Foot and Fire

AS SEVENTH POST FOR THE #foodflixflex which my friends and I will be doing this September to celebrate food and cinema, I present you my Duck in Rose Petal Sauce (turned out to be more like Duck with Macadamia Sauce) which is inspired by Laura Esquivel's magical realism novel and the 1992 movie version of it which was very faithful to the book both entitled, Like water for chocolate. I always have a slip of the tongue when saying the title. I say, Like hot water for chocolate. Maybe because this book is about deep longing, true love, hindered desires. So I imagine that Tita melts like chocolate because Pedro is the hot water.     On the March entry, Tita received a bouquet of roses from Pedro to congratulate her on her first year as ranch cook. The roses which were pink became red when Tita clasped it and her blood mixed in the petals. A chemical reaction began without her knowing. Tita felt she has to do something special abou...

Chocolat By Joanne Harris Fiction Softbound, 320 pages A happy read. Especially on this Lenten season. If one has seen the movie first before reading the book or vice verse, I must say that it does not matter. Both versions are justice to each other. But in my case, I saw the movie first and then read the book in years apart, mind you!  Set in an obscure town in France, this novel with magical realism genre is all about spirituality, no mere religion, about the essence of doing good to our fellowmen that showing off goodness, about acceptance of our human weaknesses and surviving it. I expected some concoction along the way but I failed. I wished there are incorporated recipes on chocolate or some sprinkles of academic facts on chocolate but it did not. What it has is an engaging story told through the eyes gypsy-like Vianne who struggles to find a home, an acceptance by giving people their little sweet indulgence and Fr. Francis Reynaud who struggles about h...