All the Presidents' Pastries: Twenty-Five Years in the White House, A Memoir
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Cookbooks, Food & Wine
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Cookbooks, Food & Wine
Book Type: Hardcover
Beth reviewed on
All the Presidents Pastries starts off slow with Roland Messnier's humble beginnings and his entry into the pastry world bouncing back and forth between kitchens which was demonstrating his rise to stardom. I started to skim. What I found most interesting about this book was when Mesnier told stories about the 5 Presidents and how they and their families lived at the White House. It was like getting a private peek of the goings on inside. He seemed fair in his descriptions and remained fairly neutral politically which was refreshing. I was surprised when Mesnier wrote about Thomas Jeffersons purchase of the state of Louisiana. His editors obviously need to brush up on American History. A dumb comment he made that blew my mind (no pun intended) was calling the Monica Lewinsky scandal minor. Must be the French in him.
There were times when he could have embellished on a story but dropped it like a lead balloon. For instance, when Mrs. Clinton sent him a Sachertorte asking him his opinion of it. Instead of sharing his response, he goes into a diatribe about good and bad hotels. Sharing the discussion of the cake would have been delightful. My guess is he didnt want to share his negative opinion of the cake with the public.
This book was a huge Horn Toot but I guess he has that right due to his hard work and successes but, I heard myself utter blowhard under my breath a few times while reading it.
With the thousands of desserts he baked, you would think there would have been more photos of them. After a while, I caught myself skimming dessert descriptions. He never used names but I think he was also using this book as an opportunity to call people he didnt enjoy dealing with, a-holes. This was an okay book but I am so glad it is over.
There were times when he could have embellished on a story but dropped it like a lead balloon. For instance, when Mrs. Clinton sent him a Sachertorte asking him his opinion of it. Instead of sharing his response, he goes into a diatribe about good and bad hotels. Sharing the discussion of the cake would have been delightful. My guess is he didnt want to share his negative opinion of the cake with the public.
This book was a huge Horn Toot but I guess he has that right due to his hard work and successes but, I heard myself utter blowhard under my breath a few times while reading it.
With the thousands of desserts he baked, you would think there would have been more photos of them. After a while, I caught myself skimming dessert descriptions. He never used names but I think he was also using this book as an opportunity to call people he didnt enjoy dealing with, a-holes. This was an okay book but I am so glad it is over.
