Post written by guest blogger Suzan Nyfeler

Recipe: I Capture the Chocolate
Yield: Several hours of romance and family drama
Prep Time: 5 minutes on Overdrive downloadable
Total Time: 4-6 hours of great reading

Ingredients:

• Tita, the put-upon, long-suffering, imagination-filled youngest sister
• One cruel, meddling mother
• Pedro, the love that can never be
• Cassandra, practicing diarist
• The handsome American Cotton brothers
• One kitchen
• One castle
• Two roses of the Rose and Rosaura variety

Directions:

1. Take one Tita, chop finely. Mix with meddling mother until senseless. Add a cup of yearning for Pedro. Leave out for at least 20 years. Taste frequently to see if magic is needed. It will be.
2. Let each bite swirl in your mouth. Wonder if love will win.
3. Pluck the petals off of Rosaura. Avoid the thorns. Fail.
4. In a separate bowl, pour out some Cassandra. Bowl should be made of stone – old stone. Like a castle.
5. Add two sticks of handsome American brothers. Yeehaw!
6. Crack open a father who just can’t bring himself to write any more even if his family is dirt poor.
7. Decorate with Rose petals. Lots of them. There should be so many that you think the recipe won’t work.
8. Give up.
9. Have a glass of wine and be glad women don’t have to wait around for a man to take care of them anymore.

Special Diet Information: Best for fans of Isabel Allende and Julia Alvarez, or if you like Jane Austen mixed with Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Winner: Like Water for Chocolate. After all, food is love.