An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude
by Ann Vanderhoof
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ann VanderhoofEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-02-08
ISBN: 0767914279
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Broadway
Book Reviews of An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude
Book Review: Run Away From Home For a Few Hours
Summary: 5 Stars
I love the Caribbean, even going to the semi-extreme of buying a home on a small island 10 years ago. For me it changed my life.
Since then, I read any and all books about changing one's life by sticking their neck out such as A Trip to the Beach by Melinda Blanchard.
My latest read as I prepared to travel with friends on their motor yacht in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as Grenada, was "An Embarrassment of Mangoes" by Ann Vanderhoof. The hostess told me it was "required" onboard reading.
Ann Vanderhoof and her husband Steve Manley shed their jobs and their busy lives in winter gray Toronto to live a two year dream of sailing from Toronto to the Caribbean and back. They plan for over five years financially and practically to do this life changing journey.
They make their first ocean crossings alone in a 42 foot sailboat, "Receta". Along the way, Ann, an accomplished cook in her own right, found new and entertaining foods to work with in her four foot square galley. She shares not only the story behind the food but the recipes she derived from them. When local women teach her a dish and their technique to prepare it, she memorializes it forever for all of us.
We forget in our busy world with alphabet electronics that many people still cook on a flame built with fire, have never had their picture taken, do not have a computer or even have electricity or running water. There are no recipe books and no "celebrity chefs" to emulate. They cook as they were taught growing up. But they can surely cook; all the while using ingredients we eschew or do not look twice at because they are not common to our culture.
Ann shares her failures and her successes in the galley as well as herself and Steve.
I started the book on my Kindle, read parts on the boat's copy (autographed by Ann) and thoroughly enjoyed reading their adventure as we anchored in the Tobago Cays, Carriacou and then moved on to Grenada. Sandi and John, our hosts, met Ann and Steve earlier in their adventure as they brought their boat, "Hanco", down the islands.
For our adventure, Sandi wanted to anchor at Hog Island where Ann and Steve spent the hurricane season in the book before their own boat went into Clarke's Court Bay Marina for the coming hurricane season.
As we attempted to anchor in the mud off Hog Island, the sail boat next to us radioed we were "slipping" our anchor. We went about resetting our anchor, which for reasons too long, turned into an embarrassment of anchoring, when Sandi waved at the next boat shouting "Ann! Steve!" The sailboat next to us was Receta, occupied by Ann and Steve, with their visitor being Dwight, first introduced in this book.
Meeting Ann and Steve, who now spend much of their time in the Caribbean, was the first time I had the opportunity to close the circle that never closes when you read someone's personal story. The reader, as Ann allows here, becomes intimately acquainted with the author and their life but the reader never gets to reveal themself in return. A one-sided friendship it seems.
Ann reveals both herself and her engaging husband, Steve as they learn and work their way to Grenada. She shares the people she so engagingly happens upon with her readers and you wish you could not only be there, but meeting them all as well.
In this rare chance to close that circle of knowledge with an author, I found Ann and Steve to be the people I read about and enjoyed. As a happy reader it is not easy to restrain yourself from wanting to let Ann know everything you want her to know about yourself over cocktails and hamburgers.
Having read my book on my Kindle I had no paper book for her to sign. But, I suggested to Ann she autograph the stainless steel back of the Kindle in Sharpie ink, a first for her. She may well be doing Kindle signings for Spice Necklace as she was leaving for a book tour.
I am now home, enjoying my memories of two weeks in the Spice Islands, and now enjoying "Spice Necklace".
I highly recommend "An Embarrassment of Mangoes", whether or not you are going to Grenada or contemplating a life changing adventure. The story is genuine, well written and thoroughly entertaining. If you never leave your easy chair except to grab some food, you will go somewhere else warm and wonderful that I can confirm is a reality.
As someone who changed their life by going "island time" I truly appreciated this story.
Enjoy a genuine adventure with a genuine tour guide and read this book.
Summary of An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude
Under the Tuscan Sun meets the wide-open sea . . . An Embarrassment of Mangoes is a delicious chronicle of leaving the type-A lifestyle behind -- and discovering the seductive secrets of life in the Caribbean.Who hasn?t fantasized about chucking the job, saying goodbye to the rat race, and escaping to some exotic destination in search of sun, sand, and a different way of life? Canadians Ann Vanderhoof and her husband, Steve did just that.
In the mid 1990s, they were driven, forty-something professionals who were desperate for a break from their deadline-dominated, career-defined lives. So they quit their jobs, rented out their house, moved onto a 42-foot sailboat called Receta (?recipe,? in Spanish), and set sail for the Caribbean on a two-year voyage of culinary and cultural discovery.
In lavish detail that will have you packing your swimsuit and dashing for the airport, Vanderhoof describes the sun-drenched landscapes, enchanting characters and mouthwatering tastes that season their new lifestyle. Come along for the ride and be seduced by Caribbean rhythms as she and Steve sip rum with their island neighbors, hike lush rain forests, pull their supper out of the sea, and adapt to life on ?island time.?
Exchanging business clothes for bare feet, they drop anchor in 16 countries -- 47 individual islands -- where they explore secluded beaches and shop lively local markets. Along the way, Ann records the delectable dishes they encounter -- from cracked conch in the Bahamas to curried lobster in Grenada, from Dominican papaya salsa to classic West Indian rum punch -- and incorporates these enticing recipes into the text so that readers can participate in the adventure.
Almost as good as making the journey itself, An Embarrassment of Mangoes is an intimate account that conjures all the irresistible beauty and bounty from the Bahamas to Trinidad -- and just may compel you to make a rash decision that will land you in paradise.
From the Hardcover edition.
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