The Best of Albanian Cooking: Favorite Family Recipes

Average customer rating:

Very middle of the road

This appears to be the ONLY English Language Albanian Cookbook

Poor in many ways

Interesting, but not well written (edited)

It's missing somethings

The Best of Albanian Cooking: Favorite Family Recipes
Klementina Hysa , and Ramazan John Hysa
Manufacturer: Hippocrene Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Mediterranean | European | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Learn Albanian: Mesoni Shqip

Albanian-English/English-Albanian Dictionary and Phrasebook (Dictionary and Phrasebooks)

Talk Now! Learn Albanian - Beginning Level

ASIN: 0781806097

Customer Reviews:

Very middle of the road.......2007-08-12

While this is certainly better than some cookbooks, and the sole resource for Albanian cooking, it's really quite lacking.

My main gripe is that there is NO discussion of what makes Albanian cuisine unique. Had this been a cheap cookbook, I would have been a little less disappointed, but for the price, this is ridiculous. Furthermore, it comes hardcover, something it hardly merits.

There are some interesting recipies, but a lot are very, very basic. And if you're not interested in eating brains and entrails, a good number of the recipies will turn you off a bit.

Two and a half stars would have been a lot more appropriate.

This appears to be the ONLY English Language Albanian Cookbook.......2006-04-18

I have been looking for an Albanian cookbook for several years now, and this appears to be the only one available. Thus I can hardly credit the first review that criticizes it and refers to "abundant" resources that the authors have overlooked.

Since Albania was shut out from the rest of the world for many years by one of the most repressive communist regimes in the world, it is perhaps not totally surprising that there aren't many English language resources on Albanian culture. The few recipes I've found on the web seem to mainly include close cousins of Middle Eastern staples such as Imam Bayaldi, khufta or tarator sauce.

Since this is the only current source of Albanian recipes and there aren't many Albanians in the US, this book will have to do until something better comes along. From the excerpts on this site, the book appears to have some interesting recipes, but little discussion of Albanian cuisine in general. The fragmented nature of Albanian history is probably reflected in their cooking, as the region has been repeatedly invaded and occupied by its neighbors over the millenia. Whether there is anything left of a historical, indigenous Albanian cuisine may be known by someone, but as far as I can determine, details are not available in any English publication.

Poor in many ways.......2003-12-23

There are a number of problems with this book:

1) None of the two authors aparently, has any knowledge of the culinary art, and that is clearly reflected everywhere in this book. It is obvious that they haven't even researched the abandant resources of Albanian cooking.

2) The translation is far from professional, making it difficult to read.

3) The book is hard to follow because the instructions are vague, e.g. 1 package of x means nothing as a package can have various sizes.

4) Having visited Albania numerous times, and having an appeciation for their delicious cooking, I find this book nowhere near an Albanian cook book; e.g. the apperitives list is incorrect, with nothing in the list being a real Albanian apperitive. Erroneous content consists throughout the text, mainly as a result of authors' lack of culinary knowledge (turkey stuffed with chestnuts - never heard in Albania!!!).

Interesting, but not well written (edited).......2000-05-18

Overall, I enjoyed this recipe book. However, many of the recipes do not appear to be well edited. On numberous occasions akward (non-native speaker?) language is employed, thereby making many of the recipes extremely confusing. Nonetheless, it was fun to experiment with many of the recipes.

It's missing somethings.......1999-08-04

This book is OK but it is missing alot of recipes that Albanians serve here in the states. Examples: Culeche,Petla,talumba,mars ( sorry I don't know how to write Albanian )

Book Description

A Dyer's Garden touches on the history and nature of dye plants and walks you through a garden season from design to planting to harvesting for the dyepot.

Customer Reviews:

Great for anyone new to dyeing!.......2007-07-03

This was my first introduction to the world of dyeing with plants. The photography is terrific and gives you a good idea of what you'll get from each plant. Mordants are discussed, and the plants that are included are covered thoroughly for both cultivation and dye recipes. My only regret? That I can't find the seeds for the Japanese Indigo! I recommended this book to several people when we attended our local fiber festival.

Beautiful, well-organized guide to dye plants.......2007-04-10

This book focuses mainly on the home growing and use of dye plants. There is even a section devoted to the layout of the home dye garden. General mordanting and dye bath info is given at the beginning of the book. In the "Portfolio of Dye Plants" which follows, two pages are devoted to each dye plant. For each plant, 4-10 color photos illustrate the results obtained with various mordants on different fibers. The instructions for using different plants are not in traditional recipe form. Instead, Buchanan indicates how much plant material is generally required for a given amount of fiber ("flowers from 8 plants," etc). This fits in with Buchanan's emphasis on diversity of color over reproducibility, but it could be troublesome for users of purchased dyestuffs. In short, this book is nice to look at, easy to use, and appears to contain highly useful information for dyer/gardeners.

gave as a gift.......2006-03-14

the recipient was very happy, & is busy putting in beds of plants to do home dyeing of medieval faire clothing.

Woad-you like to grow your own dye plants? Read on.......2006-01-02

For those doing creative re-enactment (SCA, Renn faires), this is an essential reference for growing and using natural dye plants. The book includes plants to grow, plants NOT to grow (invasive species), and plants that pay off with dye materials in one season. The margins of the book are organized by color family, and there are lovely schematics on how to organize a dye-plant garden for production or for high-intensity cultivation with raised rows--or just a pretty border. There are some basics of plant dyeing, information on mordants (salts that change color or cause it to stick to fiber.) A small but potent book, probably a must for anyone doing authentic reproduction of antique fibers or for anyone who likes the idea of home-dyed fiber but with naturally-obtained materials. Great for home schooling. Highly recommended.

Great for re-enactors.......1999-10-27

I particularly recommend this book as a visual source for historical re-enactors.

Too often there are descriptions of what dye-plants were used to color garments, but, no examples of what those colors would look like. This book provides clear, vivid color photos on a whole range of dye-plants grown during pre-medieval, medieval, Colonial, and later times. Additionally, it shows the same dye used on different fibers, sometimes with different mordants (fixers). Fiber samples include linen, wool, silk, and cotton.

I recommend this book to people interested in making clothing from "modern" material...it gives them the best opprotunity possible to try to find close color-matches. Alternately, it provides solid information to dye cloth by hand.

Amazon.com

The word pot calls to mind the standard flower container, but the title of Stephanie Donaldson's delightful book is actually a happy misnomer. Besides various-shaped and -sized terra-cotta pots, Donaldson also adorns glass and ceramic vases and metal buckets, and displays them not only sporting plants but serving as lovely candle holders, wine coolers, silverware and utensil caddies, bathroom storage vessels, and pencil cups. In addition to attractive takes on decoupage and paint (with lots of classy metallic looks), she also presents clever ideas with mosaics, beads, buttons, and glass-etching spray. A refreshing departure from the country-cute approach, Donaldson's sophisticated designs are nevertheless easy to realize, well explained, and beautifully photographed. --Amy Handy

Book Description

“This is the perfect kind of crafts book that encourages anyone to pick up a tool and try. Why? Oversize color photographs, great step-by-step directions, and just plain elegant design that’s easy to copy. [The] narrative is clear-cut—and is further enlivened by helpful hints. Almost every one of the 25 projects includes a suggested alternative.”—Booklist.

Customer Reviews:

Inspires the imagination and delights the eye........2000-04-01

Finally! Beautiful photography that shows every detail and fabulous instructions that anyone can follow. A complete variety of inspiring projects and design styles from the sophisticated to the whimsical that are easy to imitate and lovely to look at. And you can think of dozens of other materials and designs for each project. This is one of the few books on decorating pots that isn't limited to painted flowers and country scenes. Anyone can make these beautiful, decorative objects for the home, for gifts, for profit, or just one's own enjoyment. The only fault I can find with this book is that it isn't big enough.

A comparison of the results obtained by the method of cultures in paraffined wire pots with field results on the same soil (Bulletin / Agricultural Experiment ... College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts)

Average customer rating:

A comparison of the results obtained by the method of cultures in paraffined wire pots with field results on the same soil (Bulletin / Agricultural Experiment ... College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts)
H. J Wheeler
Manufacturer: Agricultural Experiment Station of the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Soil | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008A3CJI

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating:

Anatomy of contemporary furniture
John Gerald Shea
Manufacturer: Van Nostrand Reinhold
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

The lamp and lighting book: Designs, elements, materials, shades for standing lamps, ceiling and wall fixtures

ASIN: 0442275439

Average customer rating:

Anatomy of Contemporary Furniture
Shea John G
Manufacturer: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LB5Q3O

Amazon.com

Even the all-thumbs, white-walls-are-safe decorating wannabe really can't go wrong with the sound and very thorough advice in this extremely user-friendly guide. Mostly text with lots of diagrams and the occasional black-and-white photo, it offers an easy way to study the whole subject in depth, or dip into it at random to learn about tackling a particular room, element, or style consideration. The pages are strewn with helpful little boxed items delivering tips, definitions, and the author's own solutions to the specific decorating problems of her clients. --Amy Handy

Book Description

Ever look around the walls of your home and think, "Blah!" Do you have Martha-Stewart envy? Do you buy decorating magazines by the dozen and just end up throwing up hands at the impossibility of the task of re-doing your home? Fret no more. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Decorating Your Home, Second Edition gives clear, easy-to-understand instruction to turn the most humble abode into a work of art. This brand new, updated second edition has even more photos than before to help you get a picture-perfect vision of your decorating dreams. An all-new chapter on decorating resources on the Web, as well as how to use such hot tickets as e-Bay to get that perfect item for your home at a perfectly low price.

Download Description

Customer Reviews:

Title is misleading, this book does not make decorating fun!.......1999-10-03

There is a lot of information in this book, but it does not go into depth about a lot of subjects. (Too many to mention here) I am not a novice, and a lot of information was either left out or not given. It is OK for just the basics, but the book to me is boring, especially with few photos (in the middle of the book) If I were going for the basics, I'd want a book that told me how many square feet a gallon of paint covered, or a roll of wallcovering covered. How about measuring for blinds, or draperies? If you would like a true how-to book try "Fabrique Technique" on fabric corrdination or "Use What You Have Decorating" on furniture placement. They're both informative and useful information that you can really use.

A decorating book with no photos!?????.......1999-07-16

I was a complete idiot for not reading the book's description more carefully before I bought it. Talking about decorating is OK, but you have to SHOW me something beautiful too. This is only HALF a decorating book, becauase it has no photos.

Lifesaver.......1998-04-10

I have zero talent in the decorting department. This book was great it showed me many different ways I could get the look I was looking for. If you are all thumbs when it comes to decorating and don't know where to start, yet you know you want a fresh new look this is the book for you.

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