Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Tales from the Crisper or The Rice Diet Solution

Tales from the Crisper: A Spirited Fruit and Vegetable Guide to Life

Author: Violent Veg

Are you feeling aimless, unfulfilled or stressed out? Think you've tried every possible method to improve your life, including seeking out professional help? If you haven't considered following the examples of the upbeat apple, the calm cucumber, or the peaceful potato chilling in your fruit and vegetable crisper, then perhaps you've been barking up the wrong stalk of broccoli. The fact is, these affable, fibrous beings have a lot to offer by way of advice because producekind are naturally at peace with themselves and their environment, even under the most adverse conditions.

Tales from the Crisper is chock-full of useful life lessons from these sage members of the plant kingdom. Tips on every imaginable theme are gathered here for the benefit of the troubled and lonely. Among other bits of useful information, you'll learn how to impress a blind date, control bad leeks in the bathroom, and think twice before buying a lemon.

There's no time like the present to start turning your life around, especially with the experienced and wise members of the produce nation here to support and advise you along the way. and even if they don't solve all your problems, at the very least you may find yourself thinking seriously about avoiding vegetarianism as a way of life.



Book review: Conservative Mind or The Lies of George W Bush

The Rice Diet Solution

Author: Kitty Gurkin Rosati

The New York Times bestseller. Before Atkins, before the low-carb craze, before counting calories, there was the Rice Diet Program.

Founded by a pioneering Duke University physician in 1939, the Rice Diet Program has been helping dieters lose weight quickly, successfully, and permanently. Now, this world-renowned, medicallyapproved weight-loss method can help everyone across the world--and not just those who travel to Durham, North Carolina.

The Program offers a high-complex-carb, low-fat, and low-sodium diet that sheds excess body fat at an astounding rate. On average, men lost 28 to 30 pounds per month, and women lost 19 to 20 pounds per month. The diet also cleanses the body of water bloat and toxins, and has been seen to help with such chronic health problems as heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension. Included are hundreds of delicious, easy-to-fix recipes.



Dr Atkins New Diet Cookbook or Nutritional Yeast Cookbook

Dr. Atkins' New Diet Cookbook

Author: Robert C Atkins

This book contains 250 of the most asked for recipes at the Atkins Center.

Publishers Weekly

In 1972, Atkins became a household name with his bestselling book, The Diet Revolution . In it, he claimed that to induce rapid weight loss one need only follow a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet--carbs were the culprit in keeping people overweight. Twenty years later, he published Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution , continuing to maintain that weight gain had little to do with fat intake--a controversial conviction. His latest work is a cookbook designed as a companion to the 1992 volume, and promising to provide the most ``mouth-watering meals for the most effective diet ever devised.'' In case readers are unfamiliar with his weight-loss program, Atkins describes its four stages and offers a selection of sample menus. Recipes range from the simple (hard-boiled eggs) to appetizers, salads, meats and poultry. No-holds-barred desserts call for heavy cream, eggs, sour cream and butter; despite Atkins's claims, his is not always light cooking. In the end, it's the desserts that illustrate the absurdities of the Atkins program: a recipe for cheesecake is chock full of cream cheese, eggs and creme fraiche, yet the final ingredient is 12 packets of a sugar substitute. ``Good cuisine has always rooted itself firmly in luxurious fat,'' writes Atkins in his introduction. Really? (June)

Library Journal

This complement to Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution (LJ 7/92) presents menus along with 200 recipes. Devised by Atkins Center director Fran Gare, the recipes follow the same high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet (including the complex carbohydrates) that Atkins proposes in his previous book. Atkins maintains that his diet controls diabetes, but the Atkins diet is contrary to information given by the American Dietetic Association and the American Diabetic Association. In the ``University of California at Berkeley Wellness Letter'' (December 1992), Dr. Sheldon Margen cautions people against following this diet, arguing that it could harm some people, especially diabetics. All cheeses are allowed freely (though they are high in fat, sodium, and cholesterol), as are all meats. Several recipes for salad dressings contain raw eggs, which could lead to salmonella food poisoning. Since the recipes in this book could be dangerous if followed, it is not recommended.-Loraine F. Sweetland, Rebok Memorial Lib., Silver Spring, Md.



New interesting textbook: Naturally Clean or Tcm

Nutritional Yeast Cookbook: Recipes Using Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula

Author: Joanne Stepaniak

Here are over 100 recipes featuring Red Star's Vegetarian Support  Formula Flakes. Use this delicious, nutritional yeast to create wonderful substitutes for cheese sauces, sliceable cheese for cold snacks, and meltable cheese for toppings, fondues, and pizza. You'll soon learn how to make the most of this tasty product in your everyday cooking. Great for anyone who is lactose intolerant! And a great fource of B vitamins!



Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Brilliant Food Tips and Cooking Tricks or Oz Clarkes Australian Wine Companion

Brilliant Food Tips and Cooking Tricks: 5,000 Ingenious Kitchen Hints, Secrets, Shortcuts, and Solutions

Author: David Joachim

Now in paperback: the most comprehensive home-cooking reference book ever-with 5,000 fabulous insider kitchen tips and over 900 great-tasting recipes from food experts across the country.

Whether you cook a little or a lot, plain or fancy, healthy or hearty, for your family or just for fun, this is the one book that does it all-faster and easier than you ever dreamed. Find out how to choose the juiciest oranges, perk up limp asparagus, rescue any over-salted dish, and crack an egg with one hand. Get down-to-earth answers to the cooking questions that you face every day. Or, if you're simply tired of the same old meals night after night, discover hundreds of easy recipes that put great-tasting food on your table in a jiffy.



See also: Eat Right 4 Your Baby or The Secrets and Mysteries of Hawaii

Oz Clarke's Australian Wine Companion: An Essential Guide for All Lovers of Australian wine

Author: Oz Clark

Australian wine has become a major player in recent years, taking the American market by storm with its upfront fruit, clear flavors, and eminent drinkability. In this handy companion, internationally renowned wine writer Oz Clarke offers readers and travelers an extensive and entertaining look at one of the world's most exciting wine-producing countries. Here the wine lover will find the best Australian wines at every level, from everyday easy-drinking wines to truly great classic wines. With his signature wit and style, Oz shares personal anecdotes from his frequent trips to Australia, discusses key Australian grapes and key wine regions, profiles more than 160 of the country's top producers, and presents labels and tasting notes on more than a hundred wines. Major wine-growing areas are featured in full-color photographs, and top vineyard areas are illustrated with panoramic maps.



Scotland and Its Whiskies or Cooking from the Hip

Scotland and Its Whiskies

Author: Michael Jackson

In his Malt Whisky Companion, Michael Jackson—past winner of The Glenfiddich Trophy and no fewer than five Glenfiddich Awards—was the first writer to describe in detail the aromas and flavors of Scotland’s most famous product. Now he goes even deeper into the world of whisky, discussing the terroir that shapes the taste of this classic liquor. Jackson’s passion for Scotland and its whiskies comes through clearly and deliciously, and photographer Harry Cory Wright (Strand: The Shifting Sands of the Outer Hebrides) beautifully captures the landscape’s magnificent colors and textures. Whether studying the ancient forms of barley in the Orkneys, drinking tea with peat-cutters while a storm brews over Islay, or preferring the finished product by the shore at sundown, they bring a personal understanding to the magic of malt.

Look this: Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers or Adobe PhotoShop Lightroom how Tos

Cooking from the Hip: Fast, Easy, Phenomenal Meals

Author: Cat Cora

As the star of the smash sensation Iron Chef America, Cat Cora is used to improvising exciting dishes on a moment's notice. In this book she shows you how to do it too, whether you want a spur-of-the-moment supper or a spectacular dinner that doesn't require spending your whole Saturday in the kitchen.

Cooking from the Hip is divided into four convenient sections, each with its own appetizers, soups, salads, main dishes, sides, and desserts. You can turn to whichever chapter best suits your needs and mood, knowing that every dish will be simple and special.

Fast
Spicy Chicken and Peach Stir-Fry
Creamy Fettuccine with Sausage
Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

Easy
Watermelon Gazpacho
Thai Chicken Salad
White Cheddar Corn Bread

Fun
Sunday Cheesesteak Sandwiches
Crispy "Fried" Chicken
Lemonade Cookies

Phenomenal
Mango Margaritas
Pomegranate-Glade Cornish Hens with Wild Rice
Italian Cream Cake

Cooking from the Hip is all about flexibility. You'll be able to use what you've got on hand without being afraid to substitute. You'll learn how to cut down on cooking steps, combine just a few ingredients in inventive ways, pull in leftovers, and wow your family and friends.

Publishers Weekly

Cora, the lone woman to be anointed an "Iron Chef" in the Food Network's American version of the series, aims to translate the fast, flashy style of that high-pressure kitchen into recipes that home cooks who have similar time constraints but comparatively modest gadgets and pantries can enjoy. The results are generally pleasing and more accessible than many of the concoctions presented on TV by battling chefs. Four sections break the food into "fast," "easy," "fun," and "phenomenal" categories that are a welcome change from the traditional progression through each course and show Cora's spontaneous, easygoing yet stylish way to its best advantage. Simple variations on classics stand out, as in a Curried Broccoli Salad ("fast") and spiky, flavorful Watermelon Gazpacho ("easy") even when some recipes' placements are questionable: a silky Potato-Celery Root soup is nice, but hardly phenomenal, and beginning or busy cooks may find recipes like hand-rolled Dolmathes or sushi more frustrating and time-intensive than fun, even if friends help. Fortunately, Cora's sunny, can-do attitude and the boxed tips on ingredients and preparation sprinkled throughout will help to dispel many doubts. Home cooks will appreciate the way they expand the repertory of recipes that are upscale enough to impress company, but simple enough to encourage use throughout a busy week. Color photos not seen by PW. (Apr.)

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Judith Sutton - Library Journal

Although she has worked in a number of high-profile California restaurants, Cora is no doubt best known as the only female chef on Iron Chef America. The recipes in her second cookbook are divided into four categories-"Fast," "Easy," "Fun," and "Phenomenal"-and most of them are quick and easy, even the "phenomenal" ones, which are for special occasions. She has a young son, and some of his favorite dishes are included here; other recipes are more sophisticated but still simple to prepare. Cora encourages flexibility and spontaneity, and she includes variations as well as other useful suggestions to that end. Striking color photographs illustrate many of the dishes. For most collections.



Monday, December 29, 2008

Holiday Baking or No Fat Holiday Cookbook

Holiday Baking: New and Traditional Recipes for Wintertime Holidays

Author: Sara Perry

The holiday season is alive with tradition, and nothing brings a family together faster than baked goods pulled fresh from the oven. Holiday Baking celebrates the six major events of the season with new and traditional holiday treats everyone will love. Vida Lee's Maple Pumpkin Pie will be gobbled up at Thanksgiving; there are three variations of rugelach for Hanukkah; Candy Cane Cupcakes are a minty delight for Christmas; Sweet Onion, Apple, and Cheese Tarts enliven a Boxing Day brunch; Brown Sugar Benne Cookies are perfect for Kwanzaa; and a Bloody Mary and Baked Mushroom Omelet on New Year's Day is the ultimate cure for a hangover. The recipes mix and match easily, whatever the holiday. Whether the plan calls for old-fashioned favorites or entirely new inspiration, the eighty-plus festive recipes in this baking compendium will bring everyone home for the holidays.



Interesting book: Anatomy of a Food Addiction or Skinny

No Fat Holiday Cookbook: Festive Vegetarian Recipes

Author: Bryanna Clark Grogan

Not only will these meat-, egg-, and dairy-free recipes be just the thing for putting together a well-balanced dinner (on those nights when you just can't figure out where the time went), but they'll be just the thing for creating a quick snack or appetizer for unexpected company and making that who-has-time-to-cook lunch. Most of the recipes are based on the Mediterranean/Asian model using lots of grains, fruits, and vegetables. Nutritional analyses accompany each recipe.



Calling All Cooks Three or Soups Stews

Calling All Cooks Three

Author: Bellsouth Pioneers AL Chapter

A third helping of Calling All Cooks and dedicated to the "never ending spirit" of the men and women of the Telephone Pioneers of America, Alabama Chapter #34. Featuring calorie counts, carbs, protein, fiber, etc. It is great for the dieter or diabetic, but yet can be enjoyed by everyone.



See also: How to Cook Meat or Minnesota Eats out

Soups & Stews

Author: Williams Sonoma

Colorful Carrot-Ginger Soup, sophisticated Shrimp Bisque, hearty Irish Lamb Stew -- these time-honored soups and stews are favorite dishes of nearly everyone. You will soon master these classic recipes and many more with this book.

Williams-Sonoma Mastering Soups & Stews is a complete cooking course in a single volume. The opening describes the various types of soups -- clear soups, purees, cream soups, chowders -- and stews you can create at home. You will also learn about the basic ingredients you will need to make them and how to cook, season, and serve them, from readying your mise en place to adding a final swirl of cream or sprinkle of fresh herbs.

Basic recipes and key techniques then illustrate dozens of indispensable culinary building blocks, such as how to make stocks or how to dice an onion or carrot with ease. Troubleshooting tips show you what can go wrong and how to fix it without having to start all over again. Next the master recipes lead you step-by-step, with friendly text and instructive photographs, through every stage of preparation. These recipes include helpful advice other cookbooks assume you already know, and explain how to taste and season soups and stews as you go -- one of the most valuable kitchen secrets any cook can learn. The shorter recipes and variations in each chapter encourage you to continue practicing your newfound skills, building your repertory and your confidence at the same time. Finally, a guide to equipment and a glossary of ingredients will help you stock what you need to make a great soup or stew every time.

In these pages, you will discover more than fifty classic recipes that tell you, in bothpictures and words, how every soup or stew you make should taste from beginning to end. Whether you are a novice at the stove or an experienced home cook, Mastering Soups & Stews will be a source of kitchen wisdom that will make you feel like a cooking teacher is always at your side.



Table of Contents:
About This Book7
Working with the Recipes8
Types of Soups & Stews9
Understanding Soup & Stew Ingredients10
Cooking and Seasoning Soups & Stews12
Serving Soups & Stews14
Measuring Ingredients15
Basic Recipes16
Chicken Stock18
Beef Stock20
Brown Beef Stock22
Vegetable Stock24
Fish Stock26
Shellfish Stock28
Key Techniques30
Dicing an Onion32
Working with Leeks & Garlic33
Dicing Carrots & Celery34
Working with Peppers & Chiles36
Peeling, Seeding & Dicing Plum Tomatoes36
Working with Shellfish38
Working with a Roux40
Mincing Herbs41
Browning Meat41
Pureeing Soups42
Clear Soups44
Chicken Soup47
Chicken Soup Variations52
French Onion Soup55
Minestrone61
Borscht62
Manhattan Clam Chowder65
Pureed Soups66
Carrot-Ginger Soup69
Pureed Vegetable Soup Variations74
Tomato Soup77
Tomato Soup Variations79
Potato-Leek Soup81
Potato-Leek Soup Variations83
White Bean Soup85
White Bean Soup Variations86
Gazpacho88
Cream Soups & Chowders90
Cream of Broccoli Soup93
Cream Soup Variations98
New England Clam Chowder101
Chowder Variations103
Shrimp Bisque105
Bisque Variations107
Cheddar Cheese Soup108
Stews110
Chicken, Shrimp & Andouille Gumbo113
Bouillabaisse119
Beef & Red Wine Stew124
Irish Lamb Stew127
Chili con Carne128
Pasta & Bean Stew131
Using Key Tools & Equipment132
Glossary136
Index140
Acknowledgments144

Margaritas Mojitos More or 300 Slow Cooker Favorites

Margaritas, Mojitos & More

Author: Jessica Strand

Blended, shaken, stirred, sweet, tangy, or citrusy—this summertime collection of cocktails will have everybody's senses singing. Entertaining expert Jessica Strand puts a new spin on classic concoctions by mixing and matching garnishes and adornments, and using flavored vodkas and unique ingredients to create modern fusion drinks. Here's the best part: The drinks are easy to make and absolutely delicious, not to mention gorgeous in a glass. Passionfruit Margaritas, Blackberry Mojitos, Asian Pear Martinis, and artfully styled daiquiris all make for something new and cool to bring to the party. Summer might not last forever, but the good times can go on and on with Margaritas, Mojitos & More.



Book about: The World Encyclopedia of Cheese or Foods that Dont Bite Back

300 Slow Cooker Favorites

Author: Donna Marie Py

A stellar collection of easy and delicious slow cooker recipes.

Slow cookers provide the perfect mealtime solution for tasty and nutritious food with a minimum of effort. Just a few ingredients in the slow cooker and a flick of the switch can produce a hot, satisfying home-cooked meal that's ready to serve at dinnertime.

300 Slow Cooker Favorites features easy, imaginative and delicious recipes such as:


Sumptuous soups: potato leek soup with Stilton; meaty minestrone; roasted red pepper
New chili dishes: football Sunday chili; party pleas'n chili; adobe pork and bean chili
Satisfying mains: rosemary and garlic leg of lamb; gooey glazed beef ribs; coq au yin
Sweet endings: very adult rice pudding; upside-down fudge brownie pudding; plum cobbler.

Also included are tips and techniques that guarantee slow cooker success. "Night before" advice features handy and time-saving tips.

From classic comfort foods to contemporary dishes, there's a new family-favorite waiting to be discovered by anyone using a slow cooker.



Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments     7
Introduction     8
Using Your Slow Cooker     10
Entertaining with Your Slow Cooker     19
Breakfasts Breads and Beverages     27
Appetizers, Dips and Snacks     45
Soups     69
Stews     109
Chilies and Beans     145
Seafood and Vegetarian Main Courses     173
Poultry     203
Beef and Veal     239
Pork and Lamb     281
Side Dishes     309
Sweet Endings     333
Index     368

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Cooking with Joy or Enduring Harvests

Cooking with Joy: A 90/10 Weight-Loss Cookbook

Author: Joy Bauer

Why have so many people tried and loved Joy Bauer's 90/10 Weight-Loss Plan? The answer is simple: it works! On the 90/10 plan, dieters follow a balanced diet of 90% nutritious foods and 10% "Fun" foods-whatever you want, whenever you want. Since you don't feel deprived of your favorite foods, The 90/10 Weight-Loss Plan is a program you can stay on successfully.

Now, Joy, one of New York's hottest nutritionists, reveals the secrets to creating meals that will help you lose weight and keep it off. Cooking with Joy delivers a 14-day menu plan and over 100 satisfying and delectable recipes. Forget about chalky diet shakes and bland frozen meals. Using Joy's healthy recipes plans, you and your family will enjoy dishes like Apple Cinnamon Crepes, Chicken and Cashew Lettuce Wraps, and Creamy Pumpkin Pie. Cooking with Joy is the perfect book for those looking to shop smart and create delicious and healthy at-home meals.

Only Cooking with Joy features:
· Over 100 recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert!
· A fourteen-day menu planner
· Nutritional information including variations to fit 1200, 1400, 1800, and 2000 calorie-a-day eating plans
· Joy's aisle-by-aisle guide to navigating the grocery store
· Kids in the Kitchen-a chapter devoted to kid-friendly meals and snacks, including Cheerios French Toast and Pretty in Pink Soup
· Gourmet dinners perfect for parties and holiday gatherings
· Gourmet meals for parties-From Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Mango Salsa to Roasted Red Pepper Frittatas
· Kids in the Kitchen-- Banana Choc-Topus, Rainbow Chicken Nuggets, Frozen PuddingLollipops, and more!
· A 14-Day Menu Plan
· Joy's Top Ten Tips-How to get the most flavor from the foods you eat
· Joy's aisle-by-aisle guide to navigating the grocery store-where to stop and where to steer clear!



See also: A Thousand Hills or Civil Service Exams

Enduring Harvests

Author: E Barrie Kavasch

Tempting, modern American Indian recipes are set within the framework of festivals, Powwows, Potlatches, Puberty rites, and Feast Days embraced with spiritual concepts in native settings.

More than 150 tempting Native American recipes here have been adapted for the modern kitchen, making use of vegetables, fruits, fish, and game indigenous to the Americas. Delve into the delicious worlds of American Indian cookery and glimpse the cultures that made food preparation an art as well as a prayer for health and peace. Countless celebrations will charm you with a deeper respect for Native American foods and spiritual life honoring nature and the earth in every month of the year. Come journey from the Arctic Circle to Peru, and feel deliciously at home in Indian America.



Table of Contents:
Map of Tribal Native Americaxii
Introductionxiv
September1
The Shinnecock Powwow2
The Navajo Nation Fair10
Tulsa Native American Festival14
Schemitzun: Feast of Green Corn18
Annual Pine Nut Festival24
Native American Day26
October31
Saint Francis Feast Day at Ak Chin32
Pueblo Feast Days38
Narragansett Harvest Festival and Ceremony of Thanksgiving43
Cranberry Day Festival48
Autumn Bluefish Harvest51
Delaware Big House Ceremony56
November63
Dias de los Muertos64
Pawnee Veterans Day Dance and Gathering74
San Diego's Feast Day78
Thanksgiving83
Nullakatuk: An Eskimo Thanksgiving93
December95
The Shalako Ceremony96
Blackfoot Indian Art Festival103
Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day108
Hopi Soyal Ceremony at Winter Solstice111
Christmastime in Pueblo Country117
Miccosukee Arts Festival and the Seminole Fair120
January123
Pueblo New Year's Day Dances124
Three Kings' Day Festival and Dance128
Iroquois Midwinter Ceremonies132
Evening Firelight Dances and San Ildefonso Pueblo Feast Day137
February139
Winter Ceremonies of the Northwest Coast People140
Winter Socials and Powwows147
Candelaria Day Celebration and Dances150
Hopi Powamu Ceremony and Bean Dance152
O'odham Tash Indian Days Celebration159
Seminole Tribal Fair, Powwow, and Rodeo164
Tulsa Indian Arts Festival167
March171
Northwest Coast Potlatches172
The Return of the Buzzards181
Maple Sugaring Festivals184
April193
Shad--A Bush, A Fish, A Festival194
Cree Walking Out Ceremony200
April Powwows and Other Celebrations203
Root Feasts and Salmon Feasts208
Easter Week Celebrations in the Desert Southwest214
May219
San Felipe Pueblo Feast Day and Corn Dance220
Cinco de Mayo223
Nipmuck Planting Moon Observance and Potluck229
Pueblo Blessing of the Fields232
Upper Mattaponi Spring Festival235
June241
Commemorative Trail of Tears Walk242
Corpus Christi Fiesta at Pala Mission245
Otsiningo Powwow and Indian Craft Fair249
Barrie Powwow253
Red Earth Festival255
Creek Nation Festival and Rodeo258
Yukon International Storytelling Festival261
Strawberry Moon Powwow266
July269
Odanak Abenaki Gathering270
Mashpee Wampanoag Annual Powwow272
Apache Girls Puberty Sunrise Ceremony276
Buffalo Days and the Plains Sun Dance280
Plains Wild Plum Moon Celebration285
The World Eskimo-Indian Olympics288
Hopi Niman Kachina Dance291
August293
Creek Green Corn Feast294
Mohegan Wigwam Powwow and Green Corn Festival297
Crow Fair299
Hopi Snake Dance Ceremony and Flute Ceremony302
Peruvian Potato Feasts304
Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial308
Selected Bibliography313
Source Directory for Native Foods316
Acknowledgments318
Index321

Jewish Traditions Cookbook or New France

Jewish Traditions Cookbook: Home-Cooked Comforts, Cold Table Classics, Deli Delights and Innovative Fusion Food

Author: Marlena Spieler

An extraordinary culinary encyclopedia with 350 recipes and 15,000 photograghs celebrating kosher and Yiddish cooking through the ages.



Look this: iWoz or Agile Estimating and Planning

New France: A Complete Guide to Contemporary French Wine

Author: Andrew Jefford

This award-winning guide to France’s fourteen famed wine regions is now updated to reflect the rapidly evolving French wine industry. Extensive coverage of wines and producers from the grand chateaux of Bordeaux to local village vintners makes the information detailed enough for those in the wine trade, yet accessible to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of French wine and the personalities who make them. Fifteen exquisitely detailed regional maps and 150 photos reveal the renowned vineyards of Burgundy, the Rhone Valley, and Champagne, and also introduce lesser-known, yet equally intriguing producers scattered across Corsica, Languedoc-Roussillon, the Jura, and other regions.

Publishers Weekly

This comprehensive wine atlas leaves no centimeter of terroir unexplored. After a thorough introduction to France, French winemaking and the concept of terroir, Jefford (Wine Tastes Wine Styles) gets to the heart of the matter with lengthy chapters on each of France's 14 regions. Each of these consists of an overview of the region and its history, profiles of the area's major winemakers, a description of the land and listings and descriptions of the local wineries. Some of the latter are lengthy, while others are brief, but all include an address and phone number, making this book useful as a guidebook as well. Jefford is refreshingly opinionated: the Loire Valley is in the throes of a "long and refined stone age," while Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace is the domain "most emblematic of the New France as a whole." The effort here is encyclopedic, but the writing rises above the usual dry discussion, comparing the quest to understand Burgundy to doing crossword puzzles. Even the most matter-of-fact information is presented with a certain flair: in a description of the Rhone Valley, Jefford explains that the area's mistral wind is both destructive and useful, in that it blows away "fugs and fungal diseases." Numerous maps and photographs-including portraits of the winemakers profiled-and a full list of vintages round out this entertaining addition to its field. (Oct.) Forecast: Jefford is a terrific writer, and with numerous illustrations and 150 photographs, this is fairly priced at $45. While the book doesn't break a lot of new ground-this is, after all, a country where wine has been made for more than 2,000 years-it is solid. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.



Saturday, December 27, 2008

Gluten Free Cookbook or Feast

Gluten-Free Cookbook: Over 50 Simple, Delicious Recipes for Gluten-free Living

Author: Martin Knowlden

Here are fifty-plus tasty gluten-free dishes for the whole family, along with useful tips on what to avoid and how to eat naturally gluten-free food. Choose from main courses that will delight your taste buds--try Thai Red Prawn Curry, Sea Bass with Tomato-Basil Crust, or Roasted Vegetable Pizza. Side dishes include crunchy Fresh Corn Pakora, Wild Rice and Apricot Salad, and Avocado and Tomato Salsa. An extensive chapter on baking reveals that it's possible to enjoy cakes, scones, and other desserts that have loads of flavor and none of the gluten. Blueberry Muffins, Gingerbread Men, Banana Bread, and Sweet Crêpes are just a few of these worry-free indulgences. For everyday dishes to add to your stock of gluten-free recipes, or for that special meal to serve to friends, this book proves that gluten-free can also mean delicious.



Interesting book: Debt Defaults and Lessons from a Decade of Crises or Changing the Performance

Feast: A History of Grand Eating

Author: Roy C Strong

Sharing a grand meal has always been a complex social event. Feasts have been used to celebrate significant occasions, to parade rank and hierarchy, and to flatter and influence people. There has always been a theatrical element to the feast as well-from the nude dancers who entertained dinner guests in ancient Greece to the restrained rigors of the Victorian dinner party.

Sir Roy Strong examines this cultural phenomenon with knowledge, wit, and style-beginning with the ninth century B.C., when a Babylonian emperor discreetly invited seventy thousand guests for a ten-day celebration, and ending early in the twentieth century, by which time feasts had become somewhat more modest. Always attuned to how these celebrations mirror the societies that hold them and to the way they reflect shifts in power and class, this beautifully illustrated book offers a lively and illuminating history of grand eating.
.

Publishers Weekly

British historian Strong (The Story of Britain) turns his attention to the history of feasting and the grand occasion. Formal eating has historically been a complex way of uniting and dividing people on many social levels. Power, position and the dishes served indicated status or lack of it throughout the centuries, Strong notes. From ancient times to the Victorians, encompassing the Romans, the medieval court, the Renaissance, French pomp and ostentation, food and the ceremony of dining provided a theater for marking marriages, victories, coronations and funerals, or for influencing and impressing. Strong thoroughly tackles the complex mechanisms of this social area of life, imbuing it with atmosphere while conveying enough scholarly detail to make this a comprehensive and authoritative history. He depicts not only the food eaten but also the setting, from the design and development of rooms for dining to the clothes, utensils, people and etiquette. Dividing the volume into eras, Strong describes the emergence of cooks and cookbooks in the Middle Ages, the advent of service la fran aise, the decline of formal eating during the French Revolution (Napoleon ate his dinner in 10 minutes) and the re-emergence of the formal dinner party in Victorian times and service la russe, which we would recognize today. Drawing on contemporary sources and liberally sprinkled with illustrations, the volume fills a gap in social history, and while seeming pompous at times, it's sure to charm and inform. (Nov.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An entertaining survey of the table, Babylonian to Edwardian, examining the political and social forces that shaped what appeared on it. "The meal and everything connected with it has been and, to a very large extent still is, a vehicle determining status and hierarchy—and also aspiration—no matter what pattern of society prevails," British historian Strong (The Cult of Elizabeth, 2000, etc.) writes. From way back when, conviviality has been a cornerstone of civilization, though in this case keystone may be more apt, as Strong concentrates on upper-crust eating. Each chapter revolves around an archetypal feast, including the Greeks' banquets ("expressions of equality—equality, that is, between members of a distinct group sharing the same values, and also political power"), the Roman convivia (tense efforts to marry personal frugality with lavish hospitality), and the Dark Ages' uncouth revels ("the main purpose of barbarian feasting was to get drunk"). For each epoch, Strong has found a work of literature (or a wide selection) that captures its essential tone: the dramatic spectacles of the 13th century, which introduced form and color to the table; the ritualism of Renaissance events at which "super-abundance and luxury [were] the sole indicators of political power and status"; and the loosening of the corsets at 18th-century court dinners, where "the atmosphere was one of high fashion, flirtation, wit, and gossip." In each case, the author carefully draws the connections between what happened at the table and shifts in social power—for instance, "the division between an upper class that ate meat and a peasant class denied it," made explicit "through the imposition ofrestrictive game laws"—while he also pays attention to the evolution of etiquette, furniture, place settings, interior decoration, and attendant amusements. A broad and transporting canvas, as redolent of social nuance and detail as the pieces of cutlery on a Victorian table. (60 b&w illustrations)



American Pie or Greek Cooking

American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America's Back Roads

Author: Pascale Le Draoulec

Crossing class and color lines, and spanning the nation (Montana has its huckleberry, Pennsylvania its shoofly, and Mississippi its sweet potato), pie -- real, homemade pie -- has meaning for all of us. But in today's treadmill, take-out world -- our fast-food nation -- does pie still have a place?

As she traveled across the United States in an old Volvo named Betty, Pascale Le Draoulec discovered how merely mentioning homemade pie to strangers made faces soften, shoulders relax, and memories come wafting back. Rambling from town to town with Le Draoulec, you'll meet the famous, and sometimes infamous, pie makers who share their stories and recipes, and find out how a quest for pie can lead to something else entirely.

Chicago Tribune

[American Pie] will move pie enthusiasts to dust off their rolling pins and get busy.

Entertainment Weekly

A rich, satisfying account of one woman's cross-country search for the age-old dessert.

San Diego Union-Tribune

AMERICAN PIE is to be savored, slice by slice, chapter by chapter.

New Yorker

"You mean you just go up to complete strangers and talk to them about pie?" a friend's father asks Pascale Le Draoulec, the restaurant critic for the New York Daily News. Strangers not only talked to Le Draoulec, but they gave her enough material for a book. In American Pie, she visits antique stores, fish boils, and churches and discovers a staunch pie culture. Le Draoulec samples shoofly pie in Pennsylvania Dutch country and the elusive bumbleberry in Zion Canyon, and finds that even the most timid pie-makers guard their recipes aggressively. "Pie is the food of the heroic," a journalist in the Times wrote in 1902, after an Englishman suggested that Americans skip their daily slice. "No pie-eating people can ever be vanquished."

U.S. Army and Navy nurses at the Santo Tomás civilian prison camp in the Philippines during the Second World War would have agreed; after months of near-starvation, they were freed by American G.I.s armed with rations of "liberation" cherry pies. The story, and the recipe, are found in Barbara Haber's history of American cooks, From Hardtack to Home Fries , culled from cookbooks in Radcliffe's Schlesinger Library. Haber reminds us that familiar food and shared recipes made the kitchen range home for displaced émigrés, bringing Aunt Sylvia's soul food to Harlem, Sacher Torte to Harvard Square, and ice cream and oranges to dusty railroad depots along the Santa Fe trail. The collections of these recipes became a species of batter-spattered belles-lettres. In 1923, Joseph Conrad, in an introduction to his wife's cookbook, praised such literary undertakings as "above suspicion," for their object "can conceivably be no other than to increase the happiness of mankind."

Publishers Weekly

"Pie just may be the madonna-whore of the dessert world," Le Draoulec writes. She guesses it has something to do with "pie's dual nature; the fact that pie is both sensuous and maternal. Sweet yet sensible." A single career woman in her mid-30s, Le Draoulec has the same conflicted feelings about her ex-boyfriend and ticking biological clock that she does about homemade pie and its meaning in the modern world. As she crisscrosses the country in a Volvo named Betty Blue with IBRK4PIE plates, what seems at first like a carefree road trip in search of the perfect slice becomes much more than just a whimsical travelogue with great recipes. The author journeys along America's roads less traveled and finds that while many traditional bakers are disappearing, the power of homemade pie lives on. "Many people believe that the answers to life's bigger questions lie in the numeral pi," one pie-loving mathematician she meets postulates. "Perhaps it's also true of the kind you bake." Le Draoulec's conclusions about pie and its place in her life are, like a good slice of apple, sweet without being cloying and tart without being bitter. Of course, a book about pies wouldn't be complete without the recipes, and Le Draoulec offers such roadside pies as Libby Bollino's Turtle Pie from Abbeville, La. (May) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

As satisfying as a slice of homemade pie, Le Draoulec's cross-country journeys in search of "the real stuff" are an armchair traveler's heaven. Le Draoulec was raised in Southern California by her French parents and American-style pie was not part of her culinary vocabulary. Her first quest began with a job opportunity in New York. In the company of a good friend, she chose to head eastward via the leisurely "pieways" of the United States. Beginning in Pescadero, CA, with a slice of Emma Duarte's Olallieberry Pie, Le Draoulec's first journey ended in Nyack, NY, with Deborah Tyler's Apple Plum Pie. It was several years later when the pie quest resumed in Ohio (bereft of memorable, homemade pie) and ended in Washington, DC after swinging West and South for such treats as Kathy's Apricot Cream Pie from the Pie-o-neer Cafe in Pie Town, NM, Libby Bollino's Turtle Pie in Abbeville, LA, and Lora Hansen's Rustic Huckleberry Peach Pie in Coram, MT. There are recipes for the best pies, photos of pie makers, and a plethora of pie puns in this delightful book. Journalist and restaurant critic for the New York Daily News, Le Draoulec is an enthusiastic tour guide with a quirky sense of humor and a personal life as unpredictable as piecrust. American Pie takes the reader into the heart and soul of a fading icon and inspires us to get out the rolling pin and take to the road. Highly recommended for all public libraries. Janet Ross, formerly with Sparks Branch Lib., NV Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.



New interesting book: Strategic Alliances or This Land

Greek Cooking: The Classic Recipes of Greece Made Simple - 70 Authentic Traditional Dishes from the Heart of the Mediterranean Shown Step-by-Step in 280 Glorious Photographs

Author: Rena Salaman

Recipes range from appetizers, soups, fish and shellfish, poultry and meat; through vegetarian dishes, side dishes and salads; to desserts, cakes, sweets, pastries, cookies and breads.



Friday, December 26, 2008

New Regional Italian Cuisine Cookbook or Tofu 1 2 3

New Regional Italian Cuisine Cookbook

Author: Reinhardt Hess

It's both a beautifully illustrated, recipe-filled cookbook and an armchair guide to Italy's several distinct culinary regions, from the Alpine Piedmont area in the north to the southern island of Sicily. A separate chapter for each of eight regions opens with a magnificent landscape photo on a two-page spread, followed by several photo-filled pages describing the region's people, their way of life, and locally-produced foods and wines. The rest of each chapter is devoted to the region's recipes--two dozen or more recipes per region--which are divided according to the Italian custom: Antipasti, Primi Piatti (first course), Secondi Piatti (second course), Contorni (vegetables, including salads), and Dolci (desserts). Complemented with photos for each prepared dish, recipes include a delightful pasta alle melanzane (pasta with eggplant) from the Abruzzi; agnello ai carciofi (lamb cooked with artichokes) from Tuscany; risotto alla pilota (a risotto with sausage) from Lombardy; and babà all' amaretto, a delectable example of dolci from Sicily, to cite just a few of this book's 220 dishes. The authors present wonderful ways to prepare and serve meats, fish, pasta, sauces, fruits, vegetables, soups, salads, and desserts, along with suggestions for regional wines that go perfectly with each delightful Italian meal.

Publishers Weekly

This beautifully illustrated compendium offers readers a culinary tour of Italy from the Alpine region down to Sicily. Each region-specific chapter offers an overview of local culinary delicacies, along with wines and a few highlighted ingredients, such as capers or bottarga. The authors point out the infinite specificities within each locale, such as the Vialone rice of Po, the unsalted bread of Tuscany or the emphasis on legumes in Apulia. The 220 recipes range from rustic, hearty fare like a simple chickpea and shrimp soup to artful, hand-folded tortelloni with potato and speck filling or a delicate peach gelatin with Moscato sauce. Recipes assume some level of familiarity, such as what it is to render fat, but they are straightforward and reliable, sometimes including illustrations for each step. (May)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Judith Sutton - Library Journal

Originally published in Germany, this lavishly illustrated book offers a culinary tour of eight regions of Italy, from Liguria to Tuscany to Sicily. Each section opens with a brief guide to the region, its cuisine, and its wines, followed by recipes for both traditional and contemporary specialties. All of the recipes are shown in color photographs, and there are also illustrated essays on such topics as "New Flavors with Wild Herbs." A good companion to Michele Scicolone's Savoring Italy(o.p.), this is recommended for most collections.



Book review: Whole Grain Cookbook or Migraine Cookbook

Tofu 1-2-3: 125 Easy-to-Prepare Cholesterol-Free Recipes

Author: Maribeth Abrams

At last! Terrific, healthy tofu dishes that don’t look or taste like tofu!

Experts increasingly tout the benefits of soy in a healthy diet, and soy consumption in the U.S. has more than doubled since 1999. Natural foods expert Maribeth Abrams shows even the most skeptical cooks how tofu can be used creatively in great-tasting recipes for everything from Corn Chowder to Hot Fiesta Dip to Chocolate Cream Pie. This book features 125 cholesterol-free recipes and 16 color photos, plus tofu tips, cooking methods, nutrition information, and more. It demystifies tofu for mainstream home cooks with simple, healthy recipes that turn tofu-phobes into tofu-fans!



Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments.

Preface: Taking the Mystery out of the Big White Blob.

Tofu: It's Not Just for Vegetarians.

Everything You Need to Know about Cooking with Tofu But Didn't Know Who to Ask.

Glossary of Ingredients.

1. Breakfasts: Delectable Ways to Start a Day. 

2. Appetizers and other Finger-lickin' Part Pleasures. 

3. Enticing Entrees.

4. Savory Stews and Soups.

5. Sumptuous Salads and Sandwiches.

6. Smoothies and other Bubbly Blender Voncoctions. 

7. Happy Endings.

Index.

Dueling Chefs or Antioxidant Save Your Life Cookbook

Dueling Chefs: A Vegetarian and a Meat Lover Debate the Plate

Author: Maggie Pleskac

One eats meat. The other doesn’t. Both are professional chefs. And both have recipes that make a deliciously persuasive case for each chef’s point of view. In a delightful culinary turn on “he said, she said,” dueling chefs Maggie Pleskac and Sean Carmichael engage in a delectable debate over the merits of the cuisines of vegetarians and carnivores in the form of recipe one-upmanship in which only the reader is sure to win. Between entertaining banter and edifying discussion of exciting ingredients, Pleskac and Carmichael challenge each other—and cooks everywhere—with eighty recipes as creative (and mouthwatering) as Beef Brisket with Blueberry BBQ Sauce and Jackfruit Pineapple BBQ on a Bun. Lobster and falafel, curried eggs and smoked halibut, tempeh and quinoa, stuffed capon breast and chickpeas in coconut sauce, goulash and salmon cakes and Bolshevik Beet and Blue Gratin: whatever diet suits your fancy, the dueling chefs have dishes to make your days and nights as delightful as your taste buds can bear.



Books about: International Applications of US Income Tax Law or Management Communication

Antioxidant Save-Your-Life Cookbook: 150 Nutritious and Delicious Recipes

Author: Jane Kinderlehrer

This must-have cookbook is packed with delicious recipes using antioxidant-rich foods that could save your life.

Here are 150 family- and kitchen-tested recipes, loaded with antioxidants to neutralize the damaging effects of free radicals, without sacrificing variety or flavor. Their ingredients are high in vitamins C, E, and A, as well as selenium and beta-carotene. Among the many medical benefits of antioxidants, they provide protection against several types of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, immune disorders, arthritis, diabetes, and aging. With such tempting dishes as Scrumptious Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Pumpkin Pancakes, it's hard to believe these recipes are loaded with ammunition to help readers:
• enhance their immune system
• strengthen their bones
• build up resistance to viral attacks, infections, even allergic reactions
• reinvigorate their love life
• overcome fatigue
• keep blood sugar on an even level
• and much more

Separate chapters cover breakfast; appetizers, side dishes, and snacks; soups and stews; main courses, both meat and vegetarian; dressings, dips, spreads, and vinaigrettes; and desserts. With recipes low in fat and calories, high in fiber and nutrients, containing no white flour, hydrogenated fats, or chemical additives, this is an invaluable addition to the cookbook collection of anyone concerned with living a long and healthy life.



Simplifying Sugar Flowers or Early American Herb Recipes

Simplifying Sugar Flowers

Author: Alison Procter

Add a professional touch to your cakes with this essential new book! Expert sugar flower maker, Alison Procter shows you how to create an array of beautiful flowers using simplified techniques and the minimum of cutters. Her breathtaking cakes, for all occasions, are adorned with pretty side designs which ofte reflect the petal and leaf shapes of the flowers in the main arrangement.



Book review:

Early American Herb Recipes

Author: Alice Cooke Brown

A wealth of information on the uses of herbs by homemakers of the past through more than 500 authentic recipes as they appeared in their original sources. The recipes cover the use of herbs for medicinal, culinary, cosmetic, and other purposes, from making vegetable and meat dishes to dyes and insecticides. 113 black-and-white illustrations.



Thursday, December 25, 2008

This Organic Life or Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine

This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader

Author: Joan Dye Gussow

"Joan Dye Gussow brings the heart of a pioneer to the suburbs in New York. By taking at face value the basic assumption that we are what we eat, she presents a delightful new version of The Good Life within the grasp of all of us."--BOOK JACKET.

Library Journal

Two decades ago, when nutritionist Gussow was giving fiery speeches about the importance of eating locally and seasonally, she realized that it was time to put her convictions into practice. In this combination memoir, polemic, and gardening manual, she discusses the joys and challenges of growing organic produce in her own New York garden. Initially, Gussow had planned to write about her misadventures in buying a 150-year-old house on a Hudson River floodplain. That story was incorporated into this book, but many of the boring remodeling details should have been omitted. Interesting points include a description of establishing her new garden, tips on making compost and on growing fruits and vegetables successfully in a northern climate, and various recipes using the garden bounty. Throughout, Gussow stresses the need to live responsibly "in a society where thoughtless consumption is the norm." Her constant reminders that industrial agriculture produces tasteless, environmentally destructive food well intentioned though they may be start sounding like a litany after a while. Yet, despite its flaws and self-righteous tone, this work offers encouragement to urban and suburban gardeners who want to grow at least some of their own produce. A suitable addition to gardening collections in public libraries. Ilse Heidmann, San Marcos, TX Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Dye's memoir of leaving New York City to create a new life in a town on the Hudson River will appeal to other, similar folks who are craving a change from their urban lifestyle, do-it-yourselfers who have bought dilapidated old houses, and gardeners who will empathize with her battle tales of varmints and weeds. Dye draws on journal entries to fill out the emotional aspect of this personal history and includes a number of recipes featuring produce from the vegetable garden. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)



Table of Contents:
List of Recipes
Preface
1How It All Began3
2A New Place16
3Garden and House28
4A Riverside Garden42
5Building It59
6Giving Things Up77
7Put It in the Cellar94
8Gooseberries and the FBI109
9Friends Next Door128
10Gaining Ground141
11Varmints153
12Eating My Yard170
13Lessons from the Tomato184
14Is It Worth It?200
15What a Sacrifice?215
16Heat, Rats, and Despair233
17California and the Rest of Us247
Bibliography262
Index265

Interesting book:

Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine: Recipes & Reminiscences of a Family

Author: Norma Jean Darden

Spanning over a century of African-American life and culture, this classic oral history celebrates one remarkable family's heritage as told through photos, reminiscences, and recipes—now back in print after six years.

B & W photographs throughout



You on a Diet or Salt

You on a Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management

Author: Michael F Roizen

For the first time in our history, scientists are uncovering astounding medical evidence about dieting — and why so many of us struggle with our weight and the size of our waists. Now researchers are unraveling biological secrets about such things as why you crave chocolate or gorge at buffets or store so much fat.

Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz, America's most trusted doctor team and authors of the bestselling YOU series, are now translating this cutting-edge information to help you shave inches off your waist. They're going to do it by giving you the best weapon against fat: knowledge. By understanding how your body's fat-storing and fat-burning systems work, you're going to learn how to crack the code on true and lifelong waist management.

Roizen and Oz will invigorate you with equal parts information, motivation, and change-your-life action to show you how your brain, stomach, hormones, muscles, heart, genetics, and stress levels all interact biologically to determine if your body is the size of a baseball bat or of a baseball stadium. In YOU: On a Diet, Roizen and Oz will redefine what a healthy figure is, then take you through an under-theskin tour of the organs that influence your body's size and its health. You'll even be convinced that the key number to fixate on is not your weight, but your waist size, which best indicates the medical risks of storing too much fat.

Because the world has almost as many diet plans as it has e-mail spammers, you'd think that just about all of us would know everything there is to know about dieting, about fat, and about the reasons why our bellies have grown so large. YOU: On a Diet is much more than a diet plan or aseries of instructions and guidelines or a faddish berries-only eating plan. It's a complete manual for waist management. It will show you how to achieve and maintain an ideal and healthy body size by providing a lexicon according to which any weight-loss system can be explained. YOU: On a Diet will serve as the operating system that facilitates future evolution in our dieting software. After you learn about the biology of your body and the biology and psychology of fat, you'll be given the YOU Diet and YOU Workout. Both are easy to learn, follow, and maintain. Following a two-week rebooting program will help you lose up to two inches from your waist right from the start.

With Roizen and Oz's signature accessibility, wit, and humor, YOU: On a Diet — The Owner's Manual for Waist Management will revolutionize the way you think about yourself and the food you consume, so that you'll diet smart, not hard. Welcome to your body on a diet.

Publishers Weekly

Back for another highly entertaining round of Biology 101, the team behind YOU: The Owner's Manual applies its signature wit and wisdom to food metabolism and nutrition. According to Roizen and Oz, waist measurement, not weight, is the most important factor in mortality related to obesity, and understanding the relationship between chemicals and hormones influencing hunger and those signaling satiety is the key to ending yo-yo dieting. Most diets fail, Roizen and Oz conclude, because body chemistry overrules the best plans and intentions. To restore the body's natural ability to balance hunger and satiety and offset the effects of stress on food choices, they list foods and supplements that fight fat, decrease appetite and combat inflammation that causes disease. Roizen and Oz pack in a lot of material-quizzes, "factoids" and "myth busters" along with diet and exercise plans, recipes and a two-week "rebooting" program-in bite-sized portions, giving readers a chance to absorb and apply what they learn. For those considering medical intervention, they discuss current options for drugs and surgery. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In this sequel to their best-selling You: The Owner's Manual, Roizen and Oz draw on current research trends in stressing healthy dietary and exercise choices that can lead to sustained loss of dangerous abdominal fat. In Part 1, readers encounter a quiz and personalized body ideal parameters, then rather complex overviews of relevant organs (e.g., the intestines), chemical messengers (e.g., hormones), and organ/chemical interrelations. The book's second, more approachable half translates the above material into pragmatic guidelines for specific exercise and eating plans and contains sound advice on personal dieting-aid decisions (e.g., weight control drugs, surgery). A glossary (for terms like macrophages and norepinephrine) and resource list (cataloging other diet plans, professional/medical organizations, informative web sites) are badly needed. Though this book dispels many of the same myths as Jane Kirby's Dieting for Dummies and Weight Watchers Weight Loss That Lasts, it is less comprehensive. Still, it is a fascinating, informative read recommended for public and consumer health libraries for its unique biomedical basis, adaptability to any lifelong plan, and best-seller potential. (Index and illustrations not seen.) Janice Flahiff, Univ. of Toledo, Lib. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.



Book about: HIPAA for Allied Health Careers or Strategic Management

Salt: A World History

Author: Mark Kurlansky

Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World, here turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Kurlansky's kaleidoscopic history is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.

Publishers Weekly

Only Mark Kurlansky, winner of the James Beard Award for Excellence in Food Writing for COD: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, could woo readers toward such an off-beat topic of SALT: A World History...Throughout his engaging, well-researched history, Kurlansky sprinkles witty asides and amusing anecdotes. A piquant blend of the historic, political, commercial, scientific and culinary, the book is sure to entertain as well as educate.

Library Journal

In his latest work, Kurlansky is in command of every facet of this topic, and he conveys his knowledge in a readable, easy style. Deftly leading readers around the world and across cultures and centuries, he takes an inexpensive, mundane item and shows how it has influenced and affected wars, cultures, governments, religions, societies, economies, cooking (there are a few recipes), and foodsЉAn entertaining, informative read, this is highly recommended.

Los Angeles Times - Rubin

In Salt: A World History, Kurlansky continues to prove himself remarkably adept at taking a most unlikely candidate and telling its tale with epic grandeur.

Publishers Weekly

Only Kurlansky, winner of the James Beard Award for Excellence in Food Writing for Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, could woo readers toward such an off-beat topic. Yet salt, Kurlansky asserts, has "shaped civilization." Although now taken for granted, these square crystals are not only of practical use, but over the ages have symbolized fertility (it is, after all, the root of the word "salacious") and lasting covenants, and have been used in magical charms. Called a "divine substance" by Homer, salt is an essential part of the human body, was one of the first international commodities and was often used as currency throughout the developing world. Kurlansky traces the history of salt's influences from prehistoric China and ancient Africa (in Egypt they made mummies using salt) to Europe (in 12th-century Provence, France, salt merchants built "a system of solar evaporation ponds") and the Americas, through chapters with intriguing titles like "A Discourse on Salt, Cadavers and Pungent Sauces." The book is populated with characters as diverse as frozen-food giant Clarence Birdseye; Gandhi, who broke the British salt law that forbade salt production in India because it outdid the British salt trade; and New York City's sturgeon king, Barney Greengrass. Throughout his engaging, well-researched history, Kurlansky sprinkles witty asides and amusing anecdotes. A piquant blend of the historic, political, commercial, scientific and culinary, the book is sure to entertain as well as educate. Pierre Laszlo's Salt: Grain of Life (Forecasts, Aug. 6) got to the finish line first but doesn't compare to this artful narrative. 15 recipes, 4o illus., 7 maps. (Jan.) Copyright 2001Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

In his latest work, Kurlansky (Cod, The Basque History of the World) is in command of every facet of his topic, and he conveys his knowledge in a readable, easy style. Deftly leading readers around the world and across cultures and centuries, he takes an inexpensive, mundane item and shows how it has influenced and affected wars, cultures, governments, religions, societies, economies, cooking (there are a few recipes), and foods. In addition, he provides information on the chemistry, geology, mining, refining, and production of salt, again across cultures, continents, and time periods. The 26 chapters flow in chronological order, and the cast of characters includes fishermen, kings, Native Americans, and even Gandhi. An entertaining, informative read, this is highly recommended for all collections. [For another book on the topic, see Pierre Laszlo's more esoteric Salt: Grain of Life, LJ 7/01; other recent micro-histories include Joseph Amato's Dust, Mort Rosenblum's Olive, and Tom Vanderbilt's The Sneaker Book. Ed.] Michael D. Cramer, Raleigh, NC Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A lively social history that does for salt what Kurlansky previously did for Cod (1997). Perhaps the author slightly oversells his subject by claiming it is far more important and interesting than the evolution of language or the harnessing of fire. But maybe he has a point: Without salt, Kurlansky states at the outset, there would be no life, let alone a nifty preservative for everything from herring to mummies. Salt keeps the muscles pumping, the blood flowing, the brain firing. Its importance has trailed endless strife. Salt enters written history (as so many things do) with the Chinese, who had the first known salt works, imposed the first known salt tax, and fought the first known salt war. They also used it to preserve the wondrous 1,000-year-old egg, which "takes about 100 days to make, and will keep for another 100 days"-give or take, evidently, 365,000 days. From there Kurlansky follows salt through its deployment by the Egyptians on to the Basques, who salted the cod that they chased all the way to North America a thousand years ago, and on through essentially all of history. In salt, politics and food mix continually, if uncomfortably. The Incans, Aztecs, and Mayans rose to power partly on the back of salt; control of it made and unmade royal houses in Europe and the Far East. There developed a whole semiotics of salt, and Kurlansky deconstructs it. A couple of curious errors, such as attributing the famous comment "Kill them all. God knows his own" to "an Albigensian leader" rather than to the Albigensian-slaughtering Pope Innocent III, are piddling in relation to the study's encyclopedic brilliance. Numerous old salt-specializing recipes are included. Enlightening anddelighting as he goes, Kurlansky is, like Jane Grigson before him, a peerless food historian. History Book Club/National Science Book Club/Quality Paperback Book Club alternate selection; author tour

What People Are Saying

Anthony Bourdain
SALT is the fascinating, indispensable history of an indispensable ingredient. Like Kurlansky's earlier work, COD, it's a must-have book for any serious cook or foodie.
author of the best-selling Kitchen Confidential


Anthony Bourdain
A must-have book for any serious cook or foodie.
— Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential




Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Rock1
Part 1A Discourse on Salt, Cadavers, and Pungent Sauces
Chapter 1A Mandate of Salt17
Chapter 2Fish, Fowl, and Pharoahs36
Chapter 3Saltmen Hard as Codfish52
Chapter 4Salt's Salad Days61
Chapter 5Salting It Away in the Adriatic80
Chapter 6Two Ports and the Prosciutto in Between91
Part 2The Glow of Herring and the Scent of Conquest
Chapter 7Friday's Salt109
Chapter 8A Nordic Dream129
Chapter 9A Well-Salted Hexagon144
Chapter 10The Hapsburg Pickle162
Chapter 11The Leaving of Liverpool179
Chapter 12American Salt Wars200
Chapter 13Salt and Independence214
Chapter 14Liberte, Egalite, Tax Breaks225
Chapter 15Preserving Independence238
Chapter 16The War Between the Salts257
Chapter 17Red Salt276
Part 3Sodium's Perfect Marriage
Chapter 18The Odium of Sodium291
Chapter 19The Mythology of Geology303
Chapter 20The Soil Never Sets On ...318
Chapter 21Salt and the Great Soul333
Chapter 22Not Looking Back355
Chapter 23The Last Salt Days of Zigong369
Chapter 24Ma, La, and Mao388
Chapter 25More Salt than Fish399
Chapter 26Big Salt, Little Salt426
Acknowledgments451
Bibliography453
Index467

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A Witchs Beverages and Brews or Ensaladas

A Witch's Beverages and Brews: Magic Potions Made Easy

Author: Patricia J Telesco

Witch's Beverages and Brews shares the wonderful heritage of beverage making and consuming -- how drinks appeared on altars as gift to the gods, where toasts come from, and why we pass wine clockwise around the table. All this lore and superstition combines with modern magickal methods to help you design beverages that quench both physical and spiritual thirst completely while tantalizing your taste buds.

In the later half of the book, each chapter is devoted to a specific theme with a suggested component list, preparation ideas (timing), and a host of recipes for both consumption and spellcraft purposes. Some of the themes that are covered are "keeping love true," "prosperity potions," and "concocting a little luck." Whether you're creating a drink so you can internalize its qualities for daily living, or making it for a friend, there's something here for all occasions, needs, and tastes.



Books about: SQL Queries for Mere Mortals or Outlook 2007 For Dummies

Ensaladas: Sensacionales ensaladas para todas las ocasiones y epocas del ano

Author: Edimat

For chefs and novices alike, this handy series makes cooking a delight and eating a pleasure. Featuring cuisines from around the world, each recipe is depicted with clear instructions and illustrated sequences. The versatility and use of everyday ingredients to enhance and enrich meals is explored in each book.
 

Si comer es un placer, cocinar puede ser un deleite con esta colección de recetas mundiales, está pensado para cocineros y para los novatos. Todas las recetas incluyen claras instrucciones que se completan con ilustraciones. Estos libros revelan la versatilidad de los ingredientes más cotidianos así como estos trucos que enriquecen la comida.



Party Receipts from the Charleston Junior League or Cupcake Magic

Party Receipts from the Charleston Junior League

Author: Linda Glick Conway

The third Charleston Junior League cookbook reveals more secrets of the city's legendary hospitality.

Publishers Weekly

Entertaining, whether a formal sit-down dinner or a backyard barbecue, has long been a mainstay of Southern life, and so it's only right that the members of the Charleston Junior League should have assembled this collection of their favorite party recipes. The recipes are simple, and the majority use readily available ingredients. Readers will find something to suit just about every kind of occasion, from a football tailgate to a fancy supper. No matter what style of entertaining readers may enjoy, this book provides some delicious offerings. The bulk of the recipes lean toward savories and hors d'oeuvres for buffet-style get-togethers. These recipes are perfect for busy working couples or for others who prefer a scaled-back form of entertaining. The recipes are also well suited to less experienced cooks, and are illustrated with quotes and comments about life in Charleston, including the history of the term ``receipts.'' The contributors give much advice about party planning, and readers should pay particular attention to the seafood chapter, which makes the most of Charleston's seacoast heritage with recipes incorporating crab meat, catfish and shrimp. (Nov.)



New interesting book:

Cupcake Magic: Little Cakes with Attitude

Author: Kate Shirazi

Kate Shirazi makes beautiful and irreverently decorated cupcakes with eggs from her own free-range flock of hens rescued from laying cages—they are cupcakes with both conscience and attitude. Combining a simple, straightforward approach to cooking and an insatiable appetite for cake, here is a collection of delicious new recipes and fun designs for cupcakes. A lively, colorful book packed with baking tips, captivating new cake designs, modern photography, and delightful illustrations, it is split into low-fuss, middle-fuss, and high-fuss recipes, with ideas for sweet and savory, children and adults, and seasonal and special occasion designs. There is also a section devoted to ingredients and equipment. The author writes in such an informal style and with such enthusiasm and humor that any reader will soon share her passion for cupcakes!



Tuesday, December 23, 2008

At Home Caf or Martha Stewart Cookbook

At Home Cafй: Gatherings for Family and Friends

Author: Helen Puckett DeFranc

     With the publication of her first At Home Café cookbook, Helen Puckett DeFrance took her message of family bonding through cooking into homes all across America. Their tried and-true recipes, an inspired mix of old and new traditions, highlighted the pleasures of casual, at-home get-togethers with family and friends.      Now DeFrance is back with an all new At Home Café cookbook, and once again casual entertaining takes center stage. Building on how the first book involved the whole family in the kitchen, this new volume features entertaining with friends and neighbors, including Neighbor Notes on complementary dishes that guests can bring. A wealth of menus is offered for spontaneous occasions as well, from the unstructured fun of a neighborhood picnic (featuring Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders and Po-Boy Sandwiches) to the relaxing weekend pleasure of a Southern jazz brunch (with Crab and Artichoke Casserole, Cheddar Cheese Puffs with Apple Smoked Bacon, and Creamy Dreamy Berry Treats). A countdown for every menu makes planning a breeze.     The author is a veteran cooking school teacher with a knack for keeping things simple. Whether it is a hearty soup served around the fireplace on a cold winter's night; a make ahead casserole for those evenings when there's no time to cook; or a low-key tree-trimming get-together during the high-stress holidays, a whole lot of comfort is served up in these delectable dishes designed to create special memories with loved ones.



Book review: Strategic Management for Nonprofit Organizations or Marketing of Agricultural Products

Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected Recipes for Every Day

Author: Martha Stewart

The year was 1982, and Martha Stewart published her first book, Entertaining. This immediate best-seller, based on Martha's experience as a professional caterer, introduced readers to a new style of entertaining and a new style of cookbook - one that was gloriously photographed and filled with a wealth of information on the art of hospitality. In the years following, Martha wrote eight more books on food and entertaining, continuing to inspire a growing legion of fans with beautiful food, simply but elegantly presented. This book is the culmination of those years of publishing. More than 1,600 recipes and variations - all the recipes from Entertaining, Quick Cook, Pies & Tarts, Hors d'Oeuvres, Quick Cook Menus, Gardening, Weddings, Christmas, and Menus for Entertaining - are gathered together in a single volume. Thoroughly revised and updated, The Martha Stewart Cookbook includes a new introduction by Martha, new step-by-step illustrations, new menus, and sidebars and tips on subjects as varied as freezing pastry, selecting the best fruit, and setting the table.

Publishers Weekly

Stewart assembles her previous nine collections in one volume. New material is included in sidebars (``I have been making pastry crusts since I was a little girl'') and some recipe headings (``Guests cannot believe that someone has actually stuffed a snow pea!''). Abundant among the more than 1600 recipes is the sort of labor-intensive company fare that Stewart is known for, like the nine recipes (plus more suggested variations) in ``Hors d'Oeuvres'' for seeded and filled cherry tomatoes, or Pumpkin Pot Pies, in which the meat from herb-roasted Cornish hens is combined with vegetables and a Cognac sauce and cooked inside hollowed-out, three-pound pumpkins that are capped with puff pastry crusts. There are, however, simple dishes such as grilled Chicken Paillard and Pencil Asparagus with Lemon; others draw on ethnic and regional cuisines, such as Saffron Couscous and Soba Noodles with Cucumbers. Line drawings illustrate some difficult techniques; ``Entertaining a Crowd'' offers recipes for pasta parties, tempura ftes and clambakes. (Nov.)

Library Journal

In case you haven't been counting, Stewart's nine previous cookbooks (Entertaining, Weddings, Quick Cook, etc.) contain more than 1400 recipes-and here they all are, with new, step-by-step illustrations, tip boxes, and menu suggestions. Recipes are organized by course or food group, with a separate (and surprisingly short) chapter on Entertaining a Crowd. Part of the huge appeal Stewart's books have always had comes from the beautiful photographs of beautiful food; without color shots of her unique presentations for inspiration, this falls into a rather different category. But fans will welcome the compendium as a resource and a reference; most collections will want multiple copies.

BookList

Never mind that Stewart has written nine cookbooks, that this latest one is simply a conglomeration of 1,400 recipes from previous ones, or that she borrows ideas and dishes from the best chefs. Her name will guarantee steady requests. Recipes are traditional ethnic foods, comfort foods, and newfangled "fused" meals.



Best of American Beer and Food or The Healing Power of Naturefoods Volume 1

Best of American Beer and Food: Pairing and Cooking with Craft Beer

Author: Lucy Saunders

In The Best of American Beer and Food Lucy Saunders covers both pairing food and beer and cooking with beer. She begins by exploring the art of pairing flavorful beers with specific foods, considering today's wide range of beer styles and the foods and flavors that they compliment from salad through dessert. She then turns to recipes that incorporate beer, using the diverse tastes available from today's ales and lagers as flavor components.



Interesting book: Bob Schieffers America or Lincolns

The Healing Power of Naturefoods, Volume 1: 50 Revitalizing Superfoods and Lifestyle Choices That Promote Vibrant Health

Author: Susan Smith Jones

Think Health, Whole Foods, and
Simple Lifestyle Choices . . .

. . . that’s the basic premise behind this informative book! While we all know that healthy eating is one of the main keys to a long life, few of us understand which specific foods and other lifestyle choices can help protect the body and cultivate optimal health.
This book combines the latest research on the “HOT” 50 superfoods that prevent the most common age-related illnesses, with essential information on the healing power of raw foods; sleep; pH balance; water; exercise; and a positive, grateful attitude. It offers you a comprehensive understanding of the amazing health potential of plant-based foods and shows you how to enjoy a level of health and vitality you never dreamed possible.

. . . PLUS, Susan brings you easy-to-prepare, nutritious, delicious recipes!



The Perfect Pumpkin or Frozen Assets Lite and Easy

The Perfect Pumpkin: Growing/Cooking/Carving

Author: Gail Damerow

Includes information for growing and harvesting more than 95 varieties of pumpkins, plus craft and carving projects from jack-o?anterns to soaps, creams, and decorations. Also includes more than 30 tasty recipes—even one for pumpkin beer!



Table of Contents:

Introducing the Versatile Pumpkin

1. The Great American Pumpkin

2. Fruit of Many Faces

3. The Pumpkin Patch

4. The Big One

5. Pumpkin Pests

6. Pumpkin Arts and Crafts

7. Pumpkin Eater

Appendix

Recommended Reading

Organizations

Carving Supplies

Carving Contests

Pumpkin Seed Sources

Converting Recipe Measurements to Metric

IndeX

Look this: International Economics or Chinese Negotiating Behavior

Frozen Assets Lite and Easy: Cook for a Day, Eat for a Month

Author: Deborah Taylor Hough

Through Frozen Assets: how to cook for a day and eat for a month, Deborah Taylor-Hough became known as "the once-a-month cooking expert." She taught people how to increase time at the family table, while decreasing time in the kitchen and drive-thru lanes. In addition she saved over $24,000 in five years and taught readers how to do the same. Now she's back with a book of low-fat meal plans that utilize the same time and cost effective methods.



Monday, December 22, 2008

House of Mondavi or Italy Today The Beautiful Cookbook

House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty

Author: Julia Flynn Siler

The New York Times bestseller, now in paperback: a scandal-plagued story of the immigrant family that built—and then lost—a global wine empire Set in California's lush Napa Valley and spanning four generations of a talented and visionary family, The House of Mondavi is a tale of genius, sibling rivalry, and betrayal. From 1906, when Italian immigrant Cesare Mondavi passed through Ellis Island, to the Robert Mondavi Corp.'s twenty-first-century battle over a billion-dollar fortune, award-winning journalist Julia Flynn Siler brings to life both the place and the people in this riveting family drama. A meticulously reported narrative based on more than five hundred hours of interviews, The House of Mondavi is a modern classic.

Barrons

Based on exhaustive research and interviews, each page is packed with facts and footnotes which, by dint of superb writing, manage to engage the reader and avoid the data brain-lock that would have plagued a less-talented journalist.

Eric Asimov

Call it Greek tragedy or Shakespearean drama, Biblical strife, Freudian acting out, or even soap opera. . . . Compelling. (Eric Asimov, The New York Times)

Wine Spectator - James Laube

Explores the Mondavis' bumpy journey in grand and fascinating detail. . . . Fluid and well-written.

BusinessWeek

A fascinating chronicle . . . a twisted tale filled with big egos, beautiful backdrops, and charismatic-yet-flawed characters who pull off towering feats and then throw them all away.

U.S. News & World Report

Epic

Seattle Post–Intelligencer

A first-rate job of creating a balanced view of this epic A merican drama. . . . T he book reads like a novel and her crisp style makes the book compelling regardless of whether the reader has an interest in wine. . . . It's a great summer read but it also belongs on the reference shelf of any wine library.

NPR Day to Day

A riveting story that is part soap opera, part Shakespearean family drama.



Table of Contents:
Author's Note     ix
Prologue: Blaze 2004     1
Foundation
The Valley 1906-1952     9
France 1943-1963     27
East of Eden 1963-1965     43
To Kalon 1965-1966     57
Construction
Crush 1966-1972     75
Gunslingers 1972-1975     97
Judgment 1975-1976     113
The Heirs 1976-1978     125
"That Woman" 1978-1980     145
The Baron 1978-1981     161
Father and Sons 1982-1984     179
Thicker Than Water 1984-1990     193
Heart and Soul 1990-1992     205
Going Public 1992-1993     221
Expansion
Regency's End 1993-1994     235
Disinherited 1994-1996     249
Michael's Show 1996-1997     261
Waterloo 1998-2001     277
Demolition
Mondaviland 2001-2003     297
The Board Coup 2003-2004     315
Brothers 2004     331
The Takeover October to November, 2004     347
Damage Control December 2004 to April 2005     361
Billionaires' Ball June 2005     377
Epilogue: 2006     391
Acknowledgments     395
Notes     397
Sources and Bibliography     435
Index     439

Look this: Nobu West or Sushi Economy

Italy Today The Beautiful Cookbook: Contemporary Recipes Reflecting Simple, Fresh Italian Cooking, Vol. 1

Author: Lorenza De Medici

First published in 1988, Italy the Beautiful Cookbook (200,000 copies sold) set the standard for exquisite presentation of Italy's authentic cuisine, combining recipes with scenic photography and details of each region. Now, nine years later, with worldwide interest in Italian food booming and a new Italian cuisine emerging, this new book has new power to satisfy the cook and traveler in us all.

With the accelerated pace of contemporary life, Italians have had to change their style of eating. This has created fresh ideas, quick approaches to the classics, rediscovered heritage dishes, and a more relaxed way of assembling menus. This new style is reflected in the more than 220 recipes culled from cooks throughout Italy. Emphasis is on light first courses and vegetable dishes; simply prepared fish, poultry and meats; and homemade breads, pizzas and desserts. Photographs of each region accompany these mouthwatering recipes. From the Alps to Sicily, from the fragrant herbs of Liguria to the pungent olives of Puglia, readers will delight in rediscovering the pleasures of this inspiring beloved country.