BY MARINA TAYLOR
A Whole Latte Love
Amanda Hesser chronicles recipe for romance.
COOKING FOR MR. LATTE; A FOOD
LOVER’S COURTSHIP , with Recipes by
Amanda Hesser. W. W. Norton & Company, 2003.
$23.95 hardcover.
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ere’s fur-
ther proof
that some-
times, you can
judge a book by its
cover. Cooking for
Mr. Latte is pink
and
lavender,
frilly, and features
a drawing of
Amanda Hesser
prominently on
the
cover.
Hesser is a food
columnist for
the New York
Times,
Mr.
Latte is Tad
Friend, also a writer at
the Times. This story is a diary of their
courtship.
This is interesting in a rubbernecking
sort of way: Hesser stumbles through inti-
macy and building a relationship with sly
self-centered humor and plenty of New
York sophistication. She calls Tad Friend
“Mr. Latte” because he commits the grand
faux pas of ordering a latte instead of a
plain espresso after dinner. She writes this
with such obviousness that I felt like an
Oregon hick for not quite understanding
what the big deal was myself. Apparently
drinks with milk are not allowed after 11
pm, in the same way that white is not worn
before Memorial Day.
It’s not until Chapter 18, after 9/11, that
she forgives him and finally calls him Tad.
I just wanted to yell at her when after a day
of fighting with her new beau, Hesser gets
up at night and re-washes all the dishes
he’d cleaned after their dinner party. She
has a self-confident assurance throughout
the book that can come too close to arro-
gance. Sometimes it has a familiar ring; I
have been known to re-wash dishes my-
self, but that doesn’t make it any more at-
tractive.
The voice in the book can be confusing.
If this really is a diary, as it claims to be, it’s
not always a completely honest one, and
glosses over things like Hesser’s relation-
ships with friends and family. And if it’s a
story about food and New York, as it seems
to be, it includes more intimate and tedious
everyday details than I really needed to
know.
Apician Spiced Dates
1 bottle light-bodied red wine,
like Beaujolais
8 medjool dates
16 whole almonds, lightly toasted
1/4 c. honey
1 Tbs. whole black peppercorns
1 Tbs. cloves
1 Tbs. orange zest
4 whole allspice berries
2 two inch cinnamon sticks
1 bay leaf
1/4 c. mascarpone cheese,
at room temperature
coarse sea salt
Pour the wine into a saucepan and bring
to a simmer. Add the dates and poach them
until the skins blister, about 5 min. Lift out
the dates and, while they’re still warm,
take off the skins. Discard the skins. Cut
open the dates on one long side, remove
pits and place two almonds in the center of
each date. Fold closed.
Add honey and spices to the wine and
continue simmering until the wine is re-
duced by half, about 20 min. Strain the
wine sauce. (The dessert may be prepared
to this point up to two days ahead, then re-
frigerated.) When ready to serve, pour the
wine into a saucepan. Add the dates to the
wine and heat gently, over medium low
heat, until warmed through, but not hot.
Place a dollop of mascarpone in the center
of each of four plates. Spoon two dates and
a little wine sauce on each plate, then
sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
ew
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Mr. Latte is patient with Hesser though,
and with the help of her therapist, in the
end she stumbles to the altar. Despite all
the irritations of the writing style and char-
acters, I have to say it’s a worthwhile read
— for the recipes. They are rich, decadent,
occasionally complicated, but
complex and well-tested.
Oxtail stew from a trip to
Rome, Salt Crusted Shrimp,
Goat Cheese with Shallot-Cassis
Marmalade, Haricot Verts with
Walnuts and Walnut Oil, Veal
Scaloppine with Fluffy Parmesan
— the list is drawn from Hesser’s
favorite restaurants and from her
epicurean circle of friends. The
Apician Spiced Dates recipe, from
a meal at Lupa (where Hesser for-
gives Tad Friend for drinking those
lattes), is simply wonderful. I dou-
bled the dates and almonds in the
recipe and still had plenty of sauce,
and plenty of flavor.
(Halva, Sweet Rice)
(no onions or garlic)
(+ other ingredients)
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30 JUNE 19, 2003