Miami Purity

Average customer rating:

Pure White Trash

Brilliant

nobody does the trailer park like vicki hendricks...

Vile is a genre - maybe the only one

gripping, shocking and thrilling

Miami Purity
Vicki Hendricks
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0679768009
Release Date: 1996-05-28

Book Description

Sherise Parlay thinks she's found a good thing in Payne, her boss's son, who's so legit he even lives with his mother. But Payne may just turn out to be a different kind of wrong man. And no sooner has he taken Sherise as a lover than he's turning her into his accomplice--in a crime spree that only begins with murder. "A cracked hymn to American trash culture."--New York Times Book Review.

Customer Reviews:

Pure White Trash.......2006-04-20

This is the poet of my peeps.

Miami Purity begins with a white trash Sherri/Cherry sitting around with her boyfriend/husband Hank listening to country music and he smacks her. She smacks him back with the boom box. He dies. Then it gets good. Real good.

I kept thinking about when I was a kid, how we'd mark the good parts of the book. The whole novel is the good parts.

Seriously, Hendricks masters the voice and perspective of an unreliable narrator, a white trash girl moving into her middle years and trying desperately to change herself into something for which she has no role model--a middle class wife. Unfortunately, her quest to transform herself is doomed by associations that are more perverse and malicous than the bikers and dope addicts and horn dogs that populated her previous "dance career."

This is a great novel, a brilliant new perspective, on life and death as it actually happens all around us.

William Crosby
Cleveland

Brilliant.......2003-09-20

Wow. I found this author by reading her great short story ("Stormy, Mon Amour") in the Tart Noir collection, and I'm glad I did. Sherise Parlay is oversexed white trash with a tendency to show off her chest, among other things. Trying to clean up her life, she takes a job at a dry-cleaner's and plans to score the seemingly straight-laced manager's son. But Payne Mahoney is a very disturbing man, and Sherri's changing, too. Sure to stick in your head, this will change the way you think about dry-cleaning. (A+)

nobody does the trailer park like vicki hendricks..........2002-01-20

sherri reminds me of a woman i met on a greyhound bus the first time i went to san francisco from louisiana. every thing you could want in a crime novel. vicki must have hammett swimming in her dna....

Vile is a genre - maybe the only one.......1999-11-24

I read Miami Purity when it first came out and have been waiting patiently for Hendricks' next book. I'm waiting for Iguana Love to arrive in my mailbox now.

Writers tell us lies about life because publishers pay them to do so. If you run a search on my name here, you'll see why I think that. Every once in a while, quite possibly by mistake, the filter fails and somebody honest slips through. We've got Vicki Hendricks among us now, and I hope she lasts a good long while and writes many more books like this one.

This is a book that lets you see into a woman's head the way some rare male writers occasionally let you see into the heads of men, without wallpapering the set with fairy tales. The woman in the story will scare you, and she should.

Ms. Hendricks, if you read this: Well done!

gripping, shocking and thrilling.......1999-10-15

I had never read a fiction noir before. Reading this book has made me want to read more fiction noir. True, this is not a book for everyone. The language is sharp. The dialogues are crisp and raw. The story is dark yet plausible.

Product Description

The "modern noir masterpiece" is now back in print! Hot and scrappy Sherri Parlay gives up her life of depravity, and with best intentions, finds a respectable job as a dry cleaner in hopes for a decent future. But nature and nurture plot against her when she meets the beautiful, tortured, and rich young Payne, who tempts her with the love and life she never thought possible. Even Brenda, Payne's domineering mother, can't keep the lovers apart when Sherri's animal passions take control. Unfortunately, Payne is not only a different kind of man from those in Sherri's past, he's worse than any on her list of sordid affairs. Twisted psychology and a pure heart lead her into the dark realm of disillusionment and crime, where she reaches into her deepest reserves for the strength to survive. This contemporary noir novel is reminiscent of James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, with a heavy dose of sexual realism that Cain might have enjoyed if his times would have allowed.

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Miami Purity
Hendricks Vicki
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UCICZ8

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Miami Purity
Vicki HENDRICKS
Manufacturer: Pantheon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UZTPCY

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Miami Purity
Vicki Hendricks
Manufacturer: Pantheon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NYOIKG

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Miami purity
Vicki Hendricks
Manufacturer: Rivages
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 2743603720

Book Description

Crowd behavior is one of the most colorful but least understood forms of human social behavior. This volume presents McPhail's critical assessment of the major theories of crowd behavior, establishing that, whatever their particular limitations and strengths, all lack prior examination of the behaviors to be explained. Drawing on a wide range of empirical studies - including his own field work - the author offers a new characterization of temporary gatherings, and a new explanation for various ways in which purposive actors construct collective behavior.

Winner of the Outstanding Book Award, Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section of the ASA.

Customer Reviews:

Crowds made invisible by theory.......2006-02-23

In his Foreword, John McCartney lavishly praises the author as `the intellectual leader without peer in chronicling and categorizing [crowds] . . . he reveals that most theorists made almost no attempt to observe crowds systematically . . .' High praise indeed. Yet the book provides no discussion of the typology of crowds and proposes none of its own. The reader is left to guess at what sorts of crowds may be under discussion. There is frequent reference to what is and isn't observed, but there's no discussion of observational methodology, nor any description, qualitative or quantitative, of the behavior of a single real crowd acting in a specific place and time.

So this isn't a book about crowds. It's about theories of crowds. The argument is that the theory introduced into American sociology by Robert Park and elaborated by a series of subsequent scholars is entirely without observational basis. On the old view, crowds are volatile aggregations carried away by self-induced emotions to irrational acts. The crowd's self-stimulation transforms individuals from their normal condition of self-control. Individual self-identity is submerged in the collective identity, such that the crowd can act as a unit in the commission of acts that would be morally repugnant to each individual acting alone. In a word, the crowd mind can transform law-abiding individuals into madcaps, bullies, assailants, vandals, arsonists, agents of sedition, and worse.

This view, McPhail declares, is `without logical or empirical foundation'. He proposes instead the rational actor model, in which `the individual in the crowd, as elsewhere, controls his or her behavior by means of self-instructions for behavioral adjustments in relation to the goals or objectives he or she is pursuing' (p 17). The `unconventional' behaviors sometimes observed are not, as sociologists previously, irrational, but rather are merely indirect methods of obtaining purposive goals.

There's obviously a very deep observational discrepancy here. Anyone who has participated in the frenzy unleashed in rock concerts must hesitate to apply the label `rational actor'. The selling point of these revels is break free of conventional constraints, to `rage', to `go crazy', in imitation of the performers. McPhail seems to be saying that the wild and risky things that happen in rock revels are merely unconventional means of achieving a purposive goal-raging. Or have a peak into a sports venue. Over there are exuberant hundreds who've painted their faces in the colors of the team. Looks awfully silly. Still others are wearing zany costumes that mimic the team totem. They're jumping up and down, hollering their heads off. Rational? Don't think so. Maybe things are better on campus? Flashback to the Sixties. Thousands swarm into the quad, and wildly applaud speakers who exhort them: `Be reasonable, demand the impossible!' and give them the action slogan to intimidate their teachers: `Up against the wall, Motherf**ker!' If this is rational action, there's not much that doesn't qualify. But in that case, repudiation of the irrational actor model amounts to little more verbal manipulation.

The impossible burden of supporting the rational actor thesis is perhaps the reason why McPhail avoids discussing crowd typology. That discussion compels one to consider mobbing, shaming, ostracism, threats and intimidation, collective brainwashing, rioting, looting, cultic orgies, panic and stampede, and collective suicide. Most of these behaviors were experienced on a large scale and over long times in those sorrowful orgies of fervor that were Mao's Cultural Revolution and the reign of Iran's ayatollahs.

A proper typology of crowds would quickly identify and eliminate the error that drives this study: insistence on an Either/Or classification of crowds as rational or irrational. Why may we not have both? Civil disobedience is a model of the individual self-control that McPhail wishes to highlight. It has been one of the most widespread, and effective, techniques used in this century. It has been abundantly described and closely observed. Yet there is not a word about civil disobedience in the book!

The old model of the irrational crowd, which stems basically from Gustav LeBon, certainly needs updating. It's a century old, and there has been a vast change in the psychological and biological sciences on which the model rested. The mechanisms of collective behavior in animals-the astonishing feats of flocking, schooling, foraging, mobbing-are understood today far better than a century ago. So is the evolutionary and physiological continuity of these mechanisms with our species. But that field of investigation lies beyond sociology.

Crowds made invisible by theory.......1999-03-15

In his Foreword, John McCartney lavishly praises the author as 'the intellectual leader without peer in chronicling and categorizing [crowds] . . . he reveals that most theorists made almost no attempt to observe crowds systematically . . .' High praise indeed. Yet the book provides no discussion of the typology of crowds and proposes none of its own. The reader is left to guess at what sorts of crowds may be under discussion. There is frequent reference to what is and isn't observed, but there's no discussion of observational methodology, nor any description, qualitative or quantitative, of the behavior of a single real crowd acting in a specific place and time.

So this isn't a book about crowds. It's about theories of crowds. The argument is that the theory introduced into American sociology by Robert Park and elaborated by a series of subsequent scholars is entirely without observational basis. On the old view, crowds are volatile aggregations carried away by self-induced emotions to irrational acts. The crowd's self-stimulation transforms individuals from their normal condition of self-control. Individual self-identity is submerged in the collective identity, such that the crowd can act as a unit in the commission of acts that would be morally repugnant to each individual acting alone. In a word, the crowd mind can transform law-abiding individuals into madcaps, bullies, assailants, vandals, arsonists, agents of sedition, and worse.

This view, McPhail declares, is 'without logical or empirical foundation'. He proposes instead the rational actor model, in which 'the individual in the crowd, as elsewhere, controls his or her behavior by means of self-instructions for behavioral adjustments in relation to the goals or objectives he or she is pursuing' (p 17). The 'unconventional' behaviors sometimes observed are not, as sociologists previously, irrational, but rather are merely indirect methods of obtaining purposive goals.

There's obviously a very deep observational discrepancy here. Anyone who has participated in the frenzy unleashed in rock concerts must hesitate to apply the label 'rational actor'. The selling point of these revels is break free of conventional constraints, to 'rage', to 'go crazy', in imitation of the performers. McPhail seems to be saying that the wild and risky things that happen in rock revels are merely unconventional means of achieving a purposive goal-raging. Or have a peak into a sports venue. Over there are exuberant hundreds who've painted their faces in the colors of the team. Looks awfully silly. Still others are wearing zany costumes that mimic the team totem. They're jumping up and down, hollering their heads off. Rational? Don't think so. Maybe things are better on campus? Flashback to the Sixties. Thousands swarm into the quad, and wildly applaud speakers who exhort them: 'Be reasonable, demand the impossible!' and give them the action slogan to intimidate their teachers: 'Up against the wall, Motherf**ker!' If this is rational action, there's not much that doesn't qualify. But in that case, repudiation of the irrational actor model amounts to little more verbal manipulation.

The impossible burden of supporting the rational actor thesis is perhaps the reason why McPhail avoids discussing crowd typology. That discussion compels one to consider mobbing, shaming, ostracism, threats and intimidation, collective brainwashing, rioting, looting, cultic orgies, panic and stampede, and collective suicide. Most of these behaviors were experienced on a large scale and over long times in those sorrowful orgies of fervor that were Mao's Cultural Revolution and the reign of Iran's ayatollahs.

A proper typology of crowds would quickly identify and eliminate the error that drives this study: insistence on an Either/Or classification of crowds as rational or irrational. Why may we not have both? Civil disobedience is a model of the individual self-control that McPhail wishes to highlight. It has been one of the most widespread, and effective, techniques used in this century. It has been abundantly described and closely observed. Yet there is not a word about civil disobedience in the book!

The old model of the irrational crowd, which stems basically from Gustav LeBon, certainly needs updating. It's a century old, and there has been a vast change in the psychological and biological sciences on which the model rested. The mechanisms of collective behavior in animals-the astonishing feats of flocking, schooling, foraging, mobbing-are understood today far better than a century ago. So is the evolutionary and physiological continuity of these mechanisms with our species. But that field of investigation lies beyond sociology.

Hiram Caton Caton & Associates Consultants for Crowd Management

Average customer rating:
The Myth of the Madding Crowd
Clark McPhail
Manufacturer: Aldine Transaction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OP0W4U

Average customer rating:

Hope lives

An inspiring, practical book for men who want a better marriage!

Handy Guide for the Married Man

Positive review by a clinical psychologist

Highly Recommended by Christian Marriage Authors, Joel and Kathy Davisson

The Secrets of Happily Married Men: Eight Ways to Win Your Wife's Heart Forever
Scott Haltzman , and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Marriage | Relationships | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0787994146

Book Description

Praise for The Secrets of Happily Married Men

"Manly men rest assured: You can hope to become a better husband without having to get in touch with your feminine side. . . . Lively and entertaining, this broad guidebook provides Haltzman's insights illuminated by anecdotes from his online discussion forum for married men."
—Psychology Today

"Haltzman . . . launches his eight strategies with remarkable vigor. More important, they are extraordinarily well fleshed out and convincingly supported with useful 'to do' lists and a multitude of examples. They will no doubt prove helpful to many men struggling to build a happy marriage."
—Publisher's Weekly

"Scott Haltzman, a psychiatrist and Brown University professor, has been studying marriages good and bad for a long time. . . . View marriage as your most important task, Haltzman urges men, and pursue success as you would anything else that matters."
—Washington Post

"Men are good at fixing problems, not talking about them, so Haltzman advises playing to your strength. The genius of this book is that it . . . asks politically incorrect questions about men and women at home—the neglected front in the gender wars."
—New York Times

"The insights in this book reveal a new and effective way for men and women to understand and appreciate each other. It shows what it really takes to create a loving and lasting relationship."
—John Gray, author, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus

Marriage and relationships are in crisis. The breakup and divorce rate remain incredibly high, despite all the couples therapy, afternoon talk shows, and other books in the marketplace, many of which describe men as abusive commitment phobic creeps who'd better change fast or else. But this new book is totally different, a whole different way of looking at how to build a successful long-lasting relationship from a man's point of view, men who are happy in their partnerships, who have figured out what works for them in accomplishing the goal of a loving, intimate, lifetime commitment. Dr. Scott Haltzman, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University, and founder of www.secretsofmarriedmen.com, has devised a proven method for improving relationships, based on a man's special and unique skills, strengths, powers—as a responsible and motivated worker, manager, leader, problem-solver, partner, husband, and father. Men are different, Dr. Haltzman says. They don't approach relationships with the same skills and techniques that women do—and viva la difference. Dr.Haltzman therefore lays out eight ways, tasks, proven techniques which men have revealed in confidential correspondence to his highly successful website, including The First Way: Make Your Marriage Your Job, The Second Way: Know Your Wife, The Third Way: Be Home Now, The Fourth Way: Expect Conflict and Deal With It, The Fifth Way: Learn to Listen, The Sixth Way: Aim to Please, The Seventh Way: Understand the Truth About Sex, The Eighth Way: Introduce Yourself, and finally, Celebrate Your Love. Within each of these steps, he provides both specific analysis, guidelines and techniques based on male biology, neuro-science, brain differences, unique developmental stages from youth to seniority. To illustrate these ideas in action, he's included wonderful true stories, anecdotes, and confessions from the website. The result is a practical, very entertaining, totally original way to build successful relationships for men and their partners, girlfriends, and wives. For a lasting commitment, a continuing guide to solving inevitable problems and bumps in the road, for more fun, better sex, genuine intimacy, and a life-long partnership—this dynamic new author shows the way in a manner that finally includes an authentic male perspective.

Customer Reviews:

Hope lives.......2007-09-19

It's wonderful to see a book that's so filled with hope and practical advice. Easy to read, and lots, I mean LOTS of helpful information.

An inspiring, practical book for men who want a better marriage!.......2007-07-26

I'm glad to see that more and more men are coming forward to challenge the stereotype of guys we see on TV who are boneheads when it comes to marriage. Dr. Haltzman explains in this great book that men DO have the ability to take a mediocre marriage and make it absolutely wonderful. If every married man read this book, the divorce rate would plummet and people would have very satisfying marriages...and there would be fewer kids traumatized by broken up families. I highly recommend that you buy this book for yourself, for engaged or newlywed men, and for anyone you know that has a stagnant marriage.

Handy Guide for the Married Man.......2007-06-11

An easy read! The type of book that you can read in any random order or a chapter at a time and pick up some very useful tips and guidelines to enhance your relationship with your wife. I am sure that I will keep this book around as a ready-reference to re-read from and get a deeper understanding.

Positive review by a clinical psychologist.......2007-05-23

Last week, Scott Haltzman gave a three hour talk to the San Diego Psychological Association, a group of clinical psychologists. I wasn't sure what to expect. He had appeared on national TV and radio, and he has a website. What I found online looked OK. At the same time, none of what I found appeared to distinguish him too clearly from anybody else who writes about successful marriages. The online advice seemed reasonable, and his credentials were striking, but I wondered if he could tell us anything new. (Many of us have training and experience in doing couples' therapy). There's so much out there that seems pretty good - Christensen and Jacobsen, Gottman, Hendrix, Schwartz, Bader, Solomon & Teagno, etc., etc. I've read quite a few books on the topic of successful marriages, and I feel like I have a decent sense of what is out there.

Fewer than 10 SDPA members showed for the continuing education talk, despite multiple announcements of this presentation. This was a bit surprising given the strength of Dr. Haltzman's credentials and his national reputation. Dr. Haltzman seemed OK with the low turnout, and used it as an opportunity to interact with his audience by asking and answering questions.

As he spoke, it quickly became obvious to me that this guy is an entertaining and dynamic speaker. Picture Bill Maher as a psychiatrist, with a genius for marriage therapy. At some point during the first hour, it hit me... This guy IS the real deal. He really IS passionate about saving marriages. He really DOES have a unique perspective that is informed by research. He integrates other experts' opinions with PLENTY of his own wisdom about marriage. Dr. Haltzman seems to exhibit a strong intuitive and analytical sense of what works in marriages. If I was married and having problems, I'd want someone like this guy to be my therapist. Dr. Haltzman's wisdom is the pearl of many years spent passionately immersed in this topic.

Others in the audience of licensed clinical psychologists had similar, very positive reactions. The anonymous reviews completed after his presentation were quite positive. Moreover, most members of the audience bought copies of his book after hearing his presentation. That was pretty unexpected! Two thumbs way up for this speaker and his book...

This review is a work in progress. I hope to write more about the actual book later. There's plenty of media and info online about this author. See, in particular, Tierney's NY Times article on this book.

Highly Recommended by Christian Marriage Authors, Joel and Kathy Davisson.......2007-05-16

We highly recommend this book. Scott has discovered many things in his practice that we have discovered in our experience and Bible study. If a man focuses on his marriage, he has the power to create an Outrageously Happy Marriage! Order this and then check out our two books, also on Amazon. Click on these links: The Man of Her Dreams The Woman of His! and The Man of Her Dreams The Woman of His 2 - Livin' It and Lovin' It! (Volume 2)

Joel and Kathy Davisson

SECRETS OF HAPPILY MARRIED MEN: EIGHT WAYS TO WIN YOUR WIFE'S HEART FOREVER

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SECRETS OF HAPPILY MARRIED MEN: EIGHT WAYS TO WIN YOUR WIFE'S HEART FOREVER
HALZMAN / DIGERONIMO
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O5TUPM

Average customer rating:

Excellent recipes, ignore the Botany....

A good resource on ingredients and techniques

The Best!

Excellent baking resource

More than 150 superbly presented recipes

In The Sweet Kitchen: The Definitive Baker's Companion
Regan Daley
Manufacturer: Artisan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Culinary Arts & Techniques | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Reference | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1579652085

Book Description

AH, DESSERT.

It's the ultimate comfort food. A simple crumble, with all its memories of childhood. A slice of still-warm blueberry pie. That chocolate truffle with just a hint of chestnut melting away so mysteriously. Yet many cooks are intimidated by the idea of preparing these delights themselves.

Professional pastry chef Regan Daley maintains that baking is no mystery. Anyone, she insists, can make a fabulous dessert—as long as the ingredients are chosen with care. The components of most desserts are few, so they must be of the highest quality. She knows firsthand how fresh butter or the right chocolate can transform a simple cake. She knows the stunning difference between a silky lemon curd made from the juice of fat lemons and one made from bottled juice, that shortcakes made with bland, pulpy strawberries shipped three thousand miles can't compare with those made with rice, red local fruit and fresh cream.

In the Sweet Kitchen will help you navigate through the world of sweet cooking, providing extensive information on hundreds of ingredients, from vanilla beans to rose water to durian fruit. It explains how to select, store and best use baking elements as common as cornstarch or flour and as unusual as cloudberries or manuka honey. It unlocks the simple secret of truly great desserts—knowing your ingredients:

—the best kind of cocoa to use for dark, fudgy brownies

—the differences among cream of coconut, creamed coconut and coconut and coconut cream

—which vanilla bean is best in poached pears

This ultimate cookbook/reference volume makes it all clear, and also provides hundreds of invaluable tips and techniques Regan mastered during her professional career.

In addition, Regan offers practical advice on equipment: Do you really need a state-of-the-art apple corer? Will using nonstick pans affect the outcome of your baked goods? Indispensable tables such as the Baking Pan substitution Chart and the Cake Troubleshooting Chart help you modify your recipes—or figure out what went wrong. And the unique Flavor Pairing Chart is a must for inspiration and a list of great partners.

Regan shares more than 150 of her favorite desserts, both simple and seductive. Thick slices of Toasted Hazelnut Pound Cake are perfect for a picnic; Oven-Roasted Pears with Red Wine and a Gratin of Goat's Cheese make a sensational finale to an elegant dinner party; Pumpkin and Orange Breakfast Cake with a Fresh Orange Syrup is great any time of day. There are homey desserts with special twists—Guava Cheesecake, the World's Sexiest Sundae—not to mention addictive brownies, mouthwatering pies, nostalgic cobblers, mousses, ice creams, quick breads, fritters and more.

This is the essential reference for home bakers and professional patissiers alike.

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

In the Sweet Kitchen truly is the definitive guide to the baker's pantry. While many cookbooks include chapters on tools and ingredients, Regan Daley's award-winning tome begins with almost 400 pages of introductory information. From her descriptions of ingredients to explanations of food science, it's clear Daley's done her research, and she offers a wealth of information as reference for both the professional and the novice. She covers every ingredient in a baker's pantry, from flours and sugars to eggs, fruits, nuts, spices, and flavorings, in a way that is both interesting and informative. She discusses how to choose them, use them, and why they do the things they do. She's tested tools and shopped around, and even recommends price points for your purchases. She explains myriad techniques, such as how to cook sugar and icing and assemble layer cakes. The writing is clear and intelligent and the instructions are easy to follow.

If she'd stopped at 400 pages, this would already be a must-have for anyone at all interested in the sweet side of the kitchen--but there's more. Daley's collection of recipes follows, and they cover the gamut from simple and straightforward to seductive and exciting. Some are actually quite complicated, but her explanations and descriptions of each step ensure success. Many recipes feature a flavor twist that will take your breath away, such as the Sweet Potato Layer Cake with Rum-Plumped Raisins and a Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting, Lemon Anise Churros, and Caramelized Banana Tart with a Lime Linzer Crust and a Warm Caramel Sauce. Other recipes bring back childhood memories, such as her All-in-the-Pan Chewy Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Butter Icing (mixed right in the baking pan) and Wild Blueberry Pie. This exhaustive volume was the 2001 IACP Cookbook of the Year, an award that it richly deserves. Make a place on your kitchen bookshelf for In the Sweet Kitchen--it's one cookbook that you shouldn't live without. --Leora Y. Bloom

Customer Reviews:

Excellent recipes, ignore the Botany...........2007-02-12

I've been using this book as both a great source of recipes and for the ideas in the matching flavors. A couple of comments on my favorite recipes....
The chocolate pudding is awesome.
The pecan toffee coffee cake reminds me of what my mother used to make years ago, but more complexly flavored.
The toasted hazelnut pound cake I've been making for years and it tastes better every time I make it.
The black chocolate espresso cake with bittersweet glaze is worth every bite and pays for the book in itself.
The plum cake with cardomom I've made with other sorts of plums (than the suggested Italian blue plums) and is great. The sourer the plum, the better...sweet plums lose their bite in this complexly flavored treat.

I've no problem following any of the recipes in this large book. It's clearly written in a lucid style that's easily followed.

Oh, and ignore the botany. Pineapple (Ananas comosus) and fruits in the custard apple family (Annonaceae) are not related. A couple of other gaffes of this type will bother only green thumbed bakers like me.

A good resource on ingredients and techniques.......2007-01-13

Having been cooking for 40+ years, I still found some information I had not been able to
find before about some ingredients. It doesn't have every possible recipe, like springerle, but certainly a good assortment. One repeated mistake, however, made me doubt the accuracy of the author until I had confirmed, by careful reading, that I agreed with enough other details. Someone please tell Ms. Daley that New Zealanders were called Kiwis long before anyone ever re-named a chinese gooseberry as a "Kiwi". And that a passionfruit is not the size of a Kiwi. A Kiwi is a flightless bird and the body of a small, newly hatched one is about the size of a coconut........not a passionfruit.

The Best!.......2005-08-05

Regan Daley's Book is not only indispensible for it's wealth of knowledge, but her recipes are hands down some of the best I've ever made. I've made upwards of 10 recipes from the book now, and have been thoroughly impressed by all of them. In response to a previous review about the amount of butter and sugar, I'd have to say that my impression is completely the opposite. The emphasis here is on the best balance of ingredients; which she does splendidly. (if you want to see stars, check out Ina Garten's sweet recipes...that woman is no stranger to copious amounts of butter).

Some recipes that I've adored from this book are the Oatmeal Stout Cake (actually, my favorite cake of all time...I could polish it off myself, given enough time), the easy chocolate cake, the orange-cranberry millet muffins (divine!), sweet potato cornbread, Rich Toffee Shortbread, PB cups.... The list goes ON! I couldn't recommend a book more highly. I sincerely hope Regan Daley writes another.

Excellent baking resource.......2004-10-15

Regan Daley's book has two parts: a resource guide for dessert bakers and a section of recipes. I've read the first part and it looks like a useful summary of hardware, ingredients, substitutions, etc. I haven't used it as a reference yet, so my review is heavily biased toward the second section. This I find very impressive. There are many cookbooks out there that provide recipes for simple, homey desserts and many that cover elaborate presentation dishes. Daley's recipes fit very nicely in between these two extremes. The recipes tend to take classic concepts -- spice cake, fruit tart, etc. -- and apply them to original desserts that are excellent marriages of flavors that are not forced or ackward. The recipes are well tested; I have not had a failure with one yet. I highly recommend this book for enthusiastic home bakers.

More than 150 superbly presented recipes.......2003-09-15

Compiled and organized by professional pastry chef Regan Daley, In The Sweet Kitchen: The Definitive Baker's Companion showcases more than 150 superbly presented recipes. Enhanced with sixteen pages of four color photographs, as well as chapters dedicated to "Tools and Techniques" of baking, the ingredients associated with baking, and an informative section on dedicated to flavourings, In The Sweet Kitchen offers savory fare ranging from cakes and tea cakes, pies and tarts, cookies and bars, custards, puddings and Moussses, to ice creams and other frozen desserts, fruit desserts, quick breads, sweet yeast breads and fritters, garnishes, sauces, and basic recipes adaptable for any occasion. In The Sweet Kitchen is a cornerstone addition to any "kitchen cook friendly" cookbook collection!

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