Kid Cafarelli works happily in her family's New York delicatessen. Her
papa is a little eccentric, convinced the Italian way is the only way...
especially when it comes to cooking. So Kid isn't taking a French
cookery course, not as far as she's admitting anyway. But she has
nothing better to do because she can't start dating until her three older
sisters, Teresa, Rose, and Grace, have married. THE I DO DELI is a laughing, tumbling, food-obsessed,
friendly and positive thinking romantic tale.
Marc Ratzenberger, the chef teaching the French cookery, would seem
like a perfect match... if he wasn't Jewish, and Kid wasn't Catholic. Her
papa, Carmine, widowed and controlling their lives out of old-fashioned
love, has very strict ideas. These ideas include treating another Italian
family as the enemy, so a son of that family is suspect when he starts
hanging around the deli with four handsome unmarried ladies at the
counters.
Stereotypes are shown to be outdated in today's melting pot world, and
whether we follow sports in Brooklyn or visit architecture in Milan with
this loving close family, we want them to be happy. Even if one girl is
too severe, another rattles out interesting facts all day long (as I do
myself), and a third has only saintly intentions and can't see herself
marrying. Anyone reading this will be so immersed in the details of
slicing meat, grating zucchini, preparing fresh pasta and fetching
rosemary from the cellar, that they'll be looking for some real Italian
home cooking. I know just the deli to visit!
Josie Castel has created a totally believable setting and memorable
characters, and we could all do with a lift to our day. This book is a
clean read. THE I DO DELI is to be
followed by another visit to the Cafarelli family. Maybe next time they
will share some recipes, or is that too much to hope for from a
traditional chef? Either way, enjoy this read.
Kid Cafarelli is in love, and in her traditional Italian
Catholic family that’s
a big problem. By day she works behind the counter of her
family’s New
York delicatessen with her three older sisters, Teresa, Rose
and Grace.
By night she sneaks away to a forbidden French cooking
class, led by
the mouth-watering Jewish chef Marc Ratzenberger. Watching
over the
Cafarelli clan is her widowed father Carmine, who hates
everything
French except for the Statue of Liberty, which he insists
was made with
Italian steel. He also insists his girls marry in birth
order, leaving Kid
stuck behind Teresa the mouth, Rose the nerd, and Grace the
prude.
And Carmine guards his girls like a meatball guards
spaghetti. But from
New York to Italy Kid is determined to do whatever it takes
to get her
man and find her sisters true love. Will her search for
three suitable
husbands, and surviving Carmine, prove to be too much for the
matchmaking rookie? Or can she make the impossible happen?
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy