Language & Travel Guide to Sicily

(with 2 Audio CDs)

Check out this travel guide!

Sicily is an ideal choice for a beautiful and quiet Mediterranean getaway. Unlike the much-explored northern Italian mainland, Sicily remains culturally and geographically fresh territory for many visitors.

Hailed as a "melting pot" of ancient cultures, Sicily is blessed with stunning beaches, picturesque hill towns, and a flourshing art scene. Designed for travelers to experience the full range of all that the "Pearl of the Mediterranean" has to offer, Language and Travel Guide to Sicily will help map out a memorable trip to feast, shop, relax and explore on the island.

Arranged geographically, this informative volume highlights such must-see sites as the late Baroque towns of Val di Noto, Valley of the Temples, and Zingaro Natural Reserve, in each of the nine provinces of Sicily. It include:

    • Extensive travel sections covering major cities, events and festivals, hotels,
      restaurants, arts, cuisine and architecture.

   • A 16-page full-color photo insert that shows more than 30 celebrated attractions.

   • An introductory language guide that includes grammar basics, useful vocabulary,
     and dialogues in both Sicilian and Italian.

   • 2 audio CDs that provide clear pronunciation of the dialogues and phrases
    by native Sicilian and Italian speakers, including author Giovanna Bellia La
    Marca and renowned pianist Salvatore Moltisanti.

Giovanna Bellia La Marca was born in Ragusa, Sicily. She came to the United States at the age of 10, and has kept her love for Sicily alive with frequent trips to the island. Now a retired art and Italian teacher, she devotes herself to writing, cooking, entertaining, traveling with her husband, and enjoying time with her grandchildren in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. She is the author of Sicilian Feasts, published by Hippocrene Books in 2003.

Language and Travel Guide to Sicily
Giovanna Bellia La Marca
$29.95 paperback; ISBN 13: 978-0-7818-1149-1; ISBN 10: 0-7818-1149-X
270 pages; 5 ½ x 8 ½; 16-page full-color photo insert; Publication date: May 2008
Review Copies: Phone 212-685-4371; Fax 212-779-9338; tliaw@hippocrenebooks.com
To Place An Order: Phone 718-454-2366; Fax 718-454-1391; hippocrene.books@verizon.net

Golden Cupcakes (Quindims)

Guest blogging for Hippocrene Cooks this week is Cherie Hamilton, Hippocrene's globe-trotting specialist on the food cultures and cuisines of Portuguese-speaking countries around the world. Cherie's much-praised cookbook, Cuisines of Portuguese Encounters, was recently reprinted in an expanded edition (with over 70 new recipes) and truly crosses borders as it examines the distinct cuisines Portuguese explorers, colonists and missionaries left behind them as they crossed the world's oceans.

Cherie's first recipe this week comes from Brazil:

This recipe from Brazil is one that I usually recommend for an easy dessert because it has only five ingredients. Legend has it that Portuguese nuns, who were well-known for their tasty egg custards, brought this recipe with them to Brazil. Coconut, which is not native to Portugal, was added later by African slaves. Quindim is a very sweet dessert that was popular during slavery times in the masters' houses of the sugar plantations in the north of Brazil. These dessert cakes were served at family dinners and elaborate parties. Baked in small individual pastry tins, or muffin tins, they are then inverted and served in little silver paper cups for a festive touch. As the quindim cooks, the coconut rises to the top and forms a light brown crust. When inverted, the coconut is on the bottom and the yolks form a golden dome on top. This recipe can be doubled and baked in an angel food cake mold or a Bundt pan. It is then called a quindão, which means "big cake."

Vitamin Jewels - Jugo de Maracuyá (Passion Fruit Juice)

Check out her post on our food blog "Hippocrene Cooks"!

Hippocrene Books is very pleased to announce the launch of its YouTube Channel. We will regularly upload informative video and audio clips that cover topics relevant to foreign languages and ethnic cuisines. You'll be able to watch our authors doing cooking demonstrations, listen to foreign language dialogues, and many more. So stay tune!

Sexy Dishes? Cazuela de Mariscos al Coco (Crustacean Chowder)

This week Hippocrene Cooks shines light on the flavors of Colombia, with guest postings from Patricia McCausland-Gallo. Patricia, who formerly worked as a journalist in Colombia, is a veritable wealth of information on the country's cooking techniques, which you can scroll down and see in action for yourself!

The recipe I enjoy most in Secrets of Colombian Cooking is Cazuela de Mariscos al Coco or Crustacean Chowder. An original of the Colombian Pacific, it is usually prepared with clams from the ocean called piangua (or cockles), squid, shrimp and conch.

Conch is usually very hard to cook, and you will see fisherman hitting the shellfish meat with wooden hammers to break the tight muscles and soften up the meat. Squid, on the other hand, could be cooked for just 50 seconds and it would be enough, but here it cooks long enough for it to re-soften and leave a delicious flavor and texture in the final dish. The coconut milk in the recipes keeps the seafood at its peak even after 45 minutes of cooking time.

This is an ideal one-dish meal, along with a green salad, and can be a great Valentine's day dinner, or a perfect meet-your-in-laws dish. You will have them on your side forever after they eat this marvelous soup! For those of you who would like to make it lower in calories, all you have to do is change 2 cups of coconut milk for 2 cups of 2% milk. It is a lighter version, yet delicious too.

You can also use the seafood that you have locally, or buy a mixture. In the picture of the recipe on the left, I added mussels just minutes before serving. Bring the Pacific flavor into your home and enjoy a wonderful meal. Serve it in coconut halves after a day at the beach in the summer, when the children need a hot soup to warm up their bodies.

Just try it once and you'll be hooked on it for life.

Review of "Aprovecho: A Mexican-American Border Cookbook"

From The Fiery Foods & BBQ Magazine
(March/April 2008 Issue)

This book (a paperback edition of the Cordell's 2004 hardcover) began as a family recipe-collecting project and it has the unpretentious, inclusive attitude of a popular community cookbook. The Cordells are not professional chefs, restaurant owners or TV-show hosts; they are simply a couple of food lovers in El Paso who are devoted to sharing the very local style of cuisine that straddles the border. This is not a glossy coffee-table book, it's definitely made for cooking. (It's unfortunate that the small shape and size of the book make it rather hard to handle in the kitchen—you'll need a can of tomatoes to keep it open while you work.) El Paso natives and Tex-Mex aficionados will appreciate the easy, authentic recipes like Chicken Soup with Avocado and Tortilla Chips, Jalapeño Cornbread and Margarita Pie.

By Gwyneth Doland

Aprovecho: A Mexican-American Border Cookbook
Teresa Cordero-Cordell and Robert Cordell
$16.95 paperback; ISBN 13: 978-0-7818-1206-1; ISBN 10: 0-7818-1206-2
377 pages; 6 x 9; Publication date: November 2007

For review copies and interviews, contact Tracy Liaw:
T: 212-685-4371; F: 212-779-9338; E-mail: tliaw@hippocrenebooks.com

To Place an Order:
T: 718-454-2366; F: 718-454-1391; Email:hippocrene.books@verizon.net

Cuisines of Portuguese Encounters
by Cherie Y. Hamilton

"…outstanding… both a culinary history and a collection of Portuguese-influenced dishes…"      
                                       —THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

Cuisines of Portuguese Encounters is one of the first cookbooks to encompass the entire Portuguese-speaking world! Enriched by over 70 new recipes, the expanded edition is a fascinating collection of 279 authentic recipes that illustrate how Portugal and its former colonies influenced each other's culinary traditions.

This appetizing volume is rearranged geographically, containing staples from Portugal, Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Goa, Guinea-Bissau, Macao, Malacca, and more. Each chapter is a mini-cookbook of a particular country or region, complete with introduction to the cuisine, culinary history, and recipes.

From famous dishes like spicy pork vindaloo from Goa, the classic bacalhau of Portugal, and all varieties of feijoada, to lesser-known coconut pudding from East Timor, this cookbook has something for every adventurous gastronome.

Cherie Hamilton is fluent in Portuguese and has traveled extensively through the Portuguese-speaking world. Hamilton holds a dual degree in Cultural Anthropology and Business Administration. She resides with her husband in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Cuisines of Portuguese Encounters by Cherie Y. Hamilton
$29.95 hard cover; 394 pages; 6 x 9
ISBN 13: 978-0-7818-1181-1; ISBN 10: 0-7818-1181-3
Publication date: January 2008

For review copies:
tliaw@hippocrenebooks.com; Tel: 212-685-4371; Fax: 212-779-9338

To place an order:
Tel: 718-454-2366; Fax: 718-454-1391; hippocrene.books@verizon.net