Nancy Silvertons Pastries from the La Brea Bakery or Cocina De La Familia

Nancy Silverton's Pastries from the La Brea Bakery

Author: Nancy Silverton

"The pastries we make are deliciously simple and rustic and never too sweet. Woven into many of them are my favorite flavors: butter, cinnamon, nuts, and fruit. They're familiar, uncomplicated, and satisfying. One taste and you're instantly comforted. Inspired by a sweet memory from childhood, a European classic, or a time-honored bakeshop standard, they are flavors you never tire of. Like my bread, these are pastries you want to eat every day."        —from the Introduction


When celebrated pastry chef and baker Nancy Silverton decided to add sweets to the La Brea Bakery's shelves of artisanal breads, she knew that they couldn't be just any sweets. Instead of baking fastidious and overelaborate desserts, she creates deliciously simple, rustic pastries, full of texture and flavor, that complement perfectly her hearty, country-style breads and have people lining up morning after morning. Now, in Pastries from the La Brea Bakery, Silverton shares her passion and expertise in more than 150 recipes of her most scrumptious favorites—virtually every pastry in the La Brea Bakery's impressive repertoire.
        Silverton distills years of experimentation and innovation into simple and accessible directions. Many of her recipes are surprisingly quick and easy—not to mention incredibly tasty—like her crisps, cobblers, and crumbles, and her ever-popular scones, which run the gamut from Chocolate-Walnut to Ginger to Mushroom-Onion. Her muffins are moist and distinctive, from the healthful Bran to the rich Crotin de Chocolat. She offers an array of quickbreads and quickcakes forall tastes (including Madeleines, Canellés, and Cranberry-Almond Tea Bread), and her tarts bring out the best qualities of the finest ingredients, from the intense, fresh fruit of her Cherry Bundles to her elegant Triple Almond Tart. Beautiful cookies, such as Almond Sunflowers, Nun's Breasts, and Swedish Ginger Wafers, are centerpiece desserts on their own. Silverton also deftly teaches the delicate art of confections—here you'll find Almond Bark, English Toffee, and Lollipops—and demystifies the sometimes intimidating technique of doughnut making.
        The crowning touch is her detailed section on Morn-ing Pastries, where she guides us to mastery of the classic doughs: the quick and rich bobka, the fine-textured traditional brioche, the famous and flexible croissant, and the pièce de résistance: puff pastry.
        An important book from a baking and pastry icon, Pastries from the La Brea Bakery, like Nancy Silver-ton's acclaimed Breads from the La Brea Bakery, is a bible of the craft for bakers everywhere.

A selection of recipes from
Nancy Silverton's Pastries from the La Brea Bakery

Apple Fritters * Asparagus-Egg Pie with Potato Crust * Black Currant Silk Tart
Blueberry-Almond Muffins * Brownies with Irish Whiskey and Currants * Canellés
Caramel Candy Kisses * Cheese Croissants * Chocolate-Walnut Scones * Cinnamon Custard Tart  ¸  Country Feta Pies * Crème Fraîche Coffee Cake * Croissants * Crotin de Chocolat  ¸  Espresso Wheels * Everyone's Mother's Berry Cobbler * Ginger Scones * Hazelnut-Banana Tart  ¸  Iced Raisin Squares * Jelly Doughnuts * Lemon Turnovers * Madeleines * Moravian Ginger Snaps  ¸  Nectarine-Ginger Crisp * Nun's Breasts * Parma Braids * Pecan Sticky Buns * Ricotta Muffins  ¸  Rosemary Corncakes * Rugelach * Sesame-Pumpkin Seed Brittle  ¸  Sticky Toffee Pudding * Viennese Cream Brioche

Publishers Weekly

Passionate bakers will find Silverton's latest collection of recipes as absorbing as this year's hottest potboiler: "What happens next?" is the question after each page is turned. Here, the answer is one enticing pastry after another: "quickcakes," quick breads, savories, cobblers and crisps, muffins, tarts, doughnuts, confections. Fans of Silverton's La Brea Bakery fare will want to know how she makes her fudge-swirled Almond Poundcake and incomparable Cinnammon Buns; and what's the secret of those famous Bran Muffins? (Pureed Raisins) Hers are "rustic" but elegant creations--straightforward, but evocative of browned butter and vanilla, toasted pecans and ricotta. Breakfast Pastries, for example, include Russian Coffeecake, laced with chocolate and sour cream, and lush, brioche Sticky Buns. Although this is a book for the serious cook, its brisk, encouraging tone and intelligently written instructions could help even a novice turn out memorable Chocolate Madeleines, Ginger Scones or Lemon Picnic Tarts--while experienced cooks can dive into puff pastry or croissant dough, as well. Anyone would be thrilled to sample this combination of pastries, and Silverton's excellent teaching skills make this volume accessible to almost everyone. Photos by Steven Rothfeld. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

The wonderful artisanal breads from Silverton's La Brea bakery in Los Angeles have a national reputation. But Silverton is a pastry chef as well--her first book was the excellent Desserts--and several years after she opened the bakery, she added pastries and other sweet baked goods to its repertoire. The follow-up to Breads from the La Brea Bakery, this book includes 150 recipes for mostly homey, rustic, though not necessarily simple-to-make treats--Silverton says "show-off desserts" are not her style. There are her delicious Pecan Sticky Buns, Chocolate Croissants, and other "Morning Pastries"; Peach Cobbler, Nectarine-Ginger Crisp, and Belgian Sugar Pie; and muffins, quick breads, scones, and more, including a chapter of savory recipes. Recipe instructions are detailed and clear, and although there are old favorites here, there are many more unusual pastries as well. Highly recommended. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Internet Book Watch

Pastries from the La Brea Bakery shares Silverton's passion for pastries with over 150 of her favorites featured in La Brea Bakery. This includes a fine range of savory pastries as well as sweet dishes: instructions for classic doughs will appeal to beginners while those more advanced will delight in innovative recipes such as Black Currant Silk Tart and Nectarine Ginger Crisp. An appealing title, sans photos.

Christian Science Monitor - Jennifer Wolcott

More than 150 recipes stick to Silveron's trademark—rustic, simple, European style baked goods with a dash of inventiveness tossed into the mix. She also shares techniques, lists of ingredients, equipment, and sources, making this book a virtual bible of its craft.

See also: Crave or Complete Gluten Free Cookbook

Cocina De La Familia: More Than 200 Authentic Recipes from Mexican-American Home Kitchens

Author: Marilyn Tausend

A collection of more than two hundred treasured family recipes and the stories behind them, Cocina de la Familia is a celebration of Mexican-American home cooking, culture, and family values.

For three years, Marilyn Tausend traveled across the United States and Mexico, talking to hundreds of Mexican and Mexican-American cooks. With the help of chef Miguel Ravago, Tausend tells the tale of these cooks, all of whom have adapted the family dishes and traditions they remember to accommodate a life considerably different from the lives of their parents and grandparents.

In these pages you will find the real food eaten every day by Mexican-American families, whether they live in cities such as Los Angeles, the border towns of Texas, the farming communities of the Pacific Northwest, or the isolated villages of New Mexico. An Oregonian from Morelos, Mexico, balances sweet, earthy chiles with tart tomatillos for a tangy green salsa that is a perfect topping for Chipotle Crab Enchiladas or Huevos Rancheros. A Chicago woman from Guanajuato pairs light, spicy Chicken and Garbanzo Soup with quesadillas for a simple supper. A Los Angeles cook serves a dish of Chicken with Spicy Prune Sauce, the fire of the chiles tamed by Coca-Cola, and in Illinois a woman adds chocolate to the classic Mexican rice pudding.

Now you can re-create the vibrant flavors and rustic textures of this remarkable cuisine in your own kitchen. Most of the recipes are quite simple, and the more complex dishes, like moles and tamales, can be made in stages. So take a savory expedition across borders and generations, and celebrate the spirit and flavor of the Mexican-American table with your ownfamily.

Library Journal

These two excellent new collections featuring contemporary Latin American cooking in the United States complement each other nicely. Tausend, coauthor with Susanna Palazuelos and others of Mexico the Beautiful (LJ 11/15/91), traveled throughout the country seeking the simple, traditional dishes that second- and third-generation Mexican Americans are cooking for everyday meals, recipes from their mothers and grandmothers. With Ravago, former chef/owner of Austin's Fonda San Miguel, she presents a broad selection of mouthwatering recipes, for both more familiar dishes such as Crispy Chicken Tacos and unusual ones like Pork and Purslane Stew. Tausend writes well, and headnotes include background on the various dishes as well as on the contributor. Highly recommended. Novas and Silva's more wide-ranging book draws on the diversity of Latin American cooking from 26 different nationalities in this country. Although the authors include homey, traditional dishes, they offer more sophisticated and elegant recipes from both home cooks and chefs, often in the cross-cultural nuevo style: New Southwestern Gnocchi di Patate, for example. The knowledgeable headnotes give culinary and cultural context for each recipe, often describing similar dishes from other Latin American countries, and more "exotic" ingredients are identified in glossary sections scattered throughout the book. Highly recommended. [There is also a Spanish-language edition, La Cocina Latinomericana en Los Estados Unidos, ISBN 0-679-44803-9.Ed.]

Table of Contents:

	Introduction	15
	Basic Techniques of the Mexican-American Kitchen: Roasting, Toasting, Searing, and Souring	19
	Everyday Basic Ingredients	25
	New Mexico Impressions	27
	Beginnings/Botanas	31
	California Impressions	47
	Salads and Seafood Cocktails/Ensaladas y Cocteles de Marisco	49
	Texas Impressions	66
	Soups and Meals in a Pot/Sopas, Caldos, Pozoles, y Menudos	69
	Arizona Impressions	103
	Quick Bites/Antojitos y Tortas	105
	Illinois Impressions	134
	Main Dishes: Fish, Poultry, Meat, and Lighter Fare/Platillos Principales	137
	Colorado Impressions	218
	Comfortable Companions: Beans, Lentils, Rice, and Vegetables/Comidas Adicionales: Frijoles, Lentejas, Arroz, y Legumbres	221
	Washington Impressions	256
	Finishing Touches: Salsas, Relishes, Condiments/Salsas y Encurtidos	259
	Michigan Impressions	286
	Tamales/Tamales	289
	Florida Impressions	307
	Bread and Breakfast/Pan, Pan Dulce, y Huevos	309
	New York Impressions	340
	Sweet Endings/Postres	343
	Oregon and Idaho Impressions	371
	And to Wash It All Down/Bebidas	373
	Selected Bibliography	387
	Product Sources	391
	Permissions Acknowledgments	393
	Index	395
	Metric Equivalencies	415

Wine Tasting or Classic 1000 Italian Recipes

Wine Tasting: A Professional Handbook

Author: Ronald S Jackson

Wine Tasting: A Professional Handbook is essential for absolutely anybody involved in wine tasting. The book comprehensively covers all practical and theoretical aspects of wine tasting, from the techniques used by professionals to assess wine properties and quality - to the physiological, psychological and physicochemical origins of sensory perception. The author outlines the classification of still table wines, sparkling wines and fortified wines, and explores the vineyard and winery origins of wine quality.

The major proportion of Wine Tasting: A Professional Handbook is devoted to the practical concerns of preparing and performing different types of wine assessments. Data from sensory evaluation studies illustrate tests described in the book.

Wine Tasting: A Professional Handbook should be read by professional tasters, those who train tasters and those involved in designing wine tastings; as well as serious wine connoisseurs who want unbiased information on how to maximize their perception and appreciation of wine.

Key Features
* Flow chart of wine tasting steps
* Details of errors to be avoided
* Procedures for training and testing sensory skill
* Examples of tasting sheets
* Original data derived from over fourteen years of training tasters
* Illustrative material supporting the text: tables, charts and figures

Richard P. Vine

Wine Tasting is without question the finest book addressed to wine sensory technology that I have ever seen during my 41 years in wine. Being an academic,I am particularly impressed by the scientific support which Dr. Jackson provides for explaining human evaluation and interpretation of various wine aromas,flavors,virtues and vagaries. His text is,however,not beyond the comprehension and understanding of people who are not formally trained in the enological sciences. As a judge at several wine competitions across the U.S. every year,and as Chairman of the Indy International,one of the largest,I will make it a point that my fellow judges have the opportunity to learn of this essential work. Wine Tasting advances the state of the art.

Joel Sidel

The author should be commended for undertaking to write on this subject matter. Bringing the science of sensory evaluation to the wine industry is needed and the author has provided an extensive amount of information,some very solid reference material,all presented in a text that is easy to read. We expect that all winemakers will find this text informative and possibly will take some exception; none the less,much benefit will be derived from reading the text in its entirety,but probably not in one sitting! Sensory professionals also will benefit from this text and it should be part of the required reading for students in both enology and sensory evaluation.

Table of Contents:

	About the author
	Preface
	Acknowledgements
1	Introduction	1
2	Visual perceptions	17
3	Olfactory sensations	39
4	Taste and mouth-feel sensations	79
5	Quantitative (technical) wine assessment	113
6	Qualitative (general) wine tasting	187
7	Types of wine	211
8	Origins of wine quality	227
9	Wine as a food beverage	259
	Glossary	269
	Index	271

Read also First Year IBS or Overcoming Addiction

Classic 1000 Italian Recipes

Author: Christina Gabriell

With this new addition to the best-selling Classic 1000 series, you can extend your Italian cookery across a whole new range, from cheap and nourishing daily meals to the more sophisticated gourmet specialities.

Consuming Passions or Everyday Dairy Free Cookbook

Consuming Passions: A Food-Obsessed Life

Author: Michael Lee West

Consuming Passions is Michael Lee West's delightfully quirky memoir of an adventurous life centered around food and family—the story of how she went from non-cook to gourmet of words and victuals by watching a multitude of relatives squabble, prepare sumptuous repasts, and carry on honored traditions. Laced with delicious secret recipes passed from generation to generation, West's irresistible chronicle recalls good times and wild times—mothers swinging from chandeliers, elderly aunts brewing up love potions, a South American nymphomaniac stirring up trouble at a Louisiana barbeque joint, and the spooky hauntings of a cabbage-eating ghost—all in the pursuit of good dining. Thoroughly entertaining, alive with West's distinctive humor and sharp, irrepressible insight, here are incomparable American kitchen tales as warm and tasty as freshly baked bread.

People

A scrumptiously witty memoir about family, food, and the American South.

Denver Post

A must-read...Everything about Consuming Passions—from the title to the recipes—just drips with Southern charm.

Book about: More Perfect Constitution or The New Case Against Immigration

Everyday Dairy-Free Cookbook: Over 180 delicious Recipes to Make Eating a Pleasure

Author: Miller Rogers

With as many as 50 million Americans who are lactose intolerant, The Everyday Dairy-Free Cookbook provides delicious dishes for those who must avoid dairy in their diet. This cookbook by a nutritionist and a chef explains lactose intolerance in detail, from recognizing symptoms to where to find help. The book includes 12 pages of color photos that accompany 200 recipes for family meals; a special section on cooking for children; substitutions for milk, butter, and cheese; and menu suggestions and nutritional analysis. From Spaghetti Carbonara to Yorkshire Pudding to Macaroni and Cheese, these sumptuous dishes will please even the most discriminating palate.

Cocktail Parties Straight Up or Cape Cod Table

Cocktail Parties, Straight Up!: Easy Hors D'oeuvres, Delicious Drinks, and Inspired Ideas for Entertaining With Style

Author: Anne Purcell Grissinger

Cocktail Parties, Straight Up! is the ideal book for hosts and hostesses who have full-time jobs, not full-time help and who want to entertain stylishly without hocking the family heirlooms or having a nervous breakdown. Sister team Lauren Purcell and Anne Purcell Grissinger’s sophisticated yet down-to-earth style, reassuring tone, and truly practical advice reflect their 12 years of entertaining together in New York City, where they’ve thrown countless cocktail parties—without caterers, decorators, or a big budget.

Cocktail Parties, Straight Up! features 12 of the authors’successful, gently themed parties, each with delicious signature cocktails, a suggested menu with hors d’oeuvre recipes that can be made ahead, and foolproof ways to make sure your guests get into the swing of things.

Plus, each chapter is full of helpful tips and tidbits that will help you navigate the finer points of throwing a successful cocktail party, from before the first guest arrives (there’s a foolproof party timeline) until the last one leaves (you’ll find tips for how to end a party gracefully). Cocktail Parties, Straight Up! is the ultimate blueprint for creating parties infused with satisfying conversation, genuine laughter, and a relaxed elegance—and guaranteeing that hosts collect compliments at the door.

Books about: Heal Your Knees or Comfortably Numb

Cape Cod Table

Author: Lora Brody

Now available in paperback, Lora Brody's The Cape Cod Table is a collection of dishes that are as evocative of Cape Cod as the salty tang of a sea breeze and the soft sand of the beach. Fragrant fish chowder and pumpkin bisque, rich oyster stew and salt cod, and sweet beach-plum jam and lobster rolls are just a few of the many beloved regional recipes included, along with color photographs of luscious food and vivid scenery that will transport readers to this simple stretch of paradise with every turn of the page.

Publishers Weekly

Brody's love of Cape Cod is used to great effect in her latest book, painting a loving portrait of the Massachusetts peninsula so beloved by vacationers and residents alike. In the wonderful introduction she provides almost a travel guide to the Cape just by focusing on the food found there. Concentrating on the wealth of local fresh ingredients, some obvious, like the abundant seafood, others less so, like the blueberries used with great effect in The Best Blueberry Muffins, Brody (The Kitchen Survival Guide; Basic Baking) produces a wonderful array of dishes. Each chapter opens with commentary about the people and places encountered, and each recipe has descriptions where relevant along with helpful tips. Ranging from breakfast through the customary appetizers and main courses to condiments, the recipes have a clean, fresh feel in both appearance and finished results in eye-catching photographs. From the simplicity of the Scrambled Eggs with Lox, Onions, and Peppers, where the vegetables give the dish a new twist, and the almost Mediterranean feel of the Cod Baked with Oven-Roasted Tomatoes, the recipes are redolent of lazy summer days that can carry over and add summer sunshine to the rest of the year. These carefully considered recipes, coupled with the beautiful layout and food photos, make the book suitable for coffee table and kitchen alike. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Continental Pilsener or Every Cooks Essential Fact Book

Continental Pilsener, Vol. 2

Author: David Miller

Considered the father of all lagers, continental Pilsener changed the course of brewing around the world.

See also: An Introduction to Usability or New Perspectives on Microsoft Office XP

Every Cook's Essential Fact Book

Author: Emma Summer

Practical advice and information on all aspects of food and cooking in one handy at-a-glance book.

Complete Idiots Guide to Cheeses of the World or Lemonade

Complete Idiot's Guide to Cheeses of the World

Author: Steve Ehlers

Any way you cut it, cheese has global appeal.

Cheese is one of the most varied and flavorful foods in the world. Its unique appeal lies in its range of textures, aromas, flavors, means of production, and milk sources. With this guide, readers will discover everything they need to know about European and American cheeses, including the growth of artisan cheeses, how to shop for cheese, combining cheese with food and drink, cooking cheese, and making cheese.

•Over the past two decades, the quality, availability and popularity of artisan cheeses has grown

•Cheese consumption has increased from 11.3 to 31.2 pounds per person over the last 30 years

•1?3 of the supermarkets offer full-service cheese counters with up to 300 varieties

New interesting book: The Yeast Syndrome or Candida Albican Yeast Free Cookbook the

Lemonade: 50 Cool Recipes for Classic, Flavored, and Hard Lemonades and Sparklers

Author: Fred Thompson

Lemonade has become a year-round refresher, and here are 50 versatile recipes ranging from simple to sophisticated.

Dim Sum or License to Grill

Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch

Author: Ellen Leong Blonder

In Cantonese, “dim sum” means “touch the heart,” and Ellen Blonder’s charming celebration of China’s famed tea lunch does just that. More than sixty carefully crafted, authentic recipes, each illustrated with Ellen’s exquisite watercolor paintings, put the key to re-creating these delectable morsels in every cook’s hand.
Anyone who has enjoyed the pleasures of a dim sum meal has inevitably wondered what it would be like to create these treats at home. The answer, surprisingly, is that most are quite simple to make. From dumplings to pastries, Dim Sum is filled with simple, foolproof recipes, complete with clear step-by-step illustrations to explain the art of forming, filling, and folding dumpling wrappers and more. Ellen Blonder offers her favorite versions of traditional Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai, Turnip Cake, and Shrimp Ha Gow, each bite vibrantly flavored, plus recipes for hearty sticky rice dishes, refreshing sautéed greens, tender baked or steamed buns, and a variety of pastries and desserts—all the ingredients required for an authentic, restaurant-style dim sum feast. Practical advice on designing a tea lunch menu and making dim sum ahead of time round out this irresistible collection.

Lovingly created from years of tasting, refining, and seeking out the best dim sum recipes from San Francisco to Hong Kong, Dim Sum is a gem that any student of Chinese cooking will treasure.

Library Journal

Most Chinese cookbooks include some recipes for standard dim sum dishes such as scallion pancakes and potstickers, but as Blonder (Every Grain of Rice) found, there is little devoted solely to these popular brunch/tea snacks and certainly nothing as charming and accessible as her little book. She provides 60 recipes, from Pork and Chinese Chive Dumplings to Salt-Fried Prawns, along with sweets and condiments, all illustrated by her own lovely watercolors. The recipes are clearly written, with step-by-step drawings of various techniques, and most include make-ahead suggestions. Recommended. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Look this: Managing Organizations and People Modular Version or Economics and the Common Law

License to Grill

Author: Christopher Schlesinger

Chris Schlesinger and John "Doc" Willoughby single handedly raised America's grilling consciousness in their award-winning The Thrill of the Grill. Now they're back with the second generation of grilling expertise and over 200 recipes packed with bright, loud flavors. In their uniquely engaging, informal style, Chris and Doc share their grilling secrets and lead us through the daring, challenging, exciting, yet casual world of live fire cookery.

This is grilling designed for the novice or pro, the duffer or dedicated man, woman, or child. In addition to covering the basics, Chris and Doc add several new, lighter dimensions to their grilling canon, with more grilled vegetables, more seafood, more pasta, and more surprisingly grillable fruit. Vibrant and adventurous, the recipes combine fresh herbs, chiles, citrus, and spices with that indefinable grilled flavor to create dishes that both satisfy and intrigue.

SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE BOOK INCLUDE:

• An in-depth grill briefing, including tips on easy fire starting, answers to the ten most frequently asked grilling questions, five keys to easy grilling, and -- for those who can't bear to put the grill away when winter comes -- a guide to fireplace grilling.
• A chapter devoted to grilling on skewers, with hints on how to meld flavors and cook ingredients evenly, along with recipes like exotic Grilled Lamb Skewers with Apricots, Simple Grilled Swordfish Skewers, Grilled Lamb and Potato Skewers with Tomato-Green Olive Relish, and Grilled Chicken Skewers with Coconut-Ginger Sauce.
• A section that showcases the uniquely thrilling Hobo Pack Cookery, otherwise known as Boy Scout cooking, with recipes likeEggplant and Tomato Hobo Pack with Lemon and Garlic, and Chicken Hobo Pack with Garlic, Lemon, and Herbs.
• A wide selection of salads and pasta dishes, such as Grilled Artichoke and White Bean Salad or Linguine with Grilled Shrimp and Black Olives, which use grilled fish, meat, and vegetables to add smoky-great flavor.
• For you heat freaks, a chapter of high-heat dishes, from Chile-Coated Chicken Thighs with Couscous and Tomato-Raisin Relish to Grilled Shrimp with Most-Hot Lime-Chile Booster.
• Slow and low" barbecue and grill-roasting, where classic barbecued brisket becomes MediterraneanStyle Slow-Roasted Beef Brisket, and innovative dishes like Corn Bread-Stuffed Barbecued Game Hens with Bourbon-Shallot Sauce come off the grill with deep, smoky flavor.
• A bevy of side dishes that go great with grilled food, from K.C.'s Bengali-Style Spinach to SweetPotato Steak Fries with Your Own Catsup to grilled Corn with Lime and Chinese Roasted Salt.
• Dozens of condiments, pickles, and spice rubs that build flavor fast with very little effort.

Packed with practical grilling instructions, anecdotes, and inventive recipes that join simple pleasure with culinary adventure, here's a book that has direct appeal to anyone who's ever wanted to put food over fire, Whether you're a novice looking for your initial License to Grill, an accomplished live fire devotee ready to earn your Ph.G. (Doctorate of Grilling), or you just want to spend some time hanging out by the fire, this is the book for you, So go ahead, unleash your 'griller instincts" and give yourself License to Grill -- permission to fool around with live fire, odd a smoky sear to your dinner, and generally turn cooking into the best part of your day.

Barbara Kafka

Chris Schlesinger is one of those natural cooks who cannot put a spoonwrong when it comes to flavor. He is perfectly balanced by John Willoughby, who writes clearly and like a dream. Enjoy License to Grill.

Ferdinand Metz

Grilling brings out the essence of food and Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby expertly capture this in their License to Grill.

Publishers Weekly

Revisiting the hot coals that sparked The Thrill of the Grill, their first book, Schlesinger and Willoughby lay out 200 more recipes for the charcoal-fed, backyard cooker. Emphasizing the fun of it all, the duo offers some easily mastered dishes (Lime Soup with Grilled Cumin Chicken; Grilled Veal Chops with Expensive Mushrooms). But there are also recipes that even they admit are complicated and time-consuming. The Quixotic Mixed Grill with Vegetable Skewers and Four Sauces is a monstrous Brazilian churrasco made with sweetbreads, chicken hearts, lamb chops and more. Indeed, the food here is notable for richly stratified tastes. Fruit co-stars often: Basil-Garlic Chicken with Grilled Balsamic Peaches; Grilled Sirloin and Apricot Skewers with Pomegranate Vinaigrette. Chutneys, relishes, sauces and salads repeatedly contribute verve to the main ingredient. Among nine recipes for seriously hot food, Grilled Jerk Shark with Pineapple Salsa calls for 10(!) Scotch bonnet peppers. Also featured here is Hobo Pack Cookery, in which food is wrapped in foil and buried in coals, where it cooks and (sometimes) burns. Even two of 16 dessert recipes face the fire: Grilled Bananas and Pineapple with Rum-Molasses Glaze and Grilled Pineapple with Sweet Lime-Black Pepper Sauce. This is sure to motivate anyone yearning to do more this summer than just char another steak.

Fried and True or Breakfast Inn Style

Fried and True: Crispy and Delicious Dishes from Appetizers to Desserts

Author: Rick Rodgers

Let's admit it. Deep down, everybody loves deep-fried food. Fried and True is the ultimate cookbook for anyone with a naughty food fetish, anyone who's not afraid to throw caution to the wind and relish a crunchy egg roll, succulent fried chicken, or golden onion rings. Glorious fried foods are found all around the world, in every cuisine, and together they constitute some of the world's most delectable dainties. In Fried and True, you'll find an international collection, including everything from Potato Latkes to Glittering Spiced Walnuts and Zucchini Blossoms in Chardonnay Batter. Filled with glorious photographs, Fried and True is your ticket to the good life-and you won't need any special equipment. Any deep pan will do. Detailed step-by-step instructions, safety tips, and healthful cooking hints round out this complete guide to expert frying. From appetizers to desserts, add a little crisp and crunch to your day with the fine flavors in Fried and True.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Frittering Away	8
Deep-Frying Basics	10
Utensil Central	10
The Right Oil	13
Setting Up	14
Small Fry: Snacks, Nibbles & Little Bites	17
Saratoga Potato Chips with Caramelized Shallot Dip	18
Mozzarella Cubes on Spaghetti Sticks with Pizzaola Sauce	21
Root Vegetable Chips with Roasted Garlic Dip	22
Little Meatballs with Salsa Verde	25
Rice Crisps with Peanut-Lime Dipping Sauce	26
Tostaditas with Ancho Salsa Roja	28
Glittering Spiced Walnuts	30
Coconut Shrimp with Pineapple-Mustard Dip	32
Parmesan Pasta Nibbles	33
Pork and Shrimp Balls with Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce	34
Upper Crust: Savory Pies, Turnovers, Rolls & Dumplings	37
Calzonetti with Sun-Dried Tomato and Mozzarella Filling	38
Toasted Ravioli with Tomato Sauce	40
Chicken and Olive Empanadas	42
Cauliflower Samosas with Cilantro Chutney	44
Vegetarian Moo Shu EggRolls	46
Goat Cheese Wontons with Tomato-Herb Salsa	49
Fried Dough Knots with Garlic Oil	50
Crab Spring Rolls with Sweet Garlic Sauce	52
Beef and Cabbage Piroshki	55
Large Fry: Main Courses	57
Double-Cooked Fried Chicken	58
Mo' Betta Fried Chicken	60
Italian Fried Chicken	61
General Tso's Chicken	62
Two-Tone Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Dip	64
Turkey Cutlets Parmigiano	66
Chicken Kiev with Fresh Herbs and Lemon	67
Deep-Fried Cornish Game Hens	68
Chicken-Fried Steak with Chipotle Gravy	70
Crispy Japanese Pork Cutlets	71
Chicken Flautas with Orange and Red Onion Salsa	72
Norman's Special Garlic Spareribs	74
Pork and Black Bean Chimichangas	76
Crispy Oysters with Rémoulade Cabbage and Corn Slaw	78
Flounder Fillets with Orange Sweet and Sour Sauce	80
Pork and Mushroom Chow Mein	82
Calamari Fritti with Garlic Mayonnaise	84
Delmarva Crab Cakes with Cucumber Tartar Sauce	86
The Golden Garden: Vegetables & Grains	89
Falafel on Greens with Tahini Dressing	90
Okra Fritters with Chickpea Batter	91
Vegetable Tempura with Ginger Dipping Sauce	92
Castroville Artichoke Sandwich	94
Central Avenue Rice Balls with Mozzarella	96
Roman Artichokes, Jewish Style	98
Broccoflower Fritti	100
Chinese Green Beans with Chili Sauce	101
Vidalia Onion Rings with Ale Batter	102
Potato-Pesto Puffs	104
Panisses (Chickpea Fries)	105
Classic Belgian French Fries	106
Potato Pancakes (Latkes)	109
Zucchini and Ricotta Fritters	110
Zucchini Blossoms in Chardonnay Batter	111
To a Crisp: Desserts & Sweet Pastries	113
Cannoli with Orange-Ricotta Filling	114
Chocolate-Orange Churros	116
Fried Custard Squares with Berries	117
Orchard Buttermilk Doughnuts	118
Fattigmans Bakkels (Fried Diamond Cookies)	121
Malasadas (Portuguese Doughnuts)	122
Mango Chimichangas with Raspberry Sauce	124
Pennsylvania Funnel Cakes	126
Fried Pear Pies	127
Sweet Ravioli with Chocolate-Nut Filling	128
Spiced Apple Fritters with Hard Cider Batter	130
Ricotta Fritters	132
New Orleans Beignets	133
New Mexican Sopaipillas with Chili-Honey Drizzle	134
Struffoli	136
St. Joseph's Zeppole	138
Index	140
Table of Equivalents	144

Interesting book: The Portion Teller Plan or Maori Tattooing

Breakfast Inn Style: Historic and Romantic Inns of the Southeast and Their Signature Recipes

Author: Barbara M Wohlford

Taste old-fashioned graciousness, southern gentility, and superb cuisine from some of the South's best B&B and country inn kitchens. Breakfast Inn Style is a remarkable collection of breakfast and brunch dishes from 54 selected historic and out-of-the-way country inns in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Many of the inns are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and some others are nestled in picturesque countrysides.

The Swedish Table or West Coast Cooking

The Swedish Table

Author: Helene Henderson

Drawing on her fondest childhood memories, Helene Henderson offers welcome insight into the treasures of Swedish cooking. From the potato, a Swedish staple, to dessert, the start of Swedish cuisine, The Swedish Table contains more than 125 recipes, including Yellow Pea Soup with Bacon (Artsoppa), Lentil Salad with Radishes (Linssallad), Aquavit and Dill Marinated Salmon (Gravlax), Swedish Meatballs with Gravy (Kottbullar), and the country's traditional pastry, Bulla.

Encompassing both traditional Swedish dishes and modern, updated recipes, Henderson combines the ingredients and scents from the past with the produce and flavor of today. The Swedish Table includes an extensive guide to Swedish traditions and celebrations, the foods that accompany them, and a color gallery of photos.

With this complete collection of elegant yet easy-to-follow recipes, Henderson takes us on an enticing tour through the magic of the forest, the lakes, and the farms of the Swedish countryside.

Books about: Chefs Secrets or Home Book of Smoke Cooking

West Coast Cooking

Author: Greg Atkinson

This comprehensive cookbook expresses the culinary styles, ingredients, and trends of the West Coast. World renowned chef Greg Atkinson explores the diversity of this region in 400 recipes that are easy to prepare, authentic, and delicious. With chapters on everything from West Coast beverages to soups and stews to sandwiches and street fare, readers are never wanting for tantalizing recipes to suit any occasion. Recipes include West Coast Pad Thai, Wine Country Pork Chops, Tres Leches Cake, and more.

Le Cordon Bleu at Home or Complete Book of Mexican Cooking

Le Cordon Bleu at Home

Author: Le Cordon Bleu

Here is the first English-language cookbook from the Parisian cooking school whose very name epitomizes excellence. Le Cordon Bleu at Home provides a solid understanding of the philosophy and skills taught for nearly a century in the school's nine-month "Classic Cycle" course. Moving through three stages, from basic to advanced techniques, this in-depth approach to classical French cuisine offers a series of easy-to-follow menus and recipes that correspond to classes at the school. Nearly three hundred beautiful color photographs depict finished dishes, serving ideas, and cooking techniques at each stage through completion.

Publishers Weekly

Here is a mother lode of contemporary cooking: lessons from the famed French Cordon Bleu cooking school. Unlike other culinary academies, which train cooking professionals, Le Cordon Bleu strives to educate the home cook in time-honored techniques invented and perfected by the French. And those who master the strategies of roasting, poaching and so on in the book's first section, ``Getting Started,'' will ``become familiar with a rich and varied repertoire of dishes that will do them honor and rival the best home cooking in France.'' Accordingly, the volume is organized by skill level with lessons ranging from French country fare like mussels with wine and cream sauce to more sophisticated creations--scampi bisque and orange mousse--to recipes representing the best (and most contemporary) of French cuisine, e.g., salmon rillettes with buckwheat blini and rum savarin with kiwis and strawberries. While illustrated with four-color photographs of foods and tough-to-master techniques, this is no coffee-table effort. It will be highly useful to serious cooks and novices. Cointreau is president of Le Cordon Bleu. Photos not seen by PW. Advertising; author tour. (Oct.)

Library Journal

This impressive volume is the first collection in English of recipes from the renowned Paris cooking school. Ninety menus incorporating increasingly more difficult dishes are designed to replicate the nine-month course given at Le Cordon Bleu; in addition to color photographs of many dishes, there are 200 technique photos, and informative boxes explain classic preparations and methods. Jacques Pepin and Julia Child have, of course, covered much of this same ground, and some of the dishes are not exactly what most people would choose to serve today--but these are teaching recipes, chosen to demonstrate the essence of classic French cuisine. Recommended for most collections.

Book about: Souls in the Hands of a Tender God or Yin Yoga

Complete Book of Mexican Cooking

Author: Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz

"Beginning with the Corn Kitchen, the author takes up tortillas and follows through to tacos, tostadas and fillings for quesadillas. There's Green Chicken with Almonds, Red Stew with Mountain Chiles...Plus all of the classic desserts from Bunuelos (fritters) to Flan (caramel pudding). One chapter is devoted to Bebidas (drinks) including the Mexican grasshopper, Margarita and naturally, chocolate."

B Smiths Entertaining and Cooking for Friends or Mix Match Meal in Minutes for People with Diabetes

B. Smith's Entertaining and Cooking for Friends

Author: Barbara Smith

Barbara Smith, founding partner and creative genius behind B. Smith's restaurants in New York's theater district and Washington's Union Station, shares her stylish entertaining ideas and soul-satisfying recipes for every occasion in this delisiously fresh book, which addresses the entertaining style of a new generation.

From a Cocktail Party for Business and Pleasure to a Picnic on the Beach, Barbara Smith defines her approach to entertaining that--like her popular bistro--is cosmopolitan and elegant, yet casual and fun. She offers her favorite recipes, including Flash Roasted Salmon with Swiss Chard and Citrus Vinaigrette, Smothered Pork Chops, and Sweet Potato Pecan Pie with Praline Sauce.

With more than 75 photographs of party events, table settings, and finished food, B. Smith's Entertaining and Cooking for Friends will help us all chart the course for our next party.

New interesting book: Relief Is in the Stretch or Celtic Tattoos

Mix ' Match Meal in Minutes for People with Diabetes

Author: Linda Gassenheimer

Take the planning out of diabetic cooking with recipes that are lower in fat, sodium, and cholesterol

Mix ‘n’ Match Meals in Minutes takes the work out of cooking and makes healthy eating delicious and simple. Designed to be easy to use, the second edition of this book is divided into three sections—breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It also includes a week-at-a-glance meal plan that lets people with diabetes like you, mix and match recipes to meet their changing tastes.

Each recipe in this blockbuster cookbook includes a shopping list, a menu, substitutions, and a countdown to help you get all your dishes onto the table at the same time. Finally, people with diabetes don’t need to plan—you just need to shop, stir, and serve!

Claire A. Schaper <P>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. - School Library Journal

Gassenheimer, author of many diet and weight-loss cookbooks, organizes this one into the three main meals of the day and also includes a section on "Speed Meals." The recipes are simple, and most have a list of ingredients needed as well as nutritional information. This book doesn't veer far from basic American standards and is definitely not for the diabetic gourmand. It offers weeknight meals that are quick to make and easily adaptable depending on your family's size. The breakfast sandwich section is a unique element to the book's more standard offerings, and the Spicy Grilled Cheese and Tomato Sandwich is a surefire way to diversify your morning meals. One major drawback is the lack of dessert recipes. Overall, this is a good basic cookbook that all public libraries should have for their diabetic clients.

Pizza Night or Patio Daddy O at the Grill

Pizza Night: Top It, Stuff It, Twist It-The Easy Way to go with Refrigerator Dough

Author: Pillsbury Editors

Discover how easy and tasty homemade pizza can be!

Nothing beats homemade pizza hot out of the oven. And when you use refrigerated dough, you can stop worrying about the crust and focus on the fun stuff—toppings and fillings! This book is packed with nearly 100 great ways to unleash your pizza creativity using refrigerated dough—and delight your familyand friends. You'll find:

• Classic Italian pies like Pepperoni Pizza with Tomatoes



• Easy Mexican Chicken Pizza and other tasty contemporary options



• Perfect party pies, from Maui Paradise Pizza to Bacon Spinach Pizza



• Calzones and other "pizza in disguise"



• Pizza Dipping Sticks and other snacks and appetizers



• Amazing dessert pizzas like Chocolate–Peanut Butter Cookie Pizza



• Homemade pizza tips and refrigerated dough Q&As



• Fun ideas for family pizza parties



• Over 35 tempting color photos

So get some refrigerated dough, ask the kids to help, and get creative. You'll soon be turning out sensational pizzas that everyone will love—right in your own kitchen!

Look this: Mauna Loa Macadamia Cooking Treasury or Savage Barbecue

Patio Daddy-O at the Grill: Great Food and Drink for Your Backyard Bash

Author: Gideon Bosker

Patio Daddy-O is back and this time they're taking it outdoors! Ten years after the original Patio Daddy-O won the world over with its retro recipes and '50s nostalgia, these fun-loving folks have compiled 45 new recipes that showcase the wonders of man's other best friend—the grill. The book goes beyond the basics with creative recipes that combine global ingredients with down-home Americana to produce rubs and pastes, meat and seafood main courses, kebabs, side dishes, cocktails, and desserts.

Fat Free and Easy Great Meals in Minutes or Summer Smoothies

Fat-Free and Easy: Great Meals in Minutes

Author: Jennifer Raymond

Here's a very-low fat cookbook you'll really use. Fat Free & Easy contains almost 100 recipes for dishes your whole family will enjoy, no matter what their food preferences are.

Learn how to cook without added fats, determine how much fat you should be eating, and how a diet free of meat, eggs, and diary products is the best choice for ensuring a long and healthy life.

New interesting book: Classification Made Simple or Structural Slumps

Summer Smoothies: Over 130 Cool and Refreshing Recipes

Author: Donna Pliner Rodnitzky

Delicious & Nutritious Summertime Favorites
Nothing is more satisfying on a hot summer day than a brisk, refreshing smoothie. Inspiring and energizing, this book includes over 130 innovative and succulent smoothie recipes. From revitalizing fruit and dairy drinks to sweet-tooth specialties and cocktail-hour delights, inside you'll find easy-to-make recipes for cool concoctions sure to please every palate, including:
·Bye-Bye Blackberry
·California Whirls
·Lime All Shook Up
·Lord of the Bings
·Mango Overboard
·Peached Blonde
·Pineapple Pixel
·Te-kiwi Sunrise
·Yogi Berry
·And many more!
You'll also learn important tips and hints on how to select, prepare, and store fruit suitable for smoothies; what equipment to use; optional ingredients; and glorious garnishes to create these delectable treats from your own home!

Author Biography: Donna Pliner Rodnitzky, author of Ultimate Smoothies, The Lowfat Grill, The Complete Indoor/Outdoor Grill, and 101 Great Lowfat Desserts, is a caterer who lives in Iowa City, Iowa, where she keeps a juicer handy at all times.

Betty Crockers Ultimate Cake Mix Cookbook or The Tequila 1000

Betty Crocker's Ultimate Cake Mix Cookbook: Create Sweet Magic from a Mix

Author: Betty Crocker Editors

With Betty Crocker, delicious desserts are a piece of cake!

Take your favorite Betty Crocker SuperMoist cake mix flavor, add a drop of this, a dash of that, stir, bake, decorate, and you’ve created dessert magic beyond your sweetest dreams! Here’s your complete guide to baking with cake mix, packed with foolproof recipes from the ultimate cake mix experts–the Betty Crocker Kitchens. All your favorites are here, easy to make, easier to bake and easiest of all to enjoy! So whether you’re a first-time baker in search of tempting treats or an expert ready for a challenge, you’ll find plenty of great ideas in Betty Crocker’s Ultimate Cake Mix Cookbook.

• Planning a big birthday bash? Decorate a pretty Ballet Slippers Cake to see any aspiring ballerina twirl in delight.

• On the go to a potluck party? Tote along a super-rich Triple-Fudge Cake and all you’ll bring home is the empty pan.

• Craving a cookie jar filled to the brim? Bake a batch of Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies for a sure-fire snacking treat.

• Hankering for holiday cheer? Create oh-so-cute Rudolph Cupcakes to make any holiday party merry and bright.

• Surprising someone special with a splendid celebration? Frost an elegant Chocolate Ganache Cake and watch your guests ooh and aah.

Table of Contents:

	Over 50 Years of Cake Mix Success	6
	Bake a Perfect Cake Every Time	10
	Consumer Q&A	15
1	Bake-and-Take	16
2	Wonderfully Indulgent	52
3	Special Celebrations	92
4	Heavenly Holidays	122
5	Come for Brunch	150
6	Scrumptious Desserts	174
7	Easy Cookies and Bars	200
8	Fabulous Frostings and Glazes	230
	Helpful Nutrition and Cooking Information	246
	Index	247

See also:

The Tequila 1000: The Ultimate Collection of Tequila Cocktails, Recipes, Facts and Resources

Author: Ray Foley

The Most Incredible, Comprehensive Collection of Everything You Can Make, Drink, and Discover about Tequila!

Ray Foley, publisher of Bartender magazine, presents 1,000 cocktails, food recipes, fascinating facts, and resources about the spirit that inspired such marvelous inventions as the Margarita, the Tequila Sunrise, and Grilled Tequila Lime Chicken.

Discover:
--700 unbeatable tequila cocktails
--50 fascinating facts about tequila
--Information on 70 producers of tequila
--130 tequila websites and resources
--50 delicious food recipes

Never before has this much information on tequila been collected in one place. From the #1 name in bartending, The Tequila 1000 is a must-have for bartenders, cooks, and anyone who loves tequila.

Kitchen Playdates or Wine and Philosophy

Kitchen Playdates: Easy Ideas for Entertaining That Includes the Kids ** 70 Delicious Recipes

Author: Lauren Bank Deen

Sophisticated entertaining with kids? Lauren Bank Deen proves that it is not only possible, but great fun, too! Filled with 70 delicious recipes, varied menus, and themed activities, Kitchen Playdates offers parents a new way to socialize with friends and family without resorting to pizza. This handy cookbook includes "Kids in the Kitchen" notes with each recipe, providing age-appropriate tasks to keep children busy (and safe). And tons of creative all-ages craft ideas allow everyone to get involved when there are too many cooks in the kitchen. For easy, don't-miss house parties that are truly fun for the whole family, come on over for a Kitchen Playdate!

New interesting book:

Wine and Philosophy: A Symposium on Thinking and Drinking

Author: Fritz Allhoff

Wine & Philosophy offers a collection of essays which explore a range of philosophical topics related to food; it joins Food & Philosophy and Beer & Philosophy in in the "Epicurean Trilogy." Essays are organized thematically and written by philosophers, wine writers, and winemakers.

• Chapters include, “The Art & Culture of Wine”; “Tasting & Talking about Wine”; “Wine & Its Critics”; “The Beauty of Wine”; “The Metaphysics of Wine”; and “The Politics & Economics of Wine”
  
• Essays are accessible to a general audience while at the same time covering some serious philosophical ground
  
• Incorporates traditional areas of philosophical study, including philosophy of language, philosophy of perception, aesthetics, metaphysics, ethics and political philosophy
  
• A great complimentary text to any guided-tour visit to the Napa Valley or other wineries

Table of Contents:

List of Figures     viii
Foreword   Paul Draper     ix
Acknowledgments     xi
Planting the Vines: An Introduction   Fritz Allhoff     1
The Art & Culture of Wine     13
Wine in Ancient Greece: Some Platonist Ponderings   Harold Tarrant     15
On and Off the Wagon: Wine and the American Character   Jonathon Alsop     30
Muse in a Stem Glass: Art, Wine, and Philosophy   Kirsten Ditterich-Shilakes     44
In Vino Sanitas   Frederick Adolf Paola     63
Tasting & Talking about Wine     79
Mmmm...not Aha! Imaginative vs. Analytical Experiences of Wines   John Dilworth     81
Talk about Wine?   Kent Bach     95
Winespeak or Critical Communication? Why People Talk about Wine   Keith Lehrer   Adrienne Lehrer     111
Wine & Its Critics     123
What the Wine Critic Tells Us   John W. Bender     125
Experiencing Wine: Why Critics Mess Up (Some of the Time)   Jamie Goode     137
The Beauty of Wine     155
You'll Never Drink Alone: Wine Tasting and Aesthetic Practice   Douglas Burnham   Ole Martin Skilleas     157
Who Cares If You Like It, This Is a Good Wine Regardless   George Gale     172
Listening to the Wine Consumer: The Art of Drinking   Steve Charters     186
Wine & Metaphysics     203
Is There Coffee or Blackberry in My Wine?   Kevin W. Sweeney     205
The Soul of Wine: Digging for Meaning   Randall Grahm     219
The Notion of Terroir   Matt Kramer     225
The Politics & Economics of Wine     235
Wine-Tasting Epiphany: An Analysis of the 1976 California vs. France Tasting   Orley Ashenfelter   Richard E. Quandt   George M. Taber     237
The Old World and the New: Worlds Apart?   Warren Winiarski     248
Taste How Expensive This Is: A Problem of Wine and Rationality   Justin Weinberg     257
Shipping across State Lines: Wine and the Law   Drew Massey     275
Notes on Contributors     288
Index     295

Patchwork Potluck or Easy Indian Cooking

Patchwork Potluck

Author: Gooseberry Patch

You're invited to a Patchwork Potluck! This cookbook has fun, food-filled chapters like Let's Pack a Picnic Basket and Grandma's Bringing Dessert that are perfect for get-togethers. You'll love the irresistible recipes in this gem...blueberry streusel muffins, savory herb bread, BLT dip, chicken & dumplings, patchwork rice, hit-the-road sandwiches, peanut butter candy and so much more. There's even a chapter in our Patchwork Potluck Cookbook of canning recipes, plus crafts for making memories last.

Books about:

Easy Indian Cooking

Author: Suneeta Vaswanis

Savory Indian recipes.

Indian cooking is exhilarating and exotic—and now it's easier than ever. Although Indian dishes are richly flavored, they need not be complicated to create in an American kitchen. Easy Indian Cooking features 125 recipes that are easy for beginners and appeal to experienced home cooks. The authentic flavor of these easy-to-prepare recipes will delight and amaze.

Vaswani's repertoire of exciting and inspired recipes ranges from classic recipes from North and South India to favorites from her family and friends. Each one is adapted for North American home cooking.

Following the recipes in this book, any cook can create delicious dishes such as:

• Masala Coated Baked Chicken
• Pork Vindaloo
• Curried Spinach and Cheese (Saag Panir)
• Cardamon Scented Lamb
• Basmati Rice Layered with Fragrant Chicken
• Tandoori Shrimp

In keeping with traditional Indian cooking, Vaswani includes a significant number of vegetarian dishes. She also shares insightful cooking tips and her wealth of Indian cooking techniques. In addition, there are suggestions about where to find ingredients and spices and, if necessary, substitutions. Exploring the wonderful world of Indian cuisine has never been easier. Easy Indian Cooking is the perfect place to start.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments

Introduction
• General Guidelines
• Common Ingredients
• Spices, Spice Blends and Herbs
• Hints and Tips
• Basic Techniques Snacks and Appetizers
• Spicy Boiled Potatoes (Aloo Chaat)
• Crustless Potato Pie (Bataka Nu Rotla)
• Steamed Semolina Squares (Dhokla)
• Corn and Potato Toss (Corn Bhel)
• Yello Mung Bean Patties (Mung Dal ki Tikki)
• Meat and Potato Patties (Aloo aur Keema ki Tikki)
• Skewered Grilled Kababs (Sheekh Kababs)
• Saffron-Scented Chicken Kababs (Chicken Boti Kababs)
• Onion Fritters (Kande ka Bhajia)
• Batter-Dipped Vegetable Fritters (Vegetable Pakoras)
• Sindhi Fritters (Sinkhi Pakoras) Rice, Cereal and Breads
• Perfect Steamed Rice
• Spice-Scented Peas Pilaf (Peas Pulao)
• Basmati Rice with Spice Cauliflower (Gobi Pulao)
• Caramelized Onion-Flavored Rice (Pyaz ka Pulao)
• Soft Rice with Yellow Mung Beans with Spices (Masala Khitchri)
• Semolina with Vegetables (Upma)
• Fragrant Rice Layered with Curried Chicken (Hyderabadi Chicken Biriyani)
• Pressed Rice with Peas and Potatoes (Phoa)
• Savory Indian Bread Pudding (Sial Bread)
• Basic Whole Wheat Dough (Atta)
• Whole Wheat Griddle Bread (Chapati or Roti)
• Whole Wheat Griddle-Fried Bread (Paratha)
• Potato-Stuffed Griddle-Fried Bread (Aloo Paratha)
• Whole Wheat Puffed Bread (Puri) Beans and Lentils
• Yellow Mung Bean Soup (Mung Dal Soup)
• Buttery Mung Dal (Makhni Dal)
• Yellow Lentil Soup with Vegetables(Toor Dal Soup with Vegetables)
• Uma's Puréed Yellow Lentils (Uma's Toor Dal)
• Split Yellow Peas with Tamarind Chutney (Channa Dal with Tamarind Chutney)
• North Indian-Style Kidney Beans (Rajma)
• Zucchini with Yellow Mung Beans
• Buttery Black Beans (Kali Dal or Dal Makhni)
• Sindhi-Style Chickpeas
• South Indian Lentil and Vegetable Stew (Sambar)
• Tomato Dal (Tomatochen Sar) Poultry and Meat
• Tandoori Chicken
• Tandoori Chicken Salad
• Chicken Tikka Masala
• Coriander Chicken
• Pepper Chicken
• Ginger Chili Chicken
• Three-Spice Chicken with Potatoes
• Masala-Coated Baked Chicken
• Preeti's Brown Onion Chicken
• Chicken with Aromatic Puréed Spinach (Saagwalla Murg)
• Sindhi Chicken Curry
• Chicken in Cashew Saffron Gravy
• Chicken with Dried Apricots (Khubani Murg)
• Spiced Ground Beef with Peas (Keema Matar)
• Gena's Kababs
• Lamb with Fennel and Nigella
• Meatball Curry (Kofta Curry)
• North Indian-Style Lamb Curry on Bread (Gosht Dabalroti)
• Cardamom-Scented Lamb
• Lamb Braided in Yogurt, Tomatoes and Onions (Sial Gosht)
• Dry-Fried Lamb with Coconut Slices
• Curried Lamb (Rogan Josh)
• Oven-Braised Lamb Shanks
• Pork Vindaloo
• Coorg-Style Pork Curry
• Cashew and Raisin-Stuffed Pork Loin
• Coriander-Crusted Pork Chili Fry Fish and Seafood
• Arshi's Fish Curry
• Red Fish Curry
• Goa Seafood Curry
• Amritsari Fish
• Preeti's Grilled Fish
• Baked Fish Fillets with Yogurt Topping
• Bengali Mustard Fish
• Stuffed Fish with Garlic Herb Topping
• Coconut Chutney-Coated Fish Parcels
• Mohini's Spicy Shrimp
• Spicy Sweet-and-Sour Shrimp
• Prawn Patia
• Golden Shrimp with Cilantro and Lime
• Cilantro Pickled Shrimp
• Mussels in Cilantro Broth Vegetarian Entrées
• Indian Scrambled Eggs (Akoori)
• Indian Omelet (Aamlete)
• Egg Curry
• Curried Spinach and Cheese (Saag Panir)
• Sindhi Spinach (Sai Bhaji)
• Creamy Spinach with Mung Dal
• Potatoes in Tomato Gravy
• Corn and Vegetable Curry
• Black-Eyed Peas with Vegetables
• Whole Baked Masala Cauliflower
• Indian Macaroni and Cheese Vegetables
• Lower-Fat Panir
• Creamy Broccoli Curry
• Mustard Seed Potatoes
• Three-Seed Potatoes
• Potatoes with Fenugreek Leaves (Methi Aloo)
• Hena's Finger Potatoes
• Stir-Fried Okra with Tomatoes
• Green Beans with Mustard Seed
• Green Beans and Carrots with Aromatic Spices
• Carrots with Cummin and Nigella
• Sweet-and-Spicy Butternut Squash
• Bell Peppers with Roasted Chickpea Flour
• Cauliflower and Potatoes with Ginger and Chilies
• Cauliflower Peas Keema
• Preeti's Cabbage with Peanuts
• Sweet, Sour and Spicy Eggplant
• Stuffed Eggplant
• Onion and Potato Sauté
• Zucchini with Five Seeds Raitas and Chutneys
• Cilantro and Mint Yogurt with Grapes (Angoor Raita)
• Beet and Potato Raita
• Cucumber Raita (Kakri Raita)
• Tomato Raita
• Corn, Mango and Cucumber Raita
• Cabbage and Apple Raita
• Yogurt and Spinach with Five Seasonings (Palak Raita)
• Cilantro Mint Chutney (Hari Chutney)
• Yogurt Mint Chutney
• Date and Peanut Chutney
• Tamarind Chutney
• Hot Pineapple Chutney
• Sweet Mango Chutney Sweets and Beverages
• North Indian Rice Pudding (Kheer)
• Date and Nut Pinwheels
• Byculla Bread and Butter Pudding
• Almond Halwa
• Orange Saffron Pudding
• Heavenly Saffron Yogurt Cheese (Shrikhand)
• Caramelized Carrot Pudding (Gajar ka Halwa)
• Royal Bread Pudding (Shahi Tukre)
• Mango Kulfi
• Savory Yogurt Cooler (Lassi)
• Sweet Yogurt Cooler (Sweet Lassi)
• Mango Lassi
• Spiced Tea (Masala Chai)

Sources
Index

On Rue Tatin or A Kitchen Witchs Cookbook

On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town

Author: Susan Herrmann Loomis

Susan Loomis arrived in Paris twenty years ago with little more than a student loan and the contents of a suitcase to sustain her. But what began then as an apprenticeship at La Varenne École de Cuisine evolved into a lifelong immersion in French cuisine and culture, culminating in permanent residency in 1994. On Rue Tatin chronicles her journey to this ancient little street in the midst of Louviers, and how she came to call it home.

With lyrical prose and wry candor, Loomis recalls the miraculous restoration that she and her husband performed on the dilapidated convent they chose for their new residence. As its ocher and azure floor tiles emerged, challenges outside the dwelling mounted. From squatters to a surly priest next door, along with a close?knit community wary of outsiders, Loomis tackled the social challenges head?on, through persistent dialogue?and baking.

As fresh ingredients abound in this rural haven, along with a reverence for the kitchen, On Rue Tatin features fifty delicious recipes that evoke the essence of the region, such as Apple and Thyme Tart and main courses including Duck Breast with Cider and Braised Chicken in White Wine and Mustard.

Transporting readers to a world whose cobblestone lanes shirk commercialism in favor of cherished tradition, On Rue Tatin provides a touching glimpse of the camaraderie, exquisite food, and simple pleasures of daily life in this truly glorious corner of Normandy.

About the Author:
An internationally recognized journalist and chef, Susan Herrmann Loomis is also the author of six books, including Farmhouse Cookbook (more than 90,000 copies sold) and The Great American Seafood Cookbook (more than 70,000 copies sold). A regular contributor to national publications such as The New York Times and Gourmet, she lives with her husband and their two children in Louviers, France, where she owns and operates On Rue Tatin, a cooking school.

Publishers Weekly

Loomis, an American chef and author of Farmhouse Cookbook and The Great American Seafood Cookbook, enthusiastically recounts every aspect, both intriguing and mundane, of her immersion into the cuisine and lifestyle of northern France. She moved to Paris in 1980 to study cooking and, after a rough start, found her place as a weekend visitor at one family's home in Normandy. After cooking school, she went back to the States, returning to France frequently to visit friends. It wasn't long before she became addicted to Normandy's fresh ingredients goose, garlic, rabbit, wild mushrooms and rich gastronomy, and found herself longing to live there. In 1994, Loomis and her husband moved to the region and bought a dilapidated convent in the small town of Louviers. Her tales of adventures in restoration and run-ins with locals (e.g., the crotchety priest next door, the incorrigibly gregarious rug salesman) are funny, but certainly familiar, especially given that many recent books have told similar stories about ambitious expatriates' forays into rural European life. The cookbook/travelogue/memoir hybrid has become an overcrowded genre, and Loomis's doesn't distinguish itself. Nevertheless, few food writers have depicted Normandy so attentively, and Loomis has compiled an impressive collection of savory recipes that evoke the region's best, including Civet D'Agneau (Hearty Lamb Stew) and Roti de Cuisse de Sanglier (Roasted Leg of Wild Boar). Furthermore, classic Gallic personalities are accurately and engagingly rendered, making this more than just a culinary memoir. (Apr.) Forecast: This work targets Francophilic gastronomes, but probably won't break out of that niche. Nonetheless, the success of Loomis's cookbooks should help boost this title's sales. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Here are two culinary memoirs by American women now living in France. The similarities end there, as one author went to France for the food and stayed for the life that grew up around her, while the other moved to France for its own sake and realized that she'd better learn to cook once she became engaged to a Frenchman. In On Rue Tatin, Loomis, a food writer and an accomplished cook, recalls her initial journey to Paris to attend cooking school. Her apprenticeship at La Varenne cole de Cuisine led to a job as an assistant to food writer Patricia Wells and a lifelong fascination with French cooking and culture. Eventually, in 1994, she and her family permanently settled in a medieval convent on Rue Tatin in the Norman town of Louviers. Interspersed with her lyrical descriptions of daily life in urban and rural France are 50 recipes from a simple frittata to a complex pot au feu culled from both famous chefs and the local fish seller. The author prepares most of the dishes in her own home, and American readers should be able to do the same in a well-equipped kitchen though they may have trouble finding a leg of wild boar at their local supermarket. In French Fried, Rochefort (French Toast) writes about how her obsession with French food became a personal one when her French husband-to-be announced that they could not afford to keep eating in restaurants for the rest of their lives. There are a few recipes, most of them for "basics" such as vinaigrette or homemade mayonnaise. More of a general commentary on life in France as seen through its cuisine (one helpful tip for tourists: don't go into a restaurant and order only a salad or a sandwich because this is something you do in a caf ; restaurants are for meals), French Fried is the book to purchase if your patrons are looking for an informal travel guide. Buy both books if you are able; and if you regularly answer reference questions about the cooking of wild boar, you'll definitely need On Rue Tatin. Wendy Bethel, Southwest P.L., Grove City, OH Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Read also The Ultimate Barbecue Bible or The Turkey Cookbook

A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook

Author: Patricia Telesco

Mercy Bread from Arabia. Oat apricot muffins for forgiveness rituals. Mustard Sauce of Valor for fire festivals. Apricot Fricassee for initiation rituals. These are just a few of the 300 recipes you'll find in A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook by Patricia Telesco.

More than a collection of recipes, A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook weds modern ingredients and utensils with potent traditional preparations for a truly magical resource. Whether in the sacred space of the hearthstone, or anywhere cooking takes you, your meal preparation experience can be both creative and consuming as you sample the helpful hints, superb resources, and fascinating lore in A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook.

From food preparation to mealtime presentation, the goal of this book is to make your world more magical. You'll learn measurement conversions, alternative ingredients, magical correspondences with foods, and appropriate dishes for a wide variety of rituals, celebrations, and festivals.

·Gain insight into how creative personal magic can be — not only at festivals, but in daily life

·Use these recipes for everyday cooking

·Attain a refreshing historical perspective on the diversity and "flavor" of magic

·Create new approaches to magic at little expense

A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook provides step-by-step instruction for transforming meals into manifestations of your magical life. Get your copy today.

Take Out Menu Cookbook or Commanders Kitchen

Take-Out Menu Cookbook: How to Cook the Foods in You Love to Eat Out

Author: Carla Snyder

You've got a serious hankerin' for Kung Pao Chicken, but Wang's House of Noodles is 35 minutes away, it's overpriced, and well, it just plain stinks. Come to think of it, you haven't found great, let alone decent, ethnic take-out for a while. What to do? How about cook it yourself? All you need is to open up The Take-Out Menu Cookbook and step confidently into the kitchen. . . .

This first-of-its-kind cookbook features the top 200 take-out and carry-away dishes from the 12 most popular ethnic cuisines: French, Italian, Spanish, German, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Middle Eastern/Moroccan, Indian, Eastern European/Jewish, Greek, and Japanese. Why buy a Chinese cookbook when all you want is authentic-tasting but healthier-than-take-out Kung Pao Shrimp, Spicy Potstickers, and Mu Shu Pork? By focusing on the most popular dishes from each cuisine, Meredith Deeds and Carla Snyder provide starving chefs with the tools at their disposal to create authentic, healthy, and delicious meals that will make staying home worthwhile! Even highly experienced cooks can be rattled by sushi or derailed by dim sum. But with the help of the authors, who have more than 20 years of experience as cooking instructors between them, there's no need to worry! With their guidance, the unfamiliar territory of ethnic cuisine is easily maneuvered.

Publishers Weekly

Inspired by cravings for ethnic foods-and frustration with being unable to find decent versions (or any version at all) in nonurban parts of the country-Deeds and Snyder (The Big Book of Appetizers) deliver 200 recipes for popular take-out dishes, from Mu Shu Pork to Chicken Tikka Masala and Fish Tacos. They organize the recipes by cuisine: Chinese, Eastern European, Greek, Middle Eastern, Thai and so on. And they cover the dishes most often ordered, such as Vegetable Biryani, Pizza Margherita, Spicy Tuna Rolls, Paella and Pad Thai. Fun head notes often describe the derivation of dishes-General Tso's Chicken, for example, "was born back in the seventies in a Chinese restaurant in New York" and named after "a successful Chinese statesman back in the mid-1800s." Recipes are approachable, if not strictly authentic, and include indications of total time and hands-on time, which is generally less than an hour. Home cooks without viable take-out options now have a reasonable alternative-though city-dwellers probably won't be getting rid of their take-out menus anytime soon. (Nov.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Book review:

Commander's Kitchen: Take Home the True Taste of New Orleans with More Than 150 Recipes from Commander's Palace Restaurant

Author:

Commander's Palace is one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved restaurants in the country. It was named the outstanding restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation, and is always rated the most popular restaurant in New Orleans by Zagat. It consistently receives awards from magazines such as Food & Wine, Wine Spectator, and Southern Living. A trip to New Orleans just isn't complete without a meal at Commander's Palace.
Now home cooks can bring its unmatched style, hospitality, and great food to their own tables. Reflecting the restaurant's fascinating culinary intersection--a New Orleans landmark combining native ingredients and techniques with exciting and evolving contemporary flavors--Commander's Kitchen takes readers behind the doors of a truly exciting culinary experience.
Featuring 150 recipes from the restaurant's extensive offerings and other Brennan family recipes, Commander's Kitchen describes step-by-step the secrets to Shrimp and Tasso Henican with Five-Pepper Jelly, Eggs Louis Armstrong, Pan-Seared Crusted Sirloin Steak with Cayenne Butter, Braised Lamb Shanks with Merlot Mushroom Sauce, and, the queen of Creole desserts, Bread Pudding Souffle. Of course, four varieties of gumbo are also included, along with dozens of information-packed sidebars, personal anecdotes, tips for throwing a New Orleans--style bash, and juicy tidbits of Commander's Palace lore. Lavishly illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs that beautifully capture the lively Commander's Palace spirit, Commander's Kitchen lets the good times, and the exceptional dining, roll.

Library Journal

Commander's Palace is a New Orleans landmark, known throughout the country for its "haute Creole" cuisine and exuberant hospitality. Martin is the manager and daughter of Ella Brennan, whose name, with her brother Dick's, is most closely associated with the restaurant's success (the Brennan clan has been in charge of the restaurant since 1946); Shannon has been the chef there for 16 years. Martin's readable text, offering background and family history, conveys the warmth that is one of the restaurant's hallmarks; Shannon provides the recipes, accompanied by numerous chef's tips. There are standards like New Orleans-Style Barbecue Shrimp, as well as newer dishes served to diners at special "Chef's Table" dinners, and even favorites from staff meals. Highly recommended. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

What People Are Saying

Emeril Lagasse
A delicious combination of Commander's classics and Chef Jamie's flavor and flair! What a restaurant! What a family!

Lobster at Home or WineSmarts

Lobster at Home

Author: Jasper Whit

With its vibrant color, its delicate and luscious flavor and its excellent nutritional value, it's no wonder that lobster is such a favorite. Yet for all its specialness, lobster is actually an affordable luxury when made at home. And as a food, the meat in a one-pound lobster has only 98 calories, 13 milligrams of cholesterol (less than the same amount of skinless chicken) and is high in the Omega-3 acids known to help reduce cholesterol levels.

More than five years in preparation, Lobster at Home will teach anyone, from the most inexperienced novice to the seasoned professional, to master the art of cooking lobster. Written clearly and with care for important detail, Lobster at Home goes far beyond any other seafood cookbook. It explains everything from how to choose just the right lobster for a delectable dinner to how to extract every last morsel of meat from a cooked lobster. A treasure trove of information, it also contains completely reliable chapters on lobster anatomy, the basic cooking techniques and the essential equipment. Recipes cover the full range of dishes: soups, chowders, stews, salads and sandwiches, as well as pot-pies, pastas, risottos and classic main courses, along with a special chapter on chefs' creations. Now you can easily turn out restaurant favorites such as Lobster Bisque, Baked Stuffed Lobster and Lobster Fra Diavolo right at home, and at a fraction of the cost.

Among this book's unique features:

• a beautiful illustration showing how and when to select lobster, helping the cook know at a glance when hardshells and soft-shells are available, as well as the best prices

• a handy chart giving cookingtimes for each size of lobster

• a list of recommended sources for mail-ordering live lobsters

• many recipes that call for the use of already-cooked lobster

From cover to cover, this is a book that welcomes all kinds of lobster lovers who have always wanted to cook lobster at home for family and friends.

Publishers Weekly

James Beard Award-winner as Best Chef in the Northeast in 1991, White (Jasper White's Cooking from New England) empowers any home cook who has ever been intimidated by this succulent beast. Through text and illustration, White demystifies how, where and when to choose a lobster for home preparation; how to cook it, whether boiled, steamed, grilled, broiled or pan-roasted; and how to eat it and revel in the sensuality of the experience. He even makes killing a lobster less daunting. An excellent repertoire of nearly 75 recipes brings the lobster up from the deep and into the light of the everyday kitchen. Cambodian-Style Lobster Soup gains luster from Thai chilies, ginger, shiittakes, lime and mint. Lobster Pizza can be served as an hors d'oeuvre or main course. Lobster salads and other cold plates include the World-Famous Maine Lobster Roll and the extravagant Millionaire's Salad: Warm Greens with Lobster, Foie Gras and Papaya. Modifying the ingenious Lobster with Vanilla Butter Cream for the home chef, White doesn't ignore such classics as Lobster Thermidor and Lobster Newburg. Lobster Ravioli requires time and effort, but summery Spaghetti with Lobsters, Tomatoes and Capers is a snap. Additional recipes are gathered from fellow chefs: Joel Robuchon, Larry Forgione, Wolfgang Puck and others. In sum, White admirably fills what has been an unaddressed niche.Good Cook selection

Library Journal

In this wonderful and engrossing book, White (Jasper White's Cooking from New England, LJ 11/15/89), formerly the chef/owner of one of Boston's best restaurants, succeeds thoroughly in making the idea of cooking lobster not only unintimidating but indeed almost irresistible. His enthusiasm and knowledge about his subject are abundant, and he writes with humor and warmth. His recipes, from his signature Pan-Roasted Lobster with Chervil & Chives (including more than half a dozen variations) to a more down-home Lobster Hash, sound delectable. Highly recommended. [BOMC's Good Cook selection.]

What People Are Saying

Mark Bittman
Jasper White is the authority on New England food, but seafood especially, and Lobster at Home is simply the last word on the subject. It's filled with precise information and fantastic recipes, which come not only from Jasper's kitchen but from his soul.

Jim Peterson
What a refreshing read! Mr. White's personable text and clear, savory-sounding recipes kept me up, stomach growling, to the wee hours. I was left wondering why I don't cook lobster more often. A must for the lobster lover.

Shire
Short of driving to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, to eat the first lobster of the season on the decks of the Lobsterman's Co-op, grab hold of this book. Jasper has demystified this noble creature. Read about how the seasons affect the meat. And once you've done that, pour yourself a chilled glass of Amontillado as you slip down one of Jasper's Hot Tomalley Toasts while stirring a steaming pot of Sugar Pumpkin, Sweet Corn and Lobster Soup.

John Willoughby & Chris Schlesinger
In New England, where lobstere rules, Jasper White is the undisputed kind of chefs. Here are excellent recipes, fascinating information and useful tips you can really count on, making for a delightful book that is sure to join the short list of cookbooks you actually use again and again.

Thomas Menino
The historical significance of lobster to the great city of Boston, combined with the talent of Jasper White, is bound to be a recipe for success.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. The Lobster Primer

2. Basic Cooking Techniques

3. Soups, Broths, Chowders & a Bisque

4. Hot Appetizers & Small Dishes S. Lobster Salads, Sandwiches, Cold Plates & Composed Salads

6. Classic Main Courses

7. Great Lobsters From Great Chefs Mail-Order Sources Index

New interesting textbook: Redesigning 50 or The Body Remembers

WineSmarts: The Question and Answer Cards That Make Learning about Wine Easy and Fun, Vol. 1

Author: Jennifer Elias

WineSmarts finally makes learning about wine as much fun as it is to sip. Pick one of the 100 cards and discover: Does sniffing the cork give a good sense of the wine? Can white wine be made from red grapes? What is Vouvray? This elegant game of question and answer cards is a great gift for novices and experts.

This stylish box includes:
100 informative cards in four categories:
Grapes typical aromas and flavors
Regions major wine-producing areas
Vocabulary wine terms
Wild Card history, trivia, and more
WineTips booklet
Score pad to show how wine smart you are

Mostly True or The Complete Book of Appetizers Starters Finger Food and Party Food

Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food, and Baseball

Author: Molly ONeill

Molly O'Neill's father believed that baseball was his family's destiny. He wanted to spawn enough sons for an infield, so he married the tallest woman in Columbus, Ohio. Molly came out first, but eventually her father's plan prevailed. Five boys followed in rapid succession and the youngest, Paul O'Neill, did, in fact, grow up to be the star right fielder for the New York Yankees. In Mostly True, celebrated food critic and writer O'Neill tells the story of her quintessentially American family and the places where they come together—around the table and on the ball field.

Molly's great-grandfather played on one of the earliest traveling teams in organized baseball, her grandfather played barnstorming ball, and her father pitched in the minor leagues, but after being sidelined with an injury in the war, he set his sights on the next generation. While her brothers raged and struggled to become their own men, Molly, appointed "Deputy Mom" at an age when most girls were playing with dolls, learned early how to be the model Midwestern homemaker and began casting about wildly for other possible destinies. As her mother cleaned fanatically and produced elaborate, healthy meals, Molly spoiled her bro-thers with skyscraper cakes, scribbled reams of poetry, and staged theatrical productions in the backyard. By the late 1960s, the Woodstock Nation had challenged some of the O'Neill values, but nothing altered their conviction that only remarkable achievement could save them.

Mostly True is the uncommon chronicle of a regular family pursuing the American dream and of one girl's quest to find her place in a world built for boys. Molly O'Neill—an independent,extraordinarily talented, and fiercely funny woman—showed that home runs can be hit in many fields. Her memoir is glorious.

The New York Times - Pete Wells

O'Neill's memoir reads like a comic novel. She sketches her relatives with obvious fondness, but they are clearly caricatures who serve the author's humorous whims. Her mother is drawn as an accumulation of verbal tics ("Now, I ask you!") and her father is a blustery optimist who greets everyone with a cheerful "Hey ya, whatsy!" After college, O'Neill cooked for a women's restaurant in Northampton, Mass., that served "nonviolent cuisine," and her description of her co-workers broadly satirizes the feminism of the peasant-skirt era.

Publishers Weekly

Former columnist for the New York Times and author of The New York Cookbook, O'Neill de-emphasizes the cooking element here in favor of cozy family gatherings around baseball games. Her memoir begins even before the courtship of her parents, minor leaguer "Chick" O'Neill and six-foot, convent-educated "Bootsie" Gwinn, in Columbus, Ohio, in 1945, and extends to younger brother Paul O'Neill's retirement as right-fielder for the Yankees in 2001. O'Neill meanders lovingly through years growing up as the eldest to five brothers who channeled their adolescent hormones into Little League. O'Neill records her first forays into cooking inspired by an Ohio Power and Electric Co. demonstration given for her Brownie troop; her brothers worshipped her for making dishes from Spam and processed cheese. In college, she secured jobs as a cook and took over the kitchen at Ciro's in Boston by 1979. Her cooking segued into writing, first for the Globe, then New York Newsday. By the time she became a restaurant critic for the Times in the early 1990s, younger brother Paul had been traded to the Yankees, bringing the whole unwieldy family to feast in New York. O'Neill charts a long-winded, pleasantly nostalgic trip. B&w photos. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

O'Neill's brother Paul, of Reds and Yankees fame, enchanted fans with his insightful book (with Burton Rocks), Me and My Dad: A Baseball Memoir. Here, Molly herself, former longtime food columnist for the New York Times, provides her own even richer and more textured account of the transcendant value of baseball within intertwined American lives. Filled with poignant and often rivetting anecdotes of her coming of age in Ohio with five younger brothers, her beautifully composed story is destined to be a best seller and is essential for all public libraries. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A mildly diverting memoir by New York Times food columnist O'Neill. The author recalls in remarkable detail her childhood in Columbus, Ohio, her education and apprenticeship as a chef and her career as a New York restaurant reviewer. The oldest child and only girl in the O'Neill family, she functioned as a deputy mother to her five younger brothers and learned how to feed a crowd at an early age. With lots of dialogue, she recreates "mostly true" scenes from the 1950s and '60s that feature a blue-collar father who believed that baseball was the answer to puberty's raging hormones, a socially grounded mother and a chaotic swarm of kid brothers. (Dad had trouble keeping Mike, Kevin, Pat, Robert and Paul straight, and the reader may, too.) In hopes of finding a place where girls matter as much as boys, Molly relocated in the mid-1970s to Northampton, Mass., where she started the Ain't I a Wommon Club, a restaurant serving "non-violent cuisine." Following her vegetarian/feminist/collective period, she became a cook in Cape Cod's Provincetown, studied cooking in Paris and found success as a chef and a food-and-wine columnist in Boston. Big names (Lillian Hellman, Julia Child) begin to enter her story here, and by the mid-1980s, she had moved on to New York City. Her account of preparing for the job of restaurant critic is absorbing, as is her description of performing the actual work. Various brothers drift in and out of her East Coast life, and when the youngest-Paul-makes it into the major leagues as a New York Yankee, the family returns to the fore. Although the author strains to make them colorful, they really aren't all that fascinating. What never fails to generate interest, however, isO'Neill's skill at describing food and its preparation. Tasty, feather-light entertainment.

Look this: Outlook 2007 or Mac OSX Leopard For Dummies

The Complete Book of Appetizers, Starters, Finger Food and Party Food

Author: Bridget Jones

How to plan the perfect celebration with over 400 inspiring first courses, nibles and finger foods, buffet and party dishes. Every recipe shown step-by-step in over 1500 stunning colour photographs.