{"product_id":"bitter-sweet-a-wartime-journal-and-heirloom-recipes-from-occupied-france","title":"Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France (Kitty Morse)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the author \"a \u003c\/span\u003ememoir with recipes\u003cspan\u003e based upon family documents my mother left me in a little black suitcase I discovered after her death in 2017. The suitcase contained my great-grandfather’s journal chronicling the advance of the Germans in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLe Grand Est\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(formerly Alsace\/Lorraine) between April and December 1940, and two little notebooks written in my great-grandmother’s hand, listing about 65 family recipes, translated from the French, tested, and photographed. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBitter Sweet\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e takes place in and around Nancy and Châlons-sur-Marne, today renamed Châlons-en-Champagne, my mother’s birthplace\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePART 1: Excerpt from the Preface:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003e“I’d never come across another suitcase quite like it. But what was the tattered black leather valise doing there, hidden behind a crocheted comforter on the top shelf of my late mother’s closet?… A label lying on top of a cache of sundry photos and documents took my breath away. Written in my grandfather’s hand, it read: \u003cstrong\u003eLes Archives Complètes des Familles Lévy-Neymark\u003c\/strong\u003e…. Blanche’s portrait partially hid a pocket-size doctor’s notebook, a gift from a Parisian medical laboratory, titled \u003cstrong\u003eCarnet Médical 1936\u003c\/strong\u003e, listing close to 100 family recipes. Below it, lay Dr. Prosper Levy-Neymarck’s journal chronicling the advance of the Germans  on Alsace Lorraine in 1940…”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePART 2: Excerpt from Prosper’s journal:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e9 May 1940\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFrench troops have swept into Nancy. The city has come to life. There is a run on boutiques and grocery stores, especially those selling fine wines and aperitifs. Tailors display their finest military uniforms, at prices that scare off veterans of 1914-1918, whose entire monthly earnings could not begin to cover the cost of a sous-lieutenant’s tunic. Our officers waste gasoline driving aimlessly around town and fall asleep in the shadow of the Maginot Line.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePart 3: Blanche’s Recipes:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore than 65 recipes, many of them illustrated with professional food photography, From New Year’s Eve Endive Salad, Ham-Wrapped Belgian Endives, Cherry Clafoutis, Blanche’s Carrot Cake, Plum Tart, Yule Log, to an Alsatian Zimmetkuchen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2023\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"La Caravane Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44764019196208,"sku":"01BIT2309","price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0051\/1954\/1312\/products\/Bittersweet.jpg?v=1679434400","url":"https:\/\/nowservingla.live\/products\/bitter-sweet-a-wartime-journal-and-heirloom-recipes-from-occupied-france","provider":"Now Serving","version":"1.0","type":"link"}