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Betty Ann Quirino Writes about Cecilia Brainard’s Books and Shrimp Wonton Soup

December 7, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

Bet­ty Ann Quiri­no reviews Cecil­ia Brainard short sto­ry col­lec­tions, Woman with Horns and Oth­er Sto­ries & Aca­pul­co at Sun­set and Oth­er Sto­ries:

https://www.asianinamericamag.com/shrimp-wonton-soup…/

The recipe for Shrimp Won­ton Soup need­ed clear soup broth, which was to sim­mer for “three to four hours till fra­grant”. I could cook this stove-top or I can make the broth in the Instant Pot, I said to myself. I chose the for­mer so that I had a rea­son to sit qui­et­ly, tune out, and devour the books by Fil­ipino Amer­i­can author Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard.

Some­times, our souls and our palates need a change. I made a batch of shrimp won­tons from the new cook­book This Is A Book About Dumplings by Bren­dan Pang. Instead of the usu­al pork fill­ing, I used chopped fresh shrimps, fla­vored with gin­ger, scal­lions, rice wine and sea­son­ings. I set the won­tons aside in the refrig­er­a­tor while the savory pork broth sim­mered on the stove, the steam creep­ing out from the stockpot’s cov­er. The soup’s aro­ma remind­ed me of my mother’s cook­ing dur­ing my child­hood in the Philippines.

I was so engrossed read­ing these books by Ms. Brainard, that I almost failed to hear the kitchen timer beep, announc­ing the bub­bling broth was ready. I took out the shrimp won­tons from the ref. The steamy vapors from the clear soup hit my cheeks. I dropped the shrimp won­tons into the deep stock­pot. It only took min­utes to cook. The soup meal was ready when the leafy veg­eta­bles soft­ened. I had enough time to go back to read­ing the short sto­ries again. Con­sid­er these books by Cecil­ia Brainard as hol­i­day gifts. And this soup is superb, as well. The soup and the books make good gifts and soothe the soul.

Book review: Now, let me tell you about these two books from Fil­ipino-Amer­i­can author Cecil­ia Brainard. The first one was Aca­pul­co at Sun­set and Oth­er Short Sto­ries Pub­lished. This is a col­lec­tion of 17 short sto­ries, inspired by the author’s expe­ri­ences. The sto­ries were grouped into four cat­e­gories, descrip­tive of the set­tings: Long Ago Tales, Sto­ries from the ‘60s and ‘70s, Sto­ries from the ‘90s, and Amer­i­can Tales.  These sto­ries remind­ed me of a beau­ti­ful bou­quet, thought­ful­ly put togeth­er about the Fil­ipino spir­it which is strong, resilient and hope­ful. They are about fam­i­ly val­ues we cher­ish, love and romance, bit­ter­sweet life expe­ri­ences, and valu­able lessons. My per­son­al favorite was But­ter­scotch Mar­ble Ice Cream which had me crav­ing for both the ice cream and more sto­ries from Cecilia.

That led me to Ms. Brainard’s sec­ond anthol­o­gy Woman With Horns and Oth­er Sto­ries. The fas­ci­nat­ing tales deal with the themes of Philip­pine cul­ture clash­ing with for­eign influ­ences dur­ing his­tor­i­cal times from cen­turies ago. The author’s myth­i­cal place “Ubec” (inspired by the province of Cebu, spelled back­wards), is the set­ting for most. Each sto­ry is a gor­geous gem from the past. Strung togeth­er, the twelve lit­er­ary pieces glow and remind you of a beau­ti­ful world gone by, in provinces where time was ethe­re­al. My favorites were Woman with Horns and The Balete Tree. These made me long for days of the past.

About the Author: Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard is a Fil­ipino Amer­i­can mul­ti-award­ed pro­lif­ic author of lit­er­ary antholo­gies and nov­els. She found­ed and runs PALH (Philip­pine Amer­i­can Lit­er­ary House) and is an active mem­ber of the Phil-Am lit­er­ary com­mu­ni­ty. Her books are sold on Amazon.com. Read more about her on ceciliabrainard.com

Tags: Soul Food, Shrimp Won­ton Soup, Philip­pines book, Philip­pines fic­tion, Philip­pines short stories

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Welcome!

I am a daugh­ter of the Philip­pines and an adopt­ed daugh­ter of Amer­i­ca. I have also trav­eled to many places so I am also a daugh­ter of the Earth. My expe­ri­ences have found their way into my sto­ries, which try to depict char­ac­ters caught in impor­tant moments in their lives, sit­u­a­tions that force them to act, make deci­sions, change. I try to see the world from my own point of view, not the dom­i­nant West­ern one, thus my inter­est in his­to­ry, cul­ture, and set­ting. But my char­ac­ters car­ry my sto­ries; they are the most impor­tant in my sto­ry-telling. I have to dive deep into them to under­stand their human­i­ty – their good­ness as well as their bad­ness, their beau­ty as well as their ugli­ness. Just like us. Just like each of us. I need to know where they came from, where they are now, so I under­stand where they are going. Just like us.

Please read my full biog­ra­phy here

 

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