City Leagues Books

This book is sheer fun. I discovered it in a used book store and am buying the rest of the trilogy immediately. Before I was through with the book, I was looking into a vacation in Maine. Excellent.

The Moosepath league series are fast becoming my favorite books after a lifetime of avid reading. The characters are joyfully delightful and woven into a yarn that is amusing, enchanting and at times magical. Take Charles Dickens Pickwickians, add some "Three Men in a Boat" charm, a liberal sprinkling of P.G. Wodehouse's comic situations, a little Jane Austen romance, a dash of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"'s magic; mix well and spread over a 19th century Maine landscape and you'll end up with this wonderful book. You must read it - however many stars I had to give, I'd give them all.

Van Reid is an amazing story teller. There are many great stories within the larger story. This book was great, albeit a little slow in places. If you liked it at all, you should continue on to the other two books in the triology which just keep getting better.

Van Reid has a magic way with words. In "Cordelia Underwood" he has created each character (and there are many of them)with wit and insight. His characters understand the importance of kindness and respect. They are also, with a couple necessary exceptions, game for adventure, especially when that concerns helping a friend or rescuing a "damsel in distress" (who turns out pretty good at helping herself). There are stories within stories and intersecting adventures, and I found each a delight. They all fit together into as pleasurable a novel as I have ever read. You won't regret reading this.

Van Reid has crafted a delightfully charming work. CORDELIA UNDERWOOD actually made me, a deep-fried Southern Belle, dream of adventuring in the very New England setting inhabited by the members of the MOOSEPATH LEAGUE. I look forward with great anticipation to reading all the books in the series and sincerely hope that there will be many more escapades to read about in years to come. If you are a fan of Miss Read's English villages, Jan Karon's Mitford, and L.M. Montgomery's ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, then Van Reid's Maine missives are for you!

I've had this cookbook for years and my most recent purchase of it (used) was to get it for another foodie friend. It is a feast for the eyes, but also has wonderful recipes that are in my regular repertoire. The book also gives you wonderful ideas for presentation and combinations with other dishes.

I have had this cookbook since it was first published and I still find that it is one of the cookbooks that I reach for most often. Beautiful photography. I don't hesitate to try a new recipe on company as I've never had a failure. I consider it to be a "Classic".

This is one of those cookbooks that you can pick up hours before a dinner party, open it to any page, make the dish and have rave reviews. There are VERY few dishes in here that aren't good.

This is an older cookbook, but definitely worth looking into adding to your collection!

We would go hungry without this book! This is the cook book we use far and away more than any other. We have even started some family holiday traditions from the recipes i.e. the green beans with pears - amazing! You never have to worry about making a recipe because they are all fantastic. It is a regular gift from us and we have been told many times it's the receivers new favorite cook book as well. Buy it, it is any cook's must have!

Beyond Parsley is one cookbook I always have nearby -- and I have many, many cookbooks. I am renowned among my family members and friends for e-mailing special recipes -- and many have come from this special gem. I have too many favorites in the book to list but if I had to select just ONE, I would choose Cossack Cheese. That one is a WINNER in every respect, and has gained the love of people around the US to whom I have sent the recipe. D. Ray Fuller Jr., Dallas, Texas

I bought this book several years ago because I'm a member of the Junior League of SLC, but it has some of the best recipes of any cookbook I own (>20). All of the recipes I've made from this cookbook recently have elicited "Wows" and "Yums" from my husband. We especially enjoyed the lamb chops and the pacific rim flank steak. The lemon thyme cookies are very unique and "grown-up" tasting. Old favorites include the spinach and apple salad and the cranberry glazed brie.

Always In Season: A Collection Of Recipes From The Junior League Of Salt Lake City, Utah showcases over 200 favorite seasonal recipes from Utah, as well as eight season oriented menus. Contributions from award-winning chefs are combined with scenes of gorgeous full-color Utah landscape photography to make Always In Season an excellent souvenir and cultural celebration as well as a just plain tasty cookbook. From Cache Valley Cheese Souffle; Picture Perfect Macaroons; and Great Salt Lake Caesar Salad; to Cafe Diablo Pumpkin Seed Crusted Trout; Deep Creek Ranch Fajitas; and Cranberry Eggnog Cheesecake, Always In Season will enable even the most novice kitchen cook to prepare gourmet quality dishes that enhance any truly special meal time occasion.

This recipe book is one of the best I have ever seen!

...she bought it for the Cowboy Caviar recipe alone (Cowboy Caviar is a recipe for a salsa type dish - no real caviar - just SOOOO GOOD)! Also, the Chili Blanco is TO DIE FOR! I love the way the recipes are grouped into seasons, but any of the recipes could be used any time of year. This book has everything from the recipes mentioned above to flavored butters, delicious margaritas and roasted chicken with rosemary. This is the best cookbook I have ever seen.

With all his years of outstanding media work, it may have been easy to forget that Frank Gifford was an outstanding running back on some of the best New York Giants teams in the history of the NFL.

Gifford's account of the much-chronicled 1958 championship clash between the Giants and Baltimore Colts - though written under tragic circumstances - is an important addition to the history of pro football. Historian David Halberstam was killed in a 2007 car crash while being driven to a scheduled interview with Y.A. Tittle, as he was compiling material for a book on the game. Gifford took over the project and the introduction in this book is dedicated to Halberstam.

Drawing on the oftentimes humorous memories of every living player from the game - as well as his own reflections - Gifford not only honors Halberstam through the work, but captures this special moment in time from a gridiron perspective. This is a tremendous look back to a game that reverberates with power and glory on any given Sunday some 50 years later.

According to Frank Gifford, even those who played in the NFL championship game in 1958 did not realize that it would later be widely viewed as the greatest game ever played. He acknowledges that he made two critically important fumbles that proved costly to the Giants. Gifford asserts that it was not even well-played until the fourth quarter and then during the first ever sudden-death overtime period before Alan Ameche scored from the one-yard line and the Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium, 23 to17, on December 28, 1958. According to Gifford, David Halberstam, not he, had planned to write this account of the game but Halberstam died in a "horrific traffic accident" en route to meet with Y.A. Tittle. With some reluctance, duly acknowledging that Halberstam would have written an account that "would have beautifully captured our moment of history," Gifford then agreed to write his own with Peter Richmond, "in David's memory, and in the memory of those players who are no longer alive."

The details of the game from beginning to conclusion are best revealed within Gifford's narrative. It seems appropriate, now, for me to note some of the background information that helps to create a frame-of-reference for what happened on the field. First of all, Gifford gives full credit to the Colts for their victory. They had more and better talent, were closer as a team, and led by arguably the greatest NFL quarterback ever, Johnny Unitas. When he and receiver Raymond Berry were clicking, they would not be denied. Gifford also indicates somewhat strained (if not adversarial) relations between the Giants' offensive players and their defensive counterparts led by middle linebacker, Sam Huff. On more than one occasion, after stopping an opponent from scoring or recovering a turnover, the Giants' defense would urge the Giants offense to "do your best to hold `em." Gifford asserts (and many others agree) that Charlie Conerly deserves to be in the NFL Hall of Fame. Wide receiver Kyle Rote was injured that day and, in effect, attempted to play on one leg until he could no longer continue. There was a great deal of mutual respect between and among members of both teams. At a reunion 20 years later in New York's Central Park, those who were still alive and up to it played a "re-match" (of touch football) and the Colts won again.

To me, some of the most interesting material is provided in Chapter 9, "Aftermath," as Gifford provides an update on what happened to most of the participants in the 1958 championship game. Several enjoyed great success in broadcasting (e.g. Gifford on Monday Night Football and Pat Summerall covering NFL games and other sports for CBS) or business (e.g. Gino Marchetti and Alan Ameche in the fast food industry); a sadder fate awaited others, notably Eugene ("Big Daddy") Lipscomb who never attended college but was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams and then was among the defensive stars on the Colts team that won the 1958 championship. He later died in an ambulance en route to a hospital while being treated for an overdose of heroin. He was 31. Unitas also encountered his own difficulties, many the result of his years in the NFL and later because of business investments that failed. Today, many other former players also have serious problems of various kinds. Perhaps some of those who now play in the NFL will read Gifford's book and then both understand and - more to the point -- appreciate how much they owe to the efforts of those who played decades ago.

With regard to the historic championship game in 1958, it is worth noting that 12 of the Giants and Colts players and three of their coaches were later elected to the NFL Hall of Fame: for the Giants, Roosevelt Brown, Gifford, Huff, Don Maynard, Emlen ("The Gremlin") Tunnell, Vince Lombardi (offensive coordinator, later head coach of the Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins), and Tom Landry (defensive coordinator and later head coach of the Dallas Cowboys); for the Colts, Berry, Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore, Jim Parker, Unitas, and Weeb Ewbank (head coach and later head coach of the New York Jets, NFL Super Bowl III champion in 1969). As for Giants' head coach, Gifford makes no effort to conceal his and his teammates' low opinion of Jim Lee Howell's "leadership" that was limited to letting his team know when it was time to go out on the field, and, to making certain that footballs were properly inflated. That said, at least Howell had enough sense to let Lombardi and Landry coach the team.

Was it "the greatest game ever played"? Opinions vary. Did the game "change football forever"? Frank Gifford makes a compelling argument that it did. Read his book and then decide for yourself.

If you love pro football, this is a must read.

If you ever watched Frank Gifford on Monday Night Football, you know that he showed a respect and love for football that separated him from the others who shared the broadcasting booth with him. He was reticent and heart-felt in his comments. I always wondered what it would be like to hear him recount his playing days over a beer or two. Reading The Glory Game comes as close to having that experience as I can ever hope to reach.

In The Glory Game, he takes you back into professional football in the fifties when the game was considered by most fans as little different from professional wrestling. The players were long on devotion and short on pay. They also had respect for themselves and others. They played more to honor their teammates than for accolades from the fans.

Into the middle of this world, live television brought a mass audience who came, saw, and came back. One of the games that caught everyone's attention was the 1958 NFL Championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants (for whom Mr. Gifford played). The book provides a virtual play-by-play recounting of that game, book ended by descriptions of the players and their origins, the owners, the coaches, and the social life of the teams on the one side and what happened to the people after the game on the other side.

Frank Gifford was no second-stringer. He was one of the most highly regarded players of his era. His two fumbles and a missed first down (which maybe was mismeasured) had a major impact on the game's score and ultimate resolution.

I didn't see the game played live, but I've seen highlights many times since then. I agree that it was the greatest game in pro football up to that point. I've seen more exciting games since then. You only have to go back to the Super Bowl in 2008 to see a game with a lot more significance and with better play throughout that also involved the New York Giants.

If you don't mind the game itself being a bit over-hyped, the rest of the book will bring much satisfaction. The main writing weakness is that a number of the stories and examples are repeated a bit too much. An editor should have cut things down a bit more.

Let's hear it for the Frank Gifford!

Frank Gifford did a highly credible job of completing this project while honoring the memory of David Halberstam. He deserves credit, not only for loyalty to Halberstam but for a most enjoyable recounting of one of the most memorable American sporting events.The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever

Written in an engaging and conversational style, The Glory Game by Frank Gifford and Peter Richmond chronicles the epic 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants. Eventually won by the Colts in the first sudden-death overtime in the history of the sport, "The greatest game ever played" or "Best Game Ever" cemented the NFL's place at the forefront of American popular culture. There has been lots written about the game over the years, but Gifford, the Giants star Running Back from 1952-64 offers a unique field-level perspective. Relying on his own memories supplemented by interviews with his teammates as well as former Colts players, Gifford gives the reader a down-by- down play by play account of the Colts thrilling march to victory. Along the way he offers anecdotes and insights that I haven't seen in any other books. He also uses the game as a jumping off point to discuss the NFL culture of the 1950's, considered by many to be pro-football's golden era.

Gifford began the book as a tribute to his friend David Halberstam who was working on a similar book at the time of his death.

I've read 6 books on football this year (including two others on this game) and this is by far the best.

I thought I wouldn't be able to get a copy of this cookbook for my sister.
Thank you! Since this cookbook is out of print, I was sure it would be impossible to find.

I received this cookbook as a gift in 1992, I think, when I spoke for a women's business organization in Salt Lake City. I finally used it at Thanksgiving in 2004, and was really blown away by the results.

The biggest hit of the meal was the apple-sausage stuffing. This particular recipe is meant for Christmas goose, but I used it with Thanksgiving turkey, and substituted turkey sausage and buttersquash soup for the sausage and milk it called for. It was absolutely the best stuffing I have ever had in my life, and our guests all agreed.

The book is loaded with unusual recipes like that one, including suggestions for drinks and hor d'oeuvres, bunches and breads, soups and stews, salads, vegetables and side dishes, seafood, meat, poultry, as well as desserts and pies and cookies and cakes.

It's a really special set of recipes, filling more than 230 pages. Even if you seldom cook (like me), go for it.

A Pinch Of Salt Lake is an impressive and diverse compilation of easy-to-prepare recipes for beverages, hors d'oeuvres, brunches, breads, soups, stews, salads, vegetable and side dishes, seafood, poultry, meats, desserts, pies, cookies, and cakes. From Bacon-Wrapped Scallops; Cucumber Sandwich Canapes; Onion Corn Bread; and Cold Tortellini Salad; to Sweet Fried Corn; Fusilli with Shrimp and Roasted Peppers; Poached Chicken Breasts in Tarragon; and Raspberry Walnut Torte, A Pinch Of Salt Lake will soon become a family kitchen favorite. An extensive index is provided which will ably assist in planning meals appropriate and suitable for all occasions and circumstances.

I own many cookbooks but have yet to find one as good as this one. The many recipes I've prepared are very delicious, have nice presentation and use ingredients that are easy to find. There are quite a few recipes with a "quick & easy" icon on the side which makes it nice when you're in a hurry but would like to make something good. It's a beautiful cookbook that's well laid out. It makes an excellent gift.

I have prepared many of the recipes from this book and have found all I have tried to be wonderful. They are easy to follow, and the collection of recipes is diverse and appeals to the most discriminating of tastes. This book also provides visuals on the art of artistic meal presentation. Of the cookbooks that I own, I know if a meal is prepared from this book all will be happy, especially me!

I've had this cookbook for several years and I think it's terrific. I haven't made a recipe from it that disappointed me.

The recipes are not difficult to make, so anyone should be able to cook from this book. The food turns out a bit sophisticated. You could easily use some of these recipes for a dinner party.

Two of the recipes I really enjoyed from this book were Mustard Ginger Pork Chops and Minestrone. The pork chops were wonderful - you basically add a simple marinade (pretty easy to do!). The minestrone is wonderful! It is probably my favorite soup ever. It uses ham to give it a smoky flavor, then you add a number of veggies and pasta to it, and top it off with cilantro and parmesan cheese. This is a great soup to make at the beginning of the week and have it for lunch every day for the rest of the week. I've made this soup so many times and I've even tried to freeze it (although I wouldn't recommend that). This is also a good soup to fix ahead of time if you're going to have guests. Add a salad and some bread and you have quite a nice lunch.

Besides the recipes, the photography in this book is amazing. It's quite different than other cookbooks. I would have to consider the photos as "art" because they are of the quality of framed photographic art. I keep thinking of taking this book off of my cookbook shelf and using it as a "coffee table book" because it is so beautiful.

Overall, I would recommend this cookbook to almost anyone. The recipes are simple but elegant and the pictures make the book a joy just to look through.

This book will hardly fit back on the shelf: Yellow post-it notes hang from its margins, nearly a pad-ful so far, each marking a high-taste recipe. I've only had the book a year, but it has fast become a favorite.

Crescent City Collection is the latest cookbook by the Junior League of New Orleans. It contains some recipes for dishes fundamentally identified with New Orleans, but it also reflects the trend in restaurants and kitchens throughout New Orleans to experiment with new tastes and combinations of flavors. The recipes for traditional dishes like red beans and rice all seem to have a twist that successfully compliments and expands upon what is tried and true. All the recipes I've tried and tasted have been excellent, notably the Crawfish Cheescake, the Curried Chicken Salad, the Madras Salad, and the Chicken Parmisan with Apricot Sauce.

In addition to the excellent recipes, Crescent City Collection is so gorgeous it is worthy of being displayed on a coffee table. The photographs are of historic New Orleans residences. In addition, throughout the cookbook are vignettes on subjects related to New Orleans and cooking. When I don't want to cook out of it, sometimes I just enjoy reading it.

Crescent City Collection: A Taste Of New Orleans is a classy cookbook featuring over 250 recipes donated by members of the Junior League of New Orleans. Color photographs wonderfully enliven and showcase these elegant dishes with glimpses into beautiful and grandiose homes, and informative sidebars offer well-to-do cooking tips. Dishes such as Bayou Bean Salad; Turkey and Red Wine Lasagna; and Lemon Rice Pilaf fill the pages of this elegantly sumptuous and highly commended culinary guide.

This cookbook is beautiful to look at and the recipes are so easy, even for a novice. The Barefoot Boursin is a big hit at parties and doubles as an ingredient for Sinful Spinach. Also, the Dixie Beer Bread is very easy, I used it last year for Christmas gifts.

One of my book club friends loaned me this book and it is a marvel! What an amazing man! His descriptions are seductive and his enthusiasm is infectious. I recommend this book to everyone who loves adventure and is interested in history - obviously these are his tales from his perspective but then what history book isn't in the end. It is just so much fun to read! (You don't have to be young boy - I'm an older woman)

I read this book when I was about 10 or 11, but it is most suitable for boys 12-14 who are decent readers. It is full of non-stop dering-do and accurately describes the author's real life adventures. I highly recommend it!

Richard Halliburton belongs to a lost generation of adventurer/writers. His books enthralled me sixty years ago and still he does not disappoint. Today it would be politically and geographically impossible to follow in all his footsteps which makes this book (and his others) a modern-day adventure.

This book helped me see that no person or situation is hopeless. McNamara is candid and insightful. He exposes his own personal struggles in effort to assist the reader with their own. Once I started reading, I could not put it down.

This book is an inspiration for all! Robert P. McNamara, an Associate Professor, at Furman University, illustrates a candid account of the child foster care system by detailing his challenges and deprivations by giving his painful portrayal and first hand experience. This story should be made into a T. V. movie!!!! I cried all the way through this book. He truly shows some people can overcome any obstacles. I loved it and recommended it to friends and family.

The sweet, tender illustrations of this heart breaking--then heart healing--story make it really come alive for children and adults alike.

Nicole Tadgell's characters arouse a tender affinity for the lovable protagonist Joe Joe as well as the assumptive shopkeeper: we see anger, regret, conciliation clear as the written text. The story is a fine lesson in courage and character for all races.

And children interested in baseball will be intrigued by the vintage photography of past baseball heroes, learning a great deal of the history of the game in tandem with the history of African Americans in the 20th century.

Just Call Me Joe Joe begins the biblical passage John 10:3, "...and the sheep shall hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name." Written especially for African-American children ages 6-10 by Jean Alicia Elster and nicely illustrated in color by Nicole Tadgell, Just Call Me Joe Joe is the story of a 10-year-old African-American boy who must deal with a shop owner who mistakenly assumes that Joe Joe was part of the gang who just trashed the store. Joe Joe must find the courage and spirit to return and convince the shop owner of the truth. Just Call Me Joe Joe is a highly recommended and strong story of moral conviction and justice for young readers.