California Books

"The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market Cookbook" is filled with fabulous photographs, appetizing recipes and excellent tips about seasonal fruits, vegetables, herbs, meats, cheese, eggs and fish!

Peggy Knickerbocker has done an excellent job at researching seasonal foods and the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market! She is a food and travel writer that has written for Gourmet, Food & Wine, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and Saveur.

Christopher Hirsheimer is a photographer whose work has appeared in Saveur, as well as cookbooks written by Lidia Bastianich, Rick Bayless, Julia Child and Jacques Pepin.

California is a state bursting with flavor. In such a large state, virtually anything can grow there. Kiwifruits, rice, wine, olives, tomatoes, corn, strawberries and much more! The influx of other cultures help infuse their produce and culinary contributions.

Excellent recipes in this book are: Avocado and Grapefruit Salad with Frisee, Fried Zucchini Blossoms, Shaved Raw Asparagus with Lemon Vinaigrette and Roasted Halibut with Braised Artichokes and Potatoes.

This entire book reminds me of my previous life in California where food never tasted fresher. Where ingredients are fresh, recipes are simple, yet the result was sophisticated and intoxicating.

Great book!

What a great resource. I had to read this book for work and I now cook from it all the time.

This is a spectalarly colorful cookbook with innovative tasty recipes for items found at a Farmer's Market. I use it all the time. Excellent.

The subtitle's "A Comprehensive Guide to Impeccable Produce Plus Seasonal Recipes", but it's oh-so-much more than that. Filled with recipes culled from dozens of cookbooks, plus personal interviews with favorite farmers and purveyors... a must-have for Bay Area residents and a fantastic gift for anyone who loves San Francisco.

This book really shows the heart of Santa Barbara through beautiful photography that really captures all aspects of such an amazing city-- we are using it for guests to sign at our Santa Barbara wedding :)

I have been a Santa Barbara resident for over twenty years and the book truly captures the beauty of our city. We recently purchased the book for family in Germany so they can share in the blessing we call our home.

Sven Klein - Santa Barbara, CA

The pictures are increadible. This truly captures the beauty of Santa Barbara. There are many shots from areas that most tourists will never see. This is a great book to suplement a travel book to help plan a trip.

It's a wonderful book for keepsake!
Great pictures that capture the beauty of Santa Barbara; the book also provides ideas for sightseeing. With the book, you don't have to worry that you don't take good pictures or you miss any thing. If you enjoyed sight seeing or taking photos, this that sure worth what you'd paid for it..

Eden and her father have always gone from country to country, city to city, earning a living from gambling. But one day, Eden's father leaves her, so she sets out for California to find a husband and start a new life. But there, she can't keep from gambling again, and she falls in love with a man that doesn't love her back - and when he finaly returns her love, Eden's father shows up, and he could result in Eden losing all that she has gained.

Eden Moran has the attention of a lot of the men in Last Chance,California, much to her pleasure. She's used to men falling all over themselves until she meets up with Josiah Bullock. But wouldn't you know, the one man that treats her the worst for most of the story is the man she loves and he loves her back. This girl can take care of herself and I reccomend this book to anyone who's interested in historical romance.

A young woman on her own in the not so urban area of wildcat county. Living a life of gambling, gossip, and scandal. Taking a risk, getting her self into trouble, and adventure. But not minding much of any thing at all. Untill she falls in love with one of the riches men in town. But who can this man be? After all, every man would love to court the scandalous Eden Moran. I love the book it's Romantic, Adventurous, Intriguing, Exciting, and of course. . . SCANDALOUS!

The plot was fascinating, kind of like the picture brides of the past. Fierce women are shipped to a town, believing it's a large city, only to find it be be out in the middle of nowhere. Females will love these romances, adults may also. Very graphic at times, but nothing raunchy.

If you're going to read this, you need to read all the books in the series. One is not complete without the others.

I am in the wine trade and a MW student. This book compiles some very high-tech arguments on various topics in an organized, compelling, and clearly-written style. It was a joy to see all of these topics in one book, rather than searching 100s of journals and university studies on the web! I was able to use my new found knowledge immediately in discussions with colleagues--sounding like a true expert.

A great read for true "wine geeks".

I'm not much of a scientist. In fact, my career as a doctor ended abruptly in the first week of college when I discovered that a required chemistry course also required my attendance three days a week at 8:00 AM. So I approached this book with trepidation on several levels. Would it be pitched too heavily in science-speak for me to understand? Was it really more of a textbook than consumer's guide? Was it a soulless sucker punch for the reductionist school of winemaking so hideously embodied in companies like Enologix that use modern "science" to manufacture high-scoring Parker wines? Truth be told, I would probably have never gone near it but for a favorable blurb in a recent issue of Decanter magazine.

Well as Johnny Carson might have said, "Wrong, brettanomyces breath". This is in fact an astoundingly wonderful book for anyone with a passion for wine. It's too detailed and complex for beginners or people who don't really care about some of the factors that affect the taste and quality of wine. But it's also a remarkably humane pitch for the application of the scientific method to wine growing and wine making without in any way denigrating the mystery or romance that enshrouds the subject. Maybe a better quote would come from Joe Friday: it's "just the facts, Maam," wherever the facts that underlie the magic of wine can be ascertained.

The chapters in The Science of Wine systematically address the major factors and issues that contribute to the quality of wine from the vineyard to the winery. Each one is structured like a consumer-friendly, mini-version of an article in a refereed scientific journal. The author starts out with a description of what he will talk about, states his hypothesis, and then examines the evidence before ending with a conclusion. After a while I picked up the rhythm and realized it reminded me of the hundreds of clinical study write-ups I read while working in the marketing department of a pharmaceutical company.

What's really cool about this book is the way it tackles so many controversial subjects head-on, assessing the available evidence on the way to proving its points. It seems at times like the author has read and interviewed everyone who has written a scientific paper on wine anywhere in the world (especially Australia) in the last 10 years, and he quotes these authorities extensively. Here are a few of the critical topics he systematically examines and a quick summary of his findings (close your eyes now if you don't want to know the answers):

Brett-it's everywhere-you can run but you can't hide
Terroir-sorry, no one's ever proven you can taste the soil in the wine, so stop thinking the minerals come from the Kimmeridgean limestone
Sulfites-they don't cause headaches, try drinking less
Global warming-the Rhone will be making Algerian wines and Burgundy will have 15% alcohol before much longer
Tasting-humans can't discern more than about 4 flavors at a time (don't tell Parker or the Spectator)
Terroir-oops, since it isn't the soil,you're probably tasting reduced sulfur compounds
Actual rate of cork taint: about 5%
Best closure on the planet right now: screwcap
Average effective lifespan of a synthetic cork closure: 2 years
Biodynamics-no proof yet

Just to prove I'm not a complete spoil sport, here are some of the other subjects you'll get to learn about (this time without the answers):

Impact of oak
Micro-oxygenation
Wine and health
Precision viticulture
Regulated deficit irrigation
Pruning and trellising systems and more!

I suppose the major weakness of the book isn't what's covered, but what's still undiscovered. If you come to it hoping for the definitive answer to every question you've ever had about wine, you'll be disappointed. A lot of what we'd like to believe is the truth about wine has yet to be definitively proven, so many chapters end with the promise of future revelations instead of a real resolution. That certainly leaves room for a revised edition in 5 years! And truthfully, a few chapters have passages that are written in impenetrable scientific jargon that most of the book assiduously avoids. Finally, while it's a pretty book from an art director's viewpoint, the layout often presents massive amounts of block type on a page and the many sidebars, while illuminating, are as visually distracting as they are helpful.

All that being said, this book is well nigh indispensable for a wine lover. If you meet this criterion, and you know who you are, you need to get your own copy. Me personally? I feel like I need to start re-reading it right now to figure out how to scientifically approach the lovely bottle of A-F Gros Echezeaux I'm drinking tonight.

I echo the praise for this book. As a wine geek with a liberal arts background, I was a bit hesitant to get into this book for fear it would lose me quickly. Quite the opposite. While there is plenty of "science" in the book, the book is written in a way that non-scientist types can fully follow and understand everything. There are snippets that go beyond the layman (like me), but overall, the author gets into just enough science without getting overly technical.

And, I greatly enjoyed the organization and structure of the book. I found the process of starting in the vineyard and going through the process up to the glass the exact right approach.

That approach also makes this a book one can do in stages, as each chapter/section is essentially a complete read in itself. I took probably 3 months in total to complete the book. And, having done so, I am ready to start all over again!

Highly recommended for anyone who wants a better understanding of what it takes to actually put the stuff in the glass and make us want to come back for more.

A generally well-written, informative, balanced, and certainly provocative look at a wide variety of subjects. Brings a welcome dosage of reality to wine, a topic that tends to produce flights of fancy in those who discuss and comment on it (me included), but at the same time the author is careful not to destroy our dearly-held beliefs. In other words, reading this book will enhance your drinking and thinking about wine. I did find myself wondering about how well some of the studies/experiments cited in the book were designed, and I kept hoping for the author to comment on that subject...

P.S. From before - I am eleven and found this book great! It also had some hard terms. No way is this a book for 4-8 year olds! More like 6-13 year olds! :)

I read this book really fast because it was so good - you know like when you can't put it down? well, it was that good. it helped me a lot on my non-fiction summer reading. i also liked how there was a story you could relate to about saving sea lions and putting them into a rescue program. Sea Lion had great pictures and I really got a great amount of information from this book. I mean, who knew there were only 5 types of Sea Lions and only 35 species in the Pinnipedia family (the family sea lions belong to)??? Well, now you know and I know! YAY!!! Anyway, who knew that there were eared and earless seals??? And that the female only has one pup each birth??? Well, now you know some more!!! So click the mouse and buy this book and you can find out a little bit more about these great animals. I LOVE SEA LIONS!!! :) LOL

I liked this book a lot. It had good pictures, pretty easy terms, and really cool fun facts about sea lions. Plus, in the beginning it started out with a little story about rescuing sea lions at the Marine Mammal Orginization. It was a great book. I think everyone should buy this book. You should too! I loved this book. My sister read it for 6th grade summer reading and it was a great report. :)

I really liked this book. The pictures were great and the information really helped me on my 6th grade summer reading report. I highly reccommend this book!

As often is the case with general volumes of poetry, or books available in many editions, a good reveiw necessarily consists of two parts: first a review of the original material, and then a review of the specific edition.

For the original material, Verlaine is an amazing poet. He represents possibly the first and greatest lyrical poet to be initiated into modernity. His lyricism is not baroque, whimsical, or decadent - it is haunted and beautifull. It is like the music of Chopin (as it could be said that Rimbaud's is closer to that of Liszt). He represents a unique tract among the many poetic styles gestating in a Paris newly thrust into what we call modernity. There was the cynical and disolute Baudelaire, the ribald and frenzied Rimbaud, and then the melancholy and lyrical Verlaine. These three writers could easily be seen as a trifecta of greatness: they together represent the principal moods that have dominated literature to follow in their tracks.

The editions of a poets works, however, should certainly be considered independent of the poems themselves. Translation and selection of poems from such a broad body of work is both highly prejudicial, and (perhaps as a result) also creates a unique beauty in each seperate edition.

This edition, though, is a stand out among others available. First, because it probably is the largest English collection of Verlaines work (170 poems or so) and second because it's assembly, tranlations, and annotation reveal a very profound thoughtfullness on the part of the translator and editor, Martin Sorrell.

Most selections of Verlaines work are contrite and myopic, pick only certain early poems which have been translated and anthologized ad nauseum with no greater depth than that of a poem-a-day desk calendar or the litterary equivalent of easy listening music. In contrast, Sorrell's presentation is symphonic. The poems he has selected are true to the life of the poet - complete with ragged edges and blissfull moments.

How could one appreciate Verlaine's true genius if he is only shown in an artificial, sacrine, sanatized way? Sorrell boldly includes a large amount of poems from Verlaine's later work, largely disparaged by other critics, and provides very thoughtfull annotations about the inspirations, impacts, and ultimate relevance of each poem.

In this way Sorrell has created a very thoughtfull meditation on the life and work of Verlaine, and shares it with his audience so even a layman can appreciate it.

There is also a parallel French Text, which I find indespensible. Although not all of the translations are done the same way I would, diversity is what makes literature beautifull, and I am very interested to see the relationship between Sorrell's scholarship of Verlaine's life and the way in which he translates Verlaine's verses. This is a valuable tool not found if you were to simply read a French edition of Verlaine's poems or preuse an anthology.

In the end, this book is a excellent illustration of why translations and collections can be usefull even to people who have already read Verlaine in French.

[...] At any rate, for those who are not familiar with the movement, I would suggest reading, in this order: Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine and Mallarme, as that is the sequence in which they came to the fore of French Lit (though you could make the case that Veralaine and Rimbaud were contemporaneous, I would suggest that Verlaine's most important work came after his interchange with Rimbaud). Since these are the most influential French poets of the modern era, and had an impact on every modern "movement" that occured in literature thereafter, you can not go wrong with any of them. There are those who contend that poetry especially is lost in translation. I would agree, yet all these poets are represented by "facing" texts these days. The original text is mirrored by the translation on the opposite page. Oxford and Penguin both are good choices. The translators are uniformally well-educated and erudite, the printing is excellent and the overall scholarhip, including introductions, is top-notch. You can't go wrong with these editions.

Verlaine is perhaps my favourite poet--many of his poems are exceptionally beautiful, salacious even. However he wrote prolifically, and as is often the case with prolific artists, his work is of uneven quality. Nevertheless, at his best, Paul Verlaine's poetry is among the most remarkable that I've ever read. I highly recommend this collection.

'The reader seems to have some disaster of far vaster import than he can fathom. That is the mysterious effect of Mallarme's poetry. One gets a strange emotional effect past analysis'. So declares translator C.F. MacIntyre of a typically impenetrable Mallarme sonnet. Unfortunately, it's an effect the non-French reader will never experience. In translation, somebody like Robert Frost once said, what is lost is the poetry, and no other writer exemplifies this truism more clearly than Mallarme. Most translations will at least yield some sort of broad narrative or imagistic or intellectual sense. Mallarme's self-contained, bookish, exquisitely artificial poetry (Borges was a fan) exists on a plane beyond sense. It is an intensely intricate agglomeration of sounds, forms, distorted grammar, codes and riddles whose 'meaning' is not literal. Mallarme is usually compared to a costumier, jeweller or musician, such is this artisan's devotion to the poem as crafted object. The only real way to translate Mallarme is not to find literal English equivalents for his words as printed, but to find new word-constructions with sounds and resonances that transmute the originals' spirit, rather than sense. But if the translator had that kind of gift, s/he wouldn't be wasting it on Mallarme translations. Despite MacIntyre's best efforts, then, literal Mallarme in English sounds like the worst kind of sub-decadent pot-pourri, like the imitations of French Symbolism Oscar Wilde churned out in his youth. [...]This does not mean the volume is useless. French students struggling with the originals can use the translations as a kind of grammatical glossary, and will find MacIntyre's synopses and explanatory notes, with background and critical infomration, helpful, if dated. The casual reader, however, will find much to enjoy. After a few poems (including the famous 'Herodiade' and 'L'apres-mide d'un faune'), I gave up struggling with Mallarme, and gave into the pleasures of MacIntyre's annotations. A real-life Charles Kinbote, he doesn't even seem to like Mallarme very much: one poem 'is built up of so much nothing, like a fragile pastry of whipped cream. It is artful in the worst sense of the word... He should have had a stern editor! (As I have)'; 'Line 4 is particularly good, [a critic] insists, because it suppresses the classic caesura! I don't think many readers would suffer if the whole sonnet had been suppressed'. He refers to Mallarme's art as a 'dead end', execrates 'his miserably bungled up French', and cheerfully admits that he doesn't really understand the poems! So what qualified him to translate them?! A delectable egotism blows through the pages, from its overheated, homoerotic dedication, and the unwarranted, though very welcome, detours into autobiography and war memories, to the Olympian sneers at previous commentators. Published in sexually unliberated 1957, MacIntyre is forced to euphemise Mallarme's detailed and relentless erotics, which leads to some splendid tongue-twisting; the frequent suspicion that MacIntyre himself misses the point of a poem like 'What silk...' ('the mouth will not be sure/in its bite of finding savor,/unless he, your princely lover,/breathe out, diamond-like, in your/considerable tuft the cry/of Glories stifled as they die'), which he says is about a woman brushing her hair at the mirror (!), is quashed by his mocking one persistently misreading critic: 'Really now. I wish I still had Herr Wais's niaive innocence. I really do'. Barmy, endearing and delightful.

I found this to be a truly absorbing and comprehensive study not just of Shakespeare, but of English metrical practice on the whole. Wright sets Shakespeare's work in the larger context of English verse practice, and then explores the ways in which Shakespeare worked within and challenged the tradition he inherited. I have read several studies on prosody and have often been amused at how dull some scholars can make poetry. Wright is clear and incisive and helps us feel the language with greater sensitivity. For anyone interested, not just in Shakespeare, but in poetry in general I highly recommend this work.

I remember perfunctory discussions of Iambic Pentameter in High School. None of the artistry or intent was explained and afterward I would struggle to write blank verse. An entire generation (the baby-boomers) has grown up in the free-verse movement their elders established -- and sometimes dogmatically so.

I realize now that they themselves didn't understand the verse form they were ostensibly teaching.

The result has been decades of poets who have little understanding of verse forms and who have, at times, been flatly hostile toward anything other than free verse. In my late twenties, however, I discovered "Shakespeare's Metrical Art" by George Wright; and because of this book, I taught myself how to write iambic pentameter. The subtlety, the beauty and artistry of blank verse made sense.

Wright's book is both a book about Shakespeare and a thorough textbook on the art of blank verse. If you want to understand this 'lost' art form, start here. I wish there were some way I could personally thank Wright (and I have tried from time to time to contact him without success).

So, Mr. Wright, if you ever read these reviews - I thank you... I am in your debt.

Patrick Gillespie
Author of "Opening Book"

George T. Wright's "Shakespeare's Metrical Art" is an introduction not only to the art of Iambic Pentameter as Shakespeare practiced it but also a starting point to an understanding the art of Iambic Pentameter itself. Mr. Wright argues that in Shakespeare the Iambic Pentameter meter found its greatest and most flexible practitioner. In appreciating the beauty of Shakespeare's artistry we also come to appreciate the intrinsic artistry and beaty of the meter. Mr. Wright's journey begins with Chaucer and Wyatt, the former being the earliest practitioner of the Iambic Pentameter line and also the greatest until Shakespeare. His reading of Chaucer's lines, as most often Iambic Pentameter, sometimes runs counter to accepted wisdom, yet, as with his conception of the meter itself, his argument is well-reasoned and convincing. More contraversial is his treatment of Wyatt's often inconsistent use of meter. Yet, here again, Wright offers the reader a plausible framework into which Wyatt's poetry becomes another expression of the meter's vitality and flexibility. From the further disintegration of the meter after Wyatt, Wright begins his treatment of Shakespeare's metrical art. Every facet of Shakespeare's flexible and imaginative use of the meter (his diversions from its strict course) is methodically examined and considered for its possible influence upon the meaning of the text. These diversions include Shakespeare's use of long and short lines, syllabic ambiguity, lines with extra syllables, lines with omitted syllables, trochees, false trochees and other such variations as are possible within the iambic pentameter meter. Wright rounds off the book with an all too short consideratiom of the meters use after Shakespeare -- including the writers Donne, Milton, and in passing twentieth writers Frost, Stevens, and Eliot. With Mr. Wright's contention that the Iambic Pentameter meter reached its zenith at Shakespeare's hands, his argument comes to the inevitable conclusion that Shakespeare's skill is one which later generations may echo, rarely equal, but never exceed. This is a book both for the lover of Shakespeare and the reader of poetry who wishes to better understand the art of one of the english language's greatest trimphs.

This is more than a history of iambic pentameter and a brilliant analysis of its use in the hands of its greatest practitioner, it should probably also be read as the best general introduction to prosody available. Truly general introductions may touch on more forms and offer a more complete view of English poetic history, but none out there (that I've seen, at least) are as perceptive as Wright and none of them, perhaps because of their general natures, elucidate so fully the possibilities of expressive variation and mimetic form in poetry the way Wright does in such minute detail. Chapters like "Lines with extra syllables," or "Lines with omitted syllables," or "Play of phrase and line" may at first glance promise only dry reading, and it's probably hard to believe that a 300-page book on iambic pentameter could be one of the best works of literary criticism you could ever read. But this is an analysis of at least half of what poetry is all about and, more importantly, the half most rarely talked about (most college professors don't even know how to). Digest this rich and beautifully written book with a handful of Shakespeare's plays (you won't be able to stay away from them after reading it anyway) and you'll be ready to tackle and analyze most any other poet with relative confidence for yourself.

To describe "Short Bike Rides in and around San Francisco" as a cycling book does it injustice. Sure, it succeeds in describing ways around and out of San Francisco, but does so much more. Even for someone who's never been on two wheels, the descriptions of the neighborhoods, their attractions and history, is worth the investment. I strongly recommend it, the best cycling guide book of its type I've read.

The one weakness is a lack of an index. You might read an excellent review, for example, of a burrito shop, but recalling on which ride that review occurred may turn into a serial search operation. Nevertheless, it still ranks as a 5-star on this rating scale. Virtually a must-read for all cyclists in SF.

San Francisco is a very "livable" city, especially without a car to worry or pay for. "Short Bike Rides..." suggests two dozen fun routes in and around the city that allow you to make the most of living here without a car. From the fastest way to get across town, to a wonderful rides in Marin and the East Bay I have ridden nearly all of these rides, and enjoyed them immensely. Not only are the directions and maps clear, but Kingman's comments are often very entertaining. There is also a handy supplement in the back listing public transportation contacts for taking your bike on BART, CalTrain etc.. Absolutely essential for any SF cyclist - commuter, weekend warrior, out of towner, tourist entertainer. And for less than $10 I have used this book 10x as much as any of the other rides books I have.

One note: I would assume Kingman is one hell of climber, since he does tend to downplay the physical effort required to climb the "hilly terrain" of some the rides.

This is my favorite bike rides book. It's an excellent read and lets you see the best of the city.

Not only is Henry Kingman's book a great way for visitors to explore San Francisco by bicycle, it is also a handy reference guide for local cyclists looking for new or better routes. Every S.F. cyclist should have a copy.

I'm Craig's little brother, but I was surfing Amazon and didn't even know he had a book out until I saw it here! So I ordered it.
I like to cook, but I was very intimidated by trying my famous chef brother's recipes. I have to say, the way the book is presented that making these dishes is very easy to understand, you just have to be willing to search out a few uncommon ingredients, and be willing to buy a few items for cooking that you might not have had before. But if you are passionate about food and don't mind some extra effort, it is really worth buying this book and trying these supremely delicious recipes!

You might think it's biased of me to write a good review, but seriously, one taste of Craig's creations and you'll realize that relation has nothing to do with it. ;)

Although I may be somewhat biased in my opinion (Craig is my brother), I am unbelievably impressed with Craig's culinary skills. I have personally been to Sierra Mar and tasted many of Craig's creations. My brother was somewhat skeptical of my opinions because I used to be an extremely picky eater growing up, so I hope he's been surprised by my lack of fear in trying new foods.

If you have never been to Sierra Mar and tasted the fine cuisine invented by Craig, you are truly missing out on a culinary adventure you will savor for years.

Way to go Craig!

Love,

Your Little Sister Suzanne

This cookbook is a valuable addition to the library of those who have a greater-than-average interest in the preparation of fine gourmet cuisine. The recipes are well-described and keyed to seasonal ingredients. The photographs are beautiful, and illustrate artistic presentations. The preparations are interesting, creative and delicious without going way over the top.

I would warn potential purchasers that this is not really a cookbook for the casual home cook. You should ask yourself the following questions:

Do you enjoy spending an entire day in the kitchen preparing dinner?
Does your list of kitchen equipment include a mandoline, a chinois, and a juice extractor?
Do you know where to purchase ingredients such as grade-A foie gras, diver's scallops, guinea hen, ramps, or baby chioggia beets?

If the answer to any of those questions is "no", then this book will probably spend more time on your coffee table than in your kitchen.

I think a lot of books of this sort are written by chefs who prepare their dishes in restaurants with an army of sous chefs, line cooks, dishwashers, and the necessity of feeding a crowd of customers each evening. Moving the techniques to the home setting where you are preparing dinner for your family and maybe a few guests requires a process of translation that leads to error-prone and incomplete recipes. This cookbook has been well thought out and edited, and avoids the problems that others have found with "gourmet chef" cookbooks. All recipes are calibrated to serve 6 in a format of a multi-course "tasting menu" dinner. That means the portions are each relatively small, and designed to be individually plated. Each course has well-thought-out wine recommendations for those who like to pair indiviudal courses with wines. Definitely not Tuesday night dinner.

I have looked over the recipes, and personally prepared the "Smoked Salmon-Wrapped Day Boat Scallops with Quail Egg, Fennel Emulsion, and Salmon Roe". It worked very well, with no missing ingredients, steps, or poorly-thought out proportions.

I think this book was well worth the price. As Jaques Pepin likes to say -- "Happy Cooking!"

"You can learn so much about food just by listening to people from different cultural backgrounds talk about their food memories...what you hear is about the soul of their food, not its science." ~ Chef Craig von Foester

The Sierra Mar Cookbook features recipes from the #1 Hotel Restaurant in California. The ever-changing menu features a fusion of French, Mediterranean and Asian culinary influences. The pictures alone produce a sense of awe and are beyond inspirational.

The unique style of this cookbook displays six intriguing menu options that represent six evenings at Sierra Mar:

Local Farmers Markets & Perfect Timing
Monterey Bay Salmon, Taste Memory & Total Utilization
Tomatoes, Terroir & the Artistry They Inspire
Preserves, Marmalades & Capturing Flavors that Sustain Us
Black Truffles, Shellfish & Pondering the Soul of Food
Slow Braising of Flavors & Big Sur Chanterelles, a Rustic Spirit of Taste

It seems rare for a cookbook to have the variety of stunning scenic pictures and it leaves you longing to visit this restaurant. A slopping field of flowers melts into a perfectly pink sunset in one picture and in another waves dash against the rocks.

Recipes that looked especially tempting include:

Salad of Grilled Black Mission Figs, Bitter Greens and Bleu de Haut Jura Cheese with a Port Reduction

Pancetta-Wrapped Sika Venison Loin with Pistachio Puree, Huckleberry Sauce and Pumpkin Dumplings

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage-Pecan Brown Butter

Composed Main Lobster Salad with Satsuma Mandarins, Hearts of Palm and Basil Oil
(the colors are gorgeous and look very tropical)

Grilled Rib-Eye Steak with Crispy Potato Cake and Oyster Mushroom Cambazola Compote

Ceylon Tea - Glazed Salmon with Hoisin-Braised Bacon and Pea Tendril Salad

Throughout the book there are step-by-step technique pictures with descriptions so you can learn how to slice potato gaufrettes. A section of "basic recipes" introduces you to Brioche, Pate Brissee, Champagne Vinaigrette, Fig Jam, Red Wine Syrup and Fines Herbes.

If you are looking to impress someone with recipes that will create an intoxicating culinary experience, I can't think of any cookbook that compares to this one! The pictures are stunning and the flavors are complex and have comforting seasonal appeal.

100 Stars!

~The Rebecca Review
Author of Seasoned with Love: A collection of
best-loved recipes inspired by over 40 cultures

I thought this book was stupid, but i've read it twice. Sofia manages to capture Antonio's heart and also his best friends. I won't tell you the ending, but it was sad and happy at the same time. I liked it but as i said it was kinda dumb.

This book was ok but not as good as some of the other American Dreams. It was pretty good though. It is about Sofia, a Spanish-Californian girl living in the 1840s.

HIS BOOK WAS REALLY GOOD AND GOT ME INTO IT. THE TRAGEDY OF HER FATHER DIEING AND LOSING HER MONEY TO HER FATHERS LIEING BUSINESS PARTNER AND HER DICISION TO SEPERATE HERSELF FROM THE ONE MAN SHE REALLY LOVES IS SO TOUCHING SO TRUE SO LIFELIKE. THEN THE JOYS OF STARTING HER OWN SCHOOL ANDTHE RODEO AND FINALLY MEETING UP WITH HER LOVER . THIS WAS AN EXCUISITE BOOK AND I HOPE ALL OF YOU WILL TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT.

I have read other books in the American Dreams collection, but this would have to be one of my favorites. Sofia DuFay is in love with a man that loves her back, but do to his snobby family, she knows there love wasnt meant to be. So she decides to forget him, but through time she realizes she cant. Do to an unforuantate(sp??) tragedy, she is left broke and decides to start a new life. All the time she still thinks of the young man and there forbidden romance. I dont want to tell the ending, so I will keep quiet, BUT THIS BOOK IS ONE YOU CANT PUT DOWN!!!