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"Tea and books: the perfect pairing. There's nothing quite like sitting down to a good book on a lovely afternoon with a steaming cup of tea beside you, as you fall down the rabbit hole into the imaginative worlds of Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit, and Sherlock Holmes . . . Fire up your literary fancies and nibble your way through delicate sweets and savories with A Literary Afternoon Tea, which brings food from classic books to life with a teatime twist. Featuring fifty-five perfectly portioned recipes for an afternoon getaway, including custom homemade tea blends and beverages, you will have everything you need to plan an elaborate tea party. Accompanied with photographs and book quotes, these recipes, inspired by the great works of literature, will complement any good book for teatime reading and eating."--Provided by publisher.… (more)
User reviews
This book was such a clever idea! I loved it!! I loved that each recipe was inspired by literature. I also loved the mouth watering pictures, tea pairings, and cooking tips! I will be buying a copy for my personal library.
Yes, as some know-it-alls like to point out, the idea of books at the juncture of literature and food is not brand new. So what. Almost every one of those books have elicited a comment along the lines of "I would love to see this done with [fill in the blank with a genre, a time period, etc], that would be so fun." And it is, except for those who must, simply must, point out the idea is not brand new. Guess what, I just finished a mystery the other day and the protagonist was a detective. That has already been done. Anyway, those people feel so much better now, so, whatever...
I first received a copy of this book for review and loved the idea. I thought I had reviewed it already but I hadn't. I bought a couple copies as gifts and that was when I realized my lapse. So, here I am. I obviously thought highly of the book, I bought copies as gifts, so I do recommend it.
The recipes are straightforward and easy to follow, the pictures are lovely, and the connections to the stories, whether direct or assumed, were fun as well. As the title says, there are blends, which are the teas. With the advent of the internet finding teas are not that difficult any more and special blends are so much more fun than just a standard blend. That said, unless you have a love of tea you may well find yourself substituting in this area unless you're throwing a party, in which case who cares if it is a little extra work. It is a party. For day to day drinking, maybe try a blend periodically and find some you particularly like. I am personally looking forward to trying my hand at a few of the blends.
I recommend this to anyone who enjoys the fun of such a concept. If you're one of those cooks who only like cookbooks that challenge even the best chefs, you'll be disappointed, this is about the joy of gathering together and sharing treats, tea, and literary conversation, not bragging rights about the difficulty of the recipes.
As an aside, I recently read another interesting book that combined food and history, The Course of History by Struan Stevenson. It has complete meals from 10 import historical meals/events. Harder to duplicate than these but the history surrounding each meal was fascinating.
Recommended for anybody for is looking for something off the the beaten track.
Many thaks to Netgalley and Skyhorse Publishing.