Special Occasions Books - Page 8

Baking for All Occasions

Flo Braker

Amazon Price: $28.00 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chronicle Books Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $18.94

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Baking -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Baking -> General AAS
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Special Occasions -> Holidays

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

A cookbook that makes you Swoon 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

Years ago I stumbled upon Braker's first book and immediately contacted her about where to get almond paste. This was the first time I had encountered such a heavy usage of almond paste, and it made an almond paste lover out of me. Since then I keep a food service size tin of the stuff on hand as does she. In Baking for All Occasions, Braker, stays true to her love of almonds and almond paste and contributes a good amont of recipes with them included in the book. But if your are not an almond lover, don't be turned off, there are many delicious recipes in this book that don't include it. I had been waiting for this book for over a year and so when I got it I immediately starting baking from it was and was pleased as usual. First off, I love that she included cups, ounces and grams, which is true to her style.

I also loved some of the really different recipes. The Zebra Cookies, which are called "chocolate-Vanilla Swirl are so cute along with the Chocolate-Dipped Cheesecake-sicles. Many of these could be served at an A-list event but they are easy. There is the Red Velvet Cake Roll, that is visually stunning and the Dark Chocolate Baby Cakes with Coffee White chocolate Ganache. There is a really nice variety of recipes and if you are not familiar with her work after baking from this book, you will likely go and try and find her older books. A nice set of 23 photos is included in the book as well as two indexes. One index is by recipe categories. Therefore looking for tarts and crostatas or yeast cakes, you'll find them more easily in this index. She also includes the standard index, just in case you are looking for all the almond paste recipes. These are not your grandmother standby recipes but they are so good you won't care with recipes to choose from like Old World Braided Coffee Cake. My advice to those who do like almond paste, try the Bundernuss Torte. Its a buttery tart pastry with a almond macaroon filling and hazelnut caramel topping. It is labor intensive and requires an overnight rest so be warned.

Editorial Review:

Baking expert Flo Baker rises to the occasion with more than 200 celebration-worthy recipes for baked goods. Whether it's an impressive Dark Chocolate Custard Tart to wish someone a happy birthday, a blue ribbon-worthy batch of Fresh Mint Brownies for the annual family reunion, or an Old World Braided Coffee Cake to impress the Bridge Club, each recipe is custom-crafted to commemorate life's special events. Lots of introductory information on techniques and ingredients ensure that each treat will be baked to perfection, making this a fabulous reference for any cookbook library. "Baking for all Occasions" makes each day something to celebrate.

Fabulous Parties: Food and Flowers for Elegant Entertaining

Mark Held, Richard David, Peggy Dark

Amazon Price: $23.10 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ryland Peters & Small Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $13.79

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Special Occasions -> Party Planning
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Special Occasions -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Special Occasions -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Packed with advice and inspiration from three of Los Angeles' most popular party providers. "Fabulous Parties" reveals their professional secrets and enables you to create your own sensational celebration for any occasion. Drawing on many years of hands-on-experience as floral designers and caterers to Los Angeles' A-listers, Mark Held and Richard David of Mark's Garden and Peggy Dark of the Kitchen has adapted the principles of putting together a large, lavish event to a more intimate scale and lower budget. The harmonious relationship between food and flowers is clearly shown in beautiful, specially commissioned photographs, which showcase twenty themed events inspired by those created for their celebrity clients. All of the events included have a theme, decor, and menu. Choose from a Rustic Italian Party, a colorful Caribbean Dinner, a lavish New Year's Eve Celebration, an elegant Wine Tasting, or a glamorous Pink Ladies' Luncheon, plus many more. Useful practical instruction on how to achieve professional results at home is given in a section on Floristy Tips and Techniques. *Celebrity clients who enjoy parties created by Mark's Garden and The Kitchen include Oprah Winfrey, Cher, Diane Keaton, George Clooney, Teri Hatcher, Tommy Hilfiger, Donatella Versace, and many more.

Cakes to Dream On: A Master Class in Decorating

Colette Peters

Amazon Price: $26.40 List Price: $40.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wiley Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $19.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Baking -> Cakes
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Baking -> Desserts
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Culinary Arts & Techniques

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

cake decorator 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Cakes extremely too difficult to recreate except for a professional. Very little detail given in the art of doing it. Great pictures and beautiful creations just not practical. Very little helpful know how explained. Does include pattern for the detail work which is helpful but you have to enlarge them and not all directions are included. When it says "Master" class, you better be a "Master Cake Decorator" cause other wise you just have a book to collect.

Editorial Review:

"Whether blowing out birthday candles or cutting the first piece at a wedding, there are no cakes better suited to wishing and dreaming than Colette’s enchanting creations."
--Donna Ferrari, Food & Wine Director, BRIDE’S Magazine

"Colette is an inspired artist who follows a road never-before traveled. Her cakes are amusing and loveable, and they defy gravity. Colette’s creations awaken the childlike spirit in all of us."
--Jacques Torres

"Colette’s innovative style and approach are vivid and unique. Her work is an inspiration! This is a brilliant and innovative composition of edible art!"
--Ewald Notter, Notter
International School of Confectionary Arts

Light and Healthy Holidays: First Place 4 Health Devotional (First Place 4 Health) (First Place)

First Place 4 Health

Amazon Price: $10.19 List Price: $14.99 Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks By: Gospel Light Pubns Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $10.19

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Special Occasions -> Holidays
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Exercise & Fitness -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Exercise & Fitness -> General AAS

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

Stay on track during the holidays! 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Now is a great time to order your "Light and Healthy Holidays" devotional to either do on your own, or with your FP4H group. The group that I lead is going to meet six times: the three Wednesdays before Thanksgiving and the three Wednesdays before Christmas. The six weeks of devotionals in this book fit into that time frame perfectly.

This is not a standard FP4H study. Each "day" in the book includes a short devotional reading, then a section for personal reflection and application, almost like a journal. There is not a series of questions and Bible verses to be looked up as in the regular Bible studies. There are memory verses and Live-It Trackers for each week, as usual. In the back of the book are menu & recipe helps for the season, including plans for your Thanksgiving and Christmas Day meals.

Here are the themes and memory verses for each week:

1. Giving Thanks (I Thessalonians 5:18)
2. Goodness and Love (I Chronicles 16:34)
3. Great Joy (Luke 2:10-11)
4. Come to Worship (Matthew 2:1-2)
5. Be Made New (Ephesians 4:22-24)
6. A New Heart (Ezekiel 36:26)

This year, let's have a healthy AND celebratory holiday season!

Editorial Review:

Light & Healthy Holidays provides staying power during the tempting holiday season and encouragement to reflect on the true reason for the holidays. This complete resource includes devotions, holiday helps, holiday menus and recipes, and a small group guide. Topics Included: Devotions on giving thanks and God's gift of love, Read about replacing fear with joy, Holiday menus and recipes, How can you achieve your holiday goals?, Holiday survival tips.

Southern Lady: Gracious Tables: The Perfect Setting for Any Occasion

Phyllis Hoffman

Amazon Price: $26.37 List Price: $39.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Collins Living Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $7.49

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> U.S. Regional -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> U.S. Regional -> General AAS
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Special Occasions -> Tablesetting

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Entertaining doyenne Phyllis Hoffman shows how to prepare a stunning table for any occasion.

So many of the events of our lives, from the formal to the informal, are celebrated by gathering around a table. Whatever the occasion—whether it's a holiday dinner, Sunday brunch, or a casual lunch with friends—the table is the place where we relax and enjoy each other's company while savoring a great meal.

No one knows how to dress a table with elegance and flair better than Phyllis Hoffman, publisher of Southern Lady magazine, the quintessential resource for entertaining the gracious Southern way. Now, Hoffman draws upon her years of expertise to create Southern Lady Gracious Tables, the definitive guide to creating gorgeous "tablescapes" for every occasion.

Starting with the basics, Hoffman presents a series of breathtaking spreads for a whole range of occasions, from formal settings to casual get-togethers, and describes how to achieve each look, right down to the recipes—55 in total—for her mouthwatering specialties. Enjoy a lovely outdoor lunch of tasty Fried Green Tomatoes with Crab and Green Chile Cream Sauce, or finish off a dinner party with delectable Praline Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce.

Hoffman then builds a "wardrobe for the table," navigating through the complex world of dinnerware, fine linens, and serving pieces. Each and every element of the table—from fruit saucer to lemon fork to water goblet—is covered in a friendly, helpful way.

Finally, there's advice on adding that all-important personal touch, with instructions on how to craft flowers, family heirlooms, collectibles, and other unexpected treasures into the perfect centerpiece, place marker, or accent. All along, her advice includes refreshingly simple techniques for presentation and encourages the reader's own creativity in playing with colors, patterns, and styles.

Complemented by lush photography and told in Hoffman's accessible, encouraging, and deliciously Southern voice, Southern Lady Gracious Tables is a must-have for every aspiring hostess, south or north of the Mason Dixon. The perfect gift for any woman who loves to entertain, it has all the tools, tips, and inspiration you need to elevate the ordinary to the unforgettable.

Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass

Natalie Maclean

By: Doubleday Canada Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $10.03

Buy at Amazon.com

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

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Award-winning writer Natalie MacLean sweeps readers behind the scenes of the international wine world, visiting its most evocative places and meeting its most charismatic personalities. Red, White, and Drunk All Over showcases the engaging wit, investigative curiosity, and sharp eye for obsessive passion that has made her free e-newsletter Nat Decants one of the most popular in North America.

Natalie tastes sensuous pinot noir in the ancient cellars of Burgundy while discovering the mysterious tenets of biodynamic viticulture from such colourful characters as the tiny, ferocious Lalou Bize-Leroy, part-owner of France's acclaimed Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. She pulls on sturdy boots to help with the grape harvest at California’s Bonny Doon Vineyards–and gets to the root of the anti-establishment philosophy of owner Randall Grahm, notorious for his experimental wine techniques, love for unfashionable grapes, and fondness for naming his wines “Cardinal Zin,” “Heart Has its Rieslings,” and “Big House Red” (whose grapes are grown just down the road from one of California’s state prisons).

Natalie takes a job as undercover sommelier at a five-star French restaurant, spends a day helping customers in a high-end New York wine shop, wades into a famous feud between Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson, two of the world’s best-known critics and, back home, invites friends over for a casual wine tasting. Along the way she teaches us–painlessly and often hilariously–how to face a telephone directory-sized wine list without fear, what questions to ask to get exactly the wine you are looking, what those scores out of 100 really mean, and how properly to expectorate (it’s best to start out in the shower!)

This wine-soaked blend of Kitchen Confidential and Sideways is a fascinating tour from the grape to the glass that will drive readers to drink. And think. And laugh.

The Brewmaster's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food

Garrett Oliver

Amazon Price: $16.15 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ecco Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $11.18

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Bartending
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Beer
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Traditional craft-brewed beer can transform a meal from everyday to extraordinary. It's an affordable, accessible luxury. Yet most people are only familiar with the mass-market variety. Have you tasted the real thing?

In The Brewmaster's Table, Garrett Oliver, America's foremost authority on beer and brewmaster of the acclaimed Brooklyn Brewery, reveals why real beer is the perfect partner to any dining experience. He explains how beer is made, relays its fascinating history, and, accompanied by Denny Tillman's exquisite photographs, conducts an insider's tour through the amazing range of flavors displayed by distinct styles of beer from around the world. Most important, he shows how real beer, which is far more versatile than wine, intensifies flavors when it's appropriately paired with foods, creating brilliant matches most people have never imagined: a brightly citric Belgian wheat beer with a goat cheese salad, a sharply aromatic pale ale to complement spicy tacos, an earthy German bock beer to match a porcini risotto, even a fruity framboise to accompany a slice of chocolate truffle cake. Whether you're a beer aficionado, a passionate cook, or just someone who loves a great dinner, this book will indeed be a revelation.

Feast: Food to Celebrate Life

Nigella Lawson

Amazon Price: $23.10 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hyperion Amazon Marketplace: 75 new & used starting at $5.87

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Culinary Arts & Techniques
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Quick & Easy -> Cooking for One
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Special Occasions -> Holidays

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A feast can be a daily extravagance after all 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Nigella is my original muse, she single handedly got me back into the kitchen and cooking when the days of making cookies with my grandmother passed and I had to start doing it on my own. I have all of her books and honestly they are something one can actually cook from, my shelves are bending from the amount of cookbooks they house but only half are being used to make dinners and cakes, others I look at for inspiration and for pictures but Nigella's recipes are worth every penny one spends on a cookbook. I can't express my love and gratitude for this woman; she's intelligent, cheerful, honest a magnificent food writer who actually got me into writing as well, I even got my first KitchenAid mixer because she used her so much to make all of her delectable treats. So fear not, this and other books that she penned are not only gorgeous to look at but they can help anyone put something mouth watering on the table in no time. This one has pictures on almost every page and a short little bit of how this came to be or how she eats it before each recipe, probably my favorite part of the book.

This book is broken into occasions rather than seasons or ingredients - Thanksgiving & Christmas, New Year, Meatless Feasts, Valentine's Day, Easter, Passover, Breakfast, Kitchen Feasts, Kiddiefeast, Cut-out Cookies, Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame, A Georgian Feast, Eid, Ultimate Feasts, Hallowe'en, Rosh Hashanah, A Venetian Feast, Festival of Lights, Partytime, Midnight Feast, Wedding Feast, Funeral Feast ( somber I know but the food is actually very appropriate and having herself lose her mother, sister and first husband to cancer, Nigella is still living life and making the best of what she has) so no matter what one celebrates they can find something good in this super large volume. I have to admit that I use this daily and don't wait for special occasions.

Feast is probably her biggest ( thickest) book to date, and I made some good things from it. Let me tell you, the Pumpkin Cheesecake (on page 68 ) was my first cheesecake and no only was it ridiculously easy it turned out so good I was shocked I made it myself. There was a suggestion for Butterscotch sauce on the page to pour on top, I made it as well ( gotta love the pairing suggestions) and the combination was just divine. The sauce would also go well on something like an apple and macadamia nut crumble or anything thatis sweet.

Gingerbread muffins on page 91 were so warm and cozy I make them in cold weather to keep the chill of, the trouble is stopping at one. If you want your house to smell like a home, make this!

Roast Loin of pork with caraway, lemon and garlic - spicy fragrant, nothing ordinary about this simple to make dinner, makes great leftovers as the rub on top intensifies.

Chicken Pot Pie - I guarantee that after this one no one will be shopping for it in the frozen section of their supermarket, flaky dough, creamy hot center, lost of peas, ham and chicken in sauce, the only caution is not burning the tongue as it's hard not to gobble up.

There's even Muttar Paneer - an excellent Indian dish, makes me feel silly for ever thinking it was hard to make. Now I can control the ingredients and how much salt and fat goes into it, one can make a healthy lunch out of an exotic staple after all.

This book has everything, I don't know how this woman thinks it all up, but she makes these recipes and writes about them, she feeds them to her children and friends, real people are involved into bringing this book to life and it shows.

- Kasia S.

Editorial Review:

Nigella Lawson, Gourmet magazine's "It Girl," New York Times "Dining In" columnist, and bestselling cookbook author, is celebrating life -- and you're invited. Feast, Nigella's most festive book yet, offers savory, spicy, and delicious recipes for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, Eid, New Year's, Passover, Easter gatherings, and any time you want to celebrate food and life. This book is filled with festive recipes, and in it, Nigella offers tips, tricks, and shortcuts that will ensure you dine with ease, style, and fun. Feast also includes some surprising gems, like Nigella's Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame, and her best cheeseburger. And like her other cookbooks, Feast is a cookbook that will be treasured all year long.

The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery: For Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures Complete With 2973 Recipes

Auguste Escoffier

Amazon Price: $17.13 List Price: $25.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Crown Publishers, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 56 new & used starting at $9.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Baking -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Baking -> General AAS
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Culinary Arts & Techniques

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

Fascinating to read, but not a "cookbook" in the modern sense 4 out of 5 stars.
34 of 34 people found this review helpful.

"The Escoffier Cookbook" is a heavily abridged American version of Auguste Escoffier's 1903 book "Guide Culinaire". It is a fascinating look at the art of professional European cookery at the beginning of the 20th century.

However, to appreciate this book fully, it's important to understand exactly who it was written for. Escoffier's original guide was never for a second intended for the home cook. Escoffier was a pioneer with respect to the education of professional chefs, and originally wrote this book for the use of those working in grand houses, in hotels, on ocean liners, and in restaurants who might not have had access to contemporary recipes. Accordingly, the original book does not attempt to teach basic cooking or food preparation techniques. The American translation does include some details on cooking techniques and utensils unfamiliar to the average American chef (such as poeleing, worth the cost of the book alone, and the old French form of braising), but even in the translation it is assumed that the reader is a trained, experienced chef.

The recipes themselves are clear and simple to follow, but represent only a small subset of French cooking of the early 20th century. An earlier reviewer mentioned that there was no recipe for onion soup; this is true, but it should be understood that onion soup would never have been accepted by the class of restaurant patron Escoffier cooked for. Much of what has arrived on this side of the Atlantic as "French cooking" - dishes such as pot-au-feu, onion soup, and steak frites - is distinctly middle-class, and consequently would have been rejected by the clientele of quality restaurants of the time as being unspeakably boorish. Escoffier personally enjoyed bourgeois cooking, but as an astute, intelligent businessman he provided the haute cuisine his clients demanded.

One interesting difference between modern cooking and the cooking featured in this book is that Escoffier uses few spices, and indeed declaims on the foolishness of using large amounts of spices in meat dishes. This appears bizarre from our vantage point, but Escoffier had sound economic reasons for his proscriptions. Most diners of the time grew up in the days before refrigeration, when old deteriorating meat was heavily spiced to make it palatable. Fresh, unspiced meat was a sign of the highest quality. The association between strong spices and poor quality was powerful enough to survive long into the 20th century, as any reader of a 1950s American cookbook can attest.

As for the recipes themselves, I doubt that many of them could be prepared by the North American home cook. Most of us cannot afford (if we can even find) foie gras, truffles, or capons, and few have espagnole sauce or fish fumet available at all times. However, many recipes can be adapted for the modern cook - using cepes or porcini mushrooms for truffles, for instance - and those that can be prepared really are delicious.

Editorial Review:

An American translation of the definitive Guide Culinaire, the Escoffier Cookbook includes weights, measurements, quantities, and terms according to American usage. Features 2,973 recipes.

The All-American Christmas Cookbook: Family Favorites from Every State

Chronicle Books

Amazon Price: $13.56 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chronicle Books Amazon Marketplace: 33 new & used starting at $8.51

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> U.S. Regional -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> U.S. Regional -> General AAS
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Special Occasions -> Christmas & Hanukkah

Editorial Review:

Christmas is a season of traditionsómusic lights stories decorations sharing gifts spending time with family and friends and of course food! The All-American Christmas Cookbook provides a state-by-state tour of America's favorite Christmas recipes from Alabama's Pecan Divinity to New York's Oyster Stew to Utah's Quick Peppermint Stick Cake. With classic regional recipes and beautiful vintage artwork from holidays past this cookbook will put everyone in the Christmas spirit from sea to shining sea.