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Norman Mathews

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Food

Home Food (Page 5)
The Capo Market, Palermo, Sicily (Photo: Todd Lehman)

If you have a problem with strange printouts of the recipes on this page, please notify me on the contact page and I will email you a copy.

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Buttermilk Peanut Rolls

Buttermilk Peanut Rolls

June 4, 2020

Buttermilk Peanut Rolls were one of the special treats of my childhood. Rockford, Illinois, had a a plethora of great […]

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1
Eggnog Pie

Eggnog Pie

April 2, 2020

Many times out of the holiday season I crave eggnog, so I decided to combine this craving with a dessert—hence […]

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0
Pennsylvania Dutch Chocolate Cream Pie

Pennsylvania Dutch Chocolate Cream Pie

March 8, 2020

As a child, my favorite pie was chocolate cream. My mother always used a mix that she got from a […]

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0
Sfincione alla Nonna

Sfincione alla Nonna

February 29, 2020

Sfincione is a Sicilian specialty and a common street food found particularly in the Porta Sant’Agata area of Palermo and […]

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0
Sour Cream, Chocolate Chip, Walnut Coffee Cake

Sour Cream, Chocolate Chip, Walnut Coffee Cake

February 10, 2020

I confess. The idea for this recipe comes from a supermarket cake—Entenmann’s Sour Cream Chip and Nut Loaf—which apparently no […]

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0
Codfish Cakes

Codfish Cakes

January 17, 2020

When the price of crab became prohibitive for  making large quantities of crab cakes, I devised these codfish cakes as […]

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2
Midnight Cake With Salted-Caramel Icing

Midnight Cake With Salted-Caramel Icing

January 7, 2020

Although my favorite chocolate cake is the Pennsylvania Dutch Chocolate Cake (see recipe), there are times when I just want […]

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1
Two Sicilian Holiday Cookies

Two Sicilian Holiday Cookies

December 4, 2019

With the holidays approaching, it’s time to begin considering what cookies you will bake. I highly recommend two Sicilian specialties […]

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0
Creamy Stuffed Potatoes With Broccolini

Creamy Stuffed Potatoes With Broccolini

November 25, 2019

One of my favorite vegetarian luncheon dishes is creamy stuffed potatoes with broccolini. They may also satisfactorily accompany plain grilled […]

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0
Chocolate Pecan Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

November 12, 2019

Tired of the same old pumpkin, minced, or pecan pie for your Thanksgiving feast? Here’s a variation on the pecan […]

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1
Corn Pudding

Corn Pudding

September 8, 2019

The end of summer; the end of fresh corn. Make the most of it with this easy, comforting corn pudding. […]

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0
Buttermilk Corn Bread

Buttermilk Corn Bread

September 2, 2019

In last week’s post, Pennsylvania-Dutch Chicken Corn Soup, I promised that I would provide the perfect accompaniment to that soup. […]

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0
Pennsylvania-Dutch Chicken Corn Soup

Pennsylvania-Dutch Chicken Corn Soup

August 25, 2019

Hot soup at summer’s end? Ugh! Who needs it? Actually, you do. When fresh corn is at its prime, it’s […]

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0
Cherry-Tomato Confit and Grated Zucchini Risotto

Cherry-Tomato Confit and Grated Zucchini Risotto

August 19, 2019

I wanted a summer vegetable risotto that I’d never tasted before. Seeing the beautiful cherry tomatoes and firm zucchini  at […]

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0
Linguine With Melon and Prosciutto

Linguine With Melon and Prosciutto

August 12, 2019

Several years ago, I hesitantly tried a recipe by Marcella Hazan: Tonnarelli al Melone. She got the recipe from a […]

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1
Buttermilk Raspberry-Chocolate Shortcakes

Buttermilk Raspberry-Chocolate Shortcakes

August 4, 2019

It’s summer. It’s hot. And the cookin’ should be easy. Thus with raspberries at their prime in July and August, […]

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1
Asparagus Frittata

Asparagus Frittata

July 23, 2019

Asparagus frittata is one of the very best and easiest to make. It’s particularly good in spring and summer when […]

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1
Vacherin Tropical

Vacherin Tropical

July 7, 2019

If you’re looking for the perfect dessert for these hot summer days, here’s Vacherin Tropical to the rescue. It’s like […]

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1
Crispy and Flavorful Fried Chicken

Crispy and Flavorful Fried Chicken

July 1, 2019

I believe I am somewhat a connoisseur of fried chicken for the wackiest reason.  As a child of five, I […]

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1
Brasciola alla Spera

Brasciola alla Spera

June 17, 2019

One of my very favorite Italian dishes is brasciola, rolled and stuffed beef slices simmered in tomato sauce. In my […]

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1
Roasted-Garlic, Herbed Potato Croquettes

Roasted-Garlic, Herbed Potato Croquettes

June 2, 2019

In Palermo, Sicily, potato croquettes are a favorite street food, much like French fries are in America. There are several […]

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0
Italian Rum Cake Leggera

Italian Rum Cake Leggera

May 21, 2019

The first time I had rum cake in Italy was in Venice in the 1970s. The waiter wheeled out a […]

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6
Baked Ziti Buongustaio

Baked Ziti Buongustaio

May 3, 2019

Baked ziti can be dry and lifeless, or as in this recipe it can be creamy, rich, and bursting with […]

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0
Buttermilk Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Buttermilk Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

April 21, 2019

Pineapple upside-down cake is one of the more toothsome desserts. I’ve discovered, however, that you can significantly improve the richness […]

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4
Pasta With Lentil Sauce

Pasta With Lentil Sauce

April 15, 2019

Pasta with lentil sauce is one of my Sicilian family’s unusual recipes—a dish that I’ve encountered nowhere else, either in […]

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1
Deep-Chocolate Brownies

Deep-Chocolate Brownies

March 24, 2019

I’m inordinately fussy about my brownies. I like them moist with a deep chocolate flavor, studded with walnuts, and frosted […]

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1
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Go to Books Tab for Information on My Autobiography

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On Sale Now!

Featured in Kirkus Reviews The Best Books of 2018

My article, “When News Drives Creativity,” which discusses Trump’s executive order not to report civilian death’s by drone, is featured in Theater Art Life Magazine. Click here.

Critical Acclaim for The Wrong Side of the Room

“The book’s second half is fully stocked with accounts of stage shows galore—not to mention impressive name-dropping (Barbra Streisand, Betty Grable, Dorothy Lamour, Gene Kelly). These anecdotes from the theater’s social scene glide alongside vivid imagery from the author’s performances and other successes. The book also has a delightful, chatty sense of humor with moments of wry wit that make it exciting to read.
In the end, it effectively celebrates a life of artistic inspiration alongside the giddiness and glory of live theater.”

—Kirkus Review

Read the entire Kirkus Review here.

 

Readers’ Favorite Review
by Asher Syed

The Wrong Side of the Room: A Life in Music Theater by Norman Mathews is an autobiography chronicling the author’s life as he transitions from a confusing and often abusive childhood, born in a sleet of uncertainty (literally, as it turns out). Masked by imagination and written with a humor that most would not be able to apply to such situations, Mathews is able to harness this creativity and hitch it to his own ambitions as a rising star. When an injury threatens to derail an ascent that defies all odds, Mathews is forced to reinvent and reignite himself once more, and does so amid a whole host of personal and professional turmoil, scandal, and the kind of stories that are all the more shocking – and inspiring – because they are actually true.

Norman Mathews delivers a riveting memoir with The Wrong Side of the Room that opens with a contentious genesis and powerfully surges through to its finale. This is the ultimate tale of a man who is knocked down seven times and gets up eight, except in this case our tenacious narrator is struck to the ground far more than that. But he does continue to rise and appears to have carved out a genuine niche for himself until, “I woke up one morning with a strange pain in my back and running down my right leg. In a few days, it got much worse, and I began limping.” With the support of his partner Todd, he buys a Steinway, dives into formal education, and…well, at first that all implodes too. But Mathews is the consummate phoenix and, much like he displays in the writing of this book, skillfully maneuvers the trajectory of his life’s own narrative into a story that we are fortunate enough to have shared in The Wrong Side of the Room.

Impressively candid, exceptionally informative, deftly written, organized and presented, “The Wrong Side of the Room: A Life in Music Theater” is an extraordinary memoir that will have special and particular appeal for anyone with an interest in show business. . .very highly recommended for both community and academic library Contemporary American Biography collections.

—Midwest Book Review

News

The Wrong Side of the Room is the Bronze-Medal Winner in the Non-Fiction —Music/Entertainment Category of the Readers’ Favorite Book Competition.

To see my coming-out video on YouTube, click here.

 

BOOK CORRECTION: In my autobiography on page 152, I state that Carolyn Morris died in a motorcycle accident. I learned from her daughter-in-law that though she was severely injured she did not die. She is still living in Rutland, Vermont.

Get a free copy of Chapter 1 of my autobiography just by commenting on whether you think Sondheim or I am right about setting Dorothy Parker’s verses to music. Click here.

Read my new article, Sicilian Classics from Nonni’s Kitchen in the Times of Sicily. The article gives 4  of my grandparents’ interesting recipes.

Read my interview about my autobiography, The Wrong Side of the Room, with Norm Goldman, editor of BookPleasures.com here

The Wrong Side of the Room has been listed on Vincent Lowry’s site eAuthorSource. Click here.

 

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