Recipes for an Apprentice Gourmet

Anna Maria Sarmento's "Recipes For An Apprentice Gourmet" isn't a formal cookbook and it isn't a memoir. It's a collaboration and a celebration of family and friends -- of their time spent cooking together, for one another, and the happy hours they've shared at the table.  Read them and you can clearly hear the sound of a knife against a cutting board, the sizzle of browning butter in a sauté pan and the laughter of loved ones. The recipes range from the simplest  (Tiago's Chocolate Yogurt) to the most complex and elaborate dishes you know you'll never attempt. And they run the gamut from Brazilian to American to French to Italian and Eastern European. If you're not an adventurous cook, it's a fun read, nevertheless, made more so by the whimsical illustrations from Ms. Sarmento's nephew, filmmaker Carlos Saldanha.