Open main menu

Changes

2,655 bytes added ,  09:32, 12 December 2023
no edit summary
[[Category:Cookery|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Cookery]]__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1454955546
|title=Sugarless
|author=Nicole M Avena
|rating=5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=''This isn't a diet book. The last thing anyone needs is another diet book.''
 
There was a time, not that long ago, when it was thought that sugary food was better for you than food with high-fat content. Fat was the demon food which was going to elevate your cholesterol and cause heart disease. Sugar was a carbohydrate, so good. There's a problem, though. Sugar is addictive and can hijack your brain in much the same way as drugs like heroin and cocaine. Does that sound over the top? Well, it isn't.
}}
<!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1635866847
|title=The Lavender Companion
|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I ''loved'' this book already.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=3791388398
|title=New European Baking: 99 Recipes for Breads, Brioches and Pastries
|author=Laurel Kratochvila
|rating=4.5
|genre=Cookery
|summary=This is probably one of the most unusual baking books I've encountered. It's built around 99 recipes for breads, brioches and pastries but the recipes are interwoven with some thought-provoking writing on how bread - and baking - have changed in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. We start with the basics - the equipment you'll need (there's nothing extravagant or indulgent) and the ingredients, where the author is particular. You might not have realised that different salts can change the flavour and sensation on the tongue of the finished product but, apparently, they do.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1398508632
|title=The Wilderness Cure
|author=Mo Wilde
|rating=5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=It had been on the cards for a while but it was the week-long consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of eating only wild food. The end of November, particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the best time to start, in a world where the normal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, Brexit and a pandemic. Wilde had a few advantages: the area around her was a known habitat with a variety of terrains. She had electricity which allowed her to run a fridge, freezer and dehydrator. She had a car - and fuel. Most importantly, she had shelter: this was not a plan to ''live'' wild just to live off its produce.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1635864674
|title=Tomato Love: 44 Mouthwatering Recipes for Salads, Sauces, Stews, and More
|author=Joy Howard
|rating=4
|genre=Cookery
|summary=''Think of it as no-whining dining.''
 
We know it's a fruit rather than a vegetable but the fact that so many people get confused just goes to show how versatile the tomato is. Then there are all the different types, not to mention the cultivars - and you begin to understand why Joy Howard says that she hasn't met one she didn't love. I'd argue with her there - I have no affection for the ones you find in the supermarket ''next'' to the ones labelled 'grown for flavour' to distinguish them from the ones that have obviously just been grown for profit. Personally, I'd prefer a tin of tomatoes to those - and Howard makes good use of these. She's not at all precious if you get the taste.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0241480442
|title=Healthy Vegan The Cookbook: Vegan Cooking Meets Nutrition Science
|author=Niko Rittenau and Sebastian Copien
|rating=4.5
|genre=Cookery
|summary=Emotionally, I am a vegan. Mentally, I am a vegan. I read [[How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World by Henry Mance]] and was appalled by the way in which we treat animals in our search for (preferably cheap) food. Practically, I am not a vegan. It worked for a while apart from the odd blip with regard to cheese but then a perfect storm of those events which you hope don't occur too often in your lifetime tempted me back to animal-based protein. It wasn't the taste - I know that I can get plant-based food that tastes just as good as anything plundered from the animal kingdom - it was the ease of being able to get sufficient protein when meals were often snatched in a few spare moments.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1529418100
|genre=Cookery
|summary=Books about Italian food are everywhere, with recipes for pizza, pasta dishes and all the usual suspects. In a winter which seems to be starting hard all too early what I wanted was sunshine - and the sort of food which you find on the Italian streets and in those bars which only the locals know about. It's the sort of food which you eat on the move, or leaning against the bar - tables and chairs don't usually come into the equation. For the most part, it doesn't aspire to being ''healthy'' - frying plays a larger part than it does in a virtuous diet and it is a little short on fruit and veg - but we can all be a bit naughty on occasions, can't we?
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Donaldson_Recipes
|title=Gruffalo Crumble and Other Recipes
|author=Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
|rating=4
|genre=Cookery
|summary=It is hard to imagine, but the original Gruffalo book came out almost twenty years ago. This is a franchise that just keeps rolling on. Certainly, you can buy the book or the sequel, but if you visit a shop you will find Gruffalo toys, cards, even egg cups. Each year brings with it a new idea of how to push the Gruf and pals. 2016 is the year of the recipe book, but will it live up to the quality of the original?
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Archer_Kew
|title=The Kew Gardens Children's Cookbook: Plant, Cook, Eat
|author=Joe Archer and Caroline Craig
|rating=5
|genre=Cookery
|summary=I grew up in the immediate post-war period. Growing your own vegetables had been a necessity in the war and it was still a habit for those who had a bit of garden, so ''The Kew Gardens Children's Cookbook'' was a real pleasure for me, as well as a touch of nostalgia. The principle is very simple: show children how to grow their own vegetables and then how to transform them into delicious food. It sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, it might come as a surprise, but it is!
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Freer_Cook
|title=Cook. Nourish. Glow.
|author=Amelia Freer
|rating=4
|genre=Cookery
|summary=It's just about a year since I read Amelia Freer's [[Eat. Nourish. Glow.: 10 easy steps for losing weight, looking younger and feeling healthier by Amelia Freer|Eat. Nourish. Glow.]], a book which quietly impressed me and which I hung on to (not something I do regularly) and have referred back to many times for inspiration and a quick boost to the spirit. Most of the principles behind the book seemed sound, although I wasn't prepared to go down the wheat-free road as I've no reason to think that I'm sensitive to gluten - and I do wonder how most of the world would be fed if we all gave up eating wheat - but if I felt the book had a shortcoming, it was the lack of recipes. Well, that's now been remedied.
}}
Move on to [[Newest Crafts Reviews]]