Audiobooks Books - Page 5

A Guide to Wine

Julian Curry

Amazon Price: $22.02 List Price: $28.98 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Naxos Audiobooks Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $15.76

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Spirits
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Wine -> Wine & Winemaking
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Content filled CD 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I bought this to learn more about wines while in the car. It is good, but not overwhelming. Some sections are overflowing with content that is hard to absorb while driving and some sections are slow. Since it is the only CD I could find, I rate it as much better than nothing. I know more now than when I started.

A jolly good introduction to the world of wine 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is an entertaining, informative overview of basic wine knowledge. It is an excellent beginning point for a budding oenophile or anybody who just wants to learn about wines. Lively music evokes imagery of each country whose wines are featured. Additionally, there is a helpful booklet with maps of the most important and newly-emerging wine regions. Accept Julian Curry's accent and manner of speaking and you will be well enriched and ready to confidently walk into any wine shop or order from any wine list by the end of the fourth CD.

Choice Cuts: A Savory Selection of Food Writing from Around the World and Throughout History

Mark Kurlansky

List Price: $45.00 By: New Millenium Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $22.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Gastronomy -> Essays
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Gastronomy -> History
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Food is about agriculture, about ecology, about man's relationship with nature ... about nation-building, cultural struggles, friends and enemies ... and at times, even about sex." Thus Mark Kurlansky, author of the award-winning Cod and Salt, introduces Choice Cuts, his anthology of food writing throughout history. Kurlansky has cast his net very wide and presents a legion of food writers on every possible culinary subject.

The usual suspects are here, sometimes in triplicate: Brilliat Savarin on gourmets, female food-love, and how to gain weight; M.F.K. Fisher on bachelor cooking, the dislike of cabbage, and dinner at France's famed Monsieur Paul's in the 1940s; Elizabeth David on the folly of the garlic press, the glories of toast, and English pizza. But Kurlansky's trail starts much earlier with Plato on cooking (food as a branch of medicine, a notion shared by many modern advertisers), Heroditus on Egyptian dining, and, resoundingly, Mencius, a student of Confucius who, in the third century B.C., implored Chinese leaders to observe saner food and environmental policies.

There is a great deal to digest here, but readers can take small bites at their leisure. Enjoyed in this way, the book provides an endlessly fascinating glimpse of humankind's second--or is it the first?--greatest pleasure. --Arthur Boehm

Wine for Dummies CD 4th Edition (For Dummies (Lifestyles Audio))

Ed Mccarthy, Mary Mulligan

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Not yet published By: HarperAudio

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Spirits
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 62 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In Wine for Dummies, Mary Ewing-Mulligan teams up with hubby and fellow wine educator Ed McCarthy to guide us on an exhaustive, entertaining trip around the enological--that's right, enological--world. Though clearly experts themselves (Ewing-Mulligan is one of a handful of Americans holding the rare title Master of Wine), the authors assure us that even the most basic knowledge will undermine the very notion of wine pretension. It's as simple as this: "This wine is named for a grape variety. This wine is named for a geographical region. When they make this kind of wine, it goes into this kind of bottle." And so on.

By providing the context in which to begin exploring wine, Wine for Dummies can easily become the send-off for a lifelong education. McCarthy and Mulligan deflate many of the wine snob's attitudes; they assure us that most wine sold today is "good wine," and that any further distinctions made about wine are ultimately subjective. The practical, jovial mentoring the authors provide encourages readers to chart their own course toward drinking great wine (although the authors naturally recommend dozens of their own favorites along the way). In later chapters, McCarthy and Mulligan delve into more serious topics such as investing in and cellaring wine. Even these discussions seem appropriate, given that you'll probably find the allure of wine growing as its mystery subsides to the force of this superb introductory text. --Todd Gehman

The Stories from The Italian Country Table: Exploring the Culture of Italian Farmhouse Cooking

Lynne Rossetto Kasper

List Price: $13.00 By: Audioworks Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $0.92

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> European -> Italian
Subjects -> Travel -> Europe -> Italy -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Lynne Rossetto Kasper's authoritative first book, The Splendid Table, explored the food and culture of Emilia-Romagna, Italy's culinary heartland. In The Italian Country Table, a collection of 200 regional recipes gathered from farmhouse cooks, Kasper once again provides cultural investigation and authentic, workable recipes. The resulting cookbook-cum-chronicle will appeal to anyone seeking delicious, down-to-earth dishes and an introduction to cherished culinary traditions.

Covering every course of an Italian meal--from antipasti through pasta to vegetables and, of course, dessert--the book weaves recipes with vignettes exploring, for example, Puglia's ritual drying of winter tomatoes. Included also are notes on buying tips, special cooking techniques such as glazing, and discussions of culinary moment, like the nature of a true risotto Milanese. The immediately inviting recipes include such temptations as Mushrooms Stuffed with Radicchio and Asiago, Hot and Spicy Eggplant Soup, Leg of Lamb Glazed with Balsamic and Red Wine, and Espresso Ricotta Cream with Espresso Chocolate Sauce. Kasper also offers a chapter on focaccia, pizza, and bread, as well as menus, shopping sources, and a useful discussion of ingredients. (Taste before you buy, and then pause, she advises. "Aftertaste can reveal how a food's been stored, careless production, or foods going from mature to over the hill.") Concluding with a guide to Italian guest farms, folk life museums, and places to eat and shop, the book is a comprehensive introduction to basic but inspired home cooking and the traditions that both contain and nurture it. --Arthur Boehm

Garlic and Sapphires

Amazon Price: $27.50 List Price: $27.50 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Audio Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $1.04

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> Women
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Professionals & Academics -> Journalists

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 129 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Fans of Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples know that Ruth Reichl is a wonderful memoirist--a funny, poignant, and candid storyteller whose books contain a happy mix of memories, recipes, and personal revelations.

Amazon.com Interview We chewed the fat with Ruth. Read our interview.

What they might not fully appreciate is that Reichl is an absolute marvel when it comes to writing about food--she can describe a dish in such satisfying detail that it becomes unnecessary for readers to eat. In her third memoir, Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, Reichl focuses on her life as a food critic, dishing up a feast of fabulous meals enjoyed during her tenure at The New York Times. As a critic, Reichl was determined to review the "true" nature of each restaurant she visited, so she often dined incognito--each chapter of her book highlights a new disguise, a different restaurant (including the original reviews from the Times), and a fresh culinary adventure. Garlic and Sapphires is another delicious and delightful book, sure to satisfy Reichl's foodie fans and leave admirerers looking forward to her next book, hopefully about her life with Gourmet. --Daphne Durham

More from Ruth Reichl

Tender at the Bone	Comfort Me with Apples	The Gourmet Cookbook
Remembrance of Things Paris	Endless Feasts	Gourmet magazine

Amazon.com's The Significant Seven
Ruth Reichl answers the seven questions we ask every author.


Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
A: Kate Simon's New York Places and Pleasures. I read it as a little girl and then went out and wandered the city. She was a wonderful writer, and she taught me not only to see New York in a whole new way, but to look, and taste, beneath the surface.

Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD--what are they?
A: Ulysses by James Joyce. What better place to finally get through it?

Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert. If you're going to listen to one piece over and over, this is one that doesn't get tiresome.

How to Build a Boat in Five Easy Steps. Since I'm going to be watching one movie over and over, it might as well be useful.

Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told?
A: I'm such a good liar, I wouldn't know where to begin.

Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: I can write pretty much anywhere. But I prefer small, cozy spaces, with a good view over a lake or a forest, and room for the cats to curl up.

Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
A: "She'll be right back."

Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with?
A: Elizabeth I. She fascinates me. She had a great mind, enormous appetites--and she was a survivor. The most interesting woman of an interesting time, and I have a million questions I'd like to ask her.

Q: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
A: You mean after creating world peace? This is a hard one. But I've always wanted to be able to fly.

Star Wars, Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Lucasfilm Ltd.

Amazon Price: $26.56 List Price: $34.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Highbridge Audio Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $12.29

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Sports & Activities -> Cooking
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not Free SF Reader 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Yes, Luke, he was your father. That makes the whole sister thing just a little bit on the squicky side, doesn't it?

Anyway, we find out Han Solo is still cool, Darth Vader isn't stupid, the Emperor is ugly, and no Ewoks bleed when they die.

Throw in some space battles and some force cheese at the end.

Editorial Review:

"Watching from his throne, the Emperor laughed with evil glee. 'Good! Your hate has made you powerful. Now, fulfill your destiny and take your father's place at my side!'" Luke, of course, refuses and good triumphs over evil in Return of the Jedi. The final installment of the original trilogy--flawed, perhaps, by the Ewoks (what was Lucas thinking?)--is beautifully presented in this charming book. Images from the film provide inspiration for Brandon McKinney's crisp illustrations, which complement John Whitman's adaptation of the original screenplay. This book is a perfect little gift for Star Wars fans of all ages. --C.B. Delaney

Pumpkin Soup Book & CD

Helen Cooper

By: Corgi Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $9.06

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Baby-3 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

What an enchanting story... 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Today my multi-age preschool class (3 yrs-5 yrs) sat silently and wide eyed as I read "Pumpkin Soup". The three characters and their relationship to one another were so clearly defined in the first few sentences that the children were mesmerized. The illustrations are soft but detailed. This was a perfect addition to our unit of study on pumpkins.

A great theme but too much for my students 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book has a wonderful theme of what to do when change occurs. It shows how friendship can sustain mishaps. It had too many words for my students in preschool special class, and the illustrations were busy as well. My own elementary age kids loved it though!

Fun story for the season 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read this book to my elementary and special education students last week and I included some music from Ireland which included bagpipes and violin. I also added a country banjo song, too.
It was great fun! It's a wonderful story for all!

Editorial Review:

What’s Cooking in the old white cabin? Pumpkin soup, the best you ever tasted!

Cat, Squirrel and Duck are three friends who make pumpkin soup together every day. They always do it the same way, until little Duck thinks he’s got a better idea.

Nathaniel's Nutmeg

Giles Milton

List Price: $31.00 By: Hodder & Stoughton Audio Books Amazon Marketplace: 7 new & used starting at $24.36

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Industries & Professions -> Hospitality, Travel & Tourism
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Colourful tale based during wonderful time in history 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I loved this book, it was very readable and it covered an area of history which I personally found really interesting.

The title is misleading as the story is not centrally based around Nathaniel. This is more a collection of tales from European age of discovery. These tales are fascinating often hilarious and Milton does not spare us the true picture of the cruelity and barbarity of the time.

Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think [UNABRIDGED] (Audio CD)

Brian Wansink

Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $75.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

How Optical Illusions Help You Eat Well 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

How can air in food make you more satisfied - make you eat less? How can it curb a tendency to be fat, or reverse a trend?

Can it? Turns out - yes.

Feed a hungry college student a half glass full of smoothie and they will eat 20% more at lunch ½ later than the college student who drinks the SAME smoothie only whipped until it swells to a full glass with air. Not only that, but the ones that eat the airy smoothie don't make it up at their next meal.

My brother, John, and my food guru, Dick, have both recommended Mindless Eating and Volumetrics to you and me. I finally read them. Actually, John recommends listening to Mindless Eating as a book on tape, so that's what I did. I recommend it.

Listen to get the fun of it and the flavor of it. Then get the book to read the summaries of what to do.

Both titles don't really work to tell you their messages. The subtitle of Volumetrics is great - Feel Full On Fewer Calories. I'd rewrite that to read - Feel Satisfied on Fewer Calories.

It's not my job to re-title these excellent books. Mindless Eating deals with how our brains are tricked to eat more than we want by other visual cues and often by genuine optical illusions.

You could summarize Volumetrics - We don't eat calories, we eat size, volume. We are stratified by greater volume and not necessarily by greater calories. Satisfied means you eat less, means you lose fat and still feel, well, satisfied.

These are not deprivation diet books. DEPRIVATION DIETS DON'T WORK. And need I say, not fun.

The two cheapest ingredients in food are water and air. Adding air or water is the simplest way to feel more satisfied with no additional calories. You read about air in the smoothie above. Soup is food with water added. Raisins are grapes with water removed.

Let's see what that does for you...


Raisins

Which is more satisfying. ¼ cup of raisins or nearly 2 cups of grapes (50 ml or 500 ml). The metric numbers makes the size difference even more startling. Exact same number of calories. Exact same food. One has water; one doesn't.

Which would you choose if you wanted to feel most satisfied?

Yep, me too.


Soup is the Free Lunch of Satisfaction

I live on good soup, not words. - Molière

Even though soup is mostly water, you and your body perceive it as food. This is very counter intuitive to me.

Proof? Give people a 270 calorie chicken-rice casserole and a glass of water as a first course to a luncheon.

Give another group the same casserole with the water added to it to make it a soup. Check both groups to see how much they ate for the rest of lunch.

The soup people ate 100 calories less of the lunch that followed and didn't make up the loss at dinner. Cool, yes! Soup created more satiety, satisfaction. Other experiments showed that chunky soup creates more satisfaction than strained soup. And hot and cold soups both create the same benefits.

You can read the physiology in the books if you're interested. But this seems like magic to me.


Bag the Peanut Butter

I over eat peanut butter; it is one of the highest density foods you can find. If I eat volume, then you have to eat a mountain of calories to get a decent volume.

If I lived alone, I would just not bring it into the house. Obviously you can use this useful tip for all your trigger foods. Since I live with the Mysterious Madame Ling, who likes peanut butter on apples, I simply put the peanut butter in a brown paper bag.

Not only is this -- Out of sight, out of mind -- it puts inconvenience into the circuit making it harder to mindlessly eat.

Note: You may be and I am on a seafood diet, I eat everything I see. Out of sight, out of mind.


OK, One Optical Illusion

People perceive tall as more than short.

Remember the optical illusion from childhood of the upside down T. They ask which is longer - the horizontal part or the vertical section.

People say the vertical is up to 20% taller when they are in fact the same length. (The illusion is so strong for me, that I got out a ruler and tested it.)

Tall thin glasses will have you drinking less wine, juice, or Coke. And again, you will feel satisfied. Remove the short squat glasses from your life, unless you want to increase your consumption of water, then the idea works in your favor. I drink water out of a Bavarian beer mug.


Action

If you have people in your family who need to monitor fat gain, get the books, read them, and then apply the tricks.

Eat well,

William

Editorial Review:

Unabridged on 5 CDs

The Taste of Conquest: The Rise and Fall of the Three Great Cities of Spice

Michael Krondl

Amazon Price: $51.09 List Price: $69.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tantor Media Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $39.93

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Cooking by Ingredient -> Herbs, Spices & Condiments
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Gastronomy -> History
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Nice Idea - poor execution 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Based on the topic, I was excited to get this as a Christmas gift. I'm an enthusiastic reader of world history, and figured it would be a good read in the vein of "Salt", or "The Big Oyster" (both by Mark Kurlansky).

Unfortunately, the book is so rambling and unfocused as to make it very difficult to get through. I had to give up after about 90 pages. I wouldn't recommend this book, but look forward to another author tackling the same subject.

A beautifully-written and engaging book 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This thoroughly researched and engaging book deserves a prominent place on any food-lover's bookshelf. After reading this beautifully written book, my experiences with spices in my own kitchen will be forever enhanced. Highly recommended.

A journey in history and taste 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I catch myself thinking of this book and its stories of the pepper trade every time I pick up the black pepper grinder in our kitchen. The images and descriptions of flavors in Krondl's book are truly haunting. The history is carefully researched and eloquently told - you learn a lot, from curious little facts to the sweeping big picture of the dawn of globalization. This makes Krondl's book a fascinating read. The best part is the food - his descriptions of recipes and flavors is great - really benefits from his professional cooking skills. Highly recommended, excellent and fun read.

Editorial Review:

In this engaging, anecdotal history of food, world conquest, and desire, a chef-turned-journalist tells the story of three legendary cities---Venice, Lisbon, and Amsterdam---that transformed the globe in the quest for spice.