that accompanies each recipe Filice suggests using any heavy pasta for the dish, so we used a gemelli instead of the traditional spaghetti noodles. With only seven ingredients, we were delighted at the ease of preparation.
But the clincher? The dish is utterly exquisite.

What more can we say? If you’re looking for a touching story that spans generations, a guide to impressive and relaxed hosting, or a cookbook with authentic Abruzzo recipes, you have a combination of all three in this single volume. We can’t recommend it highly enough, and look forward to Filice’s next book in the Breaking Bread series.

Check our our printer’s website: http://www.thomsonshore.com/

ps they are the best ! ! great quality, great customer service and very competitive in price.

maria !