From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home

Just a beautiful memoir. Tembi pulls you into her grief while seducing you with descriptions of Sicilian food. You ache at her unexpected single-parenthood as she pours her remaining energy and love into her daughter Zoela. You feel her awkwardness and Americanness viscerally as she tries to mend bridges with her Sicilian in-laws. You fall in love with Saro, her chef, lover, inspiration and husband, while at the same time watching his decline as cancer steals his zeal for life. Hers is a meditation in grief, food, and the true meaning of love.

I love the way the book flips back-and-forth between the history of their courtship and marriage and then his death and the time thar followed. It worked much better than a linear timeline. show more Tembi’s relationship with her mother-in-law, Nonna, was the most quietly powerful piece of the story. Each chapter felt as aich and flavorful as the Sicilian dishes described within its pages.

“In Sicily, love, truth, and grief are neither simple nor straightforward. Each runs as deep as the olive trees that have dotted the island for centuries.”

“She was telling me that throughout life, we revisit the empty spaces. That was her understanding of grief. That we are always trying to reconcile memory with reality. The tooth was a metaphor for all the missing things we lose in life."

"But what I loved most was that her kitchen showed me how one ingredient can be made into many different dishes. Her food spoke of malleability and resourcefulness in loss, in love, and in life." show less

Decades ago, New York City had a presentation that contained this line: Every day hundreds of people come from all over the world and find home. What a wonderful way to phrase the realization in which people finally locate the place that makes them feel alive.

That’s what happens in this book but with Sicily rather than New York. A memoir that contains a smattering of recipes, Tembi Locke’s From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home is delicious in both senses of the word. Tembi and Saro, a Sicilian chef, fall in love at first sight in Florence. But Saro’s tradition-bound family objects to the relationship: African-American and an actress, no less! Madre Santa!

They marry anyway, head to Los Angeles and start a show more family there. But then Saro gets cancer and dies. This is not a spoiler: We’re told on the very first page of the memoir’s prologue. And it’s through this death that Tembi and her daughter Zoela make a lasting connection to Saro’s mother and native Sicily and deal with their grief.

This book is a Reese Witherspoon pick for a reason. Find out yourself by picking up this gem. show less

(I am using this book for my "Book Set Somewhere I Have Never Been" category of Extreme Book Nerd.)

I felt such a connection to this book. My Nana is Sicilian. Now she never really talked about her heritage that much. She kind of hated cooking Italian food. But still....."From Scratch" took me back to my ancestral home. I long to one day visit the Mediterranean. Nana talked about one day wanting to go to Italy and Vatican City (to see the Pope) and she'd take me. Nana never did that trip, but one day, maybe I will do it for her.

The story "From Scratch" is about Tembi Locke and her journey of love. Finding it in the Sicilian chef, Saro. Adopting their daughter. Remaining committed as cancer tears Saro's body apart. Families coming show more together. Embracing a culture. And finding how food is a universal language no matter what.

Food speaks to me on so many levels. And it is what highlights so many memories of my Nana. Nana was the one who taught me to make mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving (ones that did not come from a box.) I remember her making eclairs....and then my dog, Nikki, stealing one, eating it, and getting pancreatitis as a result. Nana taught me how to make gnocchi and cannoli. And she pronounces "ricotta" in one of the most unique ways I have ever heard. It was food that helped me through Nana's passing....just as food was what helped Tembi.

In the time leading up to Nana's death, I made spaghetti sauce. Granted, I don't recall her ever making it. Still, I was in the kitchen, cooking something Italian, and pouring all my love and grief into that pot. Nana was the one who gave me my cookware as a wedding present. Then, when Mom and Dad were gone for the funeral, my brother and I made gnocchi and cannoli as a way to honor her. Neither turned out that day. The gnocchi was too fim; the cannoli was burnt. Still, we were thinking of Nana, grieving as we only could.

"From Scratch" gets a high rating from me because of it hitting so close to home. There were parts I didn't care so much about. But it was a love letter to a culture that became to mean so much to her. THAT was why I enjoyed it so much.

One day I'll go explore Italy and Sicily. I just know it. show less

This was the May 2019 book selection for Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club. I really enjoyed this book. The audiobook was great to pair along with reading the physical book because it is narrated by the author and she does a great job. There are bits of Italian throughout the story and it is such a beautiful language to hear. So, listening to the audio is a great option to consume this story.

This book successfully made me cry. It brought smiles to my face and tears to my eyes. The love story between Tembi and Saro is incredibly beautiful and she is such a strong person. Saro loved her so much and she expresses that beautifully on the page. Their story is one that will definitely stick with me for a long time. I loved the show more relationship that also developed between Tembi and her mother-in-law, Croce aka Nonna. I also absolutely adored the Italian/Sicilian setting. It makes me want to travel and visit. I loved how I could just visualize everything she was describing.

One of my favorite parts of the book was, towards the beginning, when Saro waited outside for Tembi under a lamppost in the pouring rain during the winter. It came back later, full circle, which made me have a full waterworks episode, but it was so beautiful. That scene in the book sets precedent for other events later in the book, that it is referenced to. Their love had to undergo many obstacles, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. They also had hurdles to overcome with his family. But, I loved the relationship that took place over time with Nonna and Tembi. I also really enjoyed seeing Zoela being so curious and questioning everything. I really admired how Tembi addressed Zoela's concerns and I loved how she fully immersed Zoela and herself in Sicilian culture, that was such an influence on Saro and who he was.

This was a beautiful story of how life can be unexpected, how to heal from loss, the importance of family, and to fully embrace love and life to its fullest. This book had many great quotes that I found myself taking note of. I highly recommend this one, especially if you enjoy memoirs. show less

3.5 stars. Overall I really liked the book. I found so many of the passages to be beautifully written. It made me think and feel deeply about what the writer was speaking about. I could see, taste and feel what was happening. However, at times, the flow of the story was disjointed, broken apart by too much jumping back and forth. Also there seemed to be a contrivance to add suspense about whether some essential task could be completed. It only was followed through on a few sections, and once that was done, it was forgotten. I think with some more editing and polish, this could change from a good book to a truely great book.

In ‘From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home’, Tembi Locke, an African-American actress, writes about her romantic trip to Florence as a college foreign exchange student and where she meets and falls in love with Saro, an Italian chef. After a two-year long distance relationship, Tembi and Saro marry, and he immigrates to the United States where they adopt a baby girl. After ten years of marriage, Saro becomes stricken with a rare form of cancer, and Tembi attends to his needs as a caregiver for almost 10 years. Very well written, this book expresses the deep, resilient love that Tembi and Saro shared, as well as the tribulations of an inter-racial marriage (with Tembi being African American). As I read this story, I show more fell in love the simple country living in Sicily, their wonderful foods, and all the beauty that surrounds the people there. Unlike other memoirs, which might become boring at times, this story held my interest because it unfolded so beautifully, and I was mesmerized by the extraordinary experiences that enriched their lives. show less

SPOILER ALERT: It took me two failed starts before I finished this lovely book, sweet with memories, filled with sorrow, and gentle with family and love. For reasons I am unsure, the book was not at all what I expected, but it didn’t fail me. It is likely my personal health issues that cause any falter I have with the book, not the book itself.

I would recommend this title, you won’t cry, it’s not sad in that way, but you will be filled with numerous emotions as you travel through this woman’s and her child’s life after loss, the fact that it centers around food and Sicily is an added a bonus.

I appreciate most the raw emotion Ms. Locke expresses about being a wife, a mother, a daughter, an unaccepted daughter-in-law. She is show more honest and forthright - no one gets a pass, but she is not degrading. The fact that the story comes together and is not fiction, is the perfect ending. show less