(Margie Lapanja believes in awakening all the senses when it comes to eating, and for that matter, pre- and postprandial activities, too. In Romancing the Stove, she shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes along with goddess tales, practical tips, fascinating food facts, and a fine seasoning of quotes. Recipes range from the classic pain perdu ? a resourceful solution for bread that would otherwise go stale ? to the more unusual Love Apple Linguine, Cookie Dough Pancakes, Mango Tapioca Pudding, and Pumpkin Spice Muffins. This lively tribute to the sensual arts of cooking, loving, and living is illustrated throughout.

Margie Lapanja made a fortune baking and selling her Cowboy Cookies. She shares the chocolate, nut, oat, and coconut-studded recipe in Goddess in the Kitchen while urging you to bring more play and passion into your cooking. As one of many inspirational quotes in this book suggests, "Communion, union with divinity, is accomplished by means of food" (Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul). If Chicken Soup for the Soul is your cup of tea, then Goddess in the Kitchen is likely a cookbook for you.

Lapanja, a card-carrying member of the Wild Woman Association, is passionately dedicated to encouraging uninhibited behavior. Her indulgences--mostly benign--lean toward daydreaming about eating virtuously lean Mango Tapioca Pudding on a desert island, sipping champagne with buttery shortbread (a sweet once associated with the Celtic spring celebration Beltane), and the like. Before each recipe, she provides historical and mythological information, particularly about the earth-mother Demeter and other goddesses, or some New Age inspirational advice, often combined with provocative personal ramblings. Since Lapanja's motto is "Eat dessert first," many of her recipes focus on sweets.

Written in an all-out style, this is a book you will love or hate. It's for you if advice like "We need to fall back in love with our food, the cooking process, and ourselves" speaks to you, or if your heart melts at the true story of the passionate romance between a priest and an ex-nun who ultimately wed, had six children, and still love to linger over a bowl of Pasta with Ginger Shrimp Soul Sauce. --Dana Jacobi

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