Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Ultimate Tailgaters SEC Handbook or Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration

Ultimate Tailgater's SEC Handbook

Author: Stephen Linn

More than 50 million Americans participate in “tailgating” at college campuses during football season. Between the students and the alumni, and the visitors, a crush of fans are looking for places to park, to eat, to take part in traditional activities for each campus, and learn more about the school and team history. For the first time ever, fans can find the details at every campus in their favorite conference. Want to eat barbecue while you’re visiting USC? Want to know more details about massive Michigan Stadium? Need a place to stay for that game in Clemson? Choose your conference, which encompasses all teams in all divisions, pack the ULTIMATE TAILGATER’S HANDBOOK in the car, and you’re ready. Recipes, local venues and rules, sidebars about unique activities in each place, side tours, insider tips, and photos will help make your game day the best ever. Includes east and west divisions: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi and Mississippi State. Stephen Linn is a reporter who markets Ultimate Tailgater television and news features around the country. He lives in Nashville.



Table of Contents:
East Division
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
West Division
Alabama Arkansas
Auburn LSU Mississippi Mississippi State

New interesting textbook: Toward a Political Economy of Culture or Day by Day

Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration: New Approaches to Chinese Cuisine

Author: Susanna Foo

Susanna Foo, the leading Chinese chef in America and the winner of two James Beard Awards, has been hailed as an innovator by Gourmet, Food & Wine, Esquire, the New York Times, and many other publications. By substituting fresh ingredients for canned ones and readily available items for hard-to-find imported ones, she has put a fresh face on Chinese food, first in her restaurant in Philadelphia, Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine, then in her award-winning book of the same name, and most recently in her acclaimed restaurant in Atlantic City, Suilan by Susanna Foo.

In Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration, she takes an even more revolutionary approach. Rather than recreating the dishes of the past, she redefines Chinese cooking and broadens its reach. "Although being Chinese defines who I am and the way in which I think about food, I refuse to be limited by a single tradition: my primary goal is to preserve the natural flavor and integrity of the ingredients," she writes in the introduction. "Cooking this way has resulted in an unexpected bonus: my food is even simpler to prepare than before."
Indeed, the recipes in this book are so radically simple, so fresh and easy to prepare, that they may even change your ideas about what Chinese cooking is. Many of the recipes, such as Wok-Shaking Shrimp with Pink Peppercorns and Korean Pancakes served with Citrus-Cured Salmon, are reinterpretations of traditional dishes. Like much of Susanna's food, Ten-Vegetable Vegetarian Hot-and-Sour Soup, White Corn Soup, and Brussel Sprouts and Portobello Mushrooms were inspired by the wealth of fresh produce that she encountered for the first time when she came to this country. Some dishes, like Braised PorkBelly and Crispy Jumbo Shrimp with Caramelized Orange Sauce, are much-requested specialties of her restaurants, while others are homey and utterly approachable: Salmon Braised with Soy and Ginger, Roasted Five-Spice Pork Tenderloin, Grilled Lamb Chops with Roasted Sesame Marinade, and Roast Chicken with Peppercorn Rub. Still others, such as Mandarin Potato Salad with Cellophane Noodles, Sautéed Artichoke Hearts, and Beet, Rhubarb, and Grapefruit Salad, offer startling new treatments of familiar ingredients.
With striking full-color photographs, Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration is a fresh invitation to cooks at all levels to roll up their sleeves and head to the kitchen.

Publishers Weekly

Fusion has earned a bad reputation, mostly due to silly combinations that, while intellectually interesting, are often just not that appetizing. Foo (chef/owner of two restaurants and a two-time James Beard Award winner) keeps things lively yet appealing by not going too wacky. Yes, Panko-Crusted Goat Cheese with Tomato and Asparagus Salad uses Japanese bread crumbs, but Alice Waters has been making goat cheese crunchy for years. Likewise, Grilled Lamb Chops with Roasted Sesame Marinade replaces the lamb tenderloin more commonly used in Mongolian shish kabob with a different cut, but preserves the classic flavors. Sometimes Asian ingredients shake hands with Western techniques, as in a savory Rice Noodle Flan and Asian Pear Tatin. There are more traditional dishes, too, like Braised Red Snapper with Thai Curry Sauce and Braised Lion's Head Meatballs "the size of a fist." Foo shares encyclopedic knowledge about everything from long beans (which are part of the black-eyed pea family) to braising (great for tenderizing cheaper cuts of meat). If there is a flaw, it may be that Foo is too wide-ranging, so that the selection occasionally feels unfocused. Overall, though, this is a thoughtful collection of fresh, elegant recipes. Photos. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Foo has been praised for creating delicate, French-accented Chinese cuisine at her restaurants in Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Her first book, Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine, won a James Beard Award for Best International Cookbook in 1996; her new one goes beyond Chinese cuisine with ingredients and techniques from many traditions, including Chinese, Thai, French, and Indian. This collection of 150-plus recipes will inspire home cooks with Asian-influenced Western dishes like Cauliflower Risotto with Wild Mushrooms and lighter versions of classic Chinese items like Tung An Chicken. At first glance, many recipes seem traditional, but a closer look reveals intriguing flavor combinations. Throughout, Foo sprinkles tips on selecting and using ingredients and techniques. All of the author's recipes focus on maintaining the integrity of fresh ingredients. Clear directions, attractive photos, and subtle, balanced flavors combine to make a lovely offering for seasoned and novice cooks alike; recommended.-Devon Thomas, Hass MS&L, Ann Arbor, MI Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.



Eat Drink and Be Mindful or Wine

Eat, Drink and Be Mindful

Author: Susan Albers

In the rush of everyday life, most people have difficulty finding ways to give their relationship with food the full attention it deserves. Demanding diets saddle you with guilt about your appetite, but overeating and mindless snacking prove ultimately unsatisfying as well. Mindful eating is a whole new way of looking at food. Instead of rushing through meals, mindful eating emphasizes slowing down and savoring what you eat.

This workbook, by the author of Eating Mindfully, includes mindfulness tips, activities, and checklists to help you start a mindful eating program, evaluate your progress, and discover a healthier and richer relationship with food.

• Become aware of hunger cues
• Make wise food choices
• End emotional eating
• Practice self-acceptance and compassion
• Be in the moment at mealtime

"This book could be a godsend for anyone suffering from lifelong issues around eating, weight, and appearance. It presents a sane and novel approach to finding a balanced relationship to food, eating, and your body through mindfulness. The book is written by someone with obvious depth of experience and savvy who is definitely on your side, whatever your difficulties or challenges. Eat, Drink, and Be Mindful may be just what the doctor ordered, or would have but couldn't-until now."
-Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., author of Full Catastrophe Living, Arriving at Your Own Door, and Coming to Our Senses



See also: Our Bodies Ourselves or After Cancer Treatment

Wine: Grape Goddess Guides to Good Living

Author: Catherine Fallis

Everyone yearns for la dolce vita, the sweet life. Grape goddess Catherine Fallis demystifies, clarifies, and charts out a course for immediate results- a richer, more visceral, sensually charged daily life.



Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Charlie Trotters Vegetables or The Maple Sugar Book

Charlie Trotter's Vegetables

Author: Charlie Trotter

The dynamic follow-up to the bestselling Charlie Trotter, this sensational celebration of vegetables presents some 100 seasonal vegetable recipes. Each dish is pictured in the same lavish style that so distinguished Trotter's first book. Organized by month, each chapter offers four or five savory dishes and one sweet course. Full color.

Publishers Weekly

Chef Trotter's fancy, multi-ingredient, almost-vegetarian dishes are as rich and extravagantand as fussy and specializedas those featured in his renowned Chicago restaurant and presented in his first book, Charlie Trotter's (1994). The 82 recipes here are arranged by month, and in name alone, the recipes are a mouthful: January leads off with Baby Carrot Terrine with Shiitake Mushroom Salad, Carrot Juice Reduction, Dill Oil, and 50-Year-Old Balsamic Vinegar. The preparation of Arugula Noodles with Smoked Yellow Tomato Sauce, Black Olives, and Roasted Garlic Pure requires the cook to make arugula pasta and arugula oil and, for the sauce, to smoke the tomatoes over hickory chips lit with a propane torch. Wine Notes for each recipe are helpful, as is a glossary that defines terms like "kashi" (it's the mixture of seven specific grains called for in Cold Kashi Salad with Dried Cranberries, Celery, White Pumpkin, Pumpkin Seeds and Pumpkin Seed Oil). While a few suggestions for substitutions would have allowed the home cook some welcome flexibility, flexibility is not in the exacting spirit of this chef. Trotter offers highly specific instructions (even to calling for hazelnuts from a certain farm in Oregon) for constructing complexly flavored, architecturally beautiful dishes. So long as readers are not misled, this volume, which is expensive in both in price and effort, delivers.(July)

Library Journal

Charlie Trotter's is a top Chicago restaurant with a national reputation, known for its stylish and imaginative cuisine. Trotter is a serious (his introduction opens with a quotation from Dostoyevsky and moves on to Goethe) and obviously very talented young man; unfortunately for home cooks, the recipes in his cookbook are real "chef's recipes," many requiring hours of preparation and access to exotic ingredients (the first recipe calls for two different reductions as well as two sauces, one involving three different subrecipes, to garnish plum tomatoes that must be roasted for ten hours). For area libraries and other collections catering to foodies.

BookList

Renowned Chicago restaurateur Charlie Trotter has produced another volume documenting his highly personal and refined approach to contemporary American cooking. Increasingly, nutrition-conscious eaters have become more aware of the importance of vegetables, and their attention has been matched by an explosion in both the variety and the quality of vegetables now available. Seasonality used to dictate vegetable choices, but an expanding worldwide market has made good produce available just about anywhere at any time. Trotter's rigorous attention to absolute freshness and full flavor, however, has resulted in a month-by-month arrangement of recipes emphasizing locally available ingredients at their flavor peak. As a document of the chef's culinary intelligence and prowess, the book astonishes with every turn of the page; but the home cook is not likely to find it easy to locate such ingredients as Marcona almonds and Ennis hazelnuts for duplicating Trotter's results. The really skilled and undaunted cook will find inspiration in Trotter's book to adapt the chef's unusual combinations to more homely seasonal vegetables. For specialized, professional, or regional collections only.



Read also Bowl Food or Soils for Fine Wines

The Maple Sugar Book: A Good Life Center Book

Author: Helen Nearing

A half-century ago, the world was trying to heal the wounds of global war. People were rushing to make up for lost time, grasping for material wealth. This was the era of "total electric living," a phrase beamed into living rooms by General Electric spokesman Ronald Reagan. Environmental awareness was barely a gleam in the eye of even Rachel Carson.

And yet, Helen and Scott Nearing were on a totally different path, having left the city for the country, eschewing materialistic society in a quest for the self-sufficiency they deemed "the Good Life." Chelsea Green is pleased to honor their example by publishing a new edition of The Maple Sugar Book, complete with a new section of never-before-published photos of the Nearings working on the sugaring operation, and an essay by Greg Joly relating the story behind the book and placing the Nearings' work in the context of their neighborhood and today's maple industry.

Maple sugaring was an important source of cash for the Nearings, as it continues to be for many New England farmers today. This book is filled with a history of sugaring from Native American to modern times, with practical tips on how to sap trees, process sap, and market syrup. In an age of microchips and software that are obsolete before you can install them, maple sugaring is a process that's stood the test of time. Fifty years after its original publication in 1950, The Maple Sugar Book is as relevant as ever to the homestead or small-scale commercial practitioner.

Booknews

Originally published by J. Day Co., New York, 1950, with a couple of subsequent reprints, this classic volume provides the small-scale commercial practitioner or homesteader with clear instructions on the production and marketing of maple syrup. Includes previously unpublished b&w photographs of the Nearings at work on their Vermont homestead. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)



Elsies Turkey Tacos and Arroz con Pollo or Getting Thin and Loving Food

Elsies Turkey Tacos and Arroz con Pollo: More than 100 Latin-Flavored, Great-Tasting Recipes for Working Moms

Author: Arlen Gargagliano

From a reality TV star and mother of six–quick and easy recipes for busy working parents

On the first season of Hell’s Kitchen, working mom Elsie Ramos was clearly the audience favorite, though she didn’t ultimately win. She even drew accolades from curmudgeonly chef Gordon Ramsay, who praised her no-nonsense approach to cooking and her simple but delicious Turkey Tacos and Chicken Soup. But while competing on the show may have been tough, it was no tougher than the challenge Elsie faced every night after a long day at work–getting a tasty dinner on the table fast for her longtime boyfriend and their hungry boys.

Now, in Elsie’s Turkey Tacos and Arroz con Pollo, Elsie shares more than 100 of her tried-and-true, Latin-inspired recipes for family-friendly weeknight meals. As a working mom, Elsie knows the pressures of putting satisfying, healthy meals on the table night after night–her kids’ typical greeting is not "Hello" but "What’s for dinner?" Elsie’s recipes offer ready-made solutions for great-tasting, easy-to-prepare meals, from one-dish favorites like Baked Ziti and Shepherd’s Pie to dishes that draw on Elsie’s Puerto Rican heritage–Arroz con Pollo, Fried Sweet Plantains, and Puerto Rican Baked Stuffed Meatloaf, among others.

With chapters on soups and stews, appetizers and sides, rice dishes, other main dishes, and drinks, along with Elsie’s rules for simplifying shopping and weeknight cooking, Elsie’s Turkey Tacos and Arroz con Pollo will be the go-to cookbook for parents everywhere who want real-world solutions for everyday dinner dilemmas.



New interesting book: How Colleges Work or Management Information Systems Sixth Edition

Getting Thin and Loving Food: 200 Food-Loving Recipes to Get You Where You Want to Be

Author: Kathleen Daelemans

Her inspiring story is familiar to millions of TV viewers. A decade ago, Kathleen Daelemans was unexpectedly drafted to be the head chef of a spa café frequented by movie stars, rock stars, and sports superstars. One problem - a big one: Chef Kathleen weighed 205 pounds and was a size 22. Refusing to sacrifice her love of food to lose weight, she invented a cuisine that earned raves from Esquire, the New York Times, Bon Appétit, and the Los Angeles Times. Kathleen herself lost more than 75 pounds, and her show on the Food Network, the station's first and only diet show, became a smash hit.
In Getting Thin and Loving Food!, Kathleen returns, with more than 200 super-simple recipes that put flavor first, plus hundreds of culinary and motivational secrets to help you achieve your healthiest weight while keeping you "Henry-the-Eighth happy and satisfied." From pleasurable power breakfasts like Oatmeal-Orange Raisin Bars, to meals like Cashew Chicken, Skirt Steak Fajitas, Thai Shrimp, and Stir-Fried Ginger Pork, to sumptuous desserts like Dark Chocolate Soufflé Cake and Strawberry Cheesecake Mousse, Kathleen's food combines down-to-earth practicality with vibrant flavors. Crammed with candid advice, task-oriented tips, and success stories from Kathleen's many fans, Getting Thin and Loving Food! gives you everything you need to jumpstart your new lifestyle and keep you motivated - and laughing - along the way.

Publishers Weekly

This sequel to the bestselling Cooking Thin with Chef Kathleen, from the host of the Food Network's popular show of the same name, is as much of a self-help book as a cookbook. Chef Kathleen's secret to losing weight is a matter of behavior modification rather than self-deprivation: set a goal, meet it, reward yourself and repeat. The good news is that many of these dishes are so appealing that eating a healthy dinner can be a risk-free reward in itself. Ahi Tuna with Napa Cabbage Slaw, Chinese Chicken Salad and Pan-Fried Pot Stickers rely on Asian staples like ginger, soy, chili paste and rice vinegar that deliver flavor without fat and are easy to keep on hand. (A word of caution: readers who don't like cilantro will be turned off by almost half of the recipes in this book.) Daelemans targets busy moms trying to satisfy finicky husbands and kids, and includes plenty of recognizable crowd-pleasers like School-Night Family Chicken Burritos and Skirt Steak Fajitas. The trick is smaller portions of protein on a plate loaded up with creative fruit and vegetable sides, and Daelemans makes a strong case for time-saving tools like the microplane grater for ginger, garlic and citrus zest and a thin-slicing mandoline for quick slaws. She also recommends judicious use of the microwave for steamed rice and fish, no-stick frittatas and even homemade jam. Although the book's chatty, pep-talking tone can be a bit much, it's so full of great ideas readers won't mind what it's missing: extra calories. (Mar. 25) Forecast: Daelemans chronicled her own weight loss (from a size 22 to a size 6) in Good Housekeeping, so readers might recognize her name. She'll go on a national author tour and will copromote this book with the President's Council for Physical Fitness and the American Diabetes Association. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In this follow-up to her best-selling Cooking Thin with Chef Kathleen, Daelemans offers more simple, fresh, and appealing low-calorie recipes, along with words of wisdom and support for her many fans. (Her popular television series, Cooking Thin, is the only diet program to appear on the Food Network.) Her first book recounted the story of how she lost 75 pounds after she became the chef at a restaurant serving spa cuisine; here she provides other tips for losing weight and keeping it off while being able to enjoy food. In a relaxed but realistic tone, Daelemans serves up simple recipes organized into categories such as "Meals for Nights When They're Getting the Best of You" and "Little Plates, Appetizers, and Lunches Suitable for Royalty." For all cookery and diet collections. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.



Table of Contents:
Acknowledgmentsix
Introduction1
Make the Commitment: Your Body Is Your Temple. You Wanna Live There or in a Warehouse?11
Motivation: It's in There. And You Don't Even Have to Dig to the Back of Your Closet to Get It19
Accountability: Exercise Your Abilities. Count Your Rewards33
Support: Task-Oriented Weight-Loss Secrets43
KD's Cupboards Exposed and a Whole Lot More53
Mini-Max Meals: Minimum Input, Maximum Satisfaction Guaranteed63
Meals for Nights When They're Getting the Best of You65
Pajama Meals: When You Have the Time to Cook and Want to Play123
It Tastes Just Like Chicken, Honey: Barely-Any-Meat Meals161
The Queen RSVPed! Little Plates, Appetizers, and Lunches Suitable for Royalty203
Breakfast for Kings243
Quick Sides259
Sauces, Salsas, and Condiments: Really Cool Things You Ought to Make285
Fruit and Chocolate297
Index325

1000 Italian Recipes or The Holford Low GL Diet

1,000 Italian Recipes

Author: Michele Scicolon

It’s Like Getting 5 Cookbooks in 1



• 179 Pastas and Sauces

• 241 Meat, Poultry, and Fish Entrees

• 158 Vegetable Dishes

• 179 Desserts

• And Much More!



CELEBRATE ITALIAN COOKING with this authoritative and engaging tribute. Author Michele Scicolone offers simple recipes for delicious classics such as lasagne, minestrone, chicken cutlets, and gelato, plus many more of your favorites; a wealth of modern dishes, such as grilled scallop salad; and a traveler’s odyssey of regional specialties from the northern hills of Piedmont to the sun-drenched islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Whether giving expert advice on making a frittata or risotto, selecting Italian ingredients, or pairing Italian wines with food, Scicolone enlivens each page with rich details of Italian food traditions. This book is a treasury to turn to for any occasion.

Praise for 1,000 Italian Recipes
"Michele Scicolone has written the best all-encompassing Italian cookbook to hit the shelves in years. Her recipes are accessible and beautifully written, and the result is a masterpiece of traditional and nontraditional Italian cookery. This tome is pure inspiration."
–Mario Batali, Chef/Owner of Babbo, Lupa, Esca, Otto, and Casa Mono (New York), and host of Food Network’s Molto Mario

"The broad range of recipes and wealth of information on Italian food found in 1,000 Italian Recipes confirms why Michele Scicolone was the only chef we would go to when we wanted to do our Sopranos Family Cookbook."
–David Chase, Creator/Executive Producer,The Sopranos

"A must-havefor any serious Italian cook."
–Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, Chef, Restaurateur, Cookbook Author, and Host of PBS’s Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen



Interesting book: Bills Food or M522 Holidays at Home

The Holford Low GL Diet: Lose Fat Fast Using the Revolutionary Fatburner System

Author: Patrick Holford

TWO SIMPLE RULES

1. Eat no more than 40 GLs a day

2. Eat protein with carbohydate

ONE SIMPLE DIET

The Holford Low GL Diet At its heart, one controlling principle:

If you lose blood sugar control, you gain weight and feel hungry and tired.

If you gain blood sugar control, you lose weight and feel happy and full of energy.

THE BOTTOM LINE

When you balance your blood sugar, you'll lose weight fast.



With The Holford Low GL Diet you will beat your cravings! You'll enjoy delicious meals, choosing from a wide variety of energy-boosting foods and simple menu plans. The diet is safe and easy to follow, and includes a nutritional supplementation plan to increase your energy and decrease your appetite.

Tried and tested by the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, The Holford Low GL Diet is based on the latest medical and nutritional research, made totally accessible. Discover how easy it is to reprogram your body to burn your fat away.



Monday, December 29, 2008

Dont Try This at Home or Classic French Cooking

Don't Try This at Home: Culinary Catastrophes From the World's Greatest Cooks and Chefs

Author: Kimberly Witherspoon

DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME
Culinary Catastrophes from the World’s Greatest Chefs

A hilarious and heartening collection of kitchen disasters.

In this raucous new collection, over forty of the world’s greatest chefs relate outrageous true tales from their kitchens. From hiring a blind line cook to flooding the room with meringue to being terrorized by a French owl, these behind-the-scenes accounts are as wildly entertaining as they are revealing. A delicious reminder that even the chefs we most admire aren’t always perfect, Don't Try This at Home is a must-have for anyone who loves food or is fascinated by those who masterfully prepare it.

Ferrán Adrià on when lobsters go bad José Andrés on asking for help
Dan Barber on talking to your fish Mario Batali on the perfect risotto Michelle Bernstein on the many uses of chocolate Heston Blumenthal on the angriest maître d’ in England
Daniel Boulud on one thousand bowls of soup
Anthony Bourdain on beating up the customers Jimmy Bradley on drinking games Scott Bryan on too many salamanders
David Burke on hiding the laundry
Samuel Clark on cooking for royalty
Tom Colicchio on sneaking through customs Scott Conant on the persistence of eels Tamasin Day-Lewis on how not to store a pheasant Tom Douglas on the strange destiny of snowstorms Wylie Dufresne on birds of prey Jonathan Eismann on the healing powers of electricity
Claudia Fleming on runaway meringue
Gabrielle Hamilton on second sight Fergus Henderson on the far from ordinary Paul Kahan on caller ID Hubert Keller on tempting fate Giorgio Locatelli on theart of the French ambush Michael Lomonaco on feeding Pavarotti
Pino Luongo on summer school in the Hamptons Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger on getting away with it
Sara Moulton on how to destroy a food processor
Tamara Murphy on the misuses of foie gras
Cindy Pawlcyn on eating at home Neil Perry on unexpected showers Michel Richard on how to rescue a wayward cake
Eric Ripert on getting to the kitchen Alain Sailhac on salty coffee and solitary confinement Marcus Samuelsson on the languages of gelatin
Bill Telepan on the Fish Guys versus the Meat Guys Laurent Tourondel on rib-eye rush hour
Tom Valenti on the grounds for revenge Norman Van Aken on Key West hi-jinks Geoffrey Zakarian on a license to eat dangerously

Publishers Weekly

Food is fast becoming entertainment, so it's only natural that it should follow in the footsteps of sports and show business and offer up a collection of bloopers. Literary agent Witherspoon and food writer Friedman corralled 40 gastronomic heavyweights to share their versions of dinners gone wrong. The highlight is, unsurprisingly, the piece by chef and bestselling author Anthony Bourdain. His "New Year's Meltdown" is a case study in what happens when you don't plan (Bourdain admits, "Nobody likes a `learning experience'-translating as it does to `a total ass-fucking'-but I learned"). Mario Batali's "The Last Straw," though not relating a culinary catastrophe per se, is runnerup: Batali was in culinary school when he clashed with a chef; in a spectacular crescendo, the chef hurled a pan of risotto at the young student, but revenge was sweet. But for every fantastic screwup, there's a dud. The translated pieces (such as the one by Spanish titan Ferr n Adri ) fail to captivate, and others, like Jimmy Bradley's tale about how he got drunk on the job to spite his boss, are neither entertaining nor instructive. Still, this collection happily reminds us that even big shots have off days. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Russ Parsons - Los Angeles Times

"As in every other profession, chefs love their war stories. Finally someone had the good sense to collect some of the best in "Don't Try This at Home"... If you liked "Kitchen Confidential" for its frank behind-the-scenes glimpses of kitchen life (rather than the profanity and the heroin), you'll love this book."

Library Journal

"A fantastic collection of personal stories that depict these great chefs as real people. Readers are certain to learn valuable culinary lessons from chefs' mistakes and their various and creatively solved dilemmas. This book is sure to be enjoyed by culinary fans across the board."

Library Journal

Literary agent Witherspoon and culinary writer Friedman teamed with 40 professional chefs to compile this eclectic collection of cooking mishaps and near disasters. These short, anecdotal stories offer the reader a sometimes comical and always unique glimpse behind the scenes of restaurant kitchens. The result is a fantastic collection of personal stories that depict these great chefs as real people. The vast majority of tales comes from chefs in New York City, but there are also stories from professional cooks in other U.S. cities as well as England, Australia, and Spain. Furthermore, the editors preface each chef's story with a short biography, which enriches the work. While the text does not offer any recipes, readers are certain to learn valuable culinary lessons from the chefs' mistakes and their various and creatively solved dilemmas. Perfect for public libraries of all sizes, this book is sure to be enjoyed by culinary fans across the board.-Lisa A. Ennis, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib., Lister Hill Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Short tales from celebrated chefs sharing their worst moments. Take a handful of culinary masters, toss in stories of utter humiliation or heartache, and you wind up with a spicy little essay collection with a flavor not unlike that of America's Funniest Home Videos, in which the most successful vignettes are invariably those in which the subjects suffer the most. And there is plenty of room for misery in a kitchen. The collection begins with the worst day in the professional life of Ferran Adria. Dubbed "the Salvador Dal' of the kitchen" by Gourmet magazine, Adria was preparing to whip up a private dinner for 3,200 guests when he discovered that the lobsters were spoiled. A disaster, but at least he didn't get fired. Jimmy Bradley can't say the same; the NewYork-based chef and restaurant owner shares a story of how he got abysmally drunk on the job early in his career (he was a reluctant participant in a drinking game) and was summarily dismissed the next day. Wylie Dufresne (honored in 2001 as one of the best new chefs in the country by Food & Wine magazine) relates a story of being plagued during an apprenticeship in a French kitchen by an owl who decided to roost under his bed, while Food Network star Sara Moulton remembers the time she was tormented by an uncooperative food processor when she tried to impress her sister with mashed potatoes. And Anthony Bourdain, ever dependable, delivers the goods with a satisfyingly apocalyptic story about a disastrous New Year's Eve. Lots of fun for foodies both ardent and casual.



See also: Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Revealed or Spore Limited Edition Bundle

Classic French Cooking: Recipes for Mastering the French Kitchen

Author: Elisabeth Luard

Written by the prize winning author Elisabeth Luard, Classic French Cooking is a product of a lifetime of learning. In this book she brings together the core recipes that are the building blocks for all French cooking. It guarantees the reader an easy entree into the world of regional French cooking and many hours of enjoyable creativity in the kitchen.



Death by Chocolate or Fondue

Death by Chocolate

Author: Marcel Desaulniers

Ten years after its original publication, Death by Chocolate remains the ultimate chocolate dessert cookbook. It won the James Beard Award, inspired a television show, and has sold over 100,000 copies. All of the original mouth-watering recipes remain, now supplemented by many new recipes carefully crafted by master-chef Marcel Desaulniers. All preparations and ingredients are included with full-color photographs, allowing mere mortals to create chocolate masterpieces such as the eponymous Death by Chocolate, Chocolate Temptation, and Chocolate Dementia.

Publishers Weekly

The resurrection of Desaulniers' classic compilation will delight chocoholics. Glossy pages hold photographs of tempting decadent desserts- perfectly tempered truffles and tiered mousse cakes-that should inspire home bakers to break out the Baker's chocolate bars and get cooking. The first edition, which won The James Beard Award in 1993 for Best Dessert Book, has been expanded to celebrate its 10th anniversary. New recipes like The "Big Dig" complement traditional classics like Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cake. Two days work is recommended to create and assemble the Dig's four layers: chocolate blacktop batter cake, triple chocolate barrier, double chocolate pudding and whipped cream topper. Assembled into a chocolate cylinder, the dessert is pure chocolate dementia. Desaulniers is a master at layering flavors and textures; though the recipes are difficult (even the seemingly simple Essential Chocolate Mousses need careful attention), they are worth the effort. The instructions are as rich as the desserts: Desaulniers holds the reader's hand, advising on complex techniques: his notes on what the batter should look like at each step are particularly helpful. And there are notes of humor as well. At the end of the spectacular five-page recipe for Chocolate Wedlock, he advises the pastry chef to "quaff a well-chilled glass of champagne... you deserve it!" (The section "A Touch of Chocolate" contains slightly more restrained recipes, like Red Pear Sorbet and White Chocolate "Ice Cream" with Pralines and Caramel Sabayon.) This is death worth living by. (Jan.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.



Interesting book: 10 Habits That Mess up a Womans Diet or Spirit Healing

Fondue: Great Food To Dip, Dunk, Savor, And Swirl

Author: Rick Rodgers

Fondue is back, bigger and better than ever, popping up in kitchens everywhere! Rick Rodgers presents more than fifty sensational recipes that combine the newest tastes with traditional favorites, creating versatile and mouth-watering fondues that will thrill fondue lovers.

Rediscover the pleasure of cooking food at the table with your friends and family as contemporary flavors and ingredients -- roast garlic, fresh ginger, sun-dried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, and espresso-are stirred into today's fondue pot. This is great food that is simple to make and perfect for entertaining.

If you love the classic cheese version, try dipping cooked shrimp or artichoke hearts into Italian Fontina and Porcini Fondue; or vegetables and apples into Gorgonzola, Port, and Walnut Fondue. Dunk focaccia or Italian salami into Sun-Dried Tomato Pizza Fondue, bite-sized cubes of bread or even chicken breast into Classic Swiss Fondue, made with three cheeses for a deliciously authentic masterpiece.

Meat lovers will go for Fondue Bourguignonne, where chunks of table-fried meats (or poultry or fish) are dipped into a variety of quick-to-make sauces. Serve boneless leg of lamb with Balsamic Vinegar-Mint Sauce or turkey breast with Cranberry-Lime Mayonnaise.

Many Asian cuisines have their own versions of fondue that are popular choices for communal meals. Known as hot pots, they're an exotic mix of ingredients in a special savory stock. Try the famous Japanese version, Shabu-Shabu, with paper-thin slices of beef and a sesame dipping sauce, or the Classic Chrysan themum Hot Pot, composed of a variety of meats and fish to be dipped in a soy-sherry sauce.

For the confirmed dessertfanatic, nothing will please the palate more than sweet and rich tastes from your fondue pot. The choices are intoxicating-fresh strawberries, pineapples, and cherries, and chunks of pound cake can be swirled into Classic Chocolate Fondue. A sinful concoction of peanut butter and milk chocolate is made to be savored with bananas or brownies. And who can resist dipping a cookie or two in Venetian Espresso Fondue?

Intense in taste and flavors, innovative in form and preparation, fondue is the way we want to eat today.



Sunday, December 28, 2008

Explore the Tastes of Maryland or Garlic

Explore the Tastes of Maryland

Author: Maryland Dietetic Association

Sample the best of Maryland cuisine in this compilation of favorites from dietitians all across the state. Experience firsthand why this area is known as "the land of pleasant living." Includes regional specialties, contemporary favorites, and even children's recipes, with historical facts about Maryland and nutritional tips.



Go to: Low Fat No Fat Thai or 125 Best Biscuit Mix Recipes

Garlic

Author: Joan Wilen

Garlic is proven to increase your energy level, improve memory, strengthen your immune system, prevent serious heart problems ... and that's not all. Here's your step-by-step guide for using Nature's Super Healer to help you treat virtually any health condition. Plus, Garlic: Nature's Super Healer provides tips for selecting, storing, and preparing garlic for medicinal use in odor-free capsules, oils, poultices, and teas ... tips for reaping the benefits of eating raw garlic without suffering side effects like burning pain or garlic breath ... as well as fascinating case histories of men and women who achieved relief from their health problem with this incredible herb.



Table of Contents:
What This Book Can Do For You
Acknowledgments
Introduction1
Garlic's "Believe It or Not"7
Garlic As Medicine19
Remedies29
Garlic Remedies for Your Pet96
Health-Giving Garlic Preparations103
Growing Garlic119
Garlic As Food129
Recipes139
Appendices225
Garlic Festivals227
Resources230
Bibliography234
Index237

Betty Crocker PocketChef Appetizers or Candy Christmass Christmas Collection

Betty Crocker PocketChef Appetizers

Author: Silverback Books Staff

Introducing PocketChef cards - the perfect combination of your favorite Betty Crocker recipes with portable convenience!

Say goodbye to lost and crumpled shopping lists. Fitting easily into your purse, briefcase, backpack or glove box, PocketChef's handy "bookmark" format provides you with a simple approach to cooking and menu planning.

PocketChef cards fan out to reveal 36 scrumptious Betty Crocker recipes, as seen in the latest edition of the bestselling Betty Crocker Cookbook. These timeless recipes haven been chosen by consumer focus groups for their reliability, ease of preparation and great taste.

Available in six convenient titles: Breakfast and Brunch, Appetizers, Soups and Salads, Quick Dinners 1, Quick Dinners 2, and Desserts. A must-have for cooks on the go who don't have much time to spend in the supermarket!



Interesting book: Energy Victory or Death of a Dissident

Candy Christmas's Christmas Collection: Recipes, Stories, and Inspirations from Candy's House to Yours

Author: Candy Christmas

Bring the warmth of the holiday spirit home.

You can make this holiday season one your family will cherish forever. This delightful book by Candy Christmas shares scrumptious recipes that are sure to make your family and friends feel special and loved. In its pages you'll find tips for holiday entertaining, family traditions you can make your own, and easy holiday crafts.

Whether this book is for you or someone you love, it will make every Christmas a more meaningful and treasured holiday and will help you make new memories that will last a lifetime.



Saturday, December 27, 2008

Young and Hungry or Little Rock Cooks

Young and Hungry: More Than 100 Recipes for Cooking Fresh and Affordable Food for Everyone

Author: Dave Lieberman

The debut cookbook from exciting new culinary superstar David Lieberman, host of the upcoming Food Network show The Real Deal.

Young & Hungry, an innovative new cookbook packed with simple and delicious recipes, invites people to venture into the kitchen -- farther than the refrigerator or microwave -- to create fantastic fresh food that's perfect for sharing with friends at dinner parties, brunch, or an afternoon watching football. In chapters conveniently organized by meal event, Dave Lieberman offers more than 100 easy-to-follow recipes to help readers cook effortlessly and impressively for friends and family. Helpful "Dave's Take" sidebars sprinkled throughout provide details on ingredients and tips on making things simpler or taking them to the next level.

Perfect for the Young & Hungry, sections and recipes include:

--Casual Sit-Downs: Roasted Red Pepper and Leek Soup with Goat Cheese Crostini; Flash-Marinated London Broil; Grapefruit Granita
--Dinner for Two: Dill-Rubbed Salmon with Caramelized Lemon Slices; Raspberry Cream Parfait
--Cooking for a Crowd: Roasted Acorn Squash with Butter and Sage; Rosemary-Roasted Pork Loin with Orange-Cranberry Sauce; Tiramisu
--Happy Hour!: Tropical Martini; White Sangria; Open-Faced Smoked Salmon Sandwich with Avocado and Wasabi Cream Cheese; Crostini with Sautйed Cremini Mushrooms and Garlic

New York Times

Mr. Lieberman is a highly skilled cook and has an insouciant yet earnest manner.

BookPage

Whether you're young, old or somewhere in between, Dave [Lieberman] has the good tastes to spur on your good times.

epicurious.com

For the audience of the young and hungry, this book will be a lifesaver.

Publishers Weekly

"Some of my favorite memories of all time come from sitting around a table with friends or family, savoring not only the good food but also the peacefulness that comes from slowing down and giving all the time in the world to enjoying the pleasures of good food and good company." This would hardly be a groundbreaking statement coming from a typical Italian-American grandmother. But Lieberman is just out of Yale and the newest face on the Food Network (his show airs April 16). He was portrayed in the New York Times in 2003 as a skilled college chef with his own public access cooking show. Here, he makes good on the promise that was apparent in that article. He offers a variety of appealing, easy, budget-conscious dishes for various occasions, including casual and romantic dinners, brunches, barbecues, tail-gate parties and buffets. Lieberman has a solid grasp on technique, and he passes along what he knows in a succinct, down-to-earth way bound to appeal to young people whose tastes exceed their know-how. With simple and approachable recipes, he nudges readers toward a more sophisticated appreciation of the nuances of taste and color while keeping the cozy, collegiate touches-hence Dill-Rubbed Salmon with Caramelized Lemon Slices mingles with Nuked Nachos. Photos. Agent, Lisa Queen at IMG. (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.



Interesting book: Eating in America or Anne Lindsays New Light Cooking

Little Rock Cooks

Author: Inc The Junior League of Little Rock

Dating back to 1972, Little Rock Cooks is a compilation of delightful recipes handed down from generation to generation. This cookbook has stood the test of time and can be found in kitchen cabinets throughout the country. Inducted into the McIlhenny Hall of Fame, an award given for book sales that exceed 100,000 copies.



Sausage or How to Eat

Sausage

Author: A D Livingston

Delicious sausages can be made easily and inexpensively in your own kitchen by following the recipes and advice found here. Sausage takes you through the steps of choosing the right equipment and preparing such meats as pork, venison, beef, chicken, and fish to create sausages of many flavors. A. D. Livingston offers recipes for country sausages, more exotic flavors from Thailand and even ancient Rome, as well as a full round of instruction for dried and cured sausages. There is also a section on making deli-style cold cuts. All country cooks, sportsmen in particular, will treasure this down-to-earth sausage cookbook.



Interesting textbook: When Painkillers Become Dangerous or The Secret History of the War on Cancer

How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food

Author: Nigella Lawson

"A chatty, sometimes cheeky,celebration of home-cooked meals."
USA Today

Through her wildly popular television shows, her five bestselling cookbooks, her line of kitchenware, and her frequent media appearances, Nigella Lawson has emerged as one of the food world's most seductive personalities. How to Eat is the book that started it all—Nigella's signature, all-purpose cookbook, brimming with easygoing mealtime strategies and 350 mouthwatering recipes, from a truly sublime Tarragon French Roast Chicken to a totally decadent Chocolate Raspberry Pudding Cake. Here is Nigella's total (and totally irresistible) approach to food—the book that lays bare her secrets for finding pleasure in the simple things that we cook and eat every day.

"[Nigella] brings you into her life and tells you how she thinks about food, how meals come together in her head . . . and how she cooks for family and friends . . . A breakthrough . . . with hundreds of appealing and accessible recipes."
—Amanda Hesser, The New York Times

"Nigella Lawson serves up irony and sensuality with her comforting recipes . . . the Queen of Come-On Cooking."
Los Angeles Times

"Nigella Lawson is, whisks down, Britain's funniest and sexiest food writer, a raconteur who is delicious whether detailing every step on the way towards a heavenly roast chicken and root vegetable couscous or explaining why 'cooking is not just about joining the dots.'"
—Richard Story, Vogue magazine



Noteworthy or Glorious Foods of Greece

Noteworthy: A Collection of Recipes from the Ravinia Festival

Author: Ravinia Festival Womens Board

This award-winning cookbook was brilliantly orchestrated by the Ravinia Festival Women's Board as a way to raise money for music scholarships and the venerated music festival. This harmonious collection of more than 600 recipes is the result of three years of collecting, testing, tasting, collating, and indexing. These dishes stand the test of time and include spectacular picnic fare, simple family dinners, and special occasion dishes. With recipes ranging from homey pumpkin bread and elegant leek and chevre tarts to simple pickled beets and lavish Chicken Wellington with Champagne Sauce, there are choices to suit everyone's tastes. Music lovers might want to try guest conductor Claudio Abbado's Crab Caponata and Ravinia music director James Levine's Classic Chicken Salad, or Variations on a Brownie and Summer Symphony Soup. These scores of recipes for every cook, from the novice to the gourmet, make a great hostess, wedding, or shower gift.

Author Biography: The Ravinia Festival Women's Board is dedicated to the support of the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois.



Interesting book: Bipolar Teen or The Wall Street Diet

Glorious Foods of Greece: Traditional Recipes from the Islands, Cities, and Villages

Author: Diane Kochilas

The Glorious Foods of Greece is the magnum opus of Greek cuisine, the first book that takes the reader on a long and fascinating journey beyond the familiar Greece of blue-and-white postcard images and ubiquitous grilled fish and moussaka into the country's many different regions, where local customs and foodways have remaained intact for eons.

The journey is both personal and inviting. Diane Kochilas spent nearly a decade crisscrossing Greece's Pristine mountains, mainland, and islands, visiting cooks, bakers, farmers, shepherds, fishermen, artisan producers of cheeses, charcuterie, olives, olive oil, and more, in order to document the country's formidable culinary traditions. The result is a paean to the hitherto uncharted glories of local Greek cooking and regional lore that takes you from mountain villages to urban tables to seaside tavernas and island gardens.

In beautiful prose and with more than four hundred unusual recipes -- many of them never before recorded -- invites us to a Greece few visitors ever get to see. Along the way she serves up feast after feast of food, history, and culture from a land where the three have been intertwined since time immemorial.

In an informed introduction, she sets the historic framework of the cuisine, so that we clearly see the differences among the earthy mountain cookery, the sparse, ingenious island table, and the sophisticated aromaticcooking traditions of the Greeks in diaspora. In each chapter she takes stock of the local pantry and cooking customs. From the olive-laden Peloponnesos, she brings us such unusual dishes as One-Pot Chicken Simmered with Artichokes and served with Tomato-Egg-Lemon Sauce and VineLeaves Stuffed with Salt Cod. From the Venetian-influenced Ionian islands, she offers up such delights asPastry-Cloaked Pasta from Corfu filled with cheese and charcuterie and delicious Bread Pudding from Ithaca with zabaglione. Her mainland recipes, as well as those that hail from Greece's impenetrable northwestern mountains, offer an enticing array of dozens of delicious savory pies, unusual greens dishes, and succulent meat preparations such as Lamb with Garlic and Cheese Baked in Paper. In Macedonia she documents the complex, perfumed, urbane cuisine that defines that region. In the Aegean islands, she serves up a wonderful repertory of exotic yet simple foods, reminding us how accessible -- and healthful -- is the Greek fegional table.

The result is a cookbook unlike any other that has ever been written on Greek cuisine, one that brims with the author's love and knowledge of her subject, a tribute to the vibrant, multifaceted continuum of Greek cooking, both highly informed and ever inviting. The Glorious Foods of Greece is an important work, one that contributes generously to the culinary literature and is sure to become the definitive book of Greek cuisine and culture for future generations of food lovers -- Greek and non-Greek alike.

Mort Rosenblum

Diane Kochilas sheds warm, wonderous light on the Mediterranean's best-kept culinary secret: the range and flavor of real Greek food. From the hubbub of Athens' market to old stone kitchens on forgotten islands, she lets us savor what we have been missing.

Joyce Goldstein

The Glorious Foods of Greece is plainly a labor of love and intelligence. You will be amazed by the incredible regional diversity of Greek cuisine. Diane's passion for Greek cuisine and her attention to detail make the recipes come alive with their vibrant sense of place.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins

This is a splendid achievement—beautifully written, dense with information, and offered with a rare warmth and generosity of spirit.

Mort Rosenblum

Diane Kochilas sheds warm, wonderous light on the Mediterranean's best-kept culinary secret: the range and flavor of real Greek food. From the hubbub of Athens' market to old stone kitchens on forgotten islands, she lets us savor what we have been missing.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins

This is a splendid achievement—beautifully written, dense with information, and offered with a rare warmth and generosity of spirit.

Joyce Goldstein

The Glorious Foods of Greece is plainly a labor of love and intelligence. You will be amazed by the incredible regional diversity of Greek cuisine. Diane's passion for Greek cuisine and her attention to detail make the recipes come alive with their vibrant sense of place.

Publishers Weekly

With this massive and masterful collection, Kochilas (an American with Greek roots who works in Athens as a food reporter for a Greek newspaper) brings Greek cooking front and center in American kitchens. Region by region (the Ionian Islands, the Cyclades, etc.), she provides over 400 appealing Mediterranean recipes. Fine seafood dishes such as the Fried Mussels of northern Greece and Spiny Lobster Cooked with Spring Onions and Herbs from Lesvos abound, as do interesting meat preparations, including the many lamb and goat dishes of Roumeli and Quinces Stuffed with Ground Lamb from the north, as well as poultry standouts like One-Pot Chicken with Broth-Simmered Noodles and Ground Walnuts (upholding the tradition of cooking noodles in broth because water was scarce). Many dishes use common ingredients in surprising ways, like an earthy Pasta with Yogurt and Caramelized Onions from Kassos and Chard-Stuffed Turkey from Nazos. Kochilas doesn't skimp on savory pies (Fresh Cheese Pie with Fennel from Kalavyrta, Pumpkin and Carrot Pie from Cephalonia), bread (Raisin-Stuffed Lazarus Bread from Lesvos), or desserts (Pancakes with Yogurt and Currants), and she presents numerous appetizing vegetable dishes. The text sections are of uniformly high quality, with indispensable pages on regional cheeses. Kochilas writes lovingly and insightfully about her adopted country, profiling the many Greeks (mostly women) who generously shared recipes with her, and displays a deep grasp of history. (Apr.) Forecast: Kochilas's eight years of research show in the book's thoroughness. A landmark for Greek cooking in the U.S., it's a likely candidate for cookbook awards and can be confidently billed as the definitive source. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Kochilas is the author of The Food and Wine of Greece and an acknowledged authority on Greek food. After traveling extensively throughout the country, she moved there in 1990, partly to begin research on this ambitious work, which is obviously a labor of love. She includes more than 400 recipes from all regions, starting with the Peloponnesus and the Ionian Islands, moving on to Macedonia, the islands of the Aegean, and Crete, and finishing up in the city of Athens. Many of the recipes will be unfamiliar to Americans indeed, some are unknown in Greece outside of their particular provenance. Kochilas also provides extensive historical background, cultural as well as culinary, along with detailed descriptions and explanations of ingredients, from "the last barrel fetas" to Macedonian peppers. While her book does not have quite the charm of Aglaia Kremezi's lovely, more narrowly focused The Foods of the Greek Islands (LJ 10/1/00), its scope and range of recipes make it an essential purchase. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

What People Are Saying

Nancy Harmon Jenkins
This is a splendid achievement—beautifully written, dense with information, and offered with a rare warmth and generosity of spirit.
—(Nancy Harmon Jenkins, author of The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook)


Joyce Goldstein
The Glorious Foods of Greece is plainly a labor of love and intelligence. You will be amazed by the incredible regional diversity of Greek cuisine. Diane's passion for Greek cuisine and her attention to detail make the recipes come alive with their vibrant sense of place.
—( Joyce Goldstein, cookbook author and culinary consultant)


Mort Rosenblum
Diane Kochilas sheds warm, wondrous light on the Mediterranean's best-kept culinary secret: the range and flavor of real Greek food. From the hubbub of Athens' market to old stone kitchens on forgotten islands, she lets us savor what we have been missing.
—(Mort Rosenblum, author of A Goose in Toulouse and Olives)




Friday, December 26, 2008

The Eve of Seven Fishes or Beer and Good Food

The Eve of Seven Fishes: Christmas Cooking in the Peasant Tradition

Author: Robert A Germano

The recipes, stories, and history in The Eve of Seven Fishes will take you back to the simple days of your youth, from opening Christmas presents after enjoying the mouthwatering meal of anchovy spaghetti, fried smelts, and Baccala, to savoring the smell of garlic and the company of Uncle Tony and Cousin Vinnie.

Author Robert A. Germano entices your taste buds with his delectably authentic Italian recipes from the Old Country. With recipes centered around the simple Italian meal prepared on Christmas Eve, you'll savor the flavor of garlic and basil in Germano's homemade spaghetti sauce and learn how to make true Italian biscotti.

The kitchen was the heart of the Italian home. Not only was it a place to cook, but it was also the entertainment area for gossip, arguments, solving riddles, and more laughter than your cheeks could endure.

The Eve of Seven Fishes invites you into Germano's kitchen and introduces you to the peasant cooking of years gone by. But remember, "Too many wines spoil the cook."



Look this: HTML XHTML and CSS All In One Desk Reference For Dummies or Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Word 2007

Beer and Good Food

Author: Bob Simmons

Beer and Good Food contains recipes that use beer as a main ingredient, as well as dishes that pair especially well with beer. Find over 100 recipes for appetizers, soups, salads, breads, side dishes, poultry dishes, meat dishes, seafood dishes and even desserts. A special section features beer party menus for a variety of occasions. Learn about beer from all over the world, as well as beer history, beer trivia, how to serve beer and how to match beer successfully with food.



Juan Carlos Cruz Calorie Countdown Cookbook or The All American Dessert Book

Juan-Carlos Cruz Calorie Countdown Cookbook: A 5-Week Eating Strategy for Sustainable Weight Loss

Author: Juan Carlos Cruz

The Food Network's Calorie Commando shares his five-week weight-loss program, including 150 low-fat, healthy, and delicious recipes that follow his mantra to "keep the taste while you trim your waist."

As a pastry chef at Los Angeles's glamorous Hotel Bel Air, Juan-Carlos Cruz created dazzling desserts. Surrounded by the best ingredients and the most tempting dishes, he began to gain weight, eventually topping 280 pounds. Finding little relief in fad diets, he developed his own weight-loss strategies and re-created many of his favorite dishes reducing both calories and fat content.

Today, he's a buff television star who reinvents recipes on the air, slashing wasted calories and making flavors sizzle. The Juan-Carlos Cruz Calorie Countdown Cookbook reveals the tricks of his trade, delivering a five-week plan to get menus on track and establish a weight-loss plan you can savor for life.

After telling his own story of success and weight loss in the "Confessions of a Recovering Pastry Chef" chapter, Cruz eases readers into a gradual calorie-reduction plan. He provides five weeks of daily menus that incorporate his own recipes as well as popular commercial foods. By the end of five weeks, readers will have omitted five hundred calories from their daily intake. Tips, such as his "Chocolate-Chip Cookie Theory," help readers identify how one deleted menu item can result in big annual calorie savings and sustained weight loss.

Recipes spanning breakfast, snacks, appetizers, sandwiches, main dishes, and even desserts put the spotlight on Cruz's world-class cuisine. Chicken parmesan, macaroni and cheese, tortilla casserole, calzones, and even chocolate cake andcheese fries prove that with the right ingredients there is room for indulgence in a healthy diet. Sixteen pages of tempting color photography complete this savory, surefire package.



Book review:

The All-American Dessert Book

Author: Nancy Baggett

When Nancy Baggett set out to find the best homemade desserts in America, she knew just where to look. She turned to small-town cooks who are locally famous for their specialties, innkeepers and bakers whose treats lure guests back year after year, and church and bake-sale ladies whose creations are always snapped up at events.

Many of Nancy's finds have never been published, or even written down, before. Some of the local treasures include
* an irresistibly easy blueberry buckle from a Vermont bed-and-breakfast
* a tender peach cobbler from a home cook in the Ozarks who learned it from her mother
* a lusciously thick chocolate-banana malted from a celebrated soda fountain in St. Louis
* a supremely moist chiffon cake with a zingy orange glaze from Nancy's grandmother's "receipt" box
* big, soft, glazed gingerbread cookies that were a huge favorite at a former diner in Washington, D.C.
* creamy chocolate-dipped caramels, the proprietary secret of the guild members of a New Mexico Episcopal church
"Although I've been baking and writing about sweets for more than three decades, time and time again I found myself thinking, 'What a great idea! I'd never have thought of that," Nancy writes in the introduction.
Nancy has tested and retested each recipe in her own kitchen, so that you're assured of a flaky, easy-to-roll pie crust, a brownie with a perfect fudgy center and a deep chocolate aroma, and a silky-smooth cheesecake every time -- even if you've never baked before.
Since the most memorable desserts are often the ones you make with your children, this book features plenty of projects for the whole family: rock crystal swizzle sticks, caramelapples, graham cracker "gingerbread" houses, and gifts such as brownie bars in a jar and quick heavenly hash fudge.
The All-American Dessert Book tells the intriguing story of America's fascination with sweets, complete with regional legends, behind-the-scenes recipe stories, fascinating snippets of baking history, and words of kitchen wisdom from cooks of the past.

Publishers Weekly

Apple pie may be America's signature dessert, but if this fine cookbook is any measure, there are a number of contenders that could reign equally supreme. Take Yellow Sour Cream-Butter Layer Cake, for example: a staple of wedding and birthday celebrations, it can be paired with nearly any icing and, in Baggett's version, is moist, aromatic and "very buttery." Baggett (The All-American Cookie Book) canvassed the country, visiting bakeries, restaurants, confectioneries and old-fashioned soda shops to come up with this collection of 150 recipes. Her book covers pies, tarts and cheesecakes; cakes and frostings; fruit desserts; puddings; cookies; ice creams; candies; and easy gifts and treats, such as Maple Sugar on Snow (a popular Vermont confection). There are, naturally, many regional favorites, such as Black Walnut Pound Cake, adapted from several versions from Missouri, where black walnuts grow in abundance. Many recipes include instructional asides (e.g., a lesson on forming the lattice top for a pie, used in both Deep-Dish Blueberry Pie and Deep-Dish Raspberry-Apricot Pie), and useful sidebars detailing the history of Concord grapes, Key limes, Martha Washington's cheeseless cheesecake and other fare. Most recipes also have a solid introduction explaining the recipe and any required techniques. Elegant and inspiring, this volume has something for every cook. Photos. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Just as she did for her big All-American Cookie Book, Baggett traveled around the country for her latest collection culled from heirloom cookbooks, old-fashioned "receipt books," and her own favorites from family and childhood memories. The resulting 150 recipes for luscious regional specialties include pies and tarts, cakes, cobblers and crisps, puddings and custards, and ice creams, along with newly discovered cookies, candies and confections, and a chapter of "Family Fun," easy gifts from the kitchen. Readable headnotes include culinary background, helpful tips, and suggestions for variations, and recipe instructions are thoughtfully written and clear. Many of the mouth-watering desserts are shown in full-page color photographs. A good companion to Judith Fertig's All American Desserts, this is recommended for all baking collections. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.



Thursday, December 25, 2008

Recipe Hall of Fame Quick and Easy Cookbook or Everything Bachelorette Party

Recipe Hall of Fame Quick and Easy Cookbook: Winning Recipes from Hometown America

Author: Gwen McKe

What can you do in fifteen minutes? Homework? Housework? Doubtful! Make a fantastic dish? Definitely! With the Recipe Hall of Fame Quick & Easy Cookbook, preparing great fare is not work-it's a snap! From the Best of the Best database of over 12,000 recipes, editors Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley have selected over 500 easy recipes. Wow guests with 15-Minute Creamy Fettuccini Alfredo. Delight a neighbor with Busy Day Lemon Cheesecake or Six-Minute Pecan Pie. With choices like Lazy Man's Fried Chicken, Easy Enchilada Pie or Pizza Burgers, they'll love every bite. And you know your prep time is cut to a minimum. sLike the successful Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook I and II, and the Recipe Hall of Fame Dessert Cookbook, this latest in the Recipe Hall of Fame Collection is a definite winner in the race for taste. Now you can feed the family and be out of the kitchen fast with the Recipe Hall of Fame Quick & Easy Cookbook!



Read also

Everything Bachelorette Party: Throw a Party that the Bride - and Her Friends - Will Never Forget!

Author: Jennifer Lata Rung

The night that you and your best friend have been talking about for years is almost upon you-the bachelorette party! It's your last night out with each other before your girlfriend sails down the aisle to wedded bliss. There's just one minor problem-you are in charge of all the planning!

The Everything® Bachelorette Party Book is the ideal guide to help you give the bride the time of her life. Packed full of ideas for thematic parties, staid parties, wild and wacky parties, and crazy nights out on the town, The Everything® Bachelorette Party Book makes planning the party almost as much fun as the party itself!

Includes unique ideas for:
* Games
* "Entertaining" gifts
* Thematic parties
* Decorations
*Tips on how to stay on the fun side of drunken fun

Whether the bride is more suited for a wild night or a quiet weekend of catching up with the girls,The Everything® Bachelorette Party Book helps you guarantee that she'll have the party of a lifetime!

Jennifer Lata Rung is the author of The Everything® Creative Wedding Ideas Book and The Everything® Bridesmaid Book. Ms. Rung is also a writer for Traffic East magazine in Buffalo featuring her column, "City Limits," which offers a thirty-something view of love, marriage, friendships, and family in the new millennium. She lives in Buffalo, NY.

Shelly Hagen, a freelance writer, is a graduate of Empire State College and has been writing for the Saratogian since March 2001. She lives in Wilton, NY.



Table of Contents:
Table Of Contents
Chapter 1: A Little Background
Chapter 2: Getting the Ball Rolling
Chapter 3: Setting the Stage
Chapter 4: The Guest List
Chapter 5: That's Entertainment, Baby!
Chapter 6: Getting There
Chapter 7: Theme Parties
Chapter 8: Reality Check
Chapter 9: Human Hazards
Chapter 10: The Party's Over
Appendix A: Timeline for Planning
Appendix B: For Further Reading

Great Salsa Book or American Wine Society Presents the Complete Handbook of Winemaking

Great Salsa Book

Author: Mark Charles Miller

Contains salsa recipes in several categories: chile, tropical and tomato, among others. A companion book to The Great Chile Book.



New interesting textbook:

American Wine Society Presents the Complete Handbook of Winemaking

Author: American Wine Society

An invaluable reference source for the home winemaker, this book explain how to produce consistently outstanding wine at home, simply. The person wanting to seriously explore the subject will also find this book contains enough technical information to satisfy even the most advanced winemaker.



Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Ultimate Cook Book or Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook

Ultimate Cook Book: 900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas

Author: Bruce Weinstein

Here's the ultimate of ultimates: nine hundred new recipes from Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, the authors of the Ultimate cookbook series. With a quarter million books already in print, their series has followed a simple recipe to success: Give cooks hundreds of solid, basic recipes with thousands of ways to vary them, shake them up, and personalize them so that everyone can be an ultimate cook!

With The Ultimate Cook Book, Weinstein and Scarbrough tackle everything from breakfast to barbecue, stir-fries to steaks, chilis to curries, and paellas to puddings. Pick your favorite, cook it as a solid basic, or vary it in hundreds of ways to make the dish your own. You've got years' worth of dishes and a world of cooking experiences ahead of you. What could be more fun?

Take chicken, that ubiquitous blank canvas. Roast a whole bird to perfection. Bake it under a salt crust for a dramatic presentation. Roast chicken halves atop winter squash. Prepare a Greek-style casserole with leeks, pine nuts, and raisins. Stuff chicken breasts with a Moroccan-inspired mixture of couscous and spices. There are more than thirty ideas for preparing boneless, skinless chicken breasts. And ten things to do with a leftover roast chicken or that rotisserie bird purchased on the way home. Get the idea?

This comprehensive, easy-to-use compendium is the ultimate in inspiration, the ultimate in possibilities. Start your Ultimate cookbook collection today—or round it out with The Ultimate Cook Book.

Judith Sutton - Library Journal

The ten earlier cookbooks in this popular series all focused on a single topic, from shrimp to ice cream to peanut butter. Now the authors present recipes for all courses of a meal, with dozens of variations and suggestions for many more (e.g., "Ten Things To Do with Gravlax"). The recipes are simple and mostly quick, and they are inspired by a wide variety of cuisines; although many are classics or familiar old favorites, there are imaginative twists as well. Boxes on ingredients, techniques, culinary lore, and helpful tips are scattered throughout. Other big books, such as The Gourmet Cookbook, offer more sophisticated recipes, but Weinstein and Scarbrough's collection will be accessible even to the novice. Busy cooks looking for ideas for a quick meal or for a company dinner will find dozens of possibilities here. Recommended for most collections.



See also: Party Monster or The Art of Learning

Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province

Author: Fuchsia Dunlop

Authentic recipes and fascinating tales from one of China's most vibrant culinary regions.

Fuchsia Dunlop is the author of the much-loved and critically acclaimed Sichuanese cookbook Land of Plenty, which won the British Guild of Food Writers' Jeremy Round Award for best first book and which critic John Thorne called "a seminal exploration of one of China's great regional cuisines." Now, with Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, she introduces us to the delicious tastes of Hunan, Chairman Mao's home province.

Hunan is renowned for the fiery spirit of its people, its beautiful scenery, and its hearty peasant cooking. In a selection of classic recipes interwoven with a wealth of history, legend, and anecdote, Dunlop brings to life this vibrant culinary region. Look for late imperial recipes like Numbing-and-Hot Chicken, Chairman Mao's favorite Red-Braised Pork, soothing stews, and a myriad of colorful vegetable stir-fries. 65 color illustrations.

Judith Sutton - Library Journal

Dunlop wrote the acclaimed Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. Now she turns to the cuisine of Hunan Province, known for its hot and spicy dishes—and as the birthplace of Mao Zedong. A British journalist and food writer, Dunlop lived in China for several years and trained at the prestigious Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. She traveled extensively in Hunan while researching this book, and her unique background and extensive knowledge enabled her to meet several of China's most esteemed chefs, as well as Chairman Mao's nephew, among other personages. Her impressively researched and highly readable text ranges over topics from political history to culinary legend, and she provides 120 diverse recipes, often for little-known dishes, from a variety of sources. There are color shots of many dishes, and Dunlop's own photographs of her journey illustrate the text. An essential purchase.



Solar Cooking or Edible Forest Gardens

Solar Cooking

Author: Harriet Kofalk

Harness the sun's energy to cook you food! More than three dozen recipes for everything from soup to baked goods, Includes plans for making a low—cost solar cooker out of materials found around the house.



Book review:

Edible Forest Gardens: Volume 1: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate-Climate Permaculture

Author: Dave Jack

Edible Forest Gardens is a groundbreaking two-volume work that spells out and explores the key concepts of forest ecology and applies them to the needs of natural gardeners in temperate climates. Volume I lays out the vision of the forest garden and explains the basic ecological principles that make it work.

Edible Forest Gardens offer an advanced course in ecological gardening--one that will forever change the way you look at plants and your environment.

About the Authors: Dave Jacke is the owner of Dynamics Ecological Design Associates and a longtime permaculture teacher and designer. He lives in Keene, New Hampshire.

Eric Toensmeier is a plant researcher, agricultural educator, and permaculturist who lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts.



Table of Contents:
List of Tables and Figures

Preface

Introduction: An Invitation to Adventure

What Is an Edible Forest Garden?

Gardening LIKE the Forest vs. Gardening IN the Forest

Where Can You Grow a Forest Garden?

The Garden of Eden: It Sounds Great, But Is It Practical?

An Invitation to Adventure

Part One: Context and Vision

1: The Forest and the Trees

The Primal Forest: A Remembrance

Gardening the Forest

Forest Remnants

Feature Article 1: Natives and Exotics: Definitions and Questions

Suburban Ecology

Gardening in the Industrial Image

Lessons Learned

Box 1-1: Shifting the Burden to the Intervenor

2: Visions of Paradise

Study of the Household: Ecology Defined

Tales of Mimicry

Advantages of Forest Mimicry

The Limitations of Forest Mimics

Spanning the Gamut: Images of Forest Gardens

Goals of Forest Gardening

Revision—the Garden of Eden?

Box 2-1: The Principle of Functional Interconnection

Case Study 1: Charlie's Garden

Part Two: Ecology: Form and Function in the Forest Garden

3: The Five Elements of Forest Architecture

Vegetation Layers

Feature Article 2: With All These Layers, What Do I Grow in the Shade?

Soil Horizons

Density

Patterning

Diversity

Summary

Box 3-1: The Principle of Relative Location

Case Study 2: Robert's Garden

4: Social Structure: Niches, Relationships and Communities

Species, Species Niches, and Species Relationships

Multi-Species Interactions: Frameworks of Social Structure

Feature Article 3: Natives and Exotics, Opportunists and Invasives

Social Structure Design: Strategies and Anchors

Chapter Summary

Box 4-1: Niche Analysis: Everybody Does It

Box 4-2: The Principle of Multiple Functions

Box 4-3: The Principle of Stress and Harmony

Box 4-4: The Competitive Exclusion Principle

Box 4-5: The Cropping Principle

Box 4-6: The Principle of Redundancy

Box 4-7: The Polyculture Partitioning Principle

Box 4-8: Ecological Analogs

5: Making A Living In The Dark: Structures of the Underground Economy

The Anatomy of Self-Renewing Fertility

Feature Article 4: Parent Materials: The Soil's Nutritional Constitution

Plant Roots: Engines of the Underground Economy

The Soil Food Web

Summary: Dabbling In The Underground Economy

Box 5-1: The Concept of Limiting Factors

Box 5-2: Specific Replant Disease

6: Succession: Four Perspectives on Vegetation Dynamics

Classical Linear Succession and Climax

Progressive Succession to Shifting Mosaic Steady State

Patch Dynamics: Out of Line and Out of Balance

A "Unified Oldfield Theory": Successional Causes

Feature Article 5: "Invasive" Plants and the Unified Oldfield Theory

Succession Design: Using the Four Models

Summary: The Simultaneity of the Four Models

Box 6-1: The Principle of Allocation

Box 6-2: The Law of Vegetation Dynamics

Box 6-3: The Law of Dynamic Tolerance

Case Study 3: E.F. Schumacher Forest Garden

Conclusion: Elements, Dynamics, and Desired Conditions

Appendices

Appendix 1: Forest Gardening's "Top 100" Species

Appendix 2: Plant Hardiness Zone Maps

Appendix 3: Publications and Organizations

Bibliography

Glossary

General Index

Everything Bartenders Book or 500 Barbecue Dishes

Everything Bartender's Book

Author: Cheryl Charming

Velvet Kiss.

Brain Hemorrhage.

Maui Breeze.

Not to mention The Perfect Martini. Even if you don't know your swizzles from your shooters, you'll be mixing cocktails like a pro in no time with The Everything Bartender's Book, 2nd Edition. Designed for mixologists of every skill level, this behind-the-bar handbook boasts more than 700 recipes for shots, cordials, and punches along with classic, mixed, coffee and hot, blended, and nonalcoholic drinks.

You'll also learn how to:

  • Master bartending basics
  • Choose and use glassware, mixers, and tools
  • Deal with unruly imbibers
  • Cure nasty hangovers
  • Wow 'em with bar tricks and jokes
  • The history of the cocktail: A brief history of wine, champagne, beer and all the liquors
Completely revised, updated, and reorganized for easy reference, The Everything Bartender's Book, 2nd Edition reveals the secrets that every great bartender knows. So don your bartender's apron with confidence and say, "The bar is open!"



Interesting book: Principles of Microeconomics or State Space

500 Barbecue Dishes: The Only Barbecue Compendium You'll Ever Need

Author: Paul Kirk

500 Barbecue Dishes is brought to you by Kansas City author and chef Paul Kirk - who is "the real deal" - a legend on the barbecue circuit and seven-time winner of the Barbecue World Championships. The book includes useful advice on basic cuts of meat, poultry, fish, veggies, a reference table for cooking times and more!

Chapters of the book include:

  • Appetizers
  • Seafood
  • Poultry
  • Pork
  • Lamb
  • Beef
  • Vegetables
  • Salads and sides
  • Desserts

Library Journal

This entry in the publisher's 500 series (500 Cookies; 500 Soups ) uses a similar format to the other titles-about 100 base recipes with four to five variations for each. Kirk (aka the Baron of Barbecue), a Kansas City native, has authored other cookbooks (Smoke It ) and contributed articles to the National Barbecue News and Fine Cooking and Chile Pepper magazines. He uses his barbecuing experience well to offer a variety of recipes-there are not only recipes to please carnivores (e.g., Barbecued Short Ribs, Hot Jamaican Jerk Chicken, and Grilled Tilapia) but vegetable recipes (Spicy Grilled Eggplant and Vegetable Kabobs) and fruit recipes (Glazed Pears and Summer Fruit Packets) as well as some for sweet dishes (Texas Sheet Cake and Grilled S'Mores). While this cookbook is mainly about the recipes, there is a list of approximate cooking times in the introduction. Highly recommended for most public libraries.-Ginny Wolter, Toledo-Lucas Cty. P.L., OH



Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Hooters Cookbook or One Pot Meals

Hooters Cookbook: Food, Fun, and Friends Never Go out of Style

Author: Hooters

The Hooters Cookbook salutes the "Man Food" and carefree lifestyle that makes Hooters restaurants a worldwide destination. Each recipe is illustrated with full-color photography in addition to funny tips and factoids. The book also features photography from other ventures, such as the Hooters Casino Hotel and Hooters-sponsored sporting events.



Look this: Bob Schieffers America or Lincolns

One-Pot Meals: Flavor Without the Fuss... Home-Cooked Dinners Your Family Will Love!

Author: Andrews McMeel PublishingLLC

Scrumptious meals and only one pot to clean up...a dream come true! Our One-Pot Meals Cookbook is absolutely brimming with new recipes that make cooking delicious dinners a snap like pepperoni pizza rigatoni, country chicken pot pie, campfire onions and old-fashioned applesauce cake. We've also included handy, time-saving ideas for mixing & matching ingredients you have on hand.



101 Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies or Biscuit Bliss

101 Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Author: Gwen Steeg

The chocolate chip cookie is, without a doubt, North America's favorite cookie. Nothing beats a steaming, chewy cookie fresh from the oven, its chocolate still gooey and smooth -- perfection! But everyone has a different idea of what makes a perfect chocolate chip cookie, and the variations in this book provide something for everyone. From healthy to loaded with extras, the recipes are all fun and delicious. Try Kahlua Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies, Macadamia Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies, Grandma Matthews' Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies, Kentucky Derby Chip Delights, and Apple-Kissed Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Who wants to lick the bowl?



Table of Contents:
The Search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie (1)

Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies (33)

Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies Plus (61)

And They're Good for You, Too (87)

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (109)

Special Occasion Chocolate Chip Cookies (121)

Index (137)

Book review: Intermediate Accounting or The International Law on Foreign Investment

Biscuit Bliss: 101 Foolproof Recipes for Fresh and Fluffy Biscuits in Just Minutes

Author: James Villas

James Villas has been obsessed with biscuits his entire life. Now that he's grown up, he has sampled and baked countless batches himself, which makes him eminently qualified to present the very best recipes in Biscuit Bliss. Yum!

Library Journal

Admitting that, "like most Southerners," he's "been obsessed with biscuits his entire life," cookbook author Villas is eminently qualified to write about this beloved staple of Southern and other tables. His mouth-watering recipes not only include biscuits-from Maryland Beaten Biscuits to Blue Cheese and Walnut Cocktail Biscuits-but also scones (a close cousin) and dishes made with biscuit dough, such as James Beard's Blueberry Grunt. He also provides a good introduction, "Biscuit Basics," along with tips and culinary lore. For most baking collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.



Monday, December 22, 2008

Serendipity Parties or Chefs Companion Revised and Updated

Serendipity Parties: Pleasantly Unexpected Ideas for Entertaining

Author: Stephen Bruc

Everyone comes together at Serendipity—Hollywood stars, young trendsetters, and families from all over the world. With its dessert-loaded menu, fun decor, and carefree vibe, this is the place to celebrate a birthday—or any occasion that calls for lots of chocolate. Here, the impish impresario Stephen Bruce, like a modern-day Willy Wonka, has created a candy-colored wonderland where all feel welcome and even the host has a great time. Now, Serendipity Parties brings the restaurant’s madcap sense of hospitality home. Whether it’s for a birthday, the holidays, or a summer poolside soiree, this book has a party plan for you. Offbeat decor tips, must-have music playlists, and hilarious anecdotal sidebars accompany delicious recipes that reflect Serendipity’s over-the-top style. Maybe you’d like to throw a Frozzzen Hot Chocolate shindig, where guests can customize their drinks. Or for Halloween you might host a séance, serving miniature Lemon Icebox Pies (Andy Warhol’s favorite dish from the restaurant) and Peanut Butter and Banana Crostini (in honor of Elvis). For Valentine’s, tempt guests with a big pot of chocolate fondue, complete with a selection of different dippers. Perfect for families, the book is also ideal for beginning hosts and hostesses looking to develop their own easy and exciting style of entertaining. With Serendipity Parties, you’ll always have a reason to party.



New interesting book: Sinfully Vegan or Dr BBQs Big Time Barbecue Cookbook

Chef's Companion, Revised and Updated

Author: Elizabeth Riely

The indispensable guide to over 5,000 culinary terms

Even the most international chef sometimes needs help with today’s wildly diverse cooking terminology. Now, there’s an updated and revised edition of Elizabeth Riely’s The Chef’s Companion, which professional chefs and aspiring cooks everywhere can turn to when they need quick access to concise and reliable definitions, pronunciations, correct spelling, accepted usage, and origins of culinary terms. This invaluable guide covers all the terms that chefs might use with customers and kitchen staff–in areas such as cooking techniques, food preparation, herbs and spices, varieties of food, wine, and equipment for the professional kitchen. Over 900 new terms have been added to this edition to provide expanded coverage of areas such as wine, pastry, and ethnic cuisines. The Chef’s Companion: no kitchen is complete without it.



Two at the Table Cookbook or Chocolate Connoisseur

Two at the Table Cookbook: Cooking for Couples Now that the Kids are Gone

Author: Cherly Fall

Containing over 125 recipes, Two at the Table features a diverse stable of dishes, from starters and salads to savory items and desserts. With the focus on recipes that serve just two, the author addresses quantities of ingredients and how to reorganize a pantry for newly minted empty nesters. Recipes include Seattle Style Broiled Scallops with Vodka Sauce, Confetti Squash and Vegetable Kabobs, Rum and Raisin Cakes, and more.



Book about: Capitalist Development and Democracy or Creating Effective Groups

Chocolate Connoisseur: For Everyone with a Passion for Chocolate

Author: Chloe Doutre Roussel

Packed with amazing stories, tasting notes for the world's finest chocolates, history, myths, recipes, and "chocolate philosophy," this charming book will inspire you to become a bona fide connoisseur.

Chocolate. We all love it. We know what we like, and we're pretty sure it's naughty. But have you really, truly explored the wonderful world of fine chocolate? Few people know as much about chocolate as Chloй Doutre-Roussel, and in this unique book she shares her knowledge of this much-loved food and her passion for it.

In The Chocolate Connoisseur, you will:

•learn how to tell the difference between "good" and "bad" chocolate

•discover wonderful new brands to savor and enjoy

•marry your favorite brands to your mood and time of day

•learn to taste chocolate like a connoisseur

Today, the popularity of gourmet chocolate bars is soaring as we are introduced to the delights of single-estate cocoa beans, bars labeled according to bean variety and origin, and cocoa nibs. Chocolate-tasting societies and evenings are springing up everywhere. Like drinking fine wine or good coffee, chocolate is an experience not to be missed. This perfectly packaged little pink book about chocolate, one of the world's most delicious treats, is the perfect gift for Valentine's Day-or for any chocolate lover in your life.

Publishers Weekly

The chocolate buyer for the London department store Fortnum & Mason has taken it upon herself to educate the world about life beyond Snickers bars; the difference between "candy" and true ("artisanal") chocolate, and then between chocolate and chocolates (bonbons); and how to learn to love the good stuff, en route to becoming a chocolate connoisseur oneself, as skilled as any wine or cheese taster. Her approach is that of an unabashed and evangelical snob, a bracing combination of Mary Poppins and Miss Manners. Along the way, Doutre-Roussel skewers some sacred cows-Belgian chocolates, Godiva-and lists with approval a dozen brands most people have never heard of, with, fortunately, mail-order and online sources to find them and instructions on how to savor them when found. This is a beautiful little book, chockfull of charming pictures, maps, charts and graphs, sidebars and boxes of advice, lore and even a few recipes. Paired with a few choco-gourmet samples, it would make a scrumptious Valentine's gift for nearly anyone. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.



Sunday, December 21, 2008

Mastering the Craft of Smoking Food or Joy of Muffins

Mastering the Craft of Smoking Food

Author: Warren R Anderson

Here is an exceptionally complete guide to making real smoked food at home that tastes far better than commercially made products.

Publishers Weekly

Anderson, a self-taught food-smoking "hobbyist," is enthusiastic about his subject, but his exhaustive tome suffers from an excess of explanation. Clear to the point of stating the obvious (e.g., "oven mitts... are very useful for handling things such as hot smoker racks"), his descriptions of techniques are redundant and read like a technical manual, although Cook's Illustrated fans might welcome the excruciating detail. In the first half of the book, the author defines smoking, explains the difference between hot and cold smoking, describes a variety of smokers and covers food safety and equipment. The book's second half is more enticing: it includes useful information on curing and brining meat (to enhance flavor); recipes and techniques for preparing such dishes as Peking-Style Chicken, Golden Goose, Lamb Ham, Scotch-Style Smoked Salmon, and Italian Shrimp-Marinated; and a chapter on making sausage. Though directed toward nonprofessionals, this book isn't likely to please armchair chefs. But for those who plan to make a habit of smoking food, Anderson delivers. 24 b&w photos, 24 line drawings. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.



See also: Taste of Challah or Southwest Slow Cooking

Joy of Muffins: The International Muffin Cook Book

Author: Genevieve Farrow

150 muffin recipes including German Streusel, Finnish Cranberry, Italian Amaretto, Chinese Almond and Greek Baklava.



Chocolate and Zucchini or Simple Indian Cookery

Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen

Author: Clotilde Dusoulier

Clotilde Dusoulier is a twenty-seven-year-old Parisian who loves to share her passion for all things food-related—recipes, inspirations, restaurant experiences, and above all the lush pleasure to be discovered in cooking with the fresh ingredients found in her local Montmartre shops. But her love affair with food was born not in her mother’s Parisian kitchen; it blossomed in San Francisco, where she moved after college and became infatuated with the new world of tastes on offer. When she returned to her beloved France, her passion for food inspired her to share her culinary exploits, which has garnered Dusoulier more than 4.5 million hits a month and an enormous following of 140,000 unique visitors each month, half of whom are from North America.

In Chocolate & Zucchini, Dusoulier provides a glimpse into the life of a young Parisian as she savors all that the city has to offer. An endearing companion, she shares her cooking philosophy in the form of more than 75 recipes that call for the natural, healthy ingredients of which she is fond (such as zucchini) and the satisfying tastes she craves ( such as chocolate). The Los Angeles Times calls her recipes "simple, charming, and fun."

Appetizers such as Tuna and Green Apple Mousse or Cumin Cheese Puffs, sandwiches and tarts like Tomato Tatin, soups like Chestnut and Mushroom, main dishes of Mustard Chicken Stew or Hand-Cut Steak Tartare, and desserts like Chocolate and Caramel Tart or Yogurt Cake can all be found alongside menus for entertaining, as well as tips for throwing cocktail or dinner parties with French flair.

Illustrated throughout with Dusoulier’s evocativephotography, Chocolate & Zucchini is the book for anyone who has journeyed to Paris and can still recall the delicious tastes and aromas—or for those of us who only dream about them.

Publishers Weekly

Readers of Dusoulier's ebullient food blog, chocolateandzucchini.com, won't be disappointed by this wonderful melange of new creations and old favorites. Dusoulier's charm lies in her culinary curiosity and enthusiasm, and she deftly conveys both through 75-plus recipes and narrative commentary. The 27-year-old Parisian arranges her book into three sections. The first, Simplicite (Simplicity), includes salads, sandwiches, savory tarts, soups and eggs. Part two is Invitation (Entertaining) and features recipes for hors d'oeuvres, "impromptu" dinners like Hand-Cut Steak Tartare, dinner party fare such as Comte Cheese Souffles, buffet items and sides. The final portion concerns sweets, clearly Dusoulier's favorite. With scintillating recipes for cakes (Apricot and Pistachio Ricotta), tarts (Blueberry Amandine), desserts (Chocolate Hibiscus Creme Brelee) and "sweet bites" (Orange Flower Shuttle Cookies), this section brims with innovation. Overall, newcomers to French cuisine will learn to make some classics, like Pistou Soup and Beef Bourguignon, while those seeking to expand their repertoires will enjoy the author's idiosyncratic creations. Dishes like Broccoli and Apple Quiche (born out of a "greenmarket run one fall morning") and, of course, Chocolate & Zucchini Cake (which may sound "a little odd," but is "surprisingly successful" and features "real teamwork at play") are just some of Dusoulier's delightful and unusual offerings. (May) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Judith Sutton - Library Journal

Chocolateandzucchini.com is Dusoulier's wildly popular food blog, which she started in 2003 shortly after returning to Paris from two years in San Francisco. Now 27, she lives with her husband in the Montmartre district, and her web site, which grew out of a cooking journal, has become her full-time job. Her first book presents recipes grouped into three categories: "Simplicité," for simple weeknight meals; "Invitation," more ambitious dishes for entertaining; and "Gourmandise," her favorite desserts. (Recipe and chapter titles are given in both French and English here, but her blog has always been written in English.) Dusoulier has a great deal of charm, and her recipes are fresh and appealing. For most collections.



Interesting book: Dessert Circus or Corkscrewed

Simple Indian Cookery: Step by Step to Everyon's Favorite Indian Recipes

Author: Madhur Jaffrey

In Simple Indian Cookery, Madhur Jaffrey reveals how easy it is to bring the flavors of India into your home. With 40 recipes, featuring step-by-step instructions and clear color photos, even novices can cook a wide range of authentic Indian fare. Add spice to your life with Goan Prawn Curry or Tarka Dal, or try popular favorites like Chicken Tikka Masala, Rogan Josh, or Lamb Madras. There are also more elaborate dishes, like Creamy Chicken Korma with Almonds, Prawns in a Butter and Tomato Sauce, and Moghlai Spinach with Shallots. These tried-and-tested recipes include savory soups and starters, classic curries with fish, meat, poultry, and eggs, and tasty vegetables and accompaniments. With an inspiring range of menu suggestions and a guide to essential Indian ingredients, Madhur Jaffrey’s Simple Indian Cookery guarantees excellent results every time.