Cooking Recent Picks

FEBRUARY 2011

The title-underlined links will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

Michael Cooper's Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Wines 2011
"This bestselling title, now in its 19th year of publication, is firmly established as the most authoritative and sought-after guide to New Zealand wines. Updated yearly with new tasting notes and vintage ratings, including the most current vintage, this is a 'must-have' publication for the new initiate and the established wine-buff alike. This book will help the buyer to make informed choices about the best value and best quality wines available. Divided by grape variety to help selection, this comprehensive guide includes vintage ratings, star ratings for quality, dryness/sweetness guide, retail price and value-for-money ratings. Other features include Classic Wines - wines that consistently achieve an outstanding level of quality for at least three vintages - as well as sections on 'Best Buys of the Year' and a vintage report." (Global Books)

Cooking with Charles Royal /Charles Royal and Jenny Kaka Scott
"In this book, chef Charles Royal uses indigenous New Zealand ingredients, such as kawakawa, pikopiko, wild bush mushrooms and ferns to give classic dishes a contemporary twist. Covering recipes from starters through vegetables and mains to sweet treats, Charles shows how to prepare stunning dishes with minimum effort that have a uniquely New Zealand look and taste. The book details how to locate, harvest and prepare the indigenous ingredients used and gives photographs of them up close and in the natural environment. Photographs of the completed dishes accompany each recipe, and these are complemented by scenic photographs of Charles gathering ingredients from the bush and cooking in beautiful outdoors locations." (Global Books)

Who's Cooking Tonight? / with Claire Gourley
"Based on a popular website, www.itsmyturntocook.com,Who's Cooking Tonight?is packed full of the kinds of quick and tasty dishes that we all love to cook and eat. It includes step-by-step preparation instructions for the new generation of cooks, with lots of nutrition and money-saving tips throughout. Whether you feel like bacon and egg pie, fried rice or burritos for dinner, with Who's Cooking Tonight? you won't want to wait until it's your turn to cook. (Global Books)

Another Dinner is Possible! : More Than Just a Vegan Cookbook / [compiled] by Mike and Isy ; illustrations by Isy
"Changing the world--one dinner at a time!" (Syndetics summary)

The Chef Behind the Bar / Scott Thomas
"Chef and publican Scott Thomas delivers his vision of the modern pub dining room with creative cuisine using carefully selected seasonal produce. Capture the unique style of the gastro pub at home, from bar snacks suitable for entertaining, to dining room entrees and mains, from Sunday lunches to desserts and cheeses - all washed down with your favourite tipple. Features more than 60 recipes for entertaining with gourmet flair." (Library Catalogue)

Appetite for Reduction : 125 Fast & Filling Low-fat Vegan Recipes / Isa Chandra Moskowitz ; with Matthew Ruscigno
"From best-selling vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz (350,000 books sold), a weight-loss cookbook for food lovers: awesomely delicious, low-calorie recipes" (Syndetics summary)

An Hour's the Limit : Great Food in Less Than 60 Minutes! / 'Fast Ed' Halmagyi
"Our tastes change from day-to-day, and so does the amount of time we have available to cook. But for most of us, an hour's the limit. So Ed has created a delicious range of recipes here: some take five minutes, some take 15 minutes, and some even take a little longer. But none take longer than an hour from start to serve. Whether it is an 'Omelette with Attitude' for breakfast, 'Kung Pao' chicken for the family dinner, or a 'Mud Crab Bolognese' for the one you love, you'll find plenty of recipes to fall in love with in An Hour's the Limit." (Library Catalogue)

Italian Food Safari / Maeve O' Meara & Guy Grossi
"A celebration of the incredible breadth and hard work of the Italians who came and settled in Australia and have kept their food traditions intact. Set around Australia and covering the four seasons, Italian Food Safari introduces you to the concrete backyards full of abundant tomato and basil plants, the cosy home kitchens where masterpieces are whipped up, the elegant restaurants filled with delicious cooking aromas, the specialist providores and extensive delis, bakeries, cheese-makers and pasticcerias." (Libraray Catalogue)

Skinny Bitch : Ultimate Everyday Cookbook / Kim Barnouin
"After five years atop the "Skinny Bitch" phenomenon, Barnouin has grown as a cook, a nutritionist, and a mom. Now she delivers the ultimate cookbook of 150 recipes that is ideal for anyone looking for a healthier way to feed themselves, their families, and friends." (Syndetics summary)

A Zombie Ate My Cupcake! : 25 Deliciously Weird Cupcake Recipes / Lily Vanilli ; starring Paul Parker
"Cupcakes are getting their revenge! After being banished for so long to the land of the pretty and identical, the domestic and the sweet, cupcakes are biting back. Here, Lily Vanilli shows how you can take inspiration from anywhere, insects,roadkill, or zombies and recreate it in cake, but always with a delicious result. This book is an introduction to making cakes that look weird, ugly, and even grotesque, but that taste divine! There are amazing materials for making edible sculptures and hundreds of things you can do with natural ingredients. Give guests a shock with revoltingly realistic Marzipan Beetles, or add a crunch to your desserts with Morbid Meringue Bones, dipped in raspberry blood sauce. Try out a black cherry Dracula's Bite red velvet cupcake with cream cheese, eat your way through heavenly Fallen Angel Cakes, or go for indulgent and truly dark chocolate Devil's Delight Cupcakes. If Ozzy Osbourne made cupcakes, these are the ones he'd want to eat. Cupcakes continue to be immensely popular.Cupcake is currently the most searched-for recipe term. Commissioned to design a death-themed cake for London Fashion Week, the macabre and bizarre continue to influence this upcoming baker who has recently been profiled in The Sunday Times, Evening Standard magazine, and Metro. Illustrated throughout with a trendy gothic horror theme." (Global Books)

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