The Recipe Box
Sandra Lee, 2013
Hyperion
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781401310837
Summary
Sandra Lee's debut novel is a heartwarming story about food, family, and forgiveness.
Grace Holm-D'Angelo is at her wit's end, trying to create a new life from broken pieces. Newly divorced, she is navigating suddenly becoming a single mother to her fourteen-year-old daughter. Emma, resentful about being uprooted from Chicago to LA and still reeling from the divorce, is generally giving her mother a hard time.
Then Grace's best friend, Leeza, succumbs to breast cancer after a long battle, and Grace realizes that you don't get a second chance at life. She returns to her hometown of New London, Wisconsin, to try to reconcile with her own mother, Lorraine, with whom she's been estranged for longer than she cares to remember.
Over the course of the summer, Grace rediscovers the healing powers of cooking, coming to terms with your past, and friendship, and learns you can go home again, and sometimes that's exactly where you belong.
The Recipe Box celebrates mothers, daughters, and friendships, and also features Sandra's delicious original recipes. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 3, 1966
• Where—Los Angeles, California, USA
• Raised—Onalaska, Wisoconsin
• Education—University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; Le Cordon Bleu, Ottawa, Canada
• Awards—Daytime Emmy Award
• Currently—lives in Chappaqua, New York
Sandra Lee Christiansen is an American television chef and author. She is known for her "Semi-Homemade" cooking concept, which Lee describes as using 70 percent pre-packaged products and 30 percent fresh items.
Early life
Sandra and her sister Cindy lived with their paternal grandmother, Lorraine, who was a formative influence on her culinary habits and whose tips are featured throughout her various cooking books. By 1972, her parents had divorced; her mother remarried, moving them to Sumner, Washington. When Sandra was 11, her mother divorced for a second time.
After her mother's divorce, Sandra took on the role of mother for her four younger siblings, which included buying groceries, preparing the meals, and handling the family finances. She graduated from Onalaska High School in Onalaska, Wisconsin. She then attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and attended Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa, Canada.
Career
In the early 1990s, Lee created a product called "Sandra Lee Kraft Kurtains," a home decorating tool that used a wire rack and sheets or other fabric samples to create decorative drapery. The product was sold via infomercials and cable shopping networks. QVC, the home-shopping network, hired her as on-air talent; in her first 18 months on the network, Lee sold $20 million worth of products.
Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee premiered on the Food Network in 2003. Each episode contains an arts and crafts element, in which Lee decorates the table setting in accordance with the theme of the meal that she just prepared. She refers to these as "tablescapes."
Her second Food Network series, Sandra's Money Saving Meals, aired in 2009. The addition of two new shows—Sandra’s Restaurant Remakes and Sandra Lee’s Taverns, Lounges & Clubs—makes four successful shows on cable TV.
In addition to television, Lee also has 25 books to her name—including Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade: Cool Kids Cooking (2006); a memoir, Made From Scratch (2006); and a novel, The Recipe Box (2013). She is editor-in-chief of the magazine Sandra Lee, launched in 2009.
In 2012, Lee won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Host for Semi-Homemade Cooking.
Philanthropy
Lee's primary charity focus is on the issues of hunger, poverty and homelessness. She serves as national spokesperson for Share our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign and anchors their their largest annual fundraiser, The Great American Bake Sale. She also works with Food Banks across New York state and America and with Citymeals-on-Wheels.
In addition to hunger programs, Lee is involved with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Inspired by her grandmother who suffered from the disease, Lee created the "I Can With RA" program, which helps cooks living with the condition to "shop, organize their kitchens and whip up delicious dishes in a way that causes the least discomfort."
Lee also works with the Elton John Aids Foundation, as well as with the Central Park Conservancy. She is a founding member of UNICEF's Board of Directors-Los Angeles chapter. In recognition of her many efforts, Lee received both the President’s Volunteer Service Award and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Critical reaction
Amanda Hesser wrote in the New York Times that Lee "seems more intent on encouraging people to create excuses for not cooking than on encouraging them to cook wholesome simple foods."
The Charlotte Observer, while summarizing the criticism from food critics and nutritionists, noted that Lee has both harsh critics and adoring fans. When the Observer asked Lee about the criticism, she replied that she "was surprised by the reaction on both sides," adding "that's how you know it's meaningful, when you get a reaction."
When the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran a review of Lee's cookbook Semi-Homemade Cooking, which criticized both her recipe and her "Semi-Homemade" concept, the review's author received a response "that was more impassioned than I anticipated." Although most readers agreed with the article, a number took issue with it. As one reader wrote, "Lots of people who don't want to take the time to shred a cup of carrots want to cook a good meal."
Kurt Soller, writing for Newsweek, compared Lee's impact upon television cooking with that of Julia Child, noting that although Lee's show "is the furthest from Child's methods," both women "filled a niche that hasn't yet been explored".
Personal life
From 2001 to 2005 Lee was married to KB Home CEO and philanthropist Bruce Karatz. In fall of 2005, she entered a relationship with Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. The two share a house in Chappaqua, New York. (Adapted from Wikipedia and the author's website. Retrieved 10/27/2014.)
Book Reviews
Lee’s writing is more tell than show and heavy-handed with moral messages, but her straightforward style and humorous dialogue allow the plot to move along at a pleasantly zippy pace.... Lee’s original recipes, scattered throughout, enhance the narrative and allow the reader to form a visceral connection to this foodcentric narrative. —Emily Roth
Booklist
Slow in some parts, and with some awkward storytelling...the book still offers a generally heartwarming tale of a mother and daughter who are facing real-life problems and show the courage and determination to confront them, along with some clever details that flesh out the story in unique, surprising ways.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
(The following questions were offered to LitLovers by Angela at Ligonier Public Library, Ligonier, IN. Thank you, Angela.)
1. Sandra Lee is famous for her television show on the Food Network, books, and magazines; all of which are non-fiction. How successful was her first voyage into fiction in the form of The Recipe Box.
2. Sandra Lee is especially known for her recipes that focus around Semi-Homemade and Keeping it Simple. What did you think of the recipes included in the book? Was there any that you wanted to make copies of? Did you find the recipe index helpful?
3. Did you agree with Ken about the secret of the recipe box, is it something to get over and leave in the past, or with Grace that it changed her whole view on the world and the connections she had?
4. Is there that much difference in Lorraine hiding the secret of Grace’s father and Grace hiding the secret of the reasons of her divorce from her daughter? Then later, the larger secret of Grace not truly knowing who the father of Emma truly is? Why does Grace not see, especially when trouble arises with Emma, that honesty may be the needed element.
5. Do you think Grace is like the recipe box—“a hard, weather shell hiding a heart-shattering truth in plain sight”?
6. What do you think of Grace’s relationships with the four men in her life: Von, Brian, Mike, and Ken?
7. Later Grace sees the real value of the recipe box. That instead of causing her pain, it instead was the source of so many good things such as history, heritage, and love. Do you have anything passed through your family that is like this?
8. The relationship between Grace and Emma dramatically changes from beginning to end. What was she failing on as a mother and what did Emma really need from her? What was the best move Grace made in dealing with Emma?
(Questions courtesy of Angela at Ligonier Public Library, Ligonier, IN. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)