I spent most of Christmas Day doing two things, reading and trying to sleep. Since I am not very good at the latter, the day was saved halfway by the former as I happened to pick up one of the most sumptuous books I’ve ever read, [tag]Like Water For Chocolate[/tag] by Mexican author [tag]Laura Esquivel[/tag].
Part mystical, part historical and part soap opera-ish the book is basically about the life of [tag]Tita[/tag] [tag]de la Garza[/tag], youngest of 3 daughters of [tag]Mama Elena[/tag] de la Garza, who ran a ranch in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. The young and beautiful Tita is a wonderful cook who is faced with the dreary future of serving her mother till her death, forsaking even marraige, as is the rule amongst Mexican families at the time. Sure enough, the handsome Pedro comes into her life, but his request for her hand is naturally rebuked by Mama Elena. To compensate, she offers instead her eldest daughter Rosaura, whom Pedro agrees to marry instead, secretly admitting to Tita that he is only doing so to be able to live close to Tita.