About warm scones and raspberry cordials!

Changing your life one book at a time...

I am not much of a foodie frankly (give me rice and curry any day) but when I read about food in the books, I am instantly hooked. It could be the mere thought of lashings of spice in a hot broth on a cold day, butter melting off a hot scone or ‘a creamy sauce laced with paprika’ that has me hungry in an instant. Phrases like a ‘a crust of pumpernickel’ or ‘fragrant bread’, ‘sun kissed tomatoes’ or ‘a raspberry cordial’ makes me curl up and reach foodie heaven. Never mind that I don’t really like raw tomatoes or anything made out of raspberry.

Come to think of it, the main reason I loved Enid Blyton’s book  was because of all the different kinds of food pictures that she painted. Do you remember them... that pitcher of icy-cold, creamy farm milk from the dairy, the meat and onions fried golden brown, the crusty loaves of new bread fresh from the oven? Ah food!

So when I got hold of Shoba Narayan’s Monsoon Diary, which was a memoir with recipes (it took an age to reach me though it is not an international title), I was delighted. I savoured each evocative phrase in her memoir with delight... “My mom would steam idlis, rice-and-lentil dumplings in the pressure cooker and open it with a pouf of steam just as we came into the kitchen” and “Grand Sweets in Madras... famed for its crumbly sohan papdi, saffron specked wheat halwa, golden jilebis, ghee dripping badushahs...” The book then combines some fabulous recipes, interspersed with stories about her family and later her life in America trying out those recipes.

 But no, Narayan’s memoir is not going to be my book review for the week. The point that I am trying to drive home is that writing about food is instantly appealing, whether it is the thought of a cool draught of root beer on a scorching day or warm mound of rice and golden fried pomfret on a cold night.

So, when I saw the title of this new book, Cupcakes at Carrington’s that I plan to review today, I was drawn to it at once. Did it live up to its title? Read on...

Book of the day: Cupcakes at Carrington’s by Alexandra Brown

I must begin by saying that besides the fact that the title sounds awesome, Brown’s writing is just as delicious. Savour these excerpts...

“I grew up in Mulberry-on-Sea and mum used to bring me here on Saturdays and we’d shop and eat fairy cakes in the old fashioned tea room with its Formica tables and white-pinnied waitresses.... this was years before Sam turned it into Cupcakes at Carrington’s , a cosy cafe serving red velvet cupcakes and sponge cake with pinkberry-infused frosting’.

And there’s more of that sumptuous writing when she describes Carrington’s. “It’s very nostalgic in an Orient Express kind of way. And the food is to die for – salted caramel cupcakes, rainbow salads, delicious artisan breads and the most fabulous afternoon cream teas you can possibly imagine.”

The heroine Georgie Hart, however is not quite so exciting. She works as a personal shopper in Carrington’s ladies bag department.  Her secret pleasure? Yup, you guessed it. She slips down to the cupcake store for her secret fix, the red velvet cupcake.
But Carrington’s itself is too old world to survive in a world of cut throat competition. It needs a makeover and that’s where the ruthless Maxine steps to make all the changes. Georgie has to step up to a new life of hard work or she might just lose her job.

Enter the men. Her boss James is married who is a big flirt. And then, the hot newcomer Tom. Will she choose between them or will there be anyone else?

The red velvet cupcake is like the muse in the background, sweet and scrumptious.

Did I like the book? It was very well written, yes. Unique, yes. But totally enjoyable? Not really. The problem perhaps lies with the heroine Georgie who is rather wimpy and a tad too reflective. The parts about the store was very interesting but the story was only what it promised to be, light, frothy, delicious -- almost like the cupcakes that were woven into the book.

Read it if you would like to read about an upscale department store, if you love cupcakes and if you are looking for an easy read for the warm days of summer that are coming up soon.