Kati Urszenyi
To celebrate her husband’s Central-European ('Mittel Europe') heritage, Kati Urszenyi has compiled some of her family’s favorite sweet recipes into one sweet book. It is called Sweet Decadence: Memories of an era when sweets were sweet and is a collection of rich sophisticated desserts handed down to Kati through her husband’s family. These recipes have been written down in Gabor’s family for four generations. Presented with a double focus, on a vanished past and what we can do with it now, this is much more than a collection of recipes from was then and what now Authentic, delicious and doable. Translated across time and space, this collection of a family’s recipes helps us understand why the Austro-Hungarian Empire found its culinary apotheosis in desserts - pastries, cakes, squares, slices, and cookies - of incomparable excellence. Made with readily available and all-natural ingredients, these recipes can now be prepared with our modern equipment, with less effort but no loss of texture and flavor. The author brings us a deeply felt, living, dense memory of how life was lived in the Old Country then, back a few generations, and also gives us some glimpses of how these have survived in her kitchen in Canada and her family’s festivities, by way of these recipes and all they represent of a shared social history. And they’re just plain exciting and simple, direct, and make any occasion: a holiday, special event or an everyday meal, a big party or an intimate afternoon tea, kids’ after-school snacks or your own private pick-me-up.
