Enter these women’s worlds
Two women who have made it big on the small and big screens share their lives in thoughtful memoirs.
Author: Nora Ephron
was such a hit. Once again, Ephron drew from her own life. In the chapter, she relates her early adventures in the kitchen: “I got married and entered into a series of absolutely insane culinary episodes. I made the Brazilian national dish. I wrapped things in phyllo. I stuffed grape leaves. There were souffles. I took a course in how to use a Cuisinart food processor. I even cooked an entire Chinese banquet that included Lee Lum’s lemon chicken. Lee Lum was the chef at Pearl’s, the famous Chinese restaurant (in New York) where no one could get a table. If you did get a table, you remember the meal forever because there was so much MSG in the food that you were awake for years afterward.”
She shares other culinary adventures which, if you’ve been a slave to food (or, really any) trends and fads, you will relate to and laugh out loud over, at yourself as much as her words.
She even pens a passionate protest against egg-white omelettes. And you know what? I totally agree with what she says.
“It’s time to put a halt to the egg-white omelette. I don’t want to confuse this with something actually important, like the war in Iraq, which it’s also time to put a halt to, but I don’t seem be able to do anything about Iraq, whereas I have a shot at cutting down consumption of the egg-white omelette, especially with the wind of this new book in my sails.
“You don’t make an omelette by taking out the yolks. You make one by putting in additional yolks. A really great omelette has two whole eggs and and one extra yolk, and by the way, the same thing goes for scrambled eggs.”
The book is a sizable read – almost 600 pages in all – and has samplings from the different media she wrote in, ranging from her early journalistic work (circa 1968) to her films and stage plays.
The range allows us to see different aspects of the woman who was much loved by not only her colleagues and friends but her fans.
If you enjoyed Ephron’s work on celluloid, you will undoubtedly enjoy reading this compilation.