This colorful but somewhat skimpy collection of treats offers up breezy tips for a tasty holiday season. “Classic Cookies” include linzer stars and giftable shortbread bites with a variety of glaze options. There’s also the less familiar Persian Nan-e Berenji, made with rice flour, cardamom, and rosewater, and Chinese almond cookies. The “Traditions with a Twist” chapter features sourdough snickerdoodles and chai tea cut out cookies. Things get a bit more elaborate in “Showstopping Sweets,” which includes extensive instructions for gingerbread house construction and pumpkin spice cookies cut and decorated with butter cream to look like yule logs. Easy “Not Quite Cookie” recipes provide hurried home cooks with hacks for enhancing ready-made ingredients, like dipping store-bought madeleines in melted chocolate. A final chapter covers vegan and gluten-free options. Frustratingly, many of these recipes require special equipment, including food processors and cookie presses, which is often not indicated until the step at which these items come into play. Instead of an equipment or pantry list, there’s unnecessary filler about how to host “the perfect cookie swap” party with such obvious advice as to send invitations “3 to 4 weeks before.” It’s not perfect, but the range of sweets on offer means this still has plenty of appeal. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Beautiful photos of elegantly plated pasta dishes are the highlight of this handsome volume from Academia Barilla, a cooking school in Parma, Italy, offering 150 recipes developed with Barilla brand pasta shapes in mind. A chapter on dishes for “Everyday Gatherings” offers breezy recipes including fusilli with eggplant, tomatoes, and capers; Sicilian penne with sardines; and gemelli with prosciutto and broccoli. The “Gourmet” chapter calls for “bronze-drawn” pasta shapes (a premium offering in Barilla’s product line), which “capture a greater quantity of sauce” and work well with “ingredients with a strong personality.” Other offerings include linguine with lobster and cherry tomatoes, and tortiglioni with pancetta and black truffles. Striving for the “successful interaction between shape and sauce,” the chapter on “Embracing Creativity” features farfalle with salmon and fennel; papiri, a scrolled pasta shape, with prosecco and oysters; and orecchiette with sausage and zucchini flowers. Another chapter focuses on whole grain (penne with asparagus cream) and gluten free dishes (spaghetti with citrus pesto). Brief overviews of key ingredients, such as balsamic vinegar, Parmigiano Reggiano, and olives, are interspersed throughout but don’t offer useful shopping or cooking tips, and the instructions assume a level of familiarity with advanced techniques. Still, the wide range of recipes and gorgeous packaging makes this a gift for pasta lovers. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Country music star and longtime marijuana advocate Nelson (Energy Follows Thought) teams up with wife Annie for a charming collection of hearty, cannabis-infused dishes that goes well beyond the brownies and cookies readers might expect. Novices to cannabis cooking will find an approachable introduction with helpful dosage guidelines leading into a diverse array of hippie-ish grub—both homestyle (kale soup with sun-dried tomatoes) and elevated (vegan carrot lox)—that will tempt palates whether or not the THC is included. The recipes could be better organized, with chapter names like “Food and Fun” giving little indication as to their contents, and freewheeling sequencing that places squid ink paella directly after bourbon pecan bars. More successful is the Nelsons’ singular storytelling, which provides a vibrant through line as they share culinary memories, alternately hilarious and sentimental. In an introduction to a group of pork recipes, for example, Willie writes, “Somewhere in the lost years of the sixties, I fashioned myself a pig farmer. It was in the middle of a harsh winter when I bought seventeen weaner pigs for a quarter a pound and, genius that I am, wound up selling them six months later for seventeen cents a pound.” Fans of the songwriter will find much to savor in this feel-good offering. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

“Consistently playing with our kids... creates an environment for their growth into successful, well-adjusted people,” according to this astute parenting manual. Explaining that young children learn crucial social and cognitive skills through play, psychotherapists Bryson (The Whole-Brain Child) and Wisen-Vincent outline seven strategies parents can use to maximize its benefits. To help kids become better attuned to their own intentions, thoughts, and feelings, the authors recommend narrating kids’ actions to them (“Looks like you’re building a jumping ramp for the car”). “Mirroring” children during play introduces them to the idea that, since other people can “tune in” to their mindset, so can they understand the perspectives of others, Bryson and Wisen-Vincent contend, suggesting that if a kid starts, for instance, speaking like a robot, a parent might reply as a robot, too. The guidance is straightforward but solid, and Liddiard’s adorable illustrations offer examples of the advice at work. For example, one panel in which a father gently encourages his hesitant young son to wade farther into a pool shows how parents can support kids while pushing them outside their comfort zone. It’s one of the more fun parenting guides readers are likely to encounter. Illus. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Photographer Lea (A Room of Her Own) explores how clothing and jewelry designers decorate their living spaces in this inviting coffee-table book. She explains that Lucinda Chambers, the former fashion director of British Vogue, “inherited her mother’s embrace of multiple design and architecture styles,” placing, for instance, “a super shaggy Colville rug next to one with Aztec-style geometric patterns” in her sitting room. Pointing out continuities between designers’ fashion sense and their interior decorating, Lea suggests that English jeweler Sophie Keegan’s characteristic “playful use of colour” comes through in the “furniture upholstered in vivid patterns and hues” that adorns her German home. Elsewhere, Lea describes how Edgardo Osorio filled his palatial Florence apartment with a mix of antique and mid-century furnishings, and how Martin Grant removed nonessential walls to bring more light and open space into his Parisian apartment. The attractive interiors span a wide range of styles, and the biographical sketches humanize the designers while offering insight into their tastes. For instance, Lea describes how Soledad Twombly’s penchant for synthesizing the old and the new can be traced to her childhood in Argentina, where she was drawn to both the “contemporary ensembles her mother wore” and the “traditional garb worn by her grandparents and their farmhands.” This delights. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Restaurateur Mina (Michael Mina: The Cookbook) presents an exciting celebration of his Egyptian heritage. Traditional dishes—including ta’ameya (fried fava bean patties), ma’amoul (date-filled cookies), and koshari (lentils, chickpeas, pasta, and rice served together in a tomato sauce with onions)—appear alongside his fresh spins on the classics. Instead of stuffing grape leaves with rice or ground meat, Mina opts for yogurt-marinated, spiced chicken thighs, and his take on an Alexandria fish fry gets anachronistically paired with tartar sauce. He finds creative ways to incorporate Egyptian flavors in harissa ratatouille, lamb meatballs with ricotta dumplings and date chutney, and kataifi-wrapped caramelized bananas. Clear instructions, plus an informative pantry list and glossary of Egyptian staples (“Picture hummus made with fava beans and you have bessara”), make this accessible for home cooks of all levels and familiarity with Middle Eastern cuisine. Vibrant photos and fascinating cultural tidbits (“There’s proof in the tombs of ancient Egyptians that lentils have been eaten along the Nile for more than three thousand years”) complement the recipes. The result will make for an outstanding addition to any kitchen library. Agent: Janis Donnaud, Janis A. Donnaud & Assoc. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

Scanlin (Tapestry Design Basics and Beyond), a retired weaving teacher at the University of North Georgia, delivers an enchanting exploration of how fiber artists use their craft to commemorate the passage of time. Mary Jane Lord recounts how she started keeping a “tapestry diary” after taking a class with Scanlin, weaving a small square each day representing notable events (several black entries mark a prolonged power outage, and a “white square with silver Lurex included in the weft” stands in for snowfall). Janet Austin discusses how creating a new entry every day even when dissatisfied with the previous day’s work taught her that “yesterday is done and cannot be changed. I must move on and go forward.” The impressive variety of the pieces emphasizes the versatility of fabric arts. For instance, Val Vaganek’s scrappy mixed-media journals incorporate fabric, paper, photos, thread, and writing, and Jennifer McGregor’s “textural landscape memoir” uses variously sized coiled fabric strips to represent different places she’s lived and for how long. Though this is more coffee-table book than craft guide, Scanlin does include a few strategies readers might use for their own fabric diaries, such as deciding what shade to make each day’s block by rolling a die. This brims with creativity. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

This eye-catching if demanding debut manual from paper artist Nguyen shows how to create flowers from crepe paper. Breaking down basic techniques, Nguyen describes how to make realistic leaves by joining two pieces of green crepe paper so their grains run diagonally away from each other, and how to curve crepe petals by gently rolling them between one’s fingers. Unfortunately, the scant photo illustrations and sometimes vague directions make certain techniques difficult to follow, such as those for modifying the color of paper. Among the easier projects is the pansy, which requires painting purple accents onto large red petals and attaching them to green wire stems covered in floral tape. The more advanced foxglove involves painting dots on enough petals to create 30 florets, and the dahlia requires cutting out and curling 80 individual petals of varying sizes. Nguyen also describes how to incorporate the flowers into wearables and floral arrangements, including a headpiece and a heart-shaped bridal bouquet. The flowers are stunningly realistic, though readers may need quite a bit of practice before theirs resemble Nguyen’s. This challenges and rewards in equal measure. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

“Sleeping, hydrating, and breathing well are the fastest, best ways to get back into whole-body balance,” according to this hit-or-miss guide. Psychologist Breus (Energize!) notes that getting enough sleep has been found to strengthen the immune system and reduce cravings, and he encourages readers to keep a consistent sleep schedule and turn off screens at least an hour before bed. Staying hydrated is crucial to ensuring blood is viscous enough to circulate glucose, protein, and oxygen to cells throughout the body, he explains, outlining his formula for calculating how much water a person should drink: “(Weight in pounds x 0.6) + 12 oz. per 30 minutes of exercise = Daily intake in ounces.” Breus exhorts readers to breathe through their nose, contending that the nasal passageways create a “wind tunnel effect” that leads to “an increase of up to 20 percent in oxygen intake” compared to mouth breathing. There are some useful tips, as when Breus explains that coffee should be consumed with lunch instead of breakfast because its wakeful effects come from clearing the “drowsiness chemical adenosine from brain receptors,” which have usually already been cleared out before one wakes up. Unfortunately, other suggestions are painfully obvious (“To help rid yourself of excess phlegm, cough”). It’s a mixed bag. Agent: Alex Glass, Glass Literary. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 10/18/2024 | Details & Permalink

This dazzling guide from Parry (Anna Maria’s Needleworks Notebook), the design director for fabric wholesaler Anna Maria Textiles, explains how to make colorful quilts. While such common block patterns as the half-square triangle and snowball appear throughout, Parry throws in some of her own designs, including the “whippersnapper,” which features thin fabric strips over half the block with additional strips intersecting perpendicularly on the other half. She shows how to create variations on four “blueprints” that offer general guidelines for arranging blocks. Among the four versions of the “triptych” blueprint, which divides the quilt’s composition into three columns, the “Roman numerals quilt” juxtaposes two columns of blue log cabin blocks against a central strip of tans and oranges, while the “fence line quilt” builds on that baseline by adding appliqué Dresden fans. The progressive difficulty of the projects will help sewists build their skills, and the final two designs, though challenging, are absolute showstoppers. One offers an angular reimagining of Georgia O’Keefe’s Flower Abstraction, abandoning the traditional block format for irregular shards of riotous color. The other comprises a stunningly detailed portrait of Parry’s youngest daughter, painstakingly recreated with scraps of paisley and floral print. Parry’s sophisticated artistic sensibilities set this apart from standard quilting manuals. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 10/04/2024 | Details & Permalink