Book Description
Dilettante chef Angie Amalfi doubts if she'll actually survive her engagement to San Francisco homicide detective Paavo Smith, what with her meddling mom micromanaging the whole affair. So Angie leaps at the chance to spend some time away with her fiancé in the sun–drenched Arizona desert town where he'd spent time as a boy –– and maybe explore the possibility of a Southwestern–themed wedding feast.
But her groom–to–be is going back there to help a friend investigate the murder of a wealthy local –– and it seems this tiny desert community is a hotbed of deadly secrets. And when a second course of murder is served up, suddenly Angie's tasty getaway with her lover is starting to look more and more like her final meal.
Customer Reviews:
A missing friend and murder in Arizona.......2006-04-26
Angie and her fianc? Paavo head to the Arizona desert to help out Paavo's friends. Angie thinks it could be a great setting for their upcoming nuptials and Paavo is concerned because he knows that Dr. Griggs wouldn't be imagining things.
When they arrive, Ned does not come to meet them. This is not like him. Paavo and Angie are staying at a local ranch. They find out that the owner, Hal Edwards, was found dead in a cave not long before. Turns out Dr. Griggs is the executor of Hal's estate. Contrary to what others think, Dr. Griggs does not believe Hal's dead was an accident. He and Paavo, a San Francisco homicide inspector, begin to investigate.
The local sheriff, Merry Belle, likes her nice quiet town. She doesn't want anything to upset that.
Hal's ex-wife and son are in town awaiting distribution of his assets. But, Hal's will has not been found.
Angie gets pulled into the investigation against Paavo's best judgement. Can they find Hal's killer and find out what is really going on without putting anyone else in danger?
I really enjoy this series. This was one of the best books in the series in my opinion. I liked the setting a lot. Arizona and the wild west feel of the setting really added to the story. The characters are wonderful. Angie and Paavo and the many local characters fit together very well.
I highly recommend this book and series.
[...]
fine investigative tale .......2006-02-01
After Paavo Smith's dad died and his mother abandoned him, Aulis Kokkonen raised the preadolescent child and took him on three memorable occasions to visit Dr. Loomis Griggs at his Jackpot, Arizona ranch. Recently Loomis told Aulis about the suspicious death of a septuagenarian. In turn Aulis mentioned it to Paavo, now a San Francisco Homicide Detective. Paavo decides to investigate because he knows the doctor is not one to imagine things. The cop asks his fiancée chef Angie Amalfie if she wants to accompany him to Jackpot. Knowing very little about the childhood of her taciturn fiancé, Angie leaps at the chance to spend time in a place he still treasures.
Angie realizes right away several things about Jackpot, population 912. First she does not quite fit in; second Dr, Griggs is like a terrific grandfather truly welcoming her and Paavo with love; and finally she wants to hold her wedding here though she knows her upper crust mom will have cardiac arrest several times a day when she comes for the nuptials. That aside, Paavo believes the death of Hal Edwards is suspicious enough for him to make inquiries. However, he has more to be concerned with than a homicide as he thinks someone wants Doc dead and as always Angie joins the murderous mix that could prove COOKING MOST DEADLY as she tries to the CATCH A COOK.
The thirteenth cooking with murder is a fine investigative tale that will elate long term fans more than newcomers due to welcome insights into the "private" childhood of reticent Paavo. The audience will enjoy the "vacation" to the isolated Arizona ranch more for the time with Doc then trying to solve the well written murder mystery. Angie (and us) learns more about Paavo's past inside a fine investigation.
Harriet Klausner
Pretty good........2006-01-31
Angelina "Angie" Amalfi and her fiancé, Paavo Smith, go to Jackpot, Arizona, to help out a friend. Paavo once lived in Jackpot and looked forward to seeing his childhood friend, Ned Paulson, again.
Hal Edwards was a long time resident in the town and one of the wealthiest around. After being missing for three months, his decomposing body is found in a cave out in the desert. "Doc" Loomis Griggs is the executor of Hal's estate and does not believe Hal's death was an accident. Doc wants Paavo to check things out.
*** This is Angie and Paavo's thirteenth mystery together. Readers get a clearer picture of Paavo's early life as they follow along with the story. There are lots of suspects to keep readers guessing too. I found this to be a good whodunit book, even though there is not much suspense within it. I had it figured out early on - WRONGLY. ***
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
Desert Heat; Sizzle In the Story-lane.......2006-01-23
>> On a bridge midway over the Colorado River, Angie Amalfi read the Welcome to Arizona sign. Her heart palpitated, her breathing quickened, and her feet tingled as a feeling of warmth, well-being, and certainty filled her. Above her head like a bubble in a cartoon strip, she was sure the words "Destination Wedding Locale" danced in red neon letters.
<
< - Thus reads the first paragraph of RED HOT MURDER.
The natural flow of the opening of this novel gives the effect of setting out into a fresh, colorful story, even more than the sense of settling into a complex novel, though this 13th offering in the Amalfi series accomplishes both at grand prize levels. For me, a story offers all that is high magic in fiction; it goes beyond what a novel is, into realms of wonder & rainbows, like being in Oz instead of KS, without losing KS. There's something special about this book. The cover is almost too gorgeous for the mundane, dreary drudgeries of daily bread this planet (yes, that's a GOOD thing, Martha Stewart, and thank you for saying that, and for warming the sometimes drudgery of kitchen duties into the high art of home entertainment).
The first few pages of RED HOT MURDER ooze a mood immediately; I slipped from my world into the entertaining gambits of RHM in less than a split second, riding on a fresh sunbeam from sky to sand, as Pence described the scene:
>> The sky was a brilliant turquoise and the desert stretched out like a butternut sea of rolling sand and gravel, dotted with saguaro, barrel cactus, sage, and scrub. Precariously balanced red and granite rock piles, high crags, and jagged ridges of low-lying hills touched the horizon.
<<
Exquisite syntax! Brilliant descriptive prose. This is what makes a story zap to life in a reader's mind.
It was easy to settle into Angie's peaceful pondering as she and Paavo began their journey to Jackpot Arizona. I may have actually sighed as Angie touched Paavo's arm in gesture of sympathy for his return to childhood angels and demons via this journey; and I may have levitated above my easy chair when Paavo accepted the sympathy with a simple, sensual glance away from the highway to sizzle a few-second-gaze on Angie sitting beside him in a Mercedes SUV.
Houston, it's a launch! (In Phoenix.)
As the journey pulled a halt in the gravel parking lot of a small-town diner, a few of Pence's legend, classic caricatures were already well on their way to being electrically-enhanced with Joanne's Frankenstein-jolt-wand, jump starting them off the pages and into my brain. A sleazy "La Verne" eased away from the diner counter, opening her scene as owner-operator (waitress) of the only café in town, da coffee & clues place settled in the middle of the 3 block main street of Jackpot. (I wondered when Shirley would show up.)
The scene was exquisite movie material; the images were crisp, clean and classic when Angie & Paavo stepped out of the Mercedes SUV and onto the edgy-slip of gravel in front of the Merritt Café. There are so many neon-light, mood scenes described so lusciously in RHM, I found myself pen checking too many passages to quote without retyping the book, and I needed a bigger Thesaurus so I could spout a few words other than "classic." I'll quote a snip of one these, so you'll recognize it when you see it; treat yourself by relishing the prose and pages around it:
>> High-heeled yellow sandals with only a thin strap holding them on the toes, touched the street. The driver held out his hand.
<<
I savored the prose prior to and post the above prime statement. That scene gave one of the strongest descriptions of Angie and Paavo I've read in all 12 of the preceding novels in this series. As I saw this soul-mate pair clearly and classically, the only word coming to mind was:
"Movie-Screen."
I was thinking "film" in the same timeless-perfection of high-image-magic as I applied to the term, "story," above.
This # 13 has definitely stepped up another plateau. I'm in awe and so hopeful for RHM to soar in sales and raves. (I've posted a Listmania on this series, and reviewed each of the prior 12; most of those reviews have been honored with Amazon's yummy Spotlight.)
Angie's Point-of-View was stronger and more prevalent in this one. I see what Pence has done with POV as being just right for this story. I liked Angie's heated spiciness, which, to me translated into an appealing snarly-ness, and her spirited, kind, supportive, open-to-life-and-adventure self has come through again.
Loved the delightfully garish, designer Western outfit, and Angie's belief that she was truly "outdoor-sy." The continued play on the cowboy hat was well done, bringing it into focus here and there, especially noting its red straw attributes in perfect plot placements.
RHM seems to unfold in vivid Technicolor, contrasted to it's predecessors, and that doesn't diminish the 12 bks leading up to RHM. I believe in magic, in even more ways than this:
I believe that the color (symbolic and real) in RHM will not only sell it, but will return readers to be resold in brighter ways in the early books, seeing in them what had been missed before, maybe because we all continue to grow in consciousness and, as we do, we increase insight as well as intensity in many items and issues in history. I could slip into a tangent into metaphysics here, but won't. I. Will. Not.
Loved the scene where Angie "one-upped" Clarissa on wine. Was intrigued by the Waldorf food theme and interesting related historic tidbits linking that urban elegance to the desert mystique.
Each snippet of Pence's descriptive prose of the desert was crisply right on. This sentence was beautiful:
>>The sky was high and bright blue, the land quiet with the watery flicker of elusive mirages always just ahead.
<<
This one was fresh and moving-image plush:
>>Rattlesnakes? Angie's head instantly took on the action of a Ping-Pong ball.
<<
The vivid desert descriptions reminded me of a strangely mesmerizing nonfiction book, almost poetic in its "waxing" about the magic, beauty, and essence of the desert. The author was Joseph Wood Krutch, but I don't recall the title. He gave the desert such a spiritual intensity I was in awe of it, craving to experience it that way, but fearing I wouldn't be able to quite get there outside the pages of his book (or without chewing Peyote Buttons).
Angie's interplay with the mare, Ophelia, was hilarious. Pence gave character to an old nag! The horseback segment was high entertainment with Angie's reactions, and the way it drifted imperceptibly from funny, to serious, to haunting, and then very sad, was beautifully done. Loved the humor and surprises with the arrival of the Sheriff and deputy. Again the red hat popped up, adding just the right color spice. Grieving at the crime scene was dealt with in a natural way, which is tricky to accomplish within that awkward situation. Angie's sensitivity came out perfectly there.
Enjoyed immensely a tiny flash of a dark side in Angie when she gave no slack, hotly replied to a pushy question from Clarissa, "I've been busy." That was a snap to-cheer-for.
One of the scenes which drew me further into the story with laughter and anger, was Paavo's first interview with Sheriff Merry Belle (Mighty Butt). The lines, sneers, and mannerisms Pence gave this irritating ignoramus as the sheriff sweated to diminish Paavo, were absolutely perfect to have me flattening my mouth and picking up my imaginary baseball bat, or activating my quick-flipping slapping hand. Loved the way Paavo moved so easily from hot anger to not at all riled, as he began seeing the Sheriff's bluff & buzz, and discounted her lack of grace and generosity to the level to which it had made its descent.
Also enjoyed the description of Angie's bite into La Verne's unique cactus cake, a gourmet among hallucinogens, no carcinogens intended. Pence often gives more tangy detail to yucko tastes than good ones, but that does her comedy proud, and is right-on for this series. La Verne continued fleshing out nicely, weaving around suspects with her eyelid drooping, bumbling better than Columbo, cooking through tangents, worming herself into more than one subplot, as a potential suspect, or at least an entertainingly baffling buffoon.
I was intrigued and enthraled by the development of the historic Waldorf chef machinations intertwining to the Jackpot historic intrigue of ghosts from stagecoaches doing Bermuda Triangle dips, with all that connected to Angie's current work on her menu for the upcoming annual event in Jackpot. It should go without saying that this situation would connect with the murders, which made Paavo's relaxation a "we know different" deal between reader and author, about the innocence of Angie's being involved in historic research and current celebration preparations in Jackpot. Paavo thought that involvement would keep Angie safely away from the murder investigation. Uh huh. Sure. Within the pages of well-wrought fiction? I didn't think so.
Pence's style in this book seems to have turned to a rich butterscotch, compared to previous offerings. That flavor allowed a more sophisticated & fascinating interweaving of subplots around main plot. The intense style flavoring also allowed the characters to come forth even more naturally and intensely than in prior books. This observation does not diminish anything I've raved about prior novels in this series. I'm certain that when I reread them I'll notice and feel even more engrossing elements than I reviewed from original readings.
Due to more than the title similarities, I felt a few deja vu's between Pence's JACKPOT and Robert B. Parker's POTSHOT (see my review 11/1/05).
Differences in style include:
-- One of Parker's strong suits is his super-cool, smooth-jazzy dialogue rhythm, causing reading to feel like dancing, with heroes elevated just enough to appear to be living their plots on Olympus, gods practicing to incarnate as humans. Little do they know how much more difficult it would be as human to retain any type of rhythm or heroic gesture beyond the mundane.
-- Pence's strong suit is a warm, whole, rich complexity of plots, subplots, characters, descriptions melding into the essence and fact of a story which feels very much like a "real life" adventure most of us could actually live.
Here's another great description for baiting curiosity as well as pegging the essence of the character's feelings:
>> A thought struck her. A completely jarring, earth-shattering, mouth-dropping-in-amazement thought. Her heartbeat quickened. Her stomach fluttered. And suddenly, it all came to her like a bold of lightning. Eyes shining, face flushed, she smiled until she couldn't stretch her face any farther.
<<
Is that a great exercise for avoiding a face lift, or what?
I was more deeply involved than my norm in the reading of this story, and I'm still digging for details as to why. I found myself measuring the remaining page thickness, not wanting to pass the half-way mark, because I wanted to be IN the reading of RHM for a long time. I didn't want to finish it and leave the characters and situations. As I've noted above, they were as entertaining as a good video, yet as rich and privately satisfying as a novel.
The plot of this book was definitely closer than previous Angie offerings to the prime-candidate-classics in The Mystery Genre in which plot and subplot convolutions are twisted and intensely mesmerizing, with each twist serving the murder resolution, and all character development, relationship expansion, and plot events working primarily toward that resolution.
From page 200 on I began reading without making notes. I had fallen in and wanted to give the Left Brain a rest. Close to end of the read, I became seriously concerned about what I could read next to match the satisfying intensity of RMH.
Loved RHM's deeper intertwining of multiple-machinations of characters and plot, and the setting had become a true home away from home. In contrast to Jackpot, San Francisco was almost feeling too cold, dreary, gray, damp; though SFO will always be a heart city for me. Enjoyed Angie's "Yes or No" conclusion of Jackpot as a wedding destination (read it to see which). Absolutely loved Angie's kicked up, spicy personality heat, food catastrophe hilarity, shoot out scene, Sheriff & La Verne character conclusions.
I decided to let my thoughts on this special novel incubate a little, then work around my notes to pull together a review. I was glad to have some time to ruminate this review before posting it, because it's a very special one to me, due only partly to the fact that Pence's Angie series is my favorite of any series I've read, and to the fact that this is my first ARC. Mostly, this review is special to me because this novel is very, very unique and very, very good.
When I finished the read I was left in a Right Brain, nonverbal state of awe. After a time of wide-eyed blank mindedness, random thoughts began surfacing, one of which was that I had loved the various uses, including metaphoric, of the cute ostrich critters. Loved the parts these birds played in a few of the final scenes.
A coup, a coup, a coup! And that's nothing to sneeze at! (Absolutely loved the sneeze scene and how it was handled.)
In RED HOT MURDER, Joanne has worked the classic mystery genre to its hilt, without losing the warmth and wholeness her series has developed and maintained, which is not often found in the classic/pure mystery offerings (though I'm finding the Miss Marple series much warmer and more sensual in descriptions that I had anticipated; see my Marple Listmania and my reviews of MURDER AT THE VICARAGE and AT BERTRAM'S HOTEL).
The resolution of the gourmet notebook was fantastic. That side of the real gourmet world, in the ultra-strange tastes and entrees, was well presented; I don't recall ever seeing this dark side of gourmet brought into a culinary offering before. Another great coup!
Watch this book. It's going places. You'll want to carry it in your bright, gypsy bandwagon, and store it in your mind where prime entertainment dwells in time-honored luxury.
Dancing in the streets, waltzing on my Laptop, "Get it, get it, get it!"
Linda G. Shelnutt
Product Description
Paperbacks
Average customer rating:
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Red Hot Murder (Center Point Premier Mystery (Largeprint))
Joanne Pence
Manufacturer: Center Point Large Print
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Women Sleuths
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
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| Books
Pence, Joanne
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| Authors, A-Z
| Mystery & Thrillers
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General
| Mystery & Thrillers
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Literature & Fiction
| Large Print
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Mystery & Thrillers
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ASIN: 1585477656 |
Customer Reviews:
wonderful intro to this world.......2006-11-16
as has been noted, godstalk only a little above average-- but it's different then anything else around that i've read, and it's the first in a beautifully dark and strangely twisted series that only improves with each new addition. this is where jame learns how to handle the world, and where she makes all the decisions that will both help and haunt her through all the rest of the books. this is also where all the things / people that matter later happen or are introduced-- the book, the knife, gerridon, ganth, tori, bane, the haunts, the basics of the kencyrath. it is almost a stand-alone book, different from the others in that it's simpler and more separated from them, but to read the others you need to have read this one, and it is far from unreadable. jame is intriguing and complex and not the usual fantasy heroine, the people around her are strange and human and run from utterly charming to totally hateful, and the city itself is a wonder of old gods and strange forces.
read it. you won't regret it. and immediately devour all the other books in the series. it's worth it.
Choice Pick: for magic fantasy readers, no jading involved.......2006-02-13
If you're a dedicated reader of fantasy books and are looking for a selection that will not leave you with the jaded feeling that this was YA fantasy when finished, God Stalk is a great book! A bit off the beaten path, it's got the exploration, quests and magic items you'd expect from a decent book, then adds that unique flavor to make it memorable.
It's got Jame of the Kencyr, herione of non-human origin and forgotten past; Tai-tastigon, city of thieves, declining gods and rooftops; and good plotting including self discovery, enemy rivalry, political intrigue, and all the side quests that make these work so well together.
That said, it's just a great book I've read several times and the traditional "loaner copy" I buy for my favorite books comes back regularly with good reviews. For you mega-readers, I'd call the fill-in descriptive writing sparcer and somewhat darker than the Belgariad or Sword of Truth series. On the other hand, there is so much more plot per page than Wheel of Time that when you are ready for a revisit, it's a splash of fresh water without the epic undertaking. I'm a big fan, be sure to read the other reviews.
It also has a sequel (Dark of the Moon)that continues and expands on Jame's adventures (pretty good), but this is the gem of the two and satisfying all by itself.
Strikingly memorable.......2005-02-09
This is more story than review but... I read "God Stalk" when it first came out. It hooked me in a big way, with vivid images and a highly memorable heroine. I craved more and every time I went into a bookstore for several years afterward, I would religiously look to see if Hodgell had come out with a sequel. Eventually I gave up looking, with deep regret. Years later I discovered, to my intense delight, that there had been several sequels. (Apparently they weren't distributed to the bookstores I frequented.) Bottom line, "God Stalk" was a favorite of mine. I know of other people on whom it made just as strong an impression. Reading other reviews, it is apparent that not everyone responds to the novel this way. So no guarantees. But if it hits the spot for you, it may hit it just right. Excellent.
A step above average - but only a step.......2004-11-15
I don't have really strong feelings either way on God Stalk, not that it's bad. Three and a half stars is a more fitting rating, but it's not quite four star material. It was entertaining enough to keep me turning pages, but I was thinking about the next book in the "to read" pile while flying through. The world is richly textured - with the religions, politics and subterfuges being both well done and central to a meandering plot. I have a fondness for fantasy cities and Tai-Tastigon is a real winner. The harrowing beginning, with protagonist Jame running for her life, also hooked me. This is a step above typical fantasy, moderately darker in content (many of the characters are thieves) and has some legitimately funny bits as well. However, it was not quite the mind blowing experience a friend sold to me. It reminds me a little of the Liavek series but better, if that helps.
Too Ridiculous.......2003-09-05
God Stalk is too ridiculous to be taken seriously. This is a pity, because Hodgell seems to be a fine writer, but the story is driven by a series of lame and unbelievable coincidences. I can stomach one or two dumb coincidences, but more than that and I get sick. This book would probably be great for a fifth grader.
Average customer rating:
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God Stalk
P.C. Hodgell
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000T49D1O |
Average customer rating:
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God Stalk
Manufacturer: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HKLSY0 |
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God Stalk
P. C. Hodgell
Manufacturer: Eugene, OR Hypatia Press 1994.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 094084141X |
Average customer rating:
- A worthy sequel for The Lizard War
- An Intrusion of Alien Troublemakers
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The Helverti Invasion
John Dalmas
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dalmas, John
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| David, Peter
| Drake, David
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All 4-for-3 Deals
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The Lizard War
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The Lion Returns
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The Lion of Farside
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Dauntless (The Lost Fleet, Book 1)
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ASIN: 0743471695 |
Customer Reviews:
A worthy sequel for The Lizard War.......2006-02-07
You do not have to read the first book of the series to understand what is going on. Briefly, hundreds of years after the Apocalypse, the destiny of the human race is supervised by benevolent aliens.
Just to get things spicy, there are various factions of alien chaos cults that like to stir up troubles and start wars. Fortunately, there are humans trained by the "good" aliens to stop them. This book is a lot about spirituality and the warrior muse. It is a refreshing intake, different from the usual macho mentality in those kind of books.
Sadly, I was expecting more character development in some of the supporting cast, like Kabiki, the sister of Jamila (a character in the first book).
However, this book is superior to the first in every way and recommended strongly.
An Intrusion of Alien Troublemakers.......2003-12-16
The Helverti Invasion is the second novel in the Monitor Service series, following The Lizard War. In the previous volume, Brothers from the Order of Saint Higuchi and their allies infiltrated the Saint Lawrence People's Democratic Republic in order to attack a group of sado-hedonist offworld aliens, the Lizards, who had been manipulating the local government and encouraging them to invade the neighboring states. In the PDR town of Erfurt, Jamilla Smith was captured and later killed by the Lizards. Luis Raoul DenUyl managed to access the alien spaceship, killed the captain and other crewmembers, wrecked many controls, and disabled the force shield. Meanwhile, Lemmi Tsinnajinni penetrated the PDR headquarters and killed the Chairman. In the ensuing confusion, Tahmm led the other infiltrators into the ship and killed or captured all the other Lizards.
In this novel, five years later, Luis and Lemmi have completed their training as masters and are ready to lead their own missions. They, two other masters and Tahmm are flown to the brother house at Moleen in a Monitor Service airship, where they are briefed by Masters Fedor and Freddy as well as Bishop Foley. They learn that a group of alien Fohanni chaos cultists has made illegal contact with the principal chief of the Dkota tribe and is probably fomenting a war with the Kingdom of Sota. Three years past, the Dkota and Sota had signed a peace treaty and the king of Sota is a molly who refuses to listen to any mention of the Dkota breaking the treaty. Lemmi is charged with surveying the Dkota situation and Luis is ordered to check the readiness of the Sota Kingdom.
The next day Luis and Lemmi meet their team and prepare for departure. They are pleased that Paddy Glynn, now a Brother himself, will be part of their team and are suprised as well as pleased to discover that Kabibi Christian, Jamilla's sister, has been admitted to the order and will be going with them. Masters Carlos del Passo and Ho Peng will also accompany them to the new brother house to act as their support element. They all leave the next morning for Hasty, the capital of Sota.
Meanwile, Jorval, the leader of the Fohanni cultists, learns that all is going well with the invasion plans, but Mazeppa Tall Man has made changes in the plans. After his son Ench embarrasses him in front of Mazeppa, Jorval leaves the boy with the Dkota to learn their ways.
This story involves an effort to avoid war or, if such is inevitable, to force the invaders to lose an unacceptable number of warriors and force a rout. The situation is complicated by a dream that Mazeppa had on his vision quest that told him that he was destined to rule the whole region. Jorval has fanned the flames by telling him that the Sota kingdom is planning to kill all the buffalo. And King Eldred is weakening Sota by dismantling the militia and reducing the number of guards allowed in each duchy and barony.
The story is an good example of the author's ability to portray combat as an expression of human potential. He describes the conflicts herein in terms of the Warrior muse, a perspective much like the Way of War in the Fight mindset of the Matrix of T'Sel (see The Regiment). Such viewpoints echo the Zen approach to martial arts as a lifestyle, but take on further significance within the Holy Roman Catholic tradition.
Highly recommended for Dalmas fans and for anyone who enjoys tales of martial arts and of pre-industrial societies coping with intrusions by powerful and cunning aliens.
Average customer rating:
- changed my life!
- If you love good food, you have to buy this book. No question about it.
- quick & yummy
- Nice book, but organization is discouraging and annoying
- Great
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Fresh Food Fast: Delicious, Seasonal Vegetarian Meals in Under an Hour
Peter Berley
Manufacturer: William Morrow Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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A Beautiful Bowl of Soup: The Best Vegetarian Recipes
ASIN: 0060515147 |
Book Description
From award-winning chef Peter Berley: mouthwatering seasonal vegetarian menus that can be created in under an hour
Sophisticated, home-cooked vegetarian meals without the fuss. Is that too much to ask? Absolutely not.
True to his roots as a restaurant chef, cooking teacher, and family man, award-winning vegetarian chef Peter Berley has a passion for meals that taste incredible, salute the seasons, and are easy to prepare in under an hour. In
Fresh Food Fast, he provides forty-eight meals -- twelve for each season -- including recipes, a shopping list, an equipment list, and a game plan that takes you step-by-step through the menu.
Included are substantial, satisfying meals that will bring pleasure to vegetarians and omnivores alike:
Spring
bibb lettuce and radish salad with crème fraîche citronette braised spring vegetables with grits, poached eggs, and chives
summer
spicy corn frittata with tomatoes and scallions cucumber salad
fall
pasta with spicy cauliflower, chickpeas, and cherry tomatoes pan-grilled radicchio salad with honey- balsamic glaze over frisée
winter
balsamic-roasted seitan with cipollini onions garlic mashed potatoes and parsnips
Berley also provides delectable dessert recipes for each season, including spring's Warm Honey Lemon Curd over Strawberries, summer's Blueberry-Nectarine Crisp, fall's Roasted Grapes with Red Wine, and winter's Caramelized Bananas with Blood Orange and Pistachio.
In a world where fast food is generally prepackaged and second-rate, Peter Berley teaches us how we can live without compromise and enjoy fresh, wholesome meals any night of the week as we connect with family and friends.
Customer Reviews:
changed my life!.......2007-09-14
This book has changed my life- seriously! My kids and husband are now convinced that I am a good cook, and we can all sit down to a delicious vegetarian dinner every night of the week! The recipes are easy to prepare, and once you start using them, you will have most of what you need on hand to create almost anything in the book for that season! Its really terrific; I can't recommend it highly enough!!
If you love good food, you have to buy this book. No question about it........2007-07-14
This is an amazing cookbook. Filled with delicious, fool-proof recipes and wholesome ingredients, "Fresh Food Fast" has become a regular part of our work-week routine. Though we try to do most of our cooking over the weekend (reheating meals during the week), there are invariably nights when we prefer to cook something fresh after a long day at work. This book gives us a wide array of options arranged by season, from black bean & zucchini quesadillas to bruschetta with goat cheese, olive, tomatoes and thyme. This past Friday we made Berley's 'Thai-Style Tofu & Vegetables in Spicy Coconut Broth with Jasmine Rice' - it was divine. We felt like we'd been transported to a gourmet, five star Thai restaurant, only we had the pleasure of enjoying such a satisfying meal in our comfy clothes. :) The only downside to this book is that most dishes require a hefty amount of produce, which, admittedly, can get expensive. Nevertheless dishes in this book are so delicious that careful planning can work around this, using leftover produce in other meals and reheating uneaten portions later in the week. Overall I
love this book - how could I not appreciate the feat of satisfying, perfectly flavored meals that can be made in under an hour? (And yes, they really can be finished in under 1 hour, many in under 40 minutes.)
quick & yummy.......2007-03-19
This is the cookbook I used most the past year. The dishes take me about an hour to prepare, and most are yummy. A few recipes I found bland, but none have been horrible, and sometimes a meal was so good I felt high knowing that I made it. Overall, this is a great cookbook for quick vegetarian meals.
Serving sizes are huge, too. Most recipes are said to yield 4 servings, but I find I get 6 or more. Since I cook for one, I've taken to freezing food and halving recipes.
Finally, I like the seasonal breakdown. I don't limit myself to the calendar season, but his recipes coincide with what is available at the farmers' market.
Nice book, but organization is discouraging and annoying.......2006-05-17
I am probably jumping the gun by posting a review before I've cooked anything. But, from looking at the recipes, I honestly don't think I'll have a problem with too much; they look very good and I'm excited to try them. But, don't believe the reviews that act like the recipes in this book are groundbreaking; you can find recipes in books by let's say Deborah Madison or Annie Somerville, or even specialize "ethnic" vegetarian cookbooks, that are similar.
My gripe with this book and others like it is the set up. I do not like books that are organized by season. I think it's pointless to organize by season - spring, summer, autumn, winter. It makes it more difficult to find the recipe you want.
For example, lets say I want to see all the salads listed in one place. You could use the index, which is what I suppose the editors/writers figure you should do, but who wants to rely entirely on the index to search for main dishes. I generally use indexes to search for ingredients that may be in certain recipes - look up potatoes and find every recipe with potatoes.
So, once you've resigned yourself to the seasonal format, you may think you can easily search within that. well, you can't. they list the contents of each season/chapter by meal which is another problem. Anyway, the beginning of each chapter lists the meal/menu - white beans with mustard vinaigrette and spring borscht with caraway seed and dill. Sounds good to me. Unfortunately, rather than list the page of the recipe, you are forced to flip through the entire section to find this menu/recipe.
And then there is the matter of listing recipes using the menu format. Look, I think it's fine to suggest combinations or even to have a section in the book listing menu suggestions. I just don't think the entire book should be organized around menus.
As far as the pure seasonal format goes, it's also kind of silly because some things can be made year round like "winter" caramelized bananas with blood orange and pistachio. Maybe you can't get the blood orange juice year round, but using regular oj is fine and bananas are always available. And last I checked, asian greens and tofu for the "spring" sesame noodle dish are available all the time too.
So, why organize the book in this way? Who the heck knows.
Also, not everybody lives in the northeast where seasons are more obvious. Some of us live in places where it is temperate to warm all year. Some typically lighter summer or spring recipes can make more sense during winter months in places like southern California, Florida, etc.
I prefer to give it 3.5 stars but Amazon does not allow half stars.
Great.......2006-03-08
This cookbook is wonderful! It is great for the beginning cook and for learning how to multitask in the kitchen. The recipes are very good and take about an hour (or less) to make. It is wonderful to see a vegetarian cookbook with fresh flavors and new ideas. Would recommend.
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