Secrets of the Red Lantern Named Best Asian Cookbook of 2008

Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart
by Pauline Nguyen has been named Best Asian Cookbook of 2008 by epicurious.com:

BEST ASIAN
Secrets of the Red Lantern
by Pauline Nguyen (Andrews McMeel Publishing)
Recipe to try: Salt and Pepper Tofu

Whether you want amazingly accessible Vietnamese recipes or just a good, honest family story with food, this Sydney restaurateur delivers. Her family memoir is a great tale of what immigrants both give up and gain in choosing (or not) to pack up and try another country, and if it's not always pretty, it is inspiring, especially with both vintage photos and pictures of the contemporary food Nguyen creates. The book is so beautiful you can almost taste the braised duck with ginger and scallions or the banana fritters.

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/howtocook/cookbooks/bestof2008

Knives Cooks Love Reviewed by Library Journal

Knives Cooks Love: Selection. Care. Techniques. Recipes. by Sur La Table with Sarah Jay is reviewed in the 11/15/08 edition of Library Journal:

Most home cooks tend to be protective of their knives and often claim to be highly knowledgeable of the knife world. This book from Sur La Table and food writer Jay is slightly obsessive; it goes into shocking detail about each type of knife from the few countries that produce the best of the best. There is the obligatory section, "A Blade for Every Purpose," that describes each type of knife and its possible uses, which is the best part of the book. Another helpful portion addresses how to buy a knife, which has comprehensive explanations on such weighty points as blade anatomy and blade material. The lay reader will like the simple sections on how to chop, peel, and dice a variety of foods. The recipes that are included are basic for the most part and slightly uninspiring (e.g., mango-cucumber salsa). Recommended for academic libraries with a large collection of culinary arts materials.—Claire A. Schaper, Morgantown, WV

Knives Cooks Love: Selection. Care. Techniques. Recipes. Reviewed by the Tampa Tribune

Knives Cooks Love Review

As Emeril Lagasse writes in the book's foreword, knives are the most highly valued cooking tool in a chef's possession, and yet they are often the least discussed in the kitchen. This book, produced by Sur La Table, pulls the cloak back on that tool to provide a wonderfully coherent, easy-to-follow guide to selecting knives, maintaining them and, as you might guess, using them properly. Even better, they pair those instructions along with recipes that you can make immediately after learning each new cut, chop or slice.

Knives Cooks Love: Selection. Care. Techniques. Recipes. focuses on this most versatile tool in the kitchen and provides tantalizing recipes allowing you to practice and perfect techniques. Consider this Knives 101—lessons on everything you need to know to make your experiences behind the blade more straightforward, efficient, and enjoyable.

Secrets of the Red Lantern Chosen One of The Best Cookbooks of 2008

Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen has been chosen by NPR food writer Susie Chang as one of the Best Cookbooks of 2008.

An interview with Susie about her selections is tentatively scheduled for Weekend Edition the weekend of November 22, with two recipes and images from the book planned for npr.org.

• Secrets of the Red Lantern will also be on the year’s top cookbook lists of the Chicago Tribune and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Overflowing with sumptuous but simply prepared dishes that have been passed down through generations of the Nguyen family, Secrets of the Red Lantern is part Vietnamese cookbook and part family memoir.

More than 275 traditional Vietnamese recipes are presented alongside a visual narrative of food and family photographs that follows the family's escape from war-torn Vietnam to the successful founding of the Red Lantern restaurant.

Mass Historia Reviewed by Monsters & Critics

Book Review: Mass Historia
Fiction Book Reviews

Emmy award winning comedy writer Chris Regan has turned his considerable talents to past events and come out with a winner in this uproarious look at 365 days in history. Embellishing facts with liberal doses of light humor, history has never been more entertaining as demonstrated by the January 4 entry celebrating Utah’s statehood that explains how Utah became the forty-fifth state which coincidentally, was the average number of wives enjoyed by most Utah men at the time. Then learn about the army suppression of an uprising of a hoard of Donnie Osmond groupies and the five top Mormon fun facts.

Even better, on June 24, 1997 the U.S. Air Force released their final report on the Roswell incident, a 231-page tome that would prove to be light reading for those who can polish off 251 pages of a Dune novel while awaiting a Star Trek rerun. Or how about the November 15, 1887 entry highlighting the birth of Georgia O’Keeffe with the notation, “After being born, the baby looks up at where she came from, and gets her first-and last-idea for a painting.”

Chock full of fun “facts”, sidebars and irreverently captioned pictures, this is not history as we learned it in school, thank goodness! Regan’s view of history is smart, pointed, frequently not PC but always entertaining. Think History Channel crossed with equal portions South Park and Robot Chicken and you get the general idea.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/books/fiction/reviews/article_1441330.php/Book_Review_Mass_Historia

Bee & Me Debuts

Bee & Me debuted at #15 in the Children’s Illustrated Category of the Independent Bookstores Bestseller list for November 6-13, 2008.

The listing is based on reporting from many
hundreds of independent bookstores across the United States.

Bee & Me (Accord Publishing, LLC, $16.99) is the fantastic new storybook that everyone is buzZz-ing about! From author Elle J. McGuinness and illustrator Heather Brown, Bee & Me is an entrancing book that features vibrant full color illustrations introduced by the innovative technique of Ani-motion, created by Accord designers Jeff Cole and Katarina Ford. Bee & Me is the first book to feature Ani-motion applied in full color, providing the visually arresting Ani-motion panels in almost every spread to enhance the action and immediacy of the story.

Author Jeremy Greenberg on MyFox Kansas City

Relative Discomfort: The Family Survival Guide author Jeremy Greenberg appeared on MyFox Kansas City.

See the interview here: MyFoxKC.com

Everybody has one, or more. That relative who drives you up the wall. And it's hard to get through the holidays without seeing them. Author, Jeremy Greenburg explains relative discomfort in his family survival guide. He'll be at Barnes and Noble on the Country Club Plaza Friday, Nov. 7 at 5:30 p.m. for a book signing. Visit his website at jeremygreenberg.com.

Relative Discomfort is a sidesplitting, guffaw-inducing guide to living through and laughing at all of our family encounters. You know that knot you get in your stomach when you're about to come face-to-face with your Uncle Drunk and Aunt Enabler, or the brother-in-law who always wants to show you his gun collection? This book unties that knot.