A Cook's Guide to Growing Herbs, Greens, and Aromatics

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A Cook's Guide to Growing Herbs, Greens, and Aromatics
Mildred Owen
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Herbs, Spices & Condiments | Cooking by Ingredient | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Herbs | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

A Cook's Guide to Growing Herbs, Greens & Aromatics, written in 1997, is now part of The Cooks Classic Library, that growing collection of eternal culinary works from Lyons Press. In this book, Owen shares her enthusiasm and dispenses advice with warmth and intelligence. She reminds you that convenience should be your first thought when planning a garden. Eager for you to have home-grown edible plants at hand, she tells how even apartment dwellers can raise herbs. Typical of her quirky practicality, she suggests using grow-lights in a closet or under the bathroom sink, so you can devote the space on sunny window sills for more visually attractive flora.

Most of A Cook's Guide consists of 47 enchanting sections on individual edibles, from asparagus to wormwood. Among them, Owen's take on lamb's quarters--"Free spinach!"--is typically crammed with poetic images, detailed information on when to pick this versatile wild green, a precise inventory of its rich nutritional value, and a simple, appealing recipe for eggs baked in ramekins lined with blanched greens deliciously blended with grated Gruyère cheese. The sections on most plants include one or more recipes. From Seafood Grilled on a Bed of Basil--as simple as it sounds--to her unique Green Chicken Tandoori Grilled with Potatoes, a dish loaded with fresh coriander, Owen makes your mouth water at the prospect of clear, fresh flavors.

Spend an afternoon with Owen and your view of everything, from utilitarian onions to purslane, a weed "uncannily tuned to the sound of soil being cultivated," will change. Following her lead, and spurred on by Karl Stuecklen's friendly drawings, you may add mildly peppery violet leaves to salads and start tinting your Arroz con Pollo, the Spanish chicken and rice stew, with golden marigold petals. Keep this book in mind for anyone you know who gardens, as well as for cooks. --Dana Jacobi

A coffee table book! If , like me, you want to learn more about the technical side of swimming pools, give this one a pass. In spite of the promise hinted in the promotional text of giving insights to "design details" this book doesn't even come close. Most of the pools are out of reach except to those whom money is no object starting with a pool costing $700,000. If for instance, you want to be educated on the pros and cons of vanishing edge pools, the Author tells us, "they have been overused and misused"-no clarification, no explanation, no examples. Of course none of the beautiful pools pictured in this section fall into either category. Design details? Each very beautifully photographed pool describes the multi-million dollar surroundings, the size of the pool pictured, construction i.e. Gunite, finish-Plaster. This scant, mostly irrelative information hardly qualifies as "design details".

If you want to show your pool contractor the kind of pool you have in mind and hand over a blank check, then this is the book for you. You'll get no feel for the typical cost of the pools depicted (except the one for $3/4M) nor will you be guided as to any of the unseen but extremely important mechanical components required.

I'd keep this book if there was just one piece of information that I could consider valuable advice. Thankfully, Amazon will take it back.

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Gracious Interiors
Mary Kelly Selover
Manufacturer: MetroBooks (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Decorating | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Home Improvement | Home & Garden | Bargain Books | Stores | Books

Interior Decorating | Home & Garden | Bargain Books | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1567991734

For every type of house and for every family's style, there is a perfect porch. Whether you want a quiet outdoor niche where family members can lounge with a good summer read, or a casual front porch that encourages passing neighbors to stop and chat, over the years porch styles have developed that foster these very activities.

This beautifully photographed volume details the porch's illustrious past, from its origins as the portico, or covered entryway, of ancient Greece to its glory days as the elaborate outdoor sitting room of Victorian times. A discussion of different types of porches follows, with notes on the particular character of each.

Suggestions for creating an area for solitude and respite as well as ideas for converting the space into an elegant room for a party include tips on planning for alfresco meals, decorating for festive occasions, and providing the essentials for relaxation.

Pleasures of the Porch also introduces you to the furnishings and accesories of this most romantic of rooms. Bentwood rockers and white wicker settees, string hammocks and wide-striped awnings, floral-washed pillows and heavy Mexican glassware--these are the things that provide comfort and luxury, making the porch a favorite retreat. These chapters reveal which pieces are appropriately sturdy and weather resistant, as well as which are best suited to the ambience of the porch.

Because the beauty of nature is often what draws us to the porch, Pleasures of the Porch devotes a special chapter to potted flowers, window boxes, and other plantings that bring color, scent, and pattern to the porch and surrounding areas.

Filled with vibrant color photographs that capture the enchantment of porch living, this extravagant volume presents hundreds of ways to truly take pleasure in porches.