Special Occasions Books - Page 22

Sweet And Simple Party Cakes

May Clee Cadman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Very good... 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I think this is an incredible book. It helped me a lot. There's a lot of images and the recipes are clear. You must have it.

Easy to Follow Cake Disigns 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Out of all the books we have purchased on Cake Decorating, this one had the easiest to follow deisgns for beginners. Great Book

no talent required 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 4 people found this review helpful.

not worth it i actually wanted to send it back the cakes are so simple that you dont even need any imagination i guess if youve never done it before it would be good just change your frosting color and its considered a new cake,same design though

Editorial Review:

"Create over 40 simple yet incredibly stylish cakes for every occasion, from weddings and anniversaries, to birthdays, christenings and Christmas.

Discover a variety of irresistible cake designs in all colors, shapes and sizes. Includes a wide selection of sweet cupcakes and gorgeous minicakes to make when time is short.

Explore a wide variety of quick and easy sugarcrafting techniques. Beginner and intermediate sugarcrafters will complete the projects with ease, while discovering professional sugarcrafting tricks.

Easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions, simple recipes, and beautiful photography ensure mouthwatering results. Clever packaging ideas are also included to make your cakes look even more desirable."

The Cook's Book: Techniques and tips from the world's master chefs

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

For Beginners and Seasoned Cooks Alike 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 0 people found this review helpful.

"The Cook's Book" by Jill Norman is a text that has increased my kitchen skills by leaps and bounds. Regular pizza became stuffed pizza pie, ordinary chocolate chip cookies took on a cappuccino flare, and maduros were added to our realm of savory side dishes. (See site for photos.) More than these particular dishes, "The Cook's Book" expanded my knowledge of cooking techniques. I learned, for example, how to make an array of sauces, ranging from velouté to berbere and many places in between. But before you are even given a specific recipe the first page of the "Sauces and Dressings" chapter takes you step-by-step through the terms used when making sauces (skimming, sieving, deglazing), then explains the various ways in which sauces can be thickened (roux, butter, arrowroot, etc). All this is done through the use of clear explanations and - get this - photographs for every step. By page 57 an entire world of possibilities had opened before my eyes, and I hadn't even reached the "Foam," "Soups" or "Flavoring" sections, not to mention the remaining 537 pages of the book! It's astounding what a well-written, beautifully photographed cookbook can accomplish. The Editor, Jill Norman, collaborated with some of the world's best chefs when putting it together, including Rick Bayless, Pierre Hermé and Greg Malouf. I have to say that while working through this book you feel as if you are learning directly from the chefs you admire.

In addition to the chapters mentioned above, "The Cook's Book" includes sections on eggs & dairy products, fish & shellfish, poulty & game birds, vegetables, pasta & dumplings, breads & batters, and pasty & sweet doughs. The list goes on. These topical chapters are supplemented by sections on Indian cooking, Chinese cooking, Thai cooking, Mexican cooking and Middle Eastern cooking - each presented by a chef who has mastered the area and has created a menu for you. Hence, the Mexican cooking chapter written by Rick Bayless includes recipes for squash blossom-filled corn masa boats; tortilla soup with chili, cheese & avocado; braised pork in red chili sauce and lime ice cream with cajeta. Chapters in "The Cook's Book" are relatively short and by no means comprehensive, but that's alright because the point of this text is to teach you essential skills that will enhance your overall ability. Recipes range from simple (how to cook rice perfectly), to challenging (how to make frankfurter kranz), to difficult (how to make croissants), but I appreciated this fact. This is a cookbook that engages you, the cook, on every level. I had to make the stuffed pizza pie referenced above twice before it came out the way I wanted, the same goes for my gnocchi from semolina flour. Yet the end results were delicious and I gained a tremendous sense of accomplishment from learning such tasty new skills.

There isn't much that can be said about this book that would fall into the negative category. It is a huge text and hence a bit cumbersome, but that is to be expected from a book that transmits such a monumental amount of knowledge. At times the ingredients are a bit esoteric, yet I don't see how this can be avoided in a book that truly tackles the gourmet side of cooking and baking. Most of the less-common ingredients can be found at Whole Foods or your local speciality food store, and if those avenues fail there is always the internet. Overall I strongly recommend this book to cooks and bakers of every level.

Editorial Review:

Bursting with luscious color photography and clear step-by-step techniques drawn from the world's top chefs, this is a one-stop reference for all home cooks-from those who want to gain more confidence in the kitchen and hone their skills- to anyone who is eager to learn basic methods from scratch.

Gooseberry Patch Christmas (Gooseberry Patch) (Gooseberry Patch)

Gooseberry Patch

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Can I give it 0 stars?? Save your money 1 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Not one "original" idea that I havent seen in every magazine or craft book for years. Most of the items were scrapbooking related, which was little things like tags and noting worth duplicating.

I love Gooseberry Patch, especially their Christmas books (I own them all), but this one has no originality, no spark, nothing that is worth even trying to do for a project. Usually there is at least ONE project that has me excited and running to the craft store, but this one was just boring and dull.

Save your money and just check it out at the library.

Editorial Review:

Delicious, old-fashioned recipes, handmade holiday gifts, and ideas for frosty fun! This book is bursting with an impressive selection. For entertaining, there is A Special Invitation Dinner where guests bring foods to complement the main dish, a Stack-It-Up Breakfast, a Festive Tree-Trimming Feast, goodies for which It All Starts With a Cake Mix, Transforming Traditions for friends who are far from home, and Taste-Tempting Treats such as Amazing Double Chocolate Truffles. Home decor themes include a wintry landscape with cool red and blue tones, inviting entryway ideas, jolly Santa accents, merry mantels, and plans for an ornament exchange party. There also are papercrafting projects by the dozens, including Artist Trading Cards, greeting cards, and stationery sets. Easy-to-make gifts include a woven scarf, an embellished manicure set, and a reindeer towel with bath mitt.

The Best American Classics (Best Recipe)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Step into our test kitchen and learn how to make truly great American food. Want to know how to keep lemon meringue pie from weeping or which type of chocolate makes the best pudding? Want to capture the flavors of a real clambake on top of the stove? To find the answers to these and hundreds more questions, we made 28 lemon meringue pies, chopped our way through pounds of chocolate, and steamed enough clams to feed a small town. In addition, we’ve included more than 200 illustrations plus no-nonsense equipment ratings and taste tests of supermarket ingredients.

The Best American Classics features more than 300 recipes that cover the wide range of American cooking. Choose from favorite regional dishes such as Chicago deep-dish pizza, New Orleans’ legendary red beans and rice, or New York cheesecake. Or select beloved family fare like chicken pot pie, glazed meatloaf, and green bean casserole. Restaurant classics are here as well, from Parker House rolls and Waldorf salad to bananas foster. The Best American Classics celebrates the breadth of our cuisine with foolproof recipes that will stand the test of time.

Real Boston Baked Beans that are worth the wait

If you want to make Boston baked beans that are a cut above the tourist variety, you’ll need salt pork and bacon for authentic smoky flavor. And for best results, bake the beans for five hours, leaving the cover off the pot during the final hour to thicken the sauce to just the right consistency.

Stovetop Mac ’n Cheese that’s Silky Not Sticky

This all-around family favorite appears in more guises than just about any other comfort food on the planet. But the best recipe, we found, is made on the stovetop (not baked) and uses evaporated milk in the sauce (not a fussy béchamel).

All-American Meatloaf that’s Crusty and Glazed Not Soggy

For the best meatloaf, use a mix of meats (beef, pork, and veal). Then, select the right binders: cracker crumbs and breadcrumbs don’t mask the flavor of the meat. Lastly, bake the loaf free-form (so it doesn’t get soggy) and give it a double dose of glaze.

Strawberry Shortcake That Tastes as Good as it Looks

For a juicy filling that stays put between the biscuits, choose the ripest berries and then mash some of them into a chunky sauce and slice the rest. Left to sit with a little sugar, the mixture macerates, making a thick filling that soaks into the tender, easy-to-make biscuits.

At Home with Carolyne Roehm

Carolyne Roehm

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Former fashion designer Carolyne Roehm is renowned for combining a keen appreciation of beauty with practical know-how. Now, with this gorgeously illustrated guide, readers can go behind the scenes of her memorable parties, learn her entertaining secrets, and visit the glamorous homes where she has dazzled her prominent guests.

Imparting fresh ideas and inspiration for knockout events on any budget, At Home with Carolyne Roehm follows the calendar’s seasons to provide year-round suggestions for place settings, floral arrangements, and menus. Emphasizing creativity and natural elements, Carolyne Roehm’s tips are not exclusively geared toward elegant functions: Picnics, cozy fireside meals for two, afternoon teas, and formal dinner parties are treated with equal verve. Drawing on ingredients and imagery appropriate for spring, summer, winter, and fall and all the major holidays, this handsome collection yields a trove of simple but sophisticated recipes along with perfect tabletop and decorative accents to accompany them. Biscuit sandwiches of Mustard-Glazed and Smoked Cheddar; Shrimp and White Bean Salad; Zucchini and Watercress Soup; and Fudgy Rum Chocolate Cake are just a few of the delicious and easy-to-prepare dishes. For successful festive occasions that friends and family will remember for years, from a grand New Year’s Eve gala to a spring brunch with a floral theme, At Home with Carolyne Roehm is itself glorious cause for celebration.

Forever Summer (Style Network's) (Style Network's)

Nigella Lawson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Nigella Rocks 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

My how Nigella has changed the way I Cook, Eat, think and feel about food. I first saw Nigella cooking on her TV show Nigella Bites and just loved the way she spoke about food with her passion coming through the TV screen. I purchased her books and now I'm such the Male Domestic God that I think I have missed my calling and should have been a Chef, but I do know that it's all thanks to Nigella.

An odd mix of outstanding and poor recipes 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have all but one of Nigella's cookbooks and this is one of my favorites. Having said that I must all say that each book has recipes that utterly fail and ones that are unbelievably great. In Forever Summer the Strawberry Meringue Layercake is good in theory, but the sponge cake part ends up very dry and the entire thing looks like a hamburger. People were not impressed. The Coconut Slab, overly sugared and dry. However, her Chocolate Raspberry Pav was fabulous. And I couldn't go wrong with any of the pasta dishes, they were wonderful. Of course, the photos are gorgeous and the book itself is very fun to read through, especially when you are missing summer in the dead of winter. But, it;s frustrating when the photos are gorgeous but the end result half the time isn't nearly as good as it looks. I'm happy there were less photos of her in this book eating and posing for the camera. That gets a little tiring. Overall, I'd recommend it if you can pick it up for less used.

Editorial Review:

"Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (April 2, 2003) Language: English ISBN: 1401300162 Product Dimensions: 10.0 x 7.7 x 0.9 inches Setting the warm, relaxed tone befitting the season, U.K. food goddess Lawson (Nigella

Williams-Sonoma Kid's Parties: Creative ideas and recipes for making celebrations special

Lisa Atwood

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Editorial Review:

With eye-catching photography that will entice all ages, an easy-to-use format, and lots of neat ideas, Kids Parties will inspire creative party giving throughout the year.

From a pretty pink cupcake party with a butterfly theme and an outdoor Easter gathering with a spirited egg hunt to a spooky Halloween get-together with punch the color of blood, Kids Parties is packed with a year’s worth of fun-filled birthday and holiday celebrations for kids from ages four to ten.

Seven distinctively themed parties are featured. Each one offers a work plan to help you budget your time; a menu and recipes; fresh, new ideas for invitations, decorations, and favors; and suggestions for games, crafts, and other party-time activities. Many of the recipes are geared toward getting the kids involved, from making pizza to decorating lollipops to frosting cupcakes. And every menu includes food ideas for partygoers of different ages and tastes.

Passover by Design: Picture-perfect Kosher by Design recipes for the holiday (Kosher by Design) (Kosher By Design)

Susie Fishbein

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Features:

• Binding: hardcover
• Weight: 2.40 lbs
• Dimensions: 8 1/4" x 9 5/8"

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

There is Mighty Fine Eating Between These Pages 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I am not religious, observe no conventions other than exchanging gifts at Christmas. That said, why am I writing a review of this book? For me there is only one reason for owning a cookbook and that is the recipes inside. Either they're good or they're not. You cook up a dish, if it's tasty, if your family or company like it, then you try another, then another. If you and yours get on with the recipes, then you have a winner, if not, well then you don't.

This book is a winner, but before I go into the recipes, I'd like to say that the book is elegantly done, the photographs are mouthwateringly gorgeous and the book has been laid out very professionally. You can tell Ms. Fishbein, Mr. Uher and their publishers really cared about this project.

But do the recipes pass muster? Yeah, I gotta say they do. My first outing with this book was the Meat and Potato Roll. It was easy to do, so easy that I wondered why it was in a cookbook. I made it without a hitch and it was divine. So a couple days later I decided to try something a bit more complicated and did the Portobello Stacks with Honey Balsamic Ketchup for a starter and jeepers were they ever good. This was something I never would have thought of making by myself and now it's something I'll be making for years to come. That alone makes this book a gem as far as I'm concerned.

But wait! There's more. The Caramelized Parsnip Carrot Soup is simply to die for, as are the Turmeric Matzo Balls. You know in my wildest of wildest dreams I never would have thought I'd be doing Matzo Balls, but I'm into this cookbook now and I can't get out. I suppose one of the reasons for my captivity is the photographs. One look and you're drooling. You just gotta start cooking.

In conclusion, this book passes with flying colors the only test a cookbook should have and that's the recipes inside it. Follow these recipes and you'll please not only your family and company, but yourself as well. There is mighty fine eating between these pages and I'll be using this cookbook for years to come.

Editorial Review:

In this fifth cookbook in the celebrated Kosher by Design series, Susie Fishbein makes Passover preparations elegantly simple. Featuring a blend of Passover-adjusted Kosher by Design favorites, with over thirty brand-new recipes and full-color photos, this is one cookbook you'll love to use throughout the holiday.
Passover by Design features:
**Over 30 brand-new recipes, many developed with kosher catering star, Moshe David
**Over 130 Kosher by Design favorites reformulated and retested for Passover
**Over 140 full-color images throughout, with over 40 brand-new photos
**Quick and easy table decor and entertaining ideas
**Useful, year-round healthy cooking techniques
**Comprehensive index for easy cross-referencing
**Also includes over 130 gluten-free recipes which makes this the perfect year-round cookbook for those on a gluten-free diet.

Tablescapes

Kimberly Schlegel Whitman

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Editorial Review:

In Tablescapes: Setting the Table with Style and Flair, socialite, high-end event planner, and consummate hostess Kimberly Schlegel Whitman shows how to set the stage for special-occasion meals by setting a beautifully creative table with flair and panache. Featuring some of the most exquisite china, silver, and crystal, Whitman shows how she develops decorating themes appropriate for any occasion-from sit-down dinners for a few guests or buffets for many, to bridal and baby showers, holiday dinners with the family, and al fresco parties at the beach. Personalized table coverings are one of her specialties, and this book has a plethora of ideas.

Instant Entertaining

Donna Hay

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Entertaining doesn't have to be stressful. It should be fun and fuss-free. Which is why Donna Hay has put together this collection of simple menus for truly instant entertaining. So no matter what the occasion, entertaining has just become a whole lot easier.

One of today's most influential food writers tells you all you need to know about entertaining. Following the worldwide success of her last book, The Instant Cook, Donna Hay brings you fresh, easy-to-follow recipes and clever styling ideas for entertaining family and friends. From an impromptu weeknight dinner for two to a celebration for twelve, Instant Entertaining is everything you need to make your occasion an instant success. It is beautifully photographed in the style for which Donna has become known worldwide.

Donna Hay has become an inspiration to American cooks. Her recipes are renowned for their fresh modern flavors, stylish presentation, ease of preparation and readily available ingredients. Her style has become a benchmark for contemporary recipes and cookbooks. She has garnered a passionate global following for her approach to food, giving home cooks the confidence to cook with instinct and style.