Modern Winemaking

EXCELLENT book. I have been making wine for 6 years and this has been the most informative, precise book I have ever come across. It includes everything you need to know to make perfect wines. It also has great tips on growing grapes. This is definitely the bible of winemaking!Get more detail about Modern Winemaking.

The Food and Wine Set: Consisting of the Oxford Companion to Food and the Oxford Companion to Wine Review

I'm working in the F&B industry and find these books very useful to me.

I can always refer to the book for every termination that I dont know. They are written in detail and in depth and easy to understand. and it is very user friendly since i just check the word that I dont know in alphebetic order.

I have bought 9 sets for my friends working in kitchen and restaurant and they find it useful too. I highly recommand you to buy!Get more detail about The Food and Wine Set: Consisting of the Oxford Companion to Food and the Oxford Companion to Wine.

Bordeaux and Its Wines Top Quality

If you love great photography and are bored by all the predictable efforts that appear in most wine books, this is for you! Some of the shots by Max Alexander are really breathtaking, and, like the text, they really give a sense of the place. A terrific, affordable coffee table bookGet more detail about Bordeaux and Its Wines.

The Ultimate Liquor-Free Drink Guide: More Than 325 Drinks With No Buzz, but Plenty of Pizzazz This instant

What, a drink book without booze? Couldn't be interesting, I thought to myself. But I tracked it down 'cause I saw an outstanding review of it in USA Today. And just flipping through it makes my mouth water. Not the same ol', same ol' stuff here. Lots of tantalizing drinks in 12 different chapters, including mocktails (fake cocktails--I tried the Cosmopolitan and it is great!), tea drinks, coffee drinks, smoothies, milkshakes, health drinks, punches, eggnogs of every flavor--you name it, it's here. I've already marked several pages for entertaining ideas for the upcoming holidays. Great for anyone who doesn't want to overload on the liquor during the holiday season, or any time at all!Get more detail about The Ultimate Liquor-Free Drink Guide: More Than 325 Drinks With No Buzz, but Plenty of Pizzazz.

Juicing for Health Best Quality

Great doing business with you and look forward to purchasing from you again. Thank you! Get more detail about Juicing for Health.

Wine at Your Fingertips Get it now!

This book is very helpful to learn which wine to choose. Easy to understand for a beginner like me. Highly recomended!Get more detail about Wine at Your Fingertips.

Cooking With Irish Spirits Buy Now

If you are a Vegan, this book is not for you. The recipes are of a hearty kind. The presentation is superb as are the photographs. Tradition mixed with new age. A delight for the pallette. Just remember the spirits are for the cooking not the drinking before hand. Highly recommended to any who enjoy food at it's best.Get more detail about Cooking With Irish Spirits.

Cocktail Therapy: The Perfect Prescription for Life's Many Crises Order Now

If you purchase this book, be prepared to read the word "Crisis" many many times. The beginning of the book contains some useful information, mainly, how to create simple syrup, home-made sour mix, and ginger syrup. From here, it's one crisis after another. Each Drink recipe is prefaced by a particular "crisis" whether it be of the romantic type, or job type, or even just life in general type. After reading through this, one gets the idea the only way to enjoy a particular cocktail is to first suffer/invent a "crisis". The recipes are laid out straight-forward, and through-out the book there are little "tip jars" of information, as well as 'bonus' material, some of which should be taken with a grain or two of salt, such as one that recommends all the health benefits you'll get from eating maraschino cherries. Obviously, neither author understands the process by which these are made! All in all, not a great or even a 'good' cocktail book, at best it is 'fair'. If you can buy it for under $5.00, then, its a value.Get more detail about Cocktail Therapy: The Perfect Prescription for Life's Many Crises.

Green Tea: Antioxidants in a Cup (Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin, a-255) Decide Now

Green Tea's 18 Health Benefits for You!
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By Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D,

Green Tea has been highly regarded for thousands of years ans healing medicinal beverage. And in recent years, scientists have confirmed the validity of its ancient reputation, discovering the green tea can fight disease and even lengthen life by:
1. Preventing normal cells from turning cancerous;
2. Suppressing the formation and growth of tumors;
3. Guarding against free radical damage that can bright about cancer, heart disease, diabetes, radiation damage, and aging;
4. Enhancing immune systems functions;
5. Controlling cholesterol levels;
6. Lowering the risk of stroke by making blood platelets less "sticky";
7. Controlling blood pressure levels;
8. Fighting deadly food-borne bacteria;
9. Promoting "friendly" bacteria in the intestines and encouraging bowel regularity;
10. Fighting viruses, including those that cause herpes simple, polio, and even HIV;
11. Lowering the risk of post-traumatic epileptic seizures in laboratory animals;
12. Assisting in weight loss by blocking the breakdown of starch;
13. Providing a mild stimulating effect without causing sleepless nights or nervousness;
14. Fighting bacteria in the mouth that cause cavities and bad breath;
15. Slowing the aging process;
16. Maintaining the body's fluid balance;
17. Reducing stress;
18. Acting as a safe and effective natural preservative in food and cosmetics.

No other substance on the face of the earth, including the most potent drug, can claim such wide-ranging and powerful health benefits, and all without a single side effect. Yes, Green Tea can truly perform "miracles" for just pennies a cup.

By Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D, <>, Page: 87-88

Yuexi Cuilan (Yuexi Green Orchid Tea) - Organic Green Tea 10 Tea Bag 30g

Green Tea and Weight Loss - Losing Weight the Natural Way!
===============================================

Green tea weight loss has become a hot topic of discussion in the weight loss and medical circles. The documented positive effects of green tea on losing weight has caused more and more people looking to lose weight to seek out this ancient brew.

However does green tea actually help you to lose weight? Is this all simply hype or is there something real and factual to the stories? Well here are some interesting facts about drinking green tea and weight loss.

Advantages of Drinking Green Tea for Weight Loss

Green tea and boosting your metabolism - Recently the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported its findings on the effect of drinking green tea and weight loss. Researchers found that green tea extract actually increased the metabolism of green tea drinkers dramatically. So much so that in a 24 hour period the average metabolic rate of the green tea drinkers in the studies increased by over 4%. Green tea possesses extremely high levels of catechin polyphenols. These substances actually aid your body in increasing its ability to oxidize fat and speeds up thermo-genesis which is how quickly your body burns off excess fat and calories. This is a critical factor of drinking green tea and weight loss.

Researchers also found that green tea regulates glucose leevels. Green tea helps to keep your blood levels stable after each meal and prevents spikes in insulin. This means less fat is stored after each meal while drinking green tea. This is directly tied to the active ingredients called catechins found in high levels in green tea.

Green tea also reduces your cravings and appetite - In a recent study it was found that green tea extracts caused rats to lose up to 21 percent of their body weight after a week of being injected with green tea extract. These rats were injected daily with the green tea extract. As a result the rats consumed up to 60 percent less food after a week. It's believed that this is tied directly to green tea's ability to regulate blood sugar levels.

Green Tea and Weight Loss - The Bottom Line

Green tea helps you lose weight by increasing your metabolic rate boosting your body's ability to burn excess calories and stored fat. Green tea also regulates your blood sugar levels and suppresses your appetite. Green tea is also a far superior choice to drinking coffee each day. So overall the stories are indeed true in regards to the power of drinking green tea and weight loss.

Kancura Herb Slimming Tea + Genseng Tea


How to Brew Green Tea ?
==================
Although it's not hard to do, there are a few things to be considered when brewing green tea

Water quality...
Good quality water is essential for making a good cup of green tea. Make sure you're using good water.

Water temperature...
This is where most mistakes are made. Brew your green tea too hot, and your tea will become bitter. The correct temperature does vary depending on the green tea, but for most it is around 165-170 degrees F (73-76 C.)

Proportion of green tea to water...
Most of our green teas are brewed at 1 heaping teaspoon (5 grams) per 8 ounces of water, but this can vary depending on the tea.

Brew time...
Generally, two minutes is all it takes Any longer, and the taste may becomes too bitter. Also, it's very important to NOT stir, shake, or mix the tea.

Allowing the tea room to expand...
This is rather important. Chinese green tea is compact - it needs room to expand. Tea balls do not work well at all. You'll be much better off using a Japanese teapot that was designed with green tea in mind. It is a one time investment of between $30-$100, and will make your life so much easier.

Take a good look at the inside of this green tea teapot to the left, made in Japan. The infuser screen goes all the way around the inside of the teapot, allowing the tea leaves to expand fully. This is the best kind to use. These teapots are rather small, about the size of a grapefruit, and usually hold 8-13 ounces or so.

Lipton Green Tea - 100% Natural, 2009 New Spring Green Tea, 50 Fresh Tea Bags from China by A2AWorld Green Tea
Get more detail about Green Tea: Antioxidants in a Cup (Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin, a-255).

Whiskey (Eyewitness Companions) Right now

This book is not only a good read; this book is also an excellent resource book. I can now have my favorite libations and consume them with greater appreciation. This book also provides a great understanding of Whiskey with the history and the criteria of the overall industry and the idividual Whisk(e)y types.Get more detail about Whiskey (Eyewitness Companions).

Lowest Price The New York Bartender's Guide: 1300 Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Drink Recipes for the Professional and the Home

Let's be honest -- when it comes to mixed drinks, there's probably about two dozen that any bartender really needs to know, and although they drift in and out of popularity (I'm pretty sure there's a lot more caipirinhas and cosmos out there than old-fashioneds or rum flips), the top of the list isn't going to be very taxing on a bartender's memory. That, of course, is why we have bartender guides -- something that can be kept behind the bar next to the cash register in case a patron wants something that isn't that easy to remember.

This particular book is a nicely presented one, with color pictures and organized by spirit (with two indexes, one by drink, one by subject). I had some friends throw drink names at me and most of them came up in the book, so it's definitely got all the important ones. However, it is a rather conservative book -- apart from the fairly famous edgily-named ones like Sex on the Beach, a lot of the more twisted drinks I've heard of like the Apple F***er, the Adios Mother, and the Cement Mixer don't really show up in here, at least not under their real names. (You may have better luck with some of the more humorous ones like Bartending For Dummies or a shot book.)

Honestly there's nothing too terribly exciting going on in here, and for the most part it's probalby interchangeable with Mr. Boston or The Bartenders Black Book, or for that matter half a dozen other well-written, comprehensive bar guides. It's prettier than most bar books you'll find, with glossy pages and lots of color photography, so if you're the sort who likes to just browse things like this, it's an excellent choice for that. If you're in the market, try it out.Get more detail about The New York Bartender's Guide: 1300 Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Drink Recipes for the Professional and the Home.

Low Price The Empire of Tea

This book covers a lot of interesting information, but it reads like a hastily-written undergraduate thesis, with disjointed quotes and unsupported conclusions. Some of the quotes are interesting, but the quality of the writing and analysis makes it an unsatisfying read. The Roy Moxham book is much better.Get more detail about The Empire of Tea.

Save Wild Sweets: Exotic Dessert and Wine Pairings

I'm a professional cook and this book it's just gorgeous! I took lots of ideas for my own creations and it works perfectly! Full of great recipes, beautiful plating, tips, beautiful pictures (for me this is very important in a cooking book!)..totally recommend it!!Get more detail about Wild Sweets: Exotic Dessert and Wine Pairings.

Discount The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris

Interesting tale of drinks preoared by the bartenders of the famed Hotel Ritz and Papa Hemingways home away from home.Get more detail about The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris.

Cheapest The Bryant Family Vineyard Cookbook: Recipes from Great Chefs and Friends

I'm not much of a cook, but I enjoyed this book. The vineyard/wine pictures are lovely (but there are no photos of the food). The recipies are clearly written with lists of ingredients. Directions appear to be easily followed. Proceeds from the book are for charity. Congratulations to Ms. Bryant and Mrs. Fentress on a job well done!Get more detail about The Bryant Family Vineyard Cookbook: Recipes from Great Chefs and Friends.

Cheap The Ultimate Fruit Winemaker's Guide: The Complete Reference Manual For All Fruit Winemakers

This book appears to be an unfinished draft that was rushed to print without proper editorial overview. It fails to live up to it's own title. As a "Complete Reference" manual it doesn't include apples as one of the major fruits for making wine/cider even though it does describe how important hard apple cider is in the history of fruit wines, nor is there even a recipe for hard apple cider. Speaking of recipes, the ones given are all in metric - not great for the US market. Although there is a chapter on organic and kosher wines, there is precious little information on how to make them. Throughout the book, but especially towards the end, references are made to photos that are missing, or text that wasn't included. Did an editor even read the drafts before printing? It's far from complete.Get more detail about The Ultimate Fruit Winemaker's Guide: The Complete Reference Manual For All Fruit Winemakers.

Buying Red Wine for Dummies

I'm glad to see that so many people do not mind applying the term "dummy" to themselves when it comes to trying new things. Even though the black and yellow cover clashes horribly with my copies of Emmerson and Tennyson on the bookshelf, I am not ashamed. I would hope that the self-professed "snob" who wrote one off these reviews has the sense not only to use his large vocabulary with caution, but also to spell "label" properly when communicating how snobbish s/he is. Get more detail about Red Wine for Dummies.

Buy Juice Alive: The Ultimate Guide to Juicing Remedies

Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite 1000-Watt Juice Extractor
This is an excelent book for your library and a must read for anyone with health issues. It bridges the time from N. W. Walker's RAW Vegetable JUICES (1936) to the present with references to other masters in the art of juicing. A very much welcomed addition to my alternative health care collection.

Jerry Thompson
Lake Butler, FloridaGet more detail about Juice Alive: The Ultimate Guide to Juicing Remedies.

Purchase Bock (Classic Beer Style Series ; 9)

This series has some great books this one included the only provblem in fact I have with this series is they changed the size of the books in later style volumes which is very anoying to me Get more detail about Bock (Classic Beer Style Series ; 9).

Order Espresso Coffee: The Chemistry of Quality

For those interested in learning more about coffee science, this is perhaps one of the best books out there. Covers everything from basic cultivation to roasting chemistry.

javajoe
[...]Get more detail about Espresso Coffee: The Chemistry of Quality.

Where To Buy Chicken Soup for the Wine Lover's Soul: A Toast to the Perfect Occasion (Chicken Soup for the Soul)

This purchase was for a person who enjoys wine. I read a few pages of this book and felt encouraged to read more.Get more detail about Chicken Soup for the Wine Lover's Soul: A Toast to the Perfect Occasion (Chicken Soup for the Soul).

Shop For The Gourmet's Guide to Cooking with Wine

This book could be labeled enchanting. Absolutely enchanting. Cooking with wine is a nice technique for adding flavor to one's dishes. I use it pretty often, from my old dinner party standby, Beef bourguignon, to my wife's family recipe for spaghetti sauce (or, as they refer to it, "gravy"). This book expands my wine cooking horizons considerably.

The book begins with a warning from Julia Child: "If you put rot-gut in, you'll get rut-gut out." Only use wine in a recipe that you would drink yourself! The author notes that (Page 6) ". . .a nice wine will only enhance a dish, such as in a sauce whose flavors are intensified through reduction."

Some of the recipes in here I have made before, such as Beef Bourguignon, Coq au vin, Coquilles Saint Jacques, Chicken Piccata, and so on. But the recipes of these tried and true dishes are different enough from mine that I can experiment.

The book proceeds as follows:

Introduction. Here, we get a brief essay on cooking with wine, a listing of wines that are good for cooking, and how long it takes alcohol from the wine to burn off.

Appetizers and soups. Here are some nice examples of wine with appetizers and soups. Chablis Vichyssoise: An old favorite, Vichyssoise, gets some new life with two cups of Chablis. Or French Onion Soup Chardonnay. I don't much enjoy Chardonnay, but I can see how this would add a nice taste to French Onion Soup. Indeed, this recipe is different from the one that I have used, and "Vive la difference!" Then there is a recipe for a salad dressing, featuring 1/4 cup of sherry (Allison's House Dressing).

The Great European Classics. Here, we see a series of classic recipes and their use of wine. Already mentioned, Beef Bourguignon, Coquilles Saint Jacques, Coq au Vin (with white wine instead of red; an interesting change of pace). Other interesting classics mentioned in this section: Veal Marsala and Veal Oscar.

Beef, Veal, Pork, and Lamb. I enjoy Steak Diane a great deal. I have not made it in the past; I note that there is an array of recipes available. Here is a nice variation. The wine used? Madeira. Also, cognac (or brandy). I've tended to use a meatloaf recipe from "Joy of Cooking," but the one in this book will be my next meatloaf effort--Mom's Madeira Meatloaf with Cremini Gravy. The meatloaf has standard ingredients--plus the Madeira. The gravy features cremini or portobello mushrooms with, you guessed it, more Madeira.

There follows sections on Poultry, Seafood, Pasta, Side dishes, and Brunch.

Great pictures of the dishes. The instructions, for the most part, are straightforward. A good concept lies at the heart of this volume and that concept is executed well.
Get more detail about The Gourmet's Guide to Cooking with Wine.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Coffee and Tea

If you've ever wanted to know everything there is to know about coffee and tea, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Coffee & Tea is certainly a good resource. From growing locations to harvesting methods, processing to transport, home-roasting to blending, and even the best way to pull a shot of espresso, Travis Arndorfer and Kristine Hansen explore the world of these gourmet beverages from start to finish.

For sheer volume and completeness of information this book is a winner; I learned an incredible amount of wonderful history and useful information from it. For liveliness of writing--an important consideration in the long-running "Complete Idiot's Guides" line, which strives to make often-complex subjects accessible to the general public--it does a solid job, although it's hard to go step-by-step through the complexities of pulling espresso, properly tamping grounds, and cleaning an espresso machine without things getting a tad boring.

I have only one major reservation regarding this book, and it was enough to bring my rating down a bit. The authors manage to convey the impression through all of their detailed information that unless you're buying incredibly fresh beans, grinding them with an expensive grinder, brewing them with an expensive brewer, and preferably roasting green beans yourself in small batches with your own roaster, then you're simply not drinking good coffee. I honestly couldn't look through their recommendations and find a middle ground that I'd consider affordable that they'd consider drinking good coffee.

Given the typical market of the CIG books, this seems incongruous. It's one thing to tell you how to spend incrementally more depending on your budget and time available to get the most out of your coffee experience, but this book makes it seem like no one except wealthy, semi-retired folks or professionals who do this for a living can make "good" coffee. That's a shame, because I think it's likely to make a good handful of readers throw up their hands and say "well, if I can't do it right, why bother to go beyond my normal cheap cup and explore any of this at all?"

If you have an interest in the details of coffee and tea I do recommend that you pick up this book. Just make sure you're willing to be a little stubborn in putting aside the authors' overly-restrictive definitions of good coffee, and go with what you feel up to.Get more detail about The Complete Idiot's Guide to Coffee and Tea.

All Belgian Beers Review

As others have commented, this is definitely a book only for true Belgian beer connoisseurs who might be looking to track every beer they possibly can. Minimal details are provided and, to be honest, the huge book is still far from complete, but the array of Belgian beers described is still remarkable. Also, good info is offered on brewery names and locations. This book is not for the average enthusiast, but certainly has a niche for true beer Meisters!Get more detail about All Belgian Beers.

Make Your Juicer Your Drug Store Top Quality

This is a great book. Yes it's true it was written years ago, but the nutritional information about vegetables and fruits is still valid today. It's a great book to have in case you are feeling sick or just want to stay healthy! I gave it 4 stars only because it could be expanded, other than that, it's a 5 star book.Get more detail about Make Your Juicer Your Drug Store.

The American Wine Society Presents: Growing Wine Grapes This instant

Very basic information at best. Not really much help if you are seriously thinking of growing your own grapes. Many questions, like what variety should I grow, in not addressed properly as far as a Merlot or Cabernet etc. In fact the word "Merlot" is not even in the book! How far apart should the vines be planted? Beats me! I guess I'll have to look in another book. Get more detail about The American Wine Society Presents: Growing Wine Grapes.

An Invitation to Tea (Teatime Pleasures) Immediately

Yes, a sweet book, as others have described it. But, I was a tad disappointed that it was so thin when I received it. I would not have paid nine bucks for this book if I had seen it first. This is the type of book I would pick up at a gift shop for three or four dollars, max. Still contemplating returning this one; I wouldn't even have to box it up - just stick it in an envelope and mail it back.Get more detail about An Invitation to Tea (Teatime Pleasures).

Educating Peter: How Anybody Can Become an (Almost) Instant Wine Expert Best Quality

Far from a wine connoisseur and an amateur of a first degree is the most apt description of my current relationship to wine. Having said that, a glass of wine is a ritual I enjoy on a regular basis and for that reason "Educating Peter" grabbed my attention at the bookstore.

"Educating Peter" felt like an unfinished work. It is clear that Lettie Teague knows the subject, but the sheer amount of information she attempts to cover leads to a number of very brief chapters which at times feel like an outline to a larger thought process - unfortunately, as a reader I couldn't fill in those gaps myself. Having said that, it is an entertaining and a quick read. "Educating Peter" won't turn you into a first class sommelier, but it will introduce you to the language and give you enough high-level background to approach the subject of Wine in a more intelligent manner.Get more detail about Educating Peter: How Anybody Can Become an (Almost) Instant Wine Expert.

The Ultimate Little Frozen Drinks Book Get it now!

This book is full of great recipes, but you cannot find them unless you know the name in advance. Not for someone who is trying to find something by type, style or ingredients. Be sure to have lots of time if you are looking for ideas. But good recipes if you have the patience to find them.Get more detail about The Ultimate Little Frozen Drinks Book.

Punch Buy Now

I Really Like this book. Just about each recipe comes with a non acoholic version which I like because now I can make the drinks for my children as well. Each drink recipe comes with a picture so you know exactly how your finish outcome is suppose to look. There is 34 drink recipes in the book. Some of the recipes you will find are: Sparkling mint & strawberry lemonade, Mango Tango, Dockside delight, Petal Punch, Mimosa Punch, Citrus cooler, etc. This is a wonderful book to add to any cookbook collection.Get more detail about Punch.

Mild Ale: History, Brewing, Techniques, Recipes (Classic Beer Style Series, 15) Order Now

While traveling in the UK years ago I entered a pub and asked the publican to pour me one of his best. He poured me a mild ale. I was really surprised. It had a wonderful flavor and wasn't at all mild. Ever since then I've been hunting for another purveyor of mild ales. It's not a type of ale pursued by the American brewing establishment.

At last, this book presents the history of mild ales and is the first source I've found that explains why some really aren't that mild. It's a lovely history and hopefully will rekindle an interest in this dying style.

I hope some microbrewery will make a mild ale where I live (Colorado), but until then this book has given me a number of recipes to try. I've been home brewing for years and have tried making a few mild ales with moderate results. The book addresses the types of ingredients that are needed to recreate this style. Armed with the knowledge in this book, I look forward to brewing some mild ales of my own.

Mild ales are a style of ale missing in today's microbrew marketplace, one I feel merits a rediscovery by the brewing community. This book should be in the library of anyone seriously interested in brewing ales, especially British ales. Excellent.Get more detail about Mild Ale: History, Brewing, Techniques, Recipes (Classic Beer Style Series, 15).

Infused: 100+ Recipes for Infused Liqueurs and Cocktails Decide Now

I ordered this for myself and loved the recipes so much I bought 2 more for gifts. Great Book!Get more detail about Infused: 100+ Recipes for Infused Liqueurs and Cocktails.

Toll House Tried and True Recipes Right now

Okay, I bought this because it has the recipe for TollHouse chocolate chip cookies written by the lady who created chocolate chip cookies(and no, it wasn't Mrs.Fields). This has a lot of old time kitchen advice my Grandmas would have given if they had given advice. That old time common sense kind of advice, especially for young brides. Look, I've been cooking for 45 years and I can still appreciate good advice. You never stop learning(if you know what's good for you) and this is also why I guess I love Paula Dean so much. She's an old country cook, too. It also compliments my heritage Betty Crocker cookbook from the 60s from which I learned to cook(my mother wasn't a cook, my one grandma lived too far away to spend time in her kitchen, and I couldn't spend ALL my time watching my other grandma cook, though I helped her a lot). I just wish I had watched my Dad make Potato Soup(he was the champian potato soup maker and I don't even think Bobby Flay would have dared issue him a throwdown, having become discouraged right off the bat thinking he had to try to out do my Dad at Potato soup would have made even Paula Dean have second thoughts(sorry, Paula Darlin', but Daddy was the Potato soup KING). Maybe that's because Dad's Grandma was Irish? You betcha!Get more detail about Toll House Tried and True Recipes.

Lowest Price Favorite Brand Name 4 Ingredient Cookbook

This cookbook lives up to its name, as well as its subtitle fast & easy recipes. There are ALOT of great recipes in this book. I have actually borrowed alot of cookbooks from the library & this cookbook was a MUST buy! Unlike some cookbooks where you may find limited recipes appealing, this cookbook has many, many simple & great tasting recipes. Highly recommended! This is now my go-to cookbook.Get more detail about Favorite Brand Name 4 Ingredient Cookbook.

Low Price Wine Basics: A Quick and Easy Guide

In a nutshell,basic information what to look for in a nice bottle of wine. Takes all the guess-work out of your next purchase. Loaned it to a friend who was touring the wine country in France. "Can't wait to hear how helpful it was." Any-one can be a wine connoisseur! Get more detail about Wine Basics: A Quick and Easy Guide.

Save Somersize Cocktails: 30 Sexy Libations from Cool Classics to Unique Concoctions to Stir Up Any Occasion

I never recieved this item, I am very disappointed and would not recommend using this seller again. Although the item was inexpensive, they did not respond to my email or offer any assistance. Do not do business with this seller.Get more detail about Somersize Cocktails: 30 Sexy Libations from Cool Classics to Unique Concoctions to Stir Up Any Occasion.

Discount Coffee: A Dark History

This is at my local coffee shop and I read some of it everytime I have coffee. Overall, it is fascinating and well written. Wonderful to know more about my dailey brew.Get more detail about Coffee: A Dark History.

Cheapest Raw Spirit

I really wanted to like this book, I promise. It's a great premise, and Banks' fiction work is great. But I found the book boring. There's not all that much about whisky or distilleries, other than a seemingly endless count of passages that read something like "We woke up that morning and had another large breakfast at the Hogsbreath Inn, then went to visit Quoylesly, Bruighbladdach, and Dinglefoot distilleries. Let me tell you about this time I passed another car in my M5 before meeting up with more friends to drink beer and whisky....." There's no coherent narrative (yes, I am aware it is non-fiction), many of the anecdotes are just boring, I lost track of the names of all of his friends and relations. I sympathized with his anti-war sentiment, but his attitudes seemed mildly hypocritical given that he's driving around a bunch of fuel-hogs. I don't know, the book just wasn't worth it, so I stopped reading...Get more detail about Raw Spirit.

Cheap Backroads of the California Wine Country: Your Guide to the Wine Country's Most Scenic Backroad Adventures (Backroads of ...)

When many people visit California to tour wineries, they head for Napa Valley on the weekend and sit in traffic jams for hours on route 29. Realizing that everyone in the slowly moving train may not be totally sober, the visitors think about how much they would like to be someplace else. A little known fact is that there are back roads into virtually every wine region in California that offer stunning vistas, gorgeous greenery and constantly changing scenes around every curve.

Backroads of the California Wine Country is a great resource for those inexperienced visitors. Otherwise, these well-meaning travelers will miss the best of what the wine country has to offer: Scintillating scenery!

The photographs do a great job of picking up on the amazing sights. Here are a few of my favorites:

p. 6 -- The moon rises over vineyards in Napa County's Carneros region

p. 11 -- A dramatic sunset over Napa Valley wine country

p. 13 -- Cirrus clouds float above the hills of the Redwood Valley of Mendocino County

pp. 18-19 -- The early morning sky glows orange in the hills above Ukiah

p. 22 -- Orr Springs Road twists and turns through some of the most pristine and dramatic landscapes in wine country

p. 30 -- This lovely tree-lined drive leads to Fetzer Vineyards, a wholly organic winery and the sixth-largest premium wine producer in the country

p. 31 -- The warm valleys around Hopland offer an ideal climate for growing grapes as well as apples and pears

p. 34 -- Mount Konocti, illuminated by the setting sun, looms large above this Lake County vineyard

p. 35 -- Peaceful at sunrise, Clear Lake State Park

p. 35 -- The vibrant flower gardens of Tulip Hill Winery

p. 38 -- A distant moon sets beyond a winter vineyard in the Valley of the Moon

pp. 42-43 -- Vineyards stretch across the Alexander Valley in northern Sonoma County

p. 47 -- Downtown Geyserville is lined with charming buildings

p. 83 -- A rainbow forms

p. 90 -- Hot air ballooning

p. 94 -- Winery at Groth Vineyards

p. 99 -- Grape vines and mustard plants

Nice work, Mr. Crabbe!

The text is equally inspired with a nice mix of California history, wine background, local features, and suggestions for activities you can enjoy. The text is also well endowed with maps to show you the directions of the backroads that you are being encouraged to pursue.

Here are some of the unexpected materials:

p. 24 -- Seabiscuit's home in Willits

p. 36 -- Organic farming methods

p. 45 -- Cyrus Alexander's founding of the Alexander Valley

p. 61 -- Jack London in the Sonoma Valley

p. 89 -- The soil of Rutherford

p. 108 -- Apple Hill, east of Placerville

p. 117 -- The Gold Rush

p. 125 -- Covered bridges

p. 133 -- Steinbeck's world

Here are the areas covered:

The Redwood Valley in Mendocino County
Anderson Valley
Hopland and the McDowell Valley
Lake County
Alexander Valley
Dry Creek Valley
The Russian River Valley
Green Valley
Valley of the Moon
Sonoma Valley
Northern Napa Valley
St. Helena
Eastern Napa Valley
Yountville
Oakville
Mount Veeder
Town of Napa
Wooden Valley
Los Carneros
El Dorado County
Shenandoah Valley
Calaveras County
Santa Cruz Mountains
Carmel Valley
Salinas Valley
San Juan Bautista
Paso Robles
Edna Valley
Santa Barbara County
Santa Ynez Valley

Nice work, Ms. Misuraca!

Don't miss this gorgeous volume. It'll transform your life if you follow its advice.


Get more detail about Backroads of the California Wine Country: Your Guide to the Wine Country's Most Scenic Backroad Adventures (Backroads of ...).

Buying The Wine Roads of Texas: An Essential Guide to Texas Wines and Wineries

Interested in Texas wines and vineyards?
This is a good primer, albeit somewhat out of date.
The author, well versed in the system of grapes-to-bottle, focuses on local interests and the personalities of the grape growers and winemakers.
And it is interesting to compare the data in the book with actual contemporary information to see how the industry is maturing. Get more detail about The Wine Roads of Texas: An Essential Guide to Texas Wines and Wineries.

Purchase WineSmarts, Vol. 1

This game has 100 flashcards and a pad of score sheets. The cards have questions and then multiple choice answers or true/false. There are 25 questions about grapes, 25 questions about regions, 25 questions about vocabulary, and then 25 wild card questions.

The grape questions refer to characteristics of the grapes you're most likely encounter. The region questions highlight wines from some of the major wine-producing regions. The vocabulary questions defines useful wine terms. And then the wild card questions include history, trivia and other choice bits of information.

The guidelines for the games includes having teams and then each team must answer correctly. If the question is answered correctly, place an x on the score sheet in that category. The winner is the team who answers 3 questions correctly from each category.

You could also use The Wine Deck: 50 Ways to Choose, Serve, and Enjoy Great Wines (Discerning Tastes). Those are flashcards but with no answers.

Overall a great game and would be nice to play sitting around with friends tasting bottles of wine. It is also a good learning tool if you just use the flashcards. It would be great for a geography of wines teacher to use in the classroom.

Get more detail about WineSmarts, Vol. 1.

Order Gourmet Shops of NY: Markets, Foods, Recipes

The book arrived quickly. The Pictures are beautiful. And info on Gourmet shops and deli's are great. A terrific book for foodies.Get more detail about Gourmet Shops of NY: Markets, Foods, Recipes.

Where To Buy Early American Cookery: "The Good Housekeeper," 1841

The book is interesting. I enjoyed seeing how they measured and found some different receipes. I am very pleased with the book. I also liked the way they told other housekeeping hints.Get more detail about Early American Cookery: "The Good Housekeeper," 1841.

Shop For Diffordsguide Cocktails 8 (Diffords Guide)

This is an amazing book. The pictures are amazing, the recipes are clear and the notes are interesting.

It has sections on bar tools, techniques, and at the back a glossary with lots of great detail on all things mentioned in the recipes.

It has key ingredients listed, from which you can make 500 of the drinks in the book.

However, the only index is by these same key alcohols... you can find out what drinks use one of them, but other than that the only way to find things is by name. This is somewhat ameliorated because the website allows you to search all recipes by ingredient and the search is quite powerful. However, it would have been nice to have that in the book.

My only other complaint is that while the ratings go from 1-5 (in 1/2 point increments) almost all are 3 or above. There are three 2 star ratings and one 1.5 star rating (found only by using the website's search).

Those minor complaints aside, this is a fantastic reference. If someone comes and asks for an obscure drink, you are likely to find it here.

By the way, the #8 is the edition. Difford keeps updating and refining the guide which is impressive.Get more detail about Diffordsguide Cocktails 8 (Diffords Guide).

The Cakebread Cellars Napa Valley Cookbook: Wine and Recipes to Celebrate Every Season's Harvest

By Bill Marsano. If you haven't heard of Jack and Dolores Cakebread it's probably because their wine is so fine it's always on allocation--there's not enough to go around, so the annual production is allocated to customers and restaurateurs who supported the Cakebreads when they founded their family winery in Napa in 1973. Still, you can get a taste of the Cakebreads and their way of life through this handsome book, written with their resident chef, Brian Streeter. One guiding principle here is the seasons: They dictate life at the winery, and so the recipes are seasonal as well. Another guiding principle is "Napa style"--the kind of relaxed elegance the area has become known and envied for. It's simple, stylish and superb. The recipes are clearly presented one to a page in legible type, and they come from many sources. Of course one expects Hispanic and Italian dishes--the Spanish discovered the place and the Italians were among the first to grow wine there. But the Cakebreads have cast their net wide to cover most of the Mediterranean basin--southern France, Morocco, Greece are also included--and there are Pacific Rim and Asian influences as well. And just for lagniappe, there are several recipes contributed by guest chefs at the Cakebreads' annual American Harvest Workshop. After a few pages of this you are going to have a powerful inclination to get yourself out to Napa. You could do worse. --Bill Marsano is a James Beard award-winning writer on wines, food and travel.Get more detail about The Cakebread Cellars Napa Valley Cookbook: Wine and Recipes to Celebrate Every Season's Harvest.

American Bar: The Artistry of Mixing Drinks Review

I bought this book approx 7 years ago when I was learning to bartend. It makes a great presentation in my "library". But no recipes for Cosmopolitans(?) This is during the comeback of the cocktail.
I tend to use my Ultimate A to Z Bar Guide more often. The American Bar is not aimed at the usual bar clientèle.Get more detail about American Bar: The Artistry of Mixing Drinks.

A Moveable Thirst: Tales and Tastes from a Season in Napa Wine Country Top Quality

I had given up on Napa as too commercial but this book has renewed my interest and I will focus on Napa when I come to CA in April.Get more detail about A Moveable Thirst: Tales and Tastes from a Season in Napa Wine Country.

The Winemaker's Dance: Exploring Terroir in the Napa Valley (Director's Circle Book) This instant

Anyone who enjoys wine and/or Napa Valley will enjoy this book. Great pictures, great explanations and great geology. They even let the winemakers pontificate abit. I really enjoyed it.Get more detail about The Winemaker's Dance: Exploring Terroir in the Napa Valley (Director's Circle Book).

Terroir: The Role of Geology, Climate, and Culture in the Making of French Wines (Wine Wheels) Immediately

Hugh Johnson has inked quite a few good books on wine, including his autobiography, "A Life Uncorked" and the repeatedly revised and updated "World Atlas of Wine" -- the latter having launched many folks on a life-long love affair with all things vinous and/or a career in the wine business. "Terroir," however, was written by James E. Wilson, a geologist and former engineer and executive for Shell Oil. Hugh Johnson penned the foreward to Wilson's book. HUGH JOHNSON IS NOT THE AUTHOR. What makes this book unique is that it offers the perspective of a scientist/geologist who is also a passionate amateur of wine. You might also want to take a look at Jacques Fanet's "Great Wine Terroirs," published in French in 2001 and in translation by the University of California Press in 2004. However, Wilson's book is a more detailed, interesting and groundbreaking work than Fanet's.

Below is a review of the book I originally posted on November 6, 1999, for another Amazon entry for the same book that properly identified the author. Nothing has changed in the past decade:

My shelves groan beneath the weight of scores of new and ancient volumes on French wine, and glitzy new volumes come and go from the catalogs every year -- but this one is somewhat unique among them. James Wilson is a geologist. He also loves French wine. Put the two together and you get this fascinating book about the geology, climate and viticulture of the major wine regions of France, all the way from Alsace to Languedoc. Filled with maps, photos and cross-sections, the book gives you an excellent visual picture of the topography and geology of the great (and not so great) vineyards. There is a glossary of terms for the geologically impaired, although you might still want to run out and get a basic geology text or dictionary to help you slog through the thicker parts of this book. Persevere, and you will gain a deeper understanding of the ways the ineffable term 'terroir' can account for the very different characteristics of wines from vineyards that may be no more than a stone's throw from one another. The same 'terroir' concept explains why the wines of the Loire, Rhone, Champagne, and all of the other major French viticultural regions have evolved as they have -- and why sacrificing their uniqueness to a homogenized 'international style' would be such a tremendous loss. If you love wine, this book will grab your attention. Get more detail about Terroir: The Role of Geology, Climate, and Culture in the Making of French Wines (Wine Wheels).

The Tea Ceremony Best Quality

Some aspects of a culture are deep-seated, traditional and can be puzzling to outsiders. Yet, some knowledge of that aspect will provide the foreigner with an enormous advantage as they try to enter that market and expand their business. In Japan, one very important tradition is the tea ceremony, and the ability of a foreigner to appreciate the role it has played in Japanese society can be a key to business success.
This book contains descriptions of the history of the ceremony, the role it has played in Japan and many of the ways in which it is conducted. Learning the basics of the ceremony is not difficult, yet it can be essential knowledge when meeting and interacting with Japanese business executives. It should be required reading for anyone with a need to prepare for meetings and interactions with executives of Japanese companies.
Get more detail about The Tea Ceremony.