
The School of Essential Ingredients
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $15.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Cassandra Campbell
From the author of Reese Witherspoon's Book Club pick The Scent Keeper comes a “heartbreakingly delicious” national best seller about a chef, her students, and the evocative lessons that food teaches about life.
Once a month on a Monday night, eight students gather in Lillian's restaurant for a cooking class. Among them is Claire, a young woman coming to terms with her new identity as a mother; Tom, a lawyer whose life has been overturned by loss; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer adapting to life in America; and Carl and Helen, a long-married couple whose union contains surprises the rest of the class would never suspect. The students have come to learn the art behind Lillian's soulful dishes, but it soon becomes clear that each seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. And soon they are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create...
©2008 Erica Baurmeister (P)2008 PenguinListeners also enjoyed...




















People who viewed this also viewed...










Foodie or want ta be’s this is for YOU !!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not for me
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beautiful, heartfelt book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love the narrator and found the book enjoyable.
Very enjoyable
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beautiful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I'm never going to get tired of books about cooking food and living life. I love it. The connection of recipes, knowing which spice should go with which dish, and how that translates back to relationships, loss, and love, will fit the bill for me every time, and this story did not disappoint.
The story is told by the eight students taking a cooking class on Monday evenings, their personal stories and memories meaningfully unfolding for the listener. There is humor, tragedy, sadness, loss, and newly found love. Usually, when there are more than three or four characters sharing their stories, it can become overwhelming or confusing, or one character may be completely uninteresting, but not so with this story. All of the characters contributed a significant part of their lives, and not one was overdone, or wasted, or skipped over. It all fit.
At the heart of it is Lillian, the instructor and owner of the restaurant where the classes are held. She, too, has a quietly compelling story, one that has shaped her with whom she has become. She was an exceptional character, the rock of knowledge for each of the students, quickly learning what they needed to be taught. She is what kept them moving forward, both in their cooking skills and in life.
Erica Bauermeister's novel was released in 2009, and the story has such a sophisticated style that it's surprising it was a debut novel. It's a story that will make you cry and laugh, but most importantly, it will remind you that living is about the here and now, and that while mistakes happen, the choice to never let a moment pass you by is clear. Love, and be loved, and do so with integrity and kindness.
While the school deals with the essential ingredients of cooking, it is by far the fundamental elements of living that are the most important lesson to be learned. I cannot wait to read (or listen to) Joy for Beginners which was released in June 2011.
Outstanding story on cooking, life, and love.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I did not want it to end
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A listening pleasure!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Enjoyed feeling like I knew the characters
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.