Product Description
In this beautiful new book, acclaimed author and chef Rabbi Gil Marks offers a complete guide to entertaining for Jewish holidays and other family celebrations.

From the time Abraham and Sarah entertained passing strangers in their simple tent, hospitality has been a significant aspect of Jewish life. For generations, Jewish parents have taught their children how to create a traditional home, passing down many lifetimes of accumulated wisdom along with their family recipes. But as the world changes, Jewish entertaining changes too. Modern Jews want to add exciting new dishes to their traditional menus and they want a practical guide to serving elegant meals whether for a large crowd or an intimate gathering. Now, in the only book of its kind, The World of Jewish Entertaining demystifies the experience of entertaining.

Marks presents a "Guide for the Perplexed Host," practical advice, easy-to-follow recipes for a wide variety of dishes from the most homey and traditional foods to haute cuisine, and complete menus for

Product Description
Includes ideas for creative birthday parties, with recipes for special foods and instructions for making invitations, decorations, favors, and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Do Together Parties!
This book is filled with kid-friendly recipes and craft ideas.The best part is that the ideas are simple enough for kids to help, and we all know that kids love to help with planning parties!It makes planning the party fun for parents and kids. ... Read more

Product Description
More than just a cookbook, this exciting new book contains fresh, invigorating entertainment suggestions to make holiday festivities fantastic. Simple directions help create invitations, party favors, placemats, and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Southern Living Holidays & Celebrations
I have used this book a great deal for parties I have helped with.I have a back ground in food and it is a great pick. ... Read more

Product Description
An indispensable cookbook that's sure to help readers replace the trauma of holiday cooking and entertaining with the warmth and enjoyment these special occasions deserve. Color photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

I found the book superb for Easter
For 57 cents you can't get better recipes for Easter.I highly recomend the egg-leek bake served with the snow pea endive salad with shallot dressing.Add carmelized bacon to this and you have a hit.

Nice seasonal entry to the Bon Appetit series
I am a huge fan of the Bon Appetit cookbook series--I think I own 8 of them. This is a nice entry for holiday celebrations--menus and recipes for a variety of holidays. I recently used this cookbook for some of its Christmas cookie recipes and was very pleased. The nice thing about these recipes are they are not too complicated and you will be very pleased with the result, even if you try them out on company the first time you use them.

I did not rate this as five stars since the holiday format limits some of the flexibility and depth of the other cookbooks.My favorites in the series are stillToo Busy to Cook 1 and 2, and Bon Appetit--Weekend entertaining.Still, a very good choice to add to your repetoire

A Holiday Recipe for Every Flavor
This cookbook has a recipe for almost every holiday. It begins on New Years Day and continues with Valentines Day to Labor Day and Thanksgiving and ends with New Years Eve.I found it very helpful. It has a menu plan but there are courses that can be substituted. The recipes are easy to follow and so tasty. I keep this one near by. ... Read more

Product Description
Provides suggestions for celebrating Mother's Day through recipes and instructions for various crafts.Amazon.com Review
There are all kinds of great ways to show Mom you love her.This Mother's Day, make her a little gift -- a basket, a bouquet, ora necklace -- and whip up a fast and easy breakfast or put togethera picnic lunch.Mom will be thrilled!Mother's Day will be herebefore you know it, so get started! ... Read more

Product Description
This festive cookbook provides a joyous opportunity for youngsters to learn about Jewish holidays and their meanings, customs, and special foods. Fifty recipes are broken down into parts a child can manage alone, those an adult should do, and those that they can do together. Illustrations. (All Ages) ... Read more

Product Description
Dramatic, seductive, playful, infinite in its variety, otherworldly in its taste: It's chocolate, and here's all the impetus you need to indulge your passion for it every day of the year. The beloved Alice Medrich, renowned for impeccable recipes that produce stellar results, has written Chocolate Holidays especially for people who love to bake but don't have enough hours in the day. Without compromising on flavor, texture, or ingredients, she pares down the preparation steps, teaches us resraint, and comes up with fifty amazing recipes, each a little jewel of elegance and simplicty.

An ideal year in chocolate might start with a New Year's brunch starring Chocolate Blini with Berry Caviar. Then there are Valentine's Day chocolate scones and St. Patrick's Day Irish Coffee Chocolate Mousse. And of course any "holiday" your imagination can conjure up is a perfect reason to indulge: perhaps a decadently rich hot chocolate served in demitasse portions to exorcise those end-of-February blues.

Spring might whisper chocolate Giant Krispy Easter Treats or a Passover Chocolate Nut Sponge Torte, or white chocolate-glazed Apricot Orange Cupcakes for a wedding shower. Summer suggests fruit and ice cream desserts such as the Independence Day red, white, and blue sundaes, followed by autumn's pies and tarts laden with chocolate and nuts. And no matter what you've been putting on the table for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays past, it will be out-chocolated by Alice's Chocolate Cranberry Pudding and her Chocolate Hazelnut Roulade—both unequivocally year-end musts.

In Chocolate Holidays, Medrich unlocks the secrets of our favorite sweet, offering chocolate desserts for every season, for every reason.

First published in hardcover as A Year in Chocolate (Warner Books, 2001) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Ummmm
I love chocolate. And now I love Alice Medrich.
As soon as I read that she was the Queen of Chocolate, I had to put her to the test. I checked this book out from my local library and made very recipe from cover to cover.
Yes, EVERY RECIPE. No, I'm not kidding.
Alice Medrich is the Queen and this book is her court. Buy it. You will never regret it.
Finally, someone found a way to encourage the eating of chocolate all year long. Let's celebrate with a slice of Chocolate Poundcake.

love it!
I have yet to make all of the recipes in this book, but the ones I have tried have been excellent. The detailed instructions make it almost impossible to mess up, and you end up with beautiful and delicious desserts. I bake a lot, but the recipe for chocolate cake in this book made the best cake that I've ever made (or eaten). The recipes can be a little time consuming, but they are worth the effort.

Chocolate Holidays
The cookbook was purchased as a gift for my sister-in-law.The recipes were not as main stream as I had hoped.Hopefully the recipes will be worth the effort.

The "patron saint of chocoholics" has something for every holiday
author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family

from the Canadian Jewish News, Hanukkah 2007

While Jews of Eastern European descent celebrate Hanukkah with mountains of latkes, Sephardic Jews fry sufganiyot. But for everyone - and every holiday - there's always...chocolate?

Yes, just about everyone's favorite ingredient never goes out of season, claims award-winning author Alice Medrich, whose book "Chocolate Holidays: Unforgettable Desserts for Every Season" (Artisan) offers 50 luscious, decadent recipes to crown every holiday and celebration.

"I wanted to do a season-to-season book," said Medrich by phone from her Berkley, California, home. "Other ingredients we like to cook with change with the seasons. The constant is chocolate."

Jewish cooks know that Hanukkah is all about the oil. The symbolism goes back to ancient times, when Judah Maccabee and his tiny army defeated the Syrian-Greeks and recaptured Jerusalem. In attempting to rededicate the Temple, they found only enough oil to burn for one day. Miraculously it lasted eight days, and we've been celebrating with a frying frenzy ever since! But who says traditional potato latkes are the only fritter fit to fry?

"Chocolate Banana Blintzes are fried, and Hanukkah is a great excuse to serve them," noted Medrich. "They are just so delicious, a fancy party dessert that's easy to do." Restraint, she said, is sometimes the secret ingredient. "A little burst of chocolate sauce in a hot crepe with bananas is more seductive than a chocolate blintz with chocolate filling," she writes.

Another lesser-known Hanukkah tradition involves the story of Judith, a beautiful Jewish widow, who dined with the enemy general Holofernes. She plied him with cheese to make him thirsty for wine, and when he fell into a drunken stupor, she beheaded him with his own sword. Because her bravery is said to have inspired the Maccabees, some communities remember Judith by eating cheese during this holiday.

A delicious way to honor this unsung legendary heroine is with Honey Drizzled Chocolate Cheese Fritters, a recipe Medrich adapted from one by Marcella Hazan. The ricotta cheese batter with finely chopped chocolate and a hint of orange may be prepared up to two days ahead and fried within two hours of serving. Keep them warm in a 200°F. oven, and drizzle them with maple syrup instead of honey, if you prefer.

Hanukkah wouldn't be Hanukkah without latkes, but grandma never dreamed of pancakes like this: Chocolate Latkes, with not a potato in sight. Heaps of chocolate and coconut combine to produce a crunchy, yet chewy cookie with a soft, almost brownie-like interior. Fill an edible chocolate-coated pretzel basket with the latkes for an eye-catching centerpiece. Smaller baskets can even hold chocolate Hanukkah gelt, coins traditionally given to the children on the holiday.

Medrich, whom the San Francisco Chronicle once dubbed the "patron saint of chocoholics," was the founder of Cocolat, the legendary and innovative Bay Area pastry company that revolutionized chocolate making from the mid 1970's to the early `90's.

"Chocolate Holidays," a revised edition of the previously published "A Year in Chocolate," includes an extended section on ingredients, equipment and decorating ideas as well as "chocolate notes," taking the guesswork out of selecting among chocolate varieties.

"All the changes and updating of chocolate make it more interesting to work with," noted Medrich. "There are different blends of beans that now engage us."

Whether she's brewing a simple hot chocolate or spinning sugar for chocolate cream puffs, this master teacher encourages rather than intimidates with clear, precise instructions. The most important tip for a beginner in working with chocolate, she advises, is what the French call mise en place, setting out and preparing all the ingredients in advance.

"Baking is meditative. There's a sequence of things that you do. It's not free-form like cooking. Once you measure and prepare everything in advance, you dance through the steps. There's a sense of discipline about it, the familiarity of doing a favorite recipe. It's a pleasing ritual."

Medrich is passionate about chocolate year-round and claims to eat it every day. "I'm certain there are health properties in chocolate," she noted, "but it shouldn't be an invitation to gobble down a lot of candy or desserts with extra sugar, cream and fat. Enjoy the good stuff, and don't eat too much of it."

No matter the holiday or season, chocolate's seductive powers to comfort and astound are almost universal.

"Of all the special, quote, unquote, gourmet foods, chocolate is one of the only ones we have all loved since childhood," Medrich observed. "It's not an acquired taste. Maybe we liked milk chocolate and have grown to like bittersweet, but it's always been there for us. It's not intimidating. We didn't have to learn to like it, like coffee, wine or caviar."

good for gourmets
This cookbook is a fun, neat cookbook - especially for those looking for recipes to bake for Jewish holidays.However, this book is certainly not for the amateur baker.Even if you are a chocoholic, like me, don't buy this book as your first cookbook. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The Best Cookbook of all
Marlene Sorosky's Year Round Entertaining book is exactly that! I have used this book since my Mom gave it to me in 1989 when I was just learning to cook. It's probably the reason I have learned and gained the confidence to prepare elegant dishes. My Mom was a fabulous cook and taught me a lot growing up, and this book was the continuing education I needed to repeat my Mom's legacy. For every event over the last 20 years I have prepared numerous recipes from the book and I haven't found one I didn't absolutely LOVE. It means a lot to me because now my Mom has Alzheimer's and can no longer cook or follow a recipe. Marlene, you have made my life for cooking and determined how I measure every recipe I read from any source. Maybe there is no follow up version of your book because you gave your all on the ones in this book! Just make this book available; I have lots of friends who are trying to get their hands on one!

Marlene Sorosky's Year-Round Holiday Cookbook
The book arrived quickly and appeared to be in excellent condition. I had an old copy that has been well used. Wanted to have a back up, just in case and am thrilled to have it. I have all her cookbooks and they're all great, but this one is fabulous! Sure wish she'd write another one.

My Favorite Cookbook!
I bought this wonderful cookbook nearly 15 years ago on the recommendation of a friend.I collect cookbooks and this one is the first one I grab when planning a party or celebration.Menus for everything from a New Year'sSoup Bowl party to weddings, anniversary parties, barbecues, Father's Day,Mother's Day, Graduation, and wonderful holiday dinners and buffets are allfilled with scrumptious and fail-safe recipes.Each recipe gives greatinstructions on how far in advance it can be prepared, making entertaininga snap.I've used this book so many times that it has become tattered anddog eared.All of Sorosky's books are excellent.Please, Marlene, howabout an update of this fabulous classic!

Always an answer to a what to serve question.
I purchased this book around 1984.It has served me well as a hostess and a guest. The step by step and do ahead hints are priceless.It is too bad it is out of print, but I always look for Sorosky (no, not Stewart) in thecook book section. This is truly doable.

Beautiful, fail-safe dishes every time!
I do a lot of entertaining throughout the year.Until I read Ms. Sorosky's book, I'd considered myself resaonably good as a cook.This book let me soar! From it I've developed annual menus for various holidays, and it's given me great dishes for special occasions -- the bridal shower, etc..It's well-written, beautifully illustrated,and the directions, being thorough and straightforward (with explicit help for the less experienced cook), are so easy to follow.A classic in this field. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (10)

Phenomenal book!
I ordered this book to give as a gift, but I think I'm going to have to get another one for me!First of all, the selection of recipes is amazing.You have everything in here from appetizers, to drinks, to main courses, baked goods, side dishes, and of course, heavenly desserts.As I was reading the pages, I was practically drooling at some of the foods.Then - the PICTURES....oh my if they don't wet your appetite then there is something wrong with you!I found page after page of recipes I want to try, and from the ingredients listed (from being a very experienced cook) I just know they are going to be superb.I have other Southern Living cookbooks, so there's no doubt in my mind the recipes in this book will be fabulous also.I know the recipient of this book will love it - it's a beautiful book and makes for a really nice gift.

Great book and great price
A friend at work purchased this book and let me browse through it.I loved it.As usual I came home and checked Amazon for the best price.I bought this book used, in excellent condition and at a fraction of what my friend paid.It is filled with wonderful recipes!

Christmas Entertaining Must-Have
I got this cookbook last year and made 7 recipes out of it for a Christmas Eve open house.Every single recipe turned out perfectly and was beyond delicious.I'm not sure what went wrong the with recipes that S. Robinson tried but my experience was the absolute opposite of hers.
Here's what I made:
Buttery Blue Cheese and Walnut Spread (served in a bread bowl-yum! I don't even really like blue cheese and I loved this dip)
Gingerbread Bites with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting (my neighbor couldn't even speak when she tasted these because they were so good-and she still talks about them a year later!)
Pear and Goat Cheese Tarts (Gourmet and foolproof, these are excellent hot or cold-they might make you cry, they're so good)
Sparkly Cranberry Scones (so easy to make it's silly-I have used all kinds of different fruits in this recipe and they turn out perfectly every time)
Chocolate Mint Cake with Ganache Frosting (Oh. My. God.I messed up the recipe and doubled the butter and it was still one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten in my life!!)
Peppery Cheese bread (Savory and delicious, it was easy to make and even tasted good warmed up the next day)
Brown-Sugar Pecan Coffee Cake (decadent and delicious, we had this Christmas morning and I couldn't stop eating it even though I was still full from the night before)
I have to note that I am not an extremely experienced cook and although it took me a lot of time to make all of these, they weren't difficult.
I can't recommend this book enough. I also bought the Willams Sonoma Holiday Entertaining book and it just sat forlorly on the shelf, while this book got heavy use.I have about 30 more post-it notes in it on the recipes I still want to try!

Book
The book arrived in a timely manner. It had some writing on some pages that wasn't indicated but it was still less expensive.

Great book!
Boy, do I ever love these books!Each year this time I always start looking for both these Southern Living books for Christmas, as well as the Gooseberry Patch books.Not sure which of the two is my favorite, they've all been mostly wonderful and I cook from them throughout the year.This one I liked in particular because it is broken down into menus.And, when you're in a hurry, that sure helps out a bunch!If you don't buy it for any other reason than for the coconut cakes on the front cover, it's money WELL spent!Wow, what a great recipe!Even went out and bough a special pan to make them.Yum!I don't know how Southern Living keeps from running out of ideas each year, but this one's definitely a keeper!I'm off to order the new 2009!It probably won't help my sagging cabinet shelf either - too many cookbooks already!Oh well!Highly recommend! ... Read more

Product Description
What better way to introduce young people to different countries and cultures than to study how others celebrate their holidays? Over 350 proven recipes have been assembled by Lois Sinaiko Webb, coauthor of the bestselling Multicultural Cookbook for Students. Whether young people are researching holiday customs and foods or planning to prepare the meals described in the book, they will find all of the recipes especially adapted for preparation by student chefs. Recommended for grades 4-12. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Looked ok but...
I recieved it with a bent up cover and it was supposed to be new - from Amazon.A bit of a disappointment - I returned it.From what I viewed of the book, it looked like it had potential. ... Read more

Product Description
From autumn's first frost all the way through the new year, you'll enjoy every minute of Holidays at Home, our book of fall and holiday celebrations! Gooseberry Patch gathered their friends' best recipes, memories and how-to's for an autumn barn party, farmhouse Thanksgiving, yuletide open house, handmade Christmas and so much more. Generously sprinkled with tips and ideas you'll want to share with friends & family. Hardcover, 224 pages. (9-1/4" x 6-1/2") ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Wonderful Holiday Book
Great holiday book chock full of fall and Christmas recipes, crafts, heartwarming stories, and ideas-I bought this for myself but it would make a lovely gift for any creative woman-Great price, quick shipment-Highly recommend!

I love Gooseberry Patch, but
If you're a real gung ho Christmas person you might like this book.However, if you already own a lot of Gooseberry Patch books (like I do) you may be disappointed.There are lots of repeated ideas and recipes.Maybe not exactly the same but extremely similar to those in other Gooseberry Patch books.Be cautious if you're a collector.

Another Golden Gooseberry
For those of you who are familiar with the Gooseberry Patch Co. series, you will not be disappointed with this great cookbook.For those of you who are not familiar with it, what are you waiting for?This series (as well as Holidays at Home specifically) has recipes that are so easy to use, it doesn't matter if you're Julia Child or a 20's male bachelor (heh heh), it's easy to make everything in here.And it's delicious!
While I feel this particular volume doesn't separate itself from the rest of the series, that is not at all a bad thing.It still has the recipes, memories, and ideas that they all have, and you're bound to enjoy it!Plus I'll plug the Old Fashioned Country Cookies title from this series.It's simply amazing.
Happy cooking! ... Read more

Product Description
Kwanzaa: An African-American Celebration of Culture and Cooking is the only complete guide to the history and foods of Kwanzaa. In this beautiful yet practical book, there are recipes for more than 125 treasured dishes from people of African descent living all over the world. Adorned with biographies of distinguished African Americans, proverbs, and folk tales that illustrate the seven principles of Kwanzaa (Nguzo Saba), Kwanzaa embodies the very spirit of the holiday itself: a culinary celebration and a testimony to the accomplishments and spirit of African Americans throughout history.

This is more than just a book for a holiday. It is a cookbook and a source of inspiration to be used all year long. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A CULTURAL FEAST
Kwanzaa is rapidly approaching and as with all holidays requires detailed preparation. Contained in these pages are all the components you need for a meaningful Kwanzaa celebration with ritual and food.

Eric Copage shares with us the origins of Kwanzaa as well as his own experiences in first celebrating the holiday. We are introduced to the seven princples of Kwanzaa and the relevance that it has for the African-American community.

You can't have a true celebration unless good tasting food is present. At the very heart of the book are over 120 recipes for you to prepare for the Kwanzaa feast. The recipes are samples from Africans throughout the diaspora. Indulge yourself with pigeon peas and rice from the Caribbean. Avocado mousse with shrimp sauce from Brazil will tantilize your taste buds. A pot of mustard greens from "down home" (the South) in the United States will fill your belly. And let us not forget spicy matoke from Kenya. If you mouth is not watering yet for these delicious treats then something must be wrong with your taste buds.

The above dishes are easy to make and you are provided with suggested menus for the feast. If by chance some of the unusual ingredients are not available in your local grocery store, never fear. Mail order resources are provided for you in the book. As Kwanzaa approaches enjoy the friendship, food and celebration but must of all stand firm with the principles which bind us together as a people. Enjoy! Happy Celebration. ... Read more

Product Description
More than a collection of over 100 delicious Taiwanese recipes, this cookbook is divided into seasons and traditional celebrations such as Lunar New Year, Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese Valentine's Day, and Mid-Autumn Moon Festival--with a complete menu for each one.Complementary and harmonious foods are organized in 18 carefully planned menus.The Best of Taiwanese Cuisine also includes cultural information, Chinese folk art paper cuttings, and a Chinese lunar zodiac calendar.

Dishes from the four corners of China are found in Taiwanese kitchens and restaurants: noodles, dumplings and Mongolian Lamb Barbecue from northern China; sauces and herbs from the east featured in recipes like "Piquant Lime Chicken in Swallow's Nest;" the hot, spicy, fried foods from the Szechuan region; and foods from southern China such as lightly seasoned, fresh seafood.Because of Japan's influence, even sushi and sashimi have their place in Taiwanese cuisine.Vegetarian dishes like "Five-Spice Tofu" and "Baby Corn Vegetable Medley" are also popular because of Taiwan's Buddhist and Taoist legacy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not authentic
Although I cannot verify what the 2 previous reviewers have said about the authenticity of the recipes, I would suspect that they are correct based upon the author's description and recipes for sushi. Nowhere does she provide an appropriate recipe for sushi rice with appropriate vinegar, sugar, etc., ingredients.
Also her description of wasabi is just plain incorrect, i.e., wasabi is not a "spicy-hot, green mustard sauce", it is a root which is grated and served with sushi. The "wasabi" she describes is what is frequently at suchi bars because real wasabi is expensive and it is indeed usually made with mustard and/or horseradish.
However, some of the recipes seem to be decent Chinese recipes or Westernized versions of the recipes and they would most likely be good eats!

Highly Disappointed
Being half-Taiwanese, I was really interested in seeing (A)what recipes and (B)insights the author would have on Taiwanese holidays and holiday foods.

I was sorely disappointed, on both points.The author seems curious in Taiwan's culture, but only in a very pro-West, "how quaint" sort of way, without any deeper understanding of Taiwan's festivals and holidays.The recipes are also approached in a very Western manner, and the recipes themselves are also very Westernized.

In its place, I highly recommend books in the Wei-Chuan series, such as Chinese Snacks (Wei quan shi pu), Chinese Cooking Made Easy: With Simple Sauces and Dressings (Wei-chuans cookbook), Chinese Cuisine: Taiwanese Style, and Chinese One Dish Meals.

recipes are NOT accurate and missing key ingredients
This book was written by a woman who lived in Taiwan because her husband was transferred there for work.She is not knowledgeable enough to be writing a cookbook on Taiwanese cuisine.If you are Taiwanese or are familiar with Taiwanese cuisine, you will realize this right away when you look at her recipes.The recipes are MISSING KEY INGREDIENTS that make the dish taste the way it should.For example, the oyster omelet recipe does not have sweet potato starch in it.This is a key ingredient which makes the Taiwanese oyster omelet taste the way it does.

In addition, there are NO pictures and written from a point of view which would make me suspect that the author got the recipes from the internet or quickly jotted down the recipes instead of actually cooking/testing the recipes and trying them out. ... Read more

Product Description
An expert on traditional holidays and the special baked treats that mark them, veteran chef and cookbook writer Beatrice Ojakangas presents recipes for twenty-one seasonal occasions and cultural holidays. She takes you from spring to winter with recipes like heart-shaped coffee cake for Valentine's Day, Austrian carnival doughnuts or spicy rabbit cookies for Easter, and cinnamon-walnut kamish bread or challah for Rosh Hashanah. For Christmas, the biggest baking season of the year, Ojakangas offers enticing recipes for thirty-eight classic and fancy cookies, eighteen yeast breads, thirteen quick breads, nine cakes, ten bar cookies and brownies, and many more. With these recipes, every holiday is sure to be memorable.

In addition to its array of delectable foods, The Great Holiday Baking Book is brimming with holiday lore from cultures around the world. Ojakangas also provides helpful tips and practical information about hosting a cookie-swap party, organizing your bustling holiday kitchen, involving the kids in baking fun, and more. With its variety of specialties and treats for almost every gala occasion, The Great Holiday Baking Book is sure to become an indispensable part of your feasts and celebrations.

Beatrice Ojakangas is the author of more than a dozen cookbooks, including The Great Scandinavian Baking Book (1999) and Scandinavian Feasts (2001), both published by the University of Minnesota Press. Her articles have been published in Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Cooking Light, Cuisine, and Redbook, and she has appeared on television's Baking with Julia Child and Martha Stewart's Living. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A valuable cooking resource
I reviewed the hardcover edition of this book, and my comments hold true for the paperback version, as well:

Cons: I'm giving it 4 stars because there is not one single photo, or an illustration, in the entire book! Pictures or drawings would be tremendously helpful when it comes to shaping some of the breads in the book.

Pros: This book contains delicious, including some hard-to-find recipes for every holiday throughout the year, including some I'd never heard of. There is a comprehensive Advent and Christmas section, with heavy emphasis on Scandinavian baked goods (for example, Norwegian Kransekake). Some of the holidays in the book are Hannukah, Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July, Valentine's Day, etc. The recipes include cookies, savory baked goods, breads, tarts, cakes, etc. The measurements are given in cups and teaspoons, not grams and mL, and the recipes are geared towards a home cook.

The author includes several fruitcake recipes that were so delicious, my fruitcake-hating family insisted that I put them on the repeat list. A wonderful resource, and I'm glad I have it, despite the lack of photos or drawings. ... Read more

Product Description
These menus offer a bountiful array of both traditional and contemporary approaches to Thanksgiving and Christmas cooking. Perfect for first-time hosts as well as for experienced cooks who want to add to their repertoire. Full color. ... Read more

Product Description
Here are hundreds of the best ideas for the holiday season, from Thanksgiving to New Year's, collected from the pages of Martha Stewart Living, one of America's hottest and fastest growing magazines. Includes party recipes, entertainment ideas, table settings, decorations, gifts, wrappings, and much more.Amazon.com Review
Nobody knows the holidays like Martha Stewart, and here shegives you all the information you need to have a spectacular Thanksgiving,Christmas, and New Year's Eve. Martha and her crew provide you with ahearty Thanksgiving feast featuring Quail with Brussels Sprouts andShallots, Garlic Roast Potatoes, and Roast Fennel. Later she offers upa tasty but simple family breakfast for Christmas morning and asumptuous Christmas dinner centered around a Loin of Venison withRed-Currant Bordelaise and Roast Capon with Wild Rice SourdoughStuffing. The lower-key New Year's Eve dinner of five dishes may bemore appealing to kitchen novices.

Even if you're not planning ahuge party, you'll still find the book useful for more simpleideas--chapters on homemade gifts, gift-wrapping, and wreaths andgarlands provide easy-to-follow directions and lots of advice. Thechapter on cookies features 23 different classics, and another chapteroffers recipes for six pies plus tips on their assembly and even alist of "our favorite baking apples." Throughout the book you'll findinteresting sidebars and beautiful photographs to tempt and inspireyou. Maybe you're a new convert, maybe you missed one of the fabledMartha Stewart Living holiday issues, or maybe your copies aretoo dog-eared to read anymore--Holidays: The Best of Martha StewartLiving will help you make your holidays spectacular. --C.B. Delaney ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A little creative umph
Sometimes I just need a little creative umph, and Martha Stewart always gives it to me, with class and a fun style that I can call my own.Some of her projects are a little too time consuming, but there are always great ideas I can use.

Cookie Recipes are Perfect
My wife and I use the recipes in this magazine every Christmas.They come out perfect every time.

Looking for a way to make your holidays more elegant?
This offering from Martha Stewart provides a new, more elegant way to celebrate the holidays. The menus she presents are a refreshing departure from the traditional "turkey and dressing". Her decorating ideas are absolutely exquisite (a fact that did not go unnoticed by our guests). My friends and I enjoyed making the decorations and preparing the meal as much as our guests enjoyed looking at the decorations and eating! I only wish she had provided more decorating ideas. ... Read more

Product Description
Tase of Home's Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook 2001 from Reimann Publications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Recipes and ideasthru out the year
I love this book It has some of the best ideas for the different holidays.No just the usual stuff.Great book. ... Read more

Product Description
Look no further for tips and recipes for whipping up a dazzling array of delicious holiday meals - without stress!

Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year -- and Americans traditionally love to celebrate the season with food, food, and more food. This easy guide shows cooks of every generation how to plan and prepare scrumptious seasonal treats. It includes:

• 100 delicious recipes for hassle-free holiday meals, including Warm White Bean Dip, Four-Cheese
• Spinach Lasagne, and Chocolate Truffle Tart.
• Tips, checklists, and charts, plus step-by-step guides and shopping lists for special holiday meals, including a Christmas Tree-Trimming Party
• A special section on Christmas decorating and food gifts from the kitchen
• 16 pages of color photos featuring holiday meal recipes and kitchen-made gifts and decorations

Customer Reviews (1)

FOR EVERYONE'S FIRST CHRISTMAS FEAST!
If this is the first Christmas you have actually had to prepare the festive feast, this book is for you.It even tells you what to do with that odd-shaped turkey, like which side is up and which side is down, how to truss the critter up and where the stuffing goes.My son-in-law, who loves to cook but is lacking a lot in patience and aptitude, shocked the heck out of our entire family the first year he married my daughter, by coming to the dining room table with chain saw in hand and commenced to carve the Christmas turkey!Considering my children were raised in a rather conservative, refined environment, this event certainly left many mouths hanging open at the dining room table!How I wish this book had been published about ten years ago. (He is still cooking and basting, by the way, but has traded the chain saw for less ominous utensils.)

Like all the "Dummy" books, this one will bring a chuckle or two but at the same time save the reader from making some drastic mistakes when preparing the Christmas feast.For all novices to the Christmas kitchen, this book is for you and worth a five-star rating. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review
Product Description
Mr. Boston Holiday Cocktails has the perfect drink for entertaining in every season.  From hot winter toddies to festive, refreshing punches, seasonal cocktails are all the rage in bars and at get-togethers. Now you can entertain your guests at home with drinks tailored for every holiday season, from the experts at Mr. Boston, America's favorite drink-mixing guide. Mr. Boston has been the go-to manual for bartenders and spirits professionals since the repeal of the Prohibition, and with this collection of stylish all-new drink recipes, Mr. Boston Holiday Cocktails puts the expertise of world-class mixologists at your fingertips.

Mr. Boston Holiday Cocktails helps you get the festivities rolling with seventy-eight celebratory recipes, collected from the best cocktail creators in the country. Illustrated with mouth-watering, full-color photographs, these recipes range from classic (Hot Buttered Rum) to trendy (Dreamy Dorini Smoking Martini) to surprising and unique (Lancaster On Hudson, with bourbon and apple butter). You'll appreciate the Trade Secrets sprinkled throughout the book for preparing and serving the perfect drink, along with Mr. Boston's attention to the purity and flavor of fresh ingredients in your cocktails.

With visually appealing, eminently sippable, crowd-pleasing cocktail recipes for every possible occasion, Mr. Boston Holiday Cocktails offers simple instructions for

• Hot and steamy drinks to warm up long winter nights or apr?s ski
• Rich and creamy nogs for Christmas and New Year's
• Highly spirited drinks with cool heft for hot parties
• Perfect punches for when you'd rather be mixing with your guests than tending the bar

So, send out the invitations! With Mr. Boston Holiday Cocktails by your side, you are ready to party, with recipes and serving ideas that will enhance your holiday entertaining and make you the toast-or should we say, host-of the town. Needless to say, it's also the perfect gift for a friend.

Recipe Excerpts from Mr. Boston: Holiday Cocktails

Basil 8

Pumpkin Steamer

Virginia Dare

Product Description
Christmas Make it Sparkle is a wonderful book filled with 225 simple, crafts, food and decorating ideas for your holiday home. Christmas is the most beautiful time of the year. Colored lights shimmer in neighborhood windows, fresh evergreens are adorned with glittering ornaments, and snow glistens. You can see the excitement in the little eyes that twinkle throughout the season. Your holiday home becomes the focal point for all of this marvelous activity and you want to share your talents with the ones you love. In this gook you'll find ideas for beautiful ornaments and tree decorations, glorious wreaths and centerpieces, memorable handmade greeting cards, delicious recipes, stunningly simple decorations, clever gifts for everyone on your holiday list, and unique lighting ideas. All of the easy to make projects, recipes and ideas will help make your holiday just a little brighter. So as you reflect upon this most beautiful time of the year, take time to feel the warmth of the season in your home, and in your heart, as you make this Christmas one that sparkles. See other holiday ideas Google BRAVE INK PRESS ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Half star is actually too much!
What a waste of money.Don't buy this book.The recipes have not been tested.Each and every one I made did not work.Shame on the authors, shame on the publisher!

Disappointed...
Every flip of the page has a different idea or project to do for Christmas. They aren't good ideas. Definitely an aquired taste. Everything requires skill and a lot of different items that might be hard to find. This book should only be bought by very craft minded people or people who have a lot of time on their hands. Unfortunately, I wont be using this book for anything.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!
I bought this book to get some ideas for parties and crafts that my kids and I could make together.I will be making my own beautiful christmas cards and using some of the decorations on my holiday table.We also found some fun ornaments that we could make together as a family. ... Read more