With its delicious food, warm jazz, and stunning views of Manhattan, Edward’s home was a much-needed refuge for reporter Isabel Vincent. Isabel starts going round to Edward’s apartment for delicious meals and life lessons, as the nonagenarian decided 20 years ago that his wife had done more than her fair share of cooking and wanted to cook for them, cultivating a veritable passion for food. Edward becomes an admirer, a mentor, an advisor, a source of nourishment for Isabel's trampled soul and immature personality along with the food he brings, in the safe haven of his apartment. Her friend doesn't live in New York and it is a comfort to have Isabel check in on her ninety three year old father.

I enjoyed spending time with Edward as much as Isabel did and was sorry to have the book end so quickly (it's only 224 pages). What about all the women who are still very much women but don't fit the socially accepted "feminine" profile? A delightful memoir of a friendship between a middle-aged woman in a failing marriage and a ninety-something widower trying to find meaning in life after the death of his beloved wife. As Edward and Isabel meet weekly for the glorious dinners that Edward prepares, he shares so much more than his recipes for apple galette or the perfect martini, or even his tips for deboning poultry. Edward is an amateur gourmet chef and loves to cook for friends, so Isabel becomes a frequent visitor.

When Isabel tells Valerie that things are not going to well in her life either, Valerie suggests that she have dinner with Edward.

Edward was a charming Southern gentleman who had come to New York hoping for an acting career, although he ended up working as a welder and a tailor. Edward has just lost his wife and Isabel’s friend (who lives out of state) asks her to check in on him by letting him prepare her dinner a few nights a week. Over several years, and many dinners, the two work through their grief and come to closure, whether about death or divorce. stars Isabel Vincent is in her forties, with a crumbling marriage, newly employed by Th New York Post and has relocated with her family to New York from Toronto after a career spent primarily as a foreign correspondent.Edit 6/28/2020: See comment below from Stephanie about how the author explains her recollection of the meals. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Isabel turned out to mean quite a bit to me too since we share a similar heritage - my parents emigrated from Portugal but to Belgium, not Canada, and I’ve lived most of my adult life in London.

It was sweet but there was no depth, and I didn't become attached to either character, especially Isabel. I admit that as a foodie, I loved the descriptions of the food, the effortless way that Edward cooked.

The mixing of pastry should be accomplished rapidly, particularly if your kitchen is warm, so that the butter will soften as little as possible. You can see my review as well as a recipe for Shrimp and Corn chowder inspired by the book on my blogpost here: http://kahakaikitchen. That connection of food and memory, as well as music (funnily enough, I LOVE Ella Fitzgerald), is so powerful! In these days where we often eat on the run, it's also a reminder to take the time to share a wonderful meal with good food and thoughtful conversation.

Her book on Swiss banks and dormant accounts in the Nazi era -- Hitler's Silent Partners -- was the recipient of the Yad Vashem Award for Holocaust History.

Of course any book that describes food so well and so lovingly gets extra points in my book--I wanted to eat and make so many of the dishes mentioned like soft shell crabs, fried in a light batter and served with hot melted butter, perfectly scrambled eggs, avocado salad with pungent blue cheese dressing, Fennel Remoulade over Lettuce, macarons and fleur de sel caramels, Pan-Fried Potatoes with Gruyere, Apricot Souffle and Apple Galette, to name just a few.