F Books

This book is exactly what I hoped to find. It is filled with beautifully illustrated quilts & embroidery with step by step details on design, construction and how it was embroidered. Sandra has detailed her quilt design process giving the reader a clearly demonstrated understanding visually & textually of what inspires her quilts and then firstly how she gets them out of her head and onto paper & then translated into a quilt. Sandras use of sumptuous fabrics showing us how fabrics are combined, moved around and translated into images is wonderful. The embroidery is textual & three dimensional and the magic is nothing you see seems unachievable. Highly recommended for teachers, students and anyone wanting to take their quilt making to a new level.

This is a wonderful book to spark your creativity. It was reccommended by Amazon when I bought another quilt book and I'm glad I bought it.

It was a gift for my Mom who wants to create more inspired quilts. She loves it and is off and running with new ideas and techniques for creating her own designs.

This book along with Sandra's contemporary quits has been inspirational to me. These two books have almost become my bible. I can look through them time and again for ideas and they help to spark my creativity. There are a variety of techniques to make your quilts more interesting and diamentional. This book was well worth the money and would make a great contributional to anyone who is interested in art quilts to their own personal library.

I love this book. I do quite a lot of textile art and this book has lots of inspiration and different techniques. The use of a sketch book mimics the use of a notebook for my writing. I often take photos of skylines and other scenery, then use them in my quilting.
I thoroughly recommend this book for those quilters who need a bit of help to break out of the square.
Cathryn Hart

Nice concurrence of words and thoughts. Magical reality. All stories were quite fine. I enjoyed 'The Hitchhiker Tale at Anton's Restaurant' the best.
'The Uninvited Guest' with its political statements would have been even stronger, in my opinion, by not being placed in a magical reality - which ended. The issues are too important and too real.

Dreamtime is an apt title for this collection of short stories. The author has a wonderfully natural writing style, and in all but one case the story feels as if the author is right there with you recounting personal stories beside the hearth - indeed, the majority of the stories are drawn from personal experience, as the author tells us in his Preface. The naturalistic style of the writing makes for a perfect medium in which Steiner introduces touches of the dream-like and supernatural. In story after story, the world of the mundane is gradually infused with an atmosphere of intellectual, almost dreamlike fog.

The initial story, The Decoy, is rather atypical of the eleven stories collected here, in that it does not stray into the realm of the unusual. It does, however, show how good can come of seemingly bad occurrences. The sense of dreamlike experience first manifests itself in The Hiker's Tale: At Anton's Restaurant, in my opinion the most effective story in the collection. In this tale, an older gentleman finds himself caught in a sudden snowstorm, only to find a needed respite in the form of a most unusual restaurant.

Two of the stories, The Student Pilot and The Returning Student, share a similar theme; they don't deal with reincarnation per se, but in each case a great man of the past seems to make an unexpected and relatively brief trip into a contemporary but otherwise mundane setting. Canine Fantasies was a story I particularly enjoyed; here, the main character is given an invisible canine companion by a hypnotist, and this supposedly transient spirit eventually becomes the man's best friend in ways few would believe.

Several of the stories are open-ended explorations of extreme possibilities. The Disappearance, for instance, puts forth one possible scenario of The Rapture in the form of a man with whom the protagonist has, he realizes after the fact, a brief but personal connection. Events and personalities coming back together for a seemingly preordained purpose is also the formula for the story The Sea Witch. Phoenix Street is the only story with a real feeling of creepiness embedded within it - in the form of a malevolent old lady who affects a young Harvard graduate student's life, despite the fact the two individuals have never truly met.

A palpable sense of unreality or perhaps hyper-reality is evinced in the story The Uninvited Guest. Here, a stranded traveler wanders into an upscale party of strange characters espousing radical ideas. There would seem to be a context of political philosophy built into this story, but it is hard to say more without giving anything away.

The Pilgrim proves to be the most unusual story in the collection; it offers an allegorically striking and most unusual take on the subject of dying. I would have liked to have seen this story close out the book rather than the much less effective tale Round Trip. This final tale differs from the others in that it is told from the perspective of a third person, and its somewhat depressing account of an astronaut returning to a world forty years in his future (thanks to the conundrum of relativity) casts a dark reflection on the reader's consciousness.

Needless to say, I found Dreamtime a most impressive short story collection. While the author devoted his life to science, he obviously developed at the same time a deep sense of the human condition, with all its fears, desires, and mysteries. His writing style, far from the cold and sterile manner you might associate with a man of science, is in fact vibrant and exceedingly smooth and natural. Steiner chose the title Dreamtime because the word reflects a time of creativity and dreamlike magic, and as such it seems to fit this collection of stories perfectly.

Dreamtime is a term for the magical period of the creation of the world...it grasps the meaning of mystery and mystical wonder. The title "Dreamtime" captures the essence of Robert Steiner's short story collection and gives the correct suggestion that this too is a thing of mystery and mystical wonder.

This collection offers stories of great variety, from an odd summer job of being a decoy for muggings to the consequences of space travel. All of the stories contain some sort of oddity, lending them all an air of the "Twilight Zone." Each is a short, satisfying episode of fiction that will be sure to please its readers.

Robert Steiner is a storyteller with a gift for description. He grabs the reader's attention from the first word and offers tidbits of uniqueness to carry you through to the end of each tale. "Dreamtime" is an interesting and enjoyable read that touches on the paranormal but also demonstrates the very human qualities of its characters.

Review by Heather Froeschl of BookReview.com.

What is a dream? Is it merely that state achieved during sleep when fleeting images only half remembered later trace their way through your mind? Or are there other dream states? How about an alternate reality? Could one stumble into something so extraordinary and so beyond the common frame of reference that it constitutes a sort of waking dream? Author Robert Steiner seems to think so. He compiled eleven short stories outlining his belief under the title "Dreamtime." The author, a Harvard graduate who worked as a research scientist at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, has written a series of tales that evoke memories of such writers of the supernatural as William Hope Hodgson and even, in a certain narrative way, Clark Ashton Smith. Not all of the stories delve into the paranormal, but all of the stories do give the reader a decidedly eerie sensation of "not quite rightness" that only the masters of supernatural fiction manage to achieve. You won't find a lot of monsters from beyond time and space or fabled lands on other planets in "Dreamtime." What we do get is something far more sinister and far more personal. This is one creepy set of stories.

The first story in the collection, "The Decoy," doesn't exactly set the tone for the rest of the book. Don't get me wrong; it's a great story. But it doesn't expose us to the bizarre like the rest of the tales do. In this one, a young man ready to head off to graduate school decides to take a most unusual summer job in Italy helping the authorities there crack down on street criminals. Why he would be perfect for the job only emerges in degrees: it seems that his physical appearance is so repugnant that the Italian cops think he looks like a dupe of the type criminals love to victimize. He's actually quite intelligent, of course, which is another trait the police are looking for. Needless to say, he works wonders busting up packs of pickpockets until an encounter with a particularly ruthless gang of Russian thugs changes our young hero forever.

The next story, "The Hiker's Tale: At Anton's Restaurant," is more conventionally weird, if that makes any sense. A man decides to take a long hike to a dinner party only to run headlong into a dangerous snowstorm. He sits down on a stump to rest--never a good thing to do when it's cold and snowing outside--only to resume his trip a few minutes later. He stumbles over a brightly lit gentleman's club/restaurant in a place he never noticed on previous excursions. Invited inside by the friendly personnel, he sits down to partake of the inn's fantastic menu only to wake up suddenly in the hospital, a victim of frostbite and extreme exhaustion. Was it real or only a dream of a warm, welcoming place conjured up by an injured mind and body in order to sustain itself?

The next four tales share a similar trait in that we are seeing people or animals emerging from some other place or time to affect characters in the present day. "The Student Pilot" introduces us to a mysterious man who shows up for flight lessons even though he seems to know everything about flying airplanes. His identity, strongly hinted at toward the end of the story, makes us wonder whether what we are seeing is a case of reincarnation or something more eerie. The same can be said for "Canine Fantasies," a truly odd tale of a man hypnotized into thinking a phantom dog follows him everywhere he goes. Is it the recalled spirit of his childhood pet or a merely a hallucination? Problem is, this spirit helps the main character out in a big way on several occasions. "The Returning Student" eschews pilots and dogs in favor of a university teacher's encounter with an enigmatic student resembling one of our most famous authors. In "The Disappearance" the author treats us to yet another reappearing historical figure, this time a figure straight out of the Bible.

For something darker and scarier, turn to "Phoenix Street," "The Seaside Witch," and "The Uninvited Guest." The first involves a Harvard graduate student stressing out over finishing his thesis who disintegrates into a nervous wreck after glimpsing the visage of an evil looking woman glaring at him from the window of a house. "The Seaside Witch" involves a strange case of two individuals meeting again years after a chance encounter. The witch appears only briefly and in a way that doesn't set off alarm bells until the end of the story. My favorite story, and one that will definitely stay with me for some time, is "The Uninvited Guest." Some poor wretch caught in the fog pulls up to a house filled with chattering people throwing out very grim political opinions. This story made me think of Jack London's "The Iron Heel." The last tales include a science fiction story, "Round Trip," about an astronaut returning to earth after a forty-year excursion among the stars, and a delightfully optimistic look at the afterlife called "The Pilgrim."

Steiner has written some real gems here. He definitely has a knack for creating delightfully bizarre environments in the space of a few pages. His writing style works well too: you get the sense rather quickly that this is an author who ponders over each and every sentence to make sure he gets everything just right. He might have worked in science as a career, but his talents extend far beyond the laboratory and the microscope.

Robert Steiner named his collection of short stories from the Australian Aborigine "Dreamtime"--that world of the past, present and future that is a spiritual mystery. The title is apt--each story, whether set in this world or some other takes place in that nebulous region between life and death, between real and imagined.

The stories reminded me a bit of Edgar Allen Poe, but without being so bitterly dark. In a way, reading these was a bit like listening to "Hotel California" (but I mean that in a good way!)

There is a story of an unremarkable-looking young man who signs up for a stint patrolling the tourist areas of Rome. The work is not exactly without dangers, and he finds that even the darkest situation can yield some unexpected benefits. There is a story of a man who finds an abandoned mansion in Pennsylvania. The guests are captains of industry and society dames, but the uninvited guest finds out that they are far more dangerous than their conversation. A student in Cambridge, Massachusetts learns about the residue that pure evil can leave behind. And a professor in a third-rate college has a star pupil who is as elusive as he is brilliant. Who is the old guy that sits in on the classes, aces the exams but won't sign up for a campus ID and eludes security with the ease of a cat burglar?

The stories are enjoyable--reading this is like telling ghost stories around a campfire, but as if you had very literary camping friends, indeed. I enjoyed "Dreamtime" --once picked up, it's hard to put it down. If you like fantasy-horror on the light and fanciful side, this will appeal to you.

I couldn't put this book down -- from beginning to end the narrator takes your breath away with her dazzling descriptions of the remote and beautiful Driftwood Valley; the accounts of the valley in dead of winter, covered in twenty feet of snow with wolves singing mournfully and stars and northern lights dancing in the sky, brought tears to my eyes. The physical hardships and hair raising adventures she shares with her husband and their animals, her descriptions of the native people and wildlife, fascinating commentary on wilderness survival, and most of all her heartfelt love of the land itself, are nature and adventure writing at their best.

I read this book after finding it in a box in my parents attic at the age of ten. I have been trying to remember the title or author for years so I could read it again! This book is a magical read for anyone familiar with the ebb and flow of life in the wild. It inspired me to move to the Pacific Northwest and I am now planning my own trip to the Driftwood Valley. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys spending time outdoors and reading about nature! Top notch!

I am pleased to see this book has recently been reissued. I have an old, but treasured paperback copy. The author is observant of, informative about, and acutely responsive to the environment she describes. Having experienced winters in that region I would say she is especially adept at rendering the harsh, but radiant winters.

This book is an amazing journey into the frontiers of nature, exploration and science in the 1930's.

I have an autographeed copy the ©1946 edition of Driftwood Valley. I had the privilege of growing up in the same rural Pennsylvania town as Ms. Fletcher. When I was a teenager, I was employed by Ms. Fletcher to clean house for her one summer while she was away. She is a very nice woman with a remarkable background. She has set aside a nature conservatory in Northeast Pennsylvania which is open to the public. She has always been active in protecting the environment and wildlife. I re-read Driftwood Valley every couple of years and just love the adventure and challenges of this true-life story. What made it even more exiting for me is that the author was from my hometown.

I needed this book for one of my classes and it's an amazing book. I hardly recommended for someone who's study Early Childhood.

IT IS A GOOD BOOK FOR ALL CHILDREN AGE AND HELP OUT TEACHER TO UNDERSTAND THE CHILDREN HAVE BEHVIOR.

really easy book to follow good tips and points for teachers

i find that the book touches on many of the subjects that our professor teaches us, also between chapters they are not too long which makes reading and understanding much better. Being in the teaching field this is a good tool and resource for my classroom.

I was looking for a book to help me face a few challenges in my classroom during my first year of teaching kindergarten and I really enjoyed this book.
It gives helpful background knowledge, current research on best practices and new theories, as well as well-thought-out direct instruction for dealing with challenging behavior in the classroom of young children.

Un libro increible, fue mi companhero de viaje a Siberia y me ayudo a sobrevivir la depresion. Desafortunadamente me lo robaron con todo mi equipaje en Moscu y no lo pude terminar de leer. Si lo tiene en su biblioteca por favor prestemelo con el serio compromiso de devolverlo.

I read this book when it first came out.I misplaced it and have been searching for a copy ever since. Hooray for Amazon!

From start to finish, Jennings takes the reader back to an old world....experience the past more vividly than any previous saga. Journeyer is a delicuous journey of the senses. For those with a trained mind's eye, there is no experience more delectable than a well developed scenery and Jennings takes his readers to new levels.

Garry Jenning's "The Journeyer" has become one of my favorites. It has everything! True romance, adventure, perill and heroes. Not to mention it is an extremely erotic novel. I was given this book by a friend.....two years later...I still have it!! Mr Jennings has the ability to transport you back in time to experience first hand the travels of the Polo's. By the time you are done with this book you feel as if you "know" the characters. You hate to put it down. I read all 1000+ pages in less than a week.....the first time. Each time I go back to it , it feels as if I'm seeing an old friend.

The Journeyer is an incredible book. It ranks up there with The Good Earth, Shogun, and Tai Pan. If you're into old China, epoch adventure, sex, romance, and suspense, and an if you like the notion of following several story threads each embodying a clever cast of characters this is the book for you. I lost count of how many times I've read the book and how many times I have recounted the doings of the Fondler.

Excellent story from an obviously gifted author. HF lives in a tiny town in Kentucky, where they seem to be as redneck as they come. Her mom left her to live with her grandma after giving birth to her at 15. HF is now about 15 and her only friend is Bo, a classmate that is too sensitive and feminine for his own good. HF has never been with a girl but is a lesbian. In this funny, witty and touching story we follow HF as she discovers herself and those around her. This review really can't do justice to this well written story with a unique and unforgettable heroine. Highly recommended.

I was browsing through a gay bookstore in atlanta and just happend upon this book. Now I can't get enough! The characters really come alive off the page and I think many who read will relate to either Bo or H.F. I know I certainly did! The books main focus is about a young lesbian in Kentucky but as a gay male I found the entire thing to be a true work of art! I really enjoyed Ms. Watts book.

The book Finding H.F. by Julia Watts is the story of a very unique sixteen-year old named Heavenly Faith Simms. Her religious grandmother, Gemma, gave the name to her. Though Gemma insists on calling her by Heavenly Faith, everyone else knows her as H.F. Abandoned by her mother as a child, H.F. is a social outcast at school... Later, H.F. discovers that Gemma had been communicating with her mother. And so, Bo and H.F. take a road trip to Florida only to find a new world and a new relationship for themselves. Along the way they make new friends and enjoy new experiences outside of the "southern U.S. bubble". If you like the book Girl Goddess #9 by Francesca Luis Block, you will love this book. However, I recommend this book only to girls that are in the eighth grade and above because the details and concept require a mature attitude towards the theme.

Although I really enjoyed all of the Julia Watts novels, this is by far the best! This is a tender, funny, intelligent novel about the friendship between a young lesbian and a young gay man living in Morgan, KY. The novel explores multiple issues including tolerance of gays and lesbians in small town America, the views of organized religion on gays and lesbians, and what it means to be "different" in our society. I highly recommend this book, and I think it should be required reading for high school students or for anyone who remembers what it was like to be one.

I found this book by accident one day while browsing in a gay bookstore in downtown Atlanta. From page one I loved it. H.F. is someone we all wish we could meet. Male or female. I totally fell in love with Beau (why can't I find a man like that?) and just her journey, not just physically, but emotionaly is enough to touch us all. A lot of people find it hard to go from the city to the country or vice versa but Ms. Watts genuinely brings our characters, stranded in a small hick town in Ketucky, to Atlanta and beyond without a hitch. By the time I'd driven from the store to my home I was halfway through the book; stoplights ARE helpful sometimes. Excellent novel. Excellent writer. Im hooked on Julia Watts.

This is a warm, comforting book with gently taught lessons on how to manage with a rare cancer. The importance of finding expert doctors is gently but unforgettably remarked upon. The man has a generosity of character and spirit that makes reading this book a calming as well as an educating experience. He demonstrates by example an exemplary way of dealing with cancer, its many setbacks, and its many frustrations. WELL WORTH READING. Beg, borrow or steal a copy.

This is a warm, comforting book with gently taught lessons on how to manage with a rare cancer. The importance of finding expert doctors is gently but unforgettably remarked upon. The man has a generosity of character and spirit that makes reading this book a calming as well as a learning experience. He demonstrates an exemplary way of dealing with cancer, its many setbacks, and its many frustrations. WELL WORTH READING. Beg, borrow or steal a copy.

This book is a page turner. The author's story is one of courage and determination. Not only is he told he is seriously ill, but he finds his HMO offers no help. As his battle with his illness and insurance company unfolds with the pages, the reader is drawn into its intensity and overwhelming obstacles. I was amazed at the bravery of this man. He accomplished a feat few people in his situation would be willing to face. In my opinion, he is a hero. Read this book! You will find it fascinating.

I highly recommend this book this book to all readers, whether ill or healthy. Mr. Scribner's true story will touch you deeply. He has the ability to draw you into his life with the written word. I actually felt I was present in many of the situations. The book is excellent and extremely informative. His factual account is awe-inspiring and offers encouragement to those who are battling their health insurance carrier as well as a lifethreatening disease. His courage in the face of overwhelming odds literally does give one "hope" when it seems there is none.

Scribner's "Finding Hope" is a descriptive narrative which begins as the author is diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer. The reader climbs aboard an emotional roller coaster ride which makes this book difficult to put down; you'll find yourself reading it at every opportunity. Throughout the narrative, Scribner shares the difficult lessons he learned in his fight with HMO Medicine, even explicitly labeling some valuable lessons as "advice". Scribner battles the disease on any and all fronts. By "getting it together" on the physical, psychological, and spiritual fronts, Eric discovers a better way to live each day. We can all benefit from his learning and the joy he discovers in this amazing journey.

author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family

from the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
September 26, 2003

by Judy Bart Kancigor

Reading "A Fistful of Lentils" is like wandering through a family album. Instead of food photos you find dozens of family portraits, touching stories and the fascinating history of a rich and unique culture. In this engaging new cookbook, first-time author Jennifer Felicia Abadi tells the fascinating story of her Syrian Jewish family and reveals the secrets of their little known cuisine.

In 1924, her great-grandmother, Esther (called Steta in Arabic), left Aleppo for America on the crest of a wave of Syrian immigration as the Ottoman Empire crumbled. She brought with her cherished family recipes, passed down from mother to daughter, from the communal kitchens back home, where Arab and Jewish women gathered daily, as they had for centuries, to bake sambussaks (savory-filled pastries) and exchange gossip.

In the 1970s, Esther's grandchildren (Abadi's mother and aunt) decided to observe their Steta in the kitchen and carefully recorded her recipes for the family. Thirty years later, Abadi embarked on a project of her own -- trying to fill in the gaps by observing her own grandma, Fritzie -- and in the process learned as much about her family's history as she did about their cooking.

Numbering a mere 150,000 worldwide, Syrian Jews descend from a blending of the Spanish Jewish population that fled to Syria to escape the Inquisition and the Mizrahi (Eastern) Jews they found there who had made Syria their home for 2,000 years.

Those who think Middle Eastern cuisine is all falafel and hummus will delight in the exotic tastes and smells of the Syrian kitchen. But what distinguishes the foods of Syria from other Middle Eastern cuisine?

"Syrian cuisine has a strong flavor," Abadi explained, "but as compared to, say, Indian, we don't use a lot of different spices. We use mainly cinnamon and allspice in tandem together and lots of cumin. And whereas Moroccans, Algerians and Tunisians use couscous, we use bulgur wheat. We love rice, too, but bulgur wheat is our favorite grain."

Although rice was plentiful in Persia, Abadi noted, it was brought into Syria later through the trade routes. Originally reserved for the upper classes, the traditional riz (basic Syrian rice) is now considered a staple on the Syrian table. "Basic it is; plain it is not," Abadi writes.

Onions are first sautéed in oil and then combined with soaked and drained long-grain white rice, the mixture boiled and topped with toasted pine nuts. The favorite part of the rice is the prized a'hata, the brown crust scraped from the bottom of the pot, achieved by slowly cooking (and watching) the rice for 50-60 minutes over low heat.

Whereas Moroccans use dates, Syrians prefer mish mosh (dried apricots) in a variety of dishes, from Meh'shi Sfeehah b'Dja'jeh (Stuffed Baby Eggplant with Roasted Chicken) to the colorful and refreshing Mish Mosh m'Fis'dok (Cold Rose Water Syrup With Apricots and Pistachios).

"Many recipes call for rose water or orange water, and that separates us from other Mediterraneans, like the Greeks, who use honey," Abadi continued. "But I think probably our use of tamarind most distinguishes Syrian cuisine from others in the Middle East."

The rich tamarind sauce called ooh, a staple in the Syrian kitchen, is made from the pods of the tamarind tree. It is dark in color and lends a unique tart-sweet flavor to such dishes as Dja'jeh Mish Mosh (Sweet-and-Tart Chicken With Apricots) and Meh'shi Kusa (Stuffed Squash With Sweet-and-Sour Tomato Sauce). Presentation is key to the Syrian table.

"We're definitely concerned with how the table looks and that all the food is presented colorfully," she said. "What's nice is to have many little tastings, not just have one thing, and we like to have plenty. There will usually be several main dishes, on the average at least three or four, with a rice and a vegetable stuffed dish and maybe a noodle dish. The maazeh [appetizers] are colorful and done on little plates with lots of different shapes and sizes."

Most Syrian dishes, Abadi said, are easy to prepare.

"It's peasant food, a home-cooking thing. The dishes are long cooking, but, except perhaps for the pastries, which require more time and skill, they are not that difficult to do."

Case in point, Dja'jeh b'Ah'sal (Chicken With Prunes and Honey), a perfect choice for Rosh Hashanah.

"We use prunes, as well as apricots and dates, not only for their sweetness," Abadi notes, "but because they are round, they represent the cycle of life."

Tired of the same old honey cake? Try the more exotic Ka'ikeh b'Ah'sal (Honey Cake With Sesame Glaze), rich with tahini and sesame seeds, which, Abadi tells us, are used on Rosh Hashanah along with poppy seeds to represent an abundance of good deeds.

Dja'jeh b'Ah'sal (Chicken With Prunes and Honey Sauce)

2 cups pitted prunes, soaked in 1 cup cold water for 15 minutes

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Chicken

5 to 5 1/2 pounds chicken pieces (white and dark meat), skinned

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup finely chopped yellow onions

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Three 3-inch cinnamon sticks

2 cups cold water

To Serve

1 cup blanched whole almonds, toasted in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden

Prepare the sauce. Place the prunes and soaking water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the honey and cinnamon. Mix well and simmer until the prunes absorb some water and soften (they should be soft yet retain most of their shape), about five more minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Prepare the chicken. Rinse the chicken under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Place on a plate.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the onions, stirring, until golden and soft, three to four minutes. Add the chicken pieces and brown, cooking for two to three minutes on each side. Add the salt, pepper, cinnamon sticks and water, stir well, and bring to a slow boil over medium-high heat. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for one hour.

Uncover the skillet and cook until some of the excess liquid cooks off and the sauce has thickened to a gravy-like texture, an additional 20-30 minutes.

Serve on large platter, garnished with toasted almonds.

Ka'ikeh b'Ah'sal (Honey Cake With Sesame Glaze)

Cake

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)

2/3 cup honey

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Glaze

2/3 cup honey

1 tablespoon tahini

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Prepare the cake. Combine the beaten eggs, tahini, honey and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth.

In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add to the wet mixture and mix well.

Pour the batter into a greased 9-by-13-inch baking pan or 9-inch Springform pan and bake until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 25-35 minutes.

When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 45 minutes. With a knife, loosen the edges of the cake. Place a large plate on top of the cake pan and flip the pan upside down.

Prepare the glaze. Combine the honey and tahini in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until blended to a smooth consistency, four to five minutes. Add the sesame seeds and mix well.

Remove from the heat and immediately pour the hot glaze over the top of the cake, allowing the glaze to soak in. Let cool for 30 minutes.

Cut into diamond shapes about two inches long and 1-inch wide and serve at room temperature. Do not refrigerate.

This my favorite housewarming gift. No Jewish home (Ashkinazi or Sephardic) should be without it. Before I cooked one dish I sat down and read all of the lovely stories first and then went on to make many of these wonderful dishes.

My personal favorite is the pistachio cookies for Passover.

I enjoyed reading Ms. Abadi's book. Since I am Syrian-Jewish, I compared many of her stories to my own family. in addition, she quotes some people that I know. Unfortunately, however, the recipes are not reliable. Since the author's grandmother spent many years in Oklahoma, where Middle Eastern ingredients were not available, she relied on substitutes such as Worcestershire sauce which we do not use.
Every family cooks their own way. However some of the recipes will fail completely. For example, the Kibbe Nabilseeyah. The dough calls for 5 Tbs. water which is way too little. I would advise anyone who is a serious cook to wait for the second edition. This will give Miss Abadi a chance to correct the errors.

I haven't made a bad meal yet and my fiance is happy.

This outstanding book deserves at least 10 stars! It rates as one of the best cookbooks I own. The recipes are carefully and beautifully written, as well as delicious. I feel as though Ms. Abadi is standing in my kitchen, by my side, as I prepare each recipe, making sure that it tastes just right. Buy this book, you will be very glad you did.

This is IT!!!!!

Bless and praise Jeff's parents for his being with us.
This is the most mind-blowing book on car sales i've ever read in my life.
From Zero to Hero is inspiration in pure form.
Jeff has just converted me into a New religion -- CAR SALES.

I came to car business in August 2006. And i could not get a sales job,
the only thing they offered to me was a lot guy position.
After a year i managed to get a used car salesman position
and was fired after 2 months for "spinning the ups".
Moved to a new car dealer and on a second month became a Salesman of the Month.
My new manager fired me for not TO ing. And he said that i'm not cut out as a salesman and i have a lack of communicational skills.
But i dont give up, with THIS book i can go through the walls. It boosted my confiedence tremendously. I even bought two copies of THIS book... in case I wear one out.
They say you can't buy youself happiness ... wrong !!!!!
I just bought it for less than 20$!!!!!

POWER SERGE

I've been in the auto sales business for three years and this is the best book I have read on the subject of auto sales. Unless you are moving 20 units a month or more, take the time to take this book for a test drive!

I've been selling cars for several years now and have read tons of books on selling...This book is by far the best on the subject of automobile sales that I've come across. Very well writte...It's in my briefcase at the dealership now!

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the this book. It was well written. I was out of the business for several years and was looking for something that would help me get back into the swing of things. This book was perfect. I buy and read a lot of books from Amazon, and I have to say this is one of the better books on the subject of selling. You can't go wrong with Zero to Hero.

read this book if you sell cars. it sounds lame but i'm serious. it won't hurt and if you can't afford to lose twenty bucks buying it and you sell cars you really need to read it!!! now go make some money

This book is a gem! Andrew Knight's ideas for creating a "hook" are both practical and achievable. The fact that many of the "hooks" are based on his own background should encourage readers to examine their own experiences
to see how they can be used on a college application. I wish this book had been around when I was a school counselor!

Mary T. Richardson M.Ed

Let me start of with a couple of points of critique. Some of the ideas are slightly debatable. For instance, in Chapter 3 on the `Hook' more value is placed on activities that are not time-consuming than those that actually take up time. Does the experience of being involved not count for something? While this question is answered (p. 123) with the advice to pursue a cause "even if it takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears," the book seems to contradict itself at least slightly on this point.

Chapter 2 on grade engineering also poses an issue. On page 48, the advice is given that if a student has a 98% average in English he should begin submitting C quality work. This seems to contradict earlier statements on page 23 about doing outstanding in select classes in order to receive excellent letters of recommendation. If one partakes in true grade engineering achieving the minimum it takes to receive an A, how can one impress those who are in a position to write a letter of recommendation?

Setting aside my knit-pickiness, all-in-all this book provides EXTREMELY valuable insight not only on winning scholarships and getting into the school of your choice, but on life in general. I have recently completed a bachelor's degree and wish that I had my hands on this book as a high-school freshman so that I would not currently have thousands of dollars in student loans. As a self-acknowledged perfectionist, Andrew Knight's book has truly led me to think more deeply (and even philosophically) about why I work so hard to be an overachiever and why I should instead be an "opti-achievier," putting focus on only the worthiest and most interesting activities. While this book is intended for students or parents of students, I personally feel that there are lessons provided that could seriously benefit anyone who reads this piece of work.

I met Andrew while I was an undergrad at MIT (he was a grad student) and can personally vouch for his credentials and experience.

I think Mr. Knight does a great job in this book because he takes a very fresh approach to getting into a great college and getting a lucrative scholarship. Knight tells students to focus on activities which add value and make you "stand out of the crowd", rather than the 100 standard things good students do in school. He really approaches the problem of building a great academic resume as a businessman -- he suggests that you can maximize a scarce resource (your time and attention) by focusing on unusual, high-profile, and unique activities.

Another interesting angle of the book is that it makes arguments and attempts to persuade the reader through rational argument, rather than fiat argument. If you have a smart high school kid, he or she will really appreciate the adult tone the book takes when suggesting different plans for achieving academic success. If you're a parent with a younger child, this book will make sense to you and will convince you that Knight is right.

In retrospect, I really wish I had this book when I was in high school. I spent a lot of time doing marginal activies (National Honor Society, humdrum community service, etc) and was generally really stressed out. I'm sure I could have spent my time much more effectively. I think kids today are under too much pressure to do too much stuff. This book can help you have academic success and enjoy your life at the same time.

Andrew Knight's book is a good read, easy to follow and is arranged well. The book provides strategies that Andrew used to get lots of money and get into great colleges, and the strategies are easy to follow and are things that would not be shown to you in any other book. If you are in high school, READ THIS BOOK! Its not just for high schoolers, but it is applicable for college students and for seniors ready to get out into the working world. But if you are in high school, now is the time to read the book and apply it's techniques to your life and get scholarships. The book really shows how easy it is to do this. It is great to see someone providing this sort of info in order to help others get great financial help and get into excellent institutions.

Brian Steele
Geology Major at University of Georgia
Graduating in the Fall 2008 with a B.S.

Knight's "Full Ride to College: How to Win Scholarships and Get Admitted to the College of Your Dreams" is a must have for every student. This book is very helpful in finding the many opportunities afforded the students aspiring to continue their education. I think that students should be equipped with this book in their last years of high school. It really helps you get motivated to have a successful college search and ways to finance your education. This book helps alleviate the stressful process of college applications and makes the transition a comforting one. Please buy this book for yourself if you are a student or for you children if you are a parent. College is possible and this books tells you how to get there!!!!