Tag Archives: Da Capo Lifelong Books

PETRUCELLI PICKS: 2019 GIFT GUIDE: THE BEST FOOD & COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR

Nothing is tastier than serving up out picks for the best books of all things food. We tasted several tomes from several publishers. Here are our choices to eat up. Seconds anyone?

We actually tingle and mingle whenever Ambassador of Americana Charles Phoenix releases a new book.
Such us the wonder with Holiday Jubilee: Classic & Kitschy Festivities & Fun Party Recipes (Prospect Park Books, $29.95) in which Phoenix mixes and mingles spectacular vintage Kodachrome slides of New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas with his eye-popping, original recipes for epic edible centerpieces and party pleasers from his colorful Test Kitchen. Oh! We’d love to move to Phoenix!

It’s a dazzling celebration of Palestinian cuisine (more than 80 recipes), as well as a guide for armchair travelling with captivating stories and stunning travel photography. This is the beauty of Yasmin Khan’s  Zaitoun: Recipes From the Palestinian Kitchen (W. W. Norton & Company, $29.95).
Even the late Anthony Bourdain gushed “Yasmin Khan draws on her vast experience as a storyteller, cook, human rights activist, itinerant traveler and writer to create a moving, empathetic, hugely knowledgeable and utterly delicious book.”


Almost every health study published in recent years has proven that eating a more plant-based diet improves body weight, blood pressure and blood sugar, and shows that having at least one meat-free day a week is essential for anyone wishing to enjoy a healthy life.
The Meat Free Monday Cookbook (Kyle Books, $22.95), based on the trend launched by Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney in 2009, shows how simple it is to eat less meat by including irresistible vegetarian menus for every week of the year,  two main dishes, plus four other ideas for each meal of the day.
Packed with recipes such as Fruity Quinoa, Mexican Cornbread, Warm Halloumi, Apple and Radish Salad, Double Choc Crackle Cookies and Gingerbread Cake, as well as vibrant spring soups, inventive summer salads, appetizing autumn bakes and comforting winter stews, the book includes contributions from Paul and Stella, as well as from celebrity and chef supporters, such as Mario Battali, Yotam Ottolenghi, Kevin Spacey, Pink and Woody Harrelson. It really is the perfect recipe book for anyone who cares about their health, the environment and seriously delicious food.


Using easy-to-find ingredients, Indian in 7 (Kyle Books, $24.99) is packed full of dishes that anyone can effortlessly pull together any night of the week.
With years of experience teaching students howto make tasty and authentic Indian food, award-winning chef and food historian Monisha Bharadwaj shows that cooking mouthwatering Indian meals doesn’t require a cupboard stocked full of spices or a long list of obscure and unpronounceable ingredients. The tome is packed with 80 irresistible recipes, including delectable desserts as  Black Rice Pudding and Mango & Pistachio Mug Cake.


Though Foxfire Living: Design, Recipes, and Stories from the Magical Inn in the Catskills (Harper Design, $45) is a gorgeous full-color
field guide to the innovative neo-vintage design style that is the hallmark of Foxfire Mountain House, the magical inn in the Catskills, and not a true cookbook, the 30 recipes are awfully tasty. Have no reservations about making dinner and then make reservations for an overnight stay.


There’s nothing better than peppering your cookies with ginger. The wonders are found in Gingerbread Wonderland: 30 Magical Cookies, Houses & Bakes(Kyle Books, $12.99).
Packed with fun cookies and sticky gingerbread cakes, plus handy tips on how to avoid mistakes, create edible glue and utilize templates that are included, the tasty tome includes all the traditional Christmas favorites; perfect treats to slip into lunch boxes, serve up to friends at tea, give as gifts, or show off as your holiday centerpiece.


Steven Raichlen has a helluva piece of meat. In The Brisket Chronicles: How to Barbecue, Braise, Smoke, and Cure the World’s Most Epic Cut of Meat (Workman Publishing, $19.95),
the grill master shares more than 60 foolproof, mouthwatering recipes for preparing the tastiest, most versatile and most beloved cut of meat in the world—outside on the grill, as well as in the kitchen. The recipes are overwhelming delicious: Raichlen even teaches how to bake brisket into chocolate chip cookies.


In Cookie Class 120 Irresistible Decorating Ideas For Any Occasion (Harper Design, $24.99), Jenny Keller shares her no-fail, easy tried-and-true recipes for cookies and a basic buttercream icing that can be turned into a variety of different treats with just a few tweaks and adjustments.
Each cookie decoration is easily achievable following Jenny’s simple step-by-step photographs and practical advice. Even the most inexperienced bakers can create cookies that look like they came out of a bakery case.


America’s Test Kitchen once again brings their scientific know-how, rigorous testing and hands-on learning to kids. In The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs (Sourcebooks Explore, $19.99), they will easily learn how to make  soft pretzels, empanadas, brownies and pies. Step-by-step photos of tips and techniques will help young chefs feel like pros in their own kitchen.
By empowering young chefs to make their own choices in the kitchen, America’s Test Kitchen is building a new generation of confident cooks, engaged eaters, and curious experimenters. Bravo!


Gooseberry Patch has released a new must-have for every kitchen: Foolproof Christmas ($17.95). We found the more than 230 recipes shared by home cooks across the country indeed foolproof . . . easy to make dishes such as Mashed Potato Cake, Holly Jolly Party Mix, Chicken Parmesan Soup and Mrs. Claus’ Microwave Fudge.
Readers also share Sweet Christmas Memories, true-life recollections that made us laugh an cry. Simply delicious!


New York Times bestselling author and Food Network star Hannah Hart is back with her biggest book ever: My Drunk Kitchen Holidays! How to Celebrate and Savor the Year: A Cookbook (Plume, $28). In a world where everyone is looking for some good news and something to celebrate, Hart is there with nearly 50 ideas, arranged into 12 months of themes and recipes for how to celebrate with family and friends.
A collection of recipes, activities and suggestions about hilarious and joyous ways to celebrate with family, friends, pets, even your entire community, the book features a fabulous celebration of Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Christmas that is inclusive and incredibly hilarious.


In Creating the Sweet World of White House Desserts (White House Historical Association , $65), Roland Mesnier, pastry chef to five presidents, recalls the stunning desserts he created for White House State Dinners, formal events and family celebrations.
For the first time, he reveals the secrets of mold making and sugar work and shares recipes, all adapted for home kitchens. Of special interest are descriptions and illustrations of the dozens of molds now in the chef’s collection. Here, Mesnier and his assistant Mark Ramsdell help make professional desserts possible for cooks of all abilities and offer insights into the concerns and accomplishments of the White House pastry kitchen.


In Whole in One: Complete, Healthy Meals in a Single Pot, Sheet Pan, or Skillet (Da Capo Lifelong Books, $30), James Beard Award winner and bestselling cookbook author Ellie Krieger shows you how to create a meal in a single pot, sheet pan, baking dish or skillet . . . no additional gadgets or tools required.
Divided by main ingredients (meat, poultry, seafood, vegetarian, dessert) and further separated into sheet pan, baking dish, skillet and pot-cooked meals, the 125 nutritionally complete dinner recipes (plus healthy desserts) can each be prepared simply. Yum!


Michelle Lopez has figured out how to have her cake and eat it too. In Weeknight Baking: Recipes to Fit Your Schedule, (Simon & Schuster, $35), Lopez shares recipes for drool-worthy confections, along with charming stories and time-saving tips and tricks.
From everyday favorites like “Almost No Mess Shortbread” and “Better-Than-Supernatural Fudge Brownies” to showstoppers like “a Modern Red Velvet Cake” and “Peanut Butter Pretzel Pie” (it’s vegan!), she reveals the secrets to baking on a schedule.


 

Petrucelli Picks: 2018 Gift Guide: The Best Food & Cookbooks of the Year

Nothing is tastier than serving up out picks for the best books of all things food.

We tasted several tomes from Kyle Books. What wonders!
In Five Seasons of Jam ($24.99) Lillie O’Brien proves why jam cannot be rushed. Five Seasons of Jam by [O'Brien, Lillie]These preserving recipes may be short on the page, but they’re designed to stretch time, from when you first find and organize the ingredients, to when you stir the pot slowly and lovingly, then spread it on toast, and take the first magical bite.

Sudie Pigott’s Flipping Good Pancakes: Pancakes From Around the World ($16.99) proves that you don’t have to wait till the weekend to enjoy pancakes. Taking inspiration from countries all over the world, this dynamic collection of recipes shows how versatile and easy pancakes can be.  Chinese Rice Flour Pancakes with Shitake and Sugar Snap Peas anyone?

With step-by-step photography, detailed instructions, specialist advice and Vanessa Kimbell’s indispensable encouragement, The Sourdough School: The Ground-Breaking Guide to Making Gut-Friendly Bread ($24.99) celebrates the timeless craft of artisan baking. Pass the butter. Please.

The Goodness of Honey: 40 Healthy Sweet and Savory Recipes ($12.99) offers vibrant recipes packed full of goodness. From Baked Energy Bars to Honeyed Carrot Cupcakes, and from Foolproof Root Vegetables to a Fig, Nectarine, Burrata & Prosciutto salad, these delicious recipes will allow you to embrace your love for honey without the guilt.


On a 10-year journey to seek the origins of wine,  Kevin Begos unearths a whole world of forgotten grapes, each with distinctive tastes and aromas, as well as the archaeologists, geneticists, chemists—even a paleobotanist—who are deciphering wine down to molecules of flavor.

In Tasting the Past: The Science of Flavor and the Search for the Origins of Wine ( Algonquin Books, $26.95), we meet a young scientist who sets out to decode the DNA of every single wine grape in the world; a researcher who seeks to discover the wines that Caesar and Cleopatra drank; and an academic who has spent decades analyzing wine remains to pinpoint ancient vineyards. Science illuminates wine in ways no critic can, and it has demolished some of the most sacred dogmas of the industry: for example, well-known French grapes aren’t especially noble.

Begos offers readers drinking suggestions that go far beyond the endless bottles of Chardonnay and Merlot found in most stores and restaurants.


Think outside the crust: Slab pie is just like regular pie . . . only better and bigger! Instead of crimping and meticulously rolling out a round crust, slab pies are an unfussy twist that are perfect for a potluck or dinner party or just a family dinner.

Baked on sheet pans, slab pies can easily serve a crowd of people dinner or dessert. Pie Squared: Irresistibly Easy Sweet & Savory Slab Pies (Grand Central Life & Style, $28) includes 75 foolproof recipes, along with inventive decoration tips that will appeal to baking nerds and occasional bakers alike. And this fresh, uncomplicated take on pie will surely pique the interest of those who have previously been reluctant to take out their rolling pin.


Just when you thought you knew everything about a cup o’ Joe… The World Atlas of Coffee: From Beans to Brewing — Coffees Explored, Explained and Enjoyed (Firefly Books, $35)  takes readers on a global tour of coffee-growing countries, presenting the bean in full-color photographs and concise, informative text.

It covers where coffee is grown, the people who grow it and the cultures in which it is a way of life. It also covers the world of consumption—processing, grades, the consumer and the modern culture of coffee. Organized by continent and then country or region, The World Atlas of Coffee presents the world’s favorite brew in color spreads packed with information.


The first official cookbook from the beloved world of Margaritaville features laid-back favorites like the explosively good Volcano Nachos and the heaven-on-earth-with-an-onion-slice Cheeseburger in Paradise, alongside more sophisticated options that will wow your guests. With its combination of recipes, stories, and gorgeous full color food and lifestyle photographs throughout, it is sure to put you in a Margaritaville state of mind!

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere and no vacation is complete without a cocktail―preferably a margarita, of course! Margaritaville: The Cookbook: Relaxed Recipes For a Taste of Paradise (St. Martin’s Press, $32.50) is loaded with drink recipes to inspire your blissful island cocktail hour―from Jimmy’s Perfect Margarita and Paradise Palomas to Cajun Bloody Mary’s and the quintessential Key West Coconut and Lime Frozen Margarita.


With detailed explanations of Middle Eastern foods, and suggestions on the best way to build up a home pantry of staples, you’ll discover a world of flavor. Once you begin cooking from Tahini & Turmeric: 101 Middle Eastern Classics Made Irresistibly Vegan (Da Capo Lifelong Books , $24.99), you’ll find yourself experimenting with pistachios and pomegranate syrup–and, of course, tahini and turmeric.


For this sumptuous cookbook, restaurateur Yann de Rochefort and Executive Chef Marc Vidal tell the story of Boqueria, which has now spread to four New York City locations as well as to Washington, D.C. While the recipes-all deeply rooted in Barcelona’s culinary culture-take center stage with phenomenal food photography, Boqueria: A Cookbook, from Barcelona to New York (Bloomsbury, $35) also swings open the kitchen doors to reveal the bustling life of the restaurant, and offers exciting glimpses of the locales that inspire it: the bars, markets and cervezerias of Barcelona. 

Boqueria’s recipes are delectable variations on authentic Barcelona fare, but more than that; along with their origin stories, these recipes inspire a bit of the Boqueria experience-the cooking, the conversations, and the connections-in your own home.


Zoë François and Jeff Hertzberg shocked the baking world when they proved that homemade yeast dough could be stored in the refrigerator to use whenever you need it. Now, they’ve done it again with Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day: Sweet and Decadent Baking for Every Occasion (St. Martin’s Press, $35), a cookbook with savory, sweet, healthy and decadent recipes for every occasion.

In 100 clear and concise recipes that build on the successful formula of their bestselling series, Holiday and Celebration Bread will adapt their ingenious approach for high-moisture stored dough to a collection of breads from the four corners of the globe.


In Provisions: The Roots of Caribbean Cooking (Da Capo Lifelong Books, $30) , Michelle and Suzanne Rousseau share 150 recipes that pay homage to the meals and market produce that have been farmed, sold, and prepared by Caribbean people–particularly the women–for centuries. Caribbean food is often thought of as rustic and unrefined, but these vibrant vegetarian dishes will change the way we think about this diverse, exciting, and nourishing cuisine. The pages are spiced with the sisters’ fond food memories and fascinating glimpses of the islands’ histories, bringing the region’s culinary past together with creative recipes that represent the best of Caribbean food today.


Derived from the Turkish word “keif” meaning “feeling good,” kefir is a tart, tangy cultured milk, low in sugar and lactose free, and an excellent source of protein, calcium, and B vitamins. Originating from a grain that dates back two thousand years to the Caucasus Mountains of Europe, it is also one of the healthiest natural foods available—scientifically shown to help boost immunity, improve gut health, build bone density, fight allergies, and aid the body’s natural detoxification.

The Kefir Cookbook: An Ancient Healing Superfood for Modern Life, Recipes from My Family Table and Around the World (HarperOne, $29.99) offers more than 100 globally-inspired sweet and savory recipes, as well as unique spins on classic recipes, while introducing contemporary flavors and textures to inspire you in the kitchen every day.


We always savor the cookbooks published by Robert Rose.

Since Santa already brought us an Instant Pot, we sampled two delicious treats: The Complete Indiana Instant Pot Cookbook: 130 Traditional & Modern Recipes ($24.95) and 5-Ingredient Instant Pot Cookbook: 150 Easy, Quick & Delicious Recipes ($19.95).

The recipes are as easy as A-B-C, the photos are glorious and, well, we’re getting hungry for another Ham and Cheddar Egg Muffin . . .

Stop dishing out lunchtime $. Feast on “Lunchbox Salads: More than 100 Fast, Fresh, Filling Salads for Every Weekday”

Summertime . . . and the heat is on. The last thing anyone should worry about is food. Good food. Even great food. Our lives are so busy and fast-paced that buying a $12 salad for lunch seems almost reasonable in the name of health. But what if you can make a salad that’s just as good, if not better, at home—for a fraction of the cost? And what if there’s a way to bring it to work in a way that gets it there without dreaded wilted lettuce and soggy croutons?

Food for though: Lunchbox Salads: More than 100 Fast, Fresh, Filling Salads for Every Weekday(Da Capo Lifelong Books, $18.99) Naomi Twigden and Anna Pinder teach us what to keep on hand, how to construct a salad you’ll enjoy, and how to transport your masterpiece to the office.

All of the recipes are simple yet filling and are designed to keep hunger at bay and your energy high. Each takes no more than thirty minutes to prepare and requires no more than ten ingredients. Some of the highlights include:

  • Candied Miso Tomato Salad
  • Kale + Walnut Pesto Salad
  • Red Pepper + Fennel Quinoa Salad
  • Balsamic, Beet + Red Onion Salad
  • Smokey Broccoli + Bacon Salad
  • Eggplant + Almond Falafel Salad
  • Cabbage Caraway Chicken Salad
  • Ribboned Zucchini Salad with Thai Fishcakes

With full-color photos throughout and easy to follow vegetarian recipes (as well as tips for incorporating meat options), this cookbook contains fourteen sections, each with a different main ingredient ranging from carrots to cauliflower, sweet potatoes to squash. Sprinkled throughout are recipes for salad’s best friend, soup—including a delicious paprika-laced Green Bean Minestrone. The final section focuses on sauces and dressings—everything from a classic Buttermilk Caesar to a zingy Coconut-Lime. Typical healthy food can be boring and limiting, but Lunchbox Salads proves once and for all that iceberg and romaine aren’t the only options.

 

No more Ambien! Try “Sleep: The Myth of 8 Hours, the Power of Naps, and the New Plan to Recharge Your Body and Mind”

Xanax. Sominex. Ambien. Belsomra. Zzzquil. Belsomra. Halcion. Warm milk. Lunesta. I’ve tried them all. Even the movies of Pia Zadora. The bottom line: I have trouble falling alseep. And staying asleep.

Now Nick Littlehales is reinventing sleep—transforming the way both elite athletes and everyday people get their rest. Though eight consecutive hours of sleep has long been heralded as the ideal amount and schedule, Littlehales proposes a new, personalized program dubbed the R90 Sleep Recovery Program. This program takes into account the stages of sleep, the sleeping environment, and individual needs and situations, all with the aim of optimizing sleep health and happiness.

Since the 1950s and especially since the advent of the Internet, people have been getting less sleep, which correlates to decreased physical and mental performance and even more serious conditions like heart disease and anxiety. Sleep: The Myth of 8 Hours, the Power of Naps, and the New Plan to Recharge Your Body and Mind (Da Capo Lifelong Books, $15.99) not only highlights the importance of sleep but teaches the best way for each of us to get back on track and recover from our poor sleeping habits. A “sleep coach” for many professional teams, such as the  team—and even personal work with David Beckham—Littlehales provides schedules and examples from professional athletes’ sleep journeys, emphasizing alternative sleep options that fit the needs of the individual. Topics include:

  • The importance of naps
  • Coping with a newborn
  • Weaning off sleeping pills
  • Having the correct mattress
  • Sleeping in the right temperature
  • Creating a sleep sanctuaryImage result for photos of sleeping

From the ideal sleeping situation with a partner to why we need to wake up at the same time every day, Sleep takes a fresh look at our dreaming hours and overhauls them.

Gift Guide 2017: Petrucelli Picks the Best Cookbooks of the Year

Parmesan cheese made from wood pulp. Lobster rolls containing no lobster at all. Extra-virgin olive oil that isn’t. So many fake foods are in our supermarkets, our restaurants and our kitchen cabinets that it’s hard to know what we’re eating anymore. In Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don’t Know What You’re Eating and What You Can Do About It (Algonquin Books, $16.95), Larry Olmsted convinces us why real food matters and empowers consumers to make smarter choices. Olmsted brings readers into the unregulated food industry, revealing the shocking deception that extends from high-end foods to everyday staples such as coffee, honey, juice and cheese. It’s a massive bait and switch in which counterfeiting is rampant and in which the consumer ultimately pays the price. It’s not a cookbook, but an essential expose look at fake food. We suggest not taking another bite or another sip until you’ve digest this eye-opener.

Terry Edwards and his best friend George Craig, the creators of London’s most popular pop-up restaurant Check On, have dished out their debut cookbook, Cooking for Friends: Bring People Together, Enjoy Good Food, and Make Happy Memories  (Harper Design, $35). Now everyone can replicate the Check On experience at home: Cooking for Friends boasts 100 recipes inspired by British ingredients and culture that reflect their playful aesthetic.

Our fave: A Pudding of Eggs and Soldiers (eggshells filled with crème brulee and mango jelly, accompanied by shortbread soldiers for dipping). Have a Yorkshire Rhubarb Martini on the side. The recipes include detailed, offering step-by-step instructions and are accompanied by lush and inviting photographs.

Christopher Kimball wants to teach people a new way to cook. Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street (Little, Brown and Company, $40), the first cookbook connected to Milk Street’s public television show, delivers more than 125 new recipes arranged by type of dish: from grains and salads, to a new way to scramble eggs, to simple dinners and twenty-first-century desserts.Product Details At Milk Street, there are no long lists of hard-to-find ingredients, strange cookware, or all-day methods. Skillet-charred Brussels sprouts, Japanese fried chicken, rum-soaked chocolate cake, Thai-style coleslaw, and Mexican chicken soup all deliver big flavors and textures without your having to learn a new culinary language. These recipes are more than just good recipes. They teach a simpler, bolder, healthier way to cook that will change your cooking forever. And cooking will become an act of pure pleasure, not a chore. Seconds anyone?
 
Another ambitious new approach to cooking by a major new culinary voice: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (Simon & Schuster, $35). Chef and writer Samin Nosrat has taught everyone from professional chefs to middle school kids to author Michael Pollan to cook using her revolutionary, yet simple, philosophy. Master the use of just four elements—Salt, which enhances flavor; Fat, which delivers flavor and generates texture; Acid, which balances flavor; and Heat, which ultimately determines the texture of food—and anything you cook will be delicious. Product DetailsBy explaining the hows and whys of good cooking, will teach and inspire a new generation of cooks how to confidently make better decisions in the kitchen and cook delicious meals with any ingredients, anywhere, at any time. 
 

The daughter of a restaurateur―the restaurant was New York’s legendary Ratner’s―Judy Gethers discovered a passion for cooking in her 50s. In time, she became a mentor and friend to several of the most famous chefs in America, including Wolfgang Puck. She also wrote many cookbooks and taught cooking alongside Julia Child. In her 80s, she was robbed of her ability to cook by a debilitating stroke. But illness has brought her closer than ever to her son: Peter regularly visits her so they can share meals, and he can ask questions about her colorful past, while learning her kitchen secrets. My Mother’s Kitchen: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and the Meaning of Life (Henry Holt, $28), is a funny, moving memoir about a son’s discovery that his mother has a genius for understanding the intimate connections between cooking, people and love. The recipes are few, but the book will leave you warm and fuzzy; your soul will be nourished. You will be glad you savored it.

Think of this as the Hawn of a New Day since Goldie’s daughter’s book is so much more than a cookbook. In Pretty Fun (Dey Street Books, $26.99) Kate Hudson shares her philosophy behind gatherings, how to be in the moment, make them uniquely yours, embracing occasions to just be together. Product DetailsA beautiful, fun, and nourishing guide filled with dozens of dazzling color photos, fabulous recipes for healthy and even some more indulgent snacks and beverages, and infused with Kate’s mindful and healthy approach to life, Pretty Fun will help you plan a year of special events, while remembering the healing power of gathering and celebration.

Yum! The Field Roast Grain Meat Co. offers their first cookbook, Field Roast: 101 Artisan Vegan Meat Recipes to Cook, Share and Savor (Da Capo Lifelong Books, $30), in which Chef Tommy McDonald shares recipes, fundamental techniques and tips, as well as vegan recipes for using them in every meal from breakfast through dinner. The 100 recipes are flexible: Want to make your own plant-based meats? Great! Product DetailsWant to use Field Roast products instead? That will work too. All you need are grains, veggies, and spices; easy-to-find whole food ingredients for authentic, hearty taste. Burnt Ends Biscuit Sandwiches anyone?

French pastry? Oui! Oui! With Maison Kayser’s French Pastry Workshop (Black Dog & Leventhal, $29.99), you can master the art of French pastry with step-by-step instructions from one of Paris’s best bakers, Eric Kayser. One of the draws to this ever-growing chain is the dozens of colorful and delicate pastries found in the window every day. And now you can make them at home. Product DetailsFrom festive creations to simple but sophisticated fare, Kayser provides clearly written recipes and his expert insight so you can replicate his delectable creations. More than 70 recipes include his bakery bestsellers, such as raspberry macaroons, lemon meringue tartlets, Epiphany cake, Yule logs, financiers, chocolate hazelnut tarts.

Pamela Salzman shares a simple but powerful mantra: Eat well, live well, be well. In Kitchen Matters (Da Capo Lifelong Books, 22.99), she shares the recipes that have won the praise of such mega-fans as Nicole Richie, Rashida Jones and Audrina Patridge. Product DetailsThe recipes rely on accessible veggie-forward ingredients that are anti-inflammatory and nutrient-dense, and can be customized for vegetarian, vegan and grain-free diets. The book offers a roadmap for new and busy home cooks to begin including more wholesome foods every day, for meals as nourishing as they are unforgettable.

When it opened in 2003, wd~50 was New York’s most innovative, cutting-edge restaurant. Mastermind Wylie Dufresne ushered in a new generation of experimental and free-spirited chefs, and introduced a wildly unique approach to cooking, influenced by science, art and the humblest of classic foods such as bagels and lox and American cheese. wd~50: The Cookbook (ECCO/Harper Collins, $75) brims with gorgeous photography, detailed recipes explaining Wylie’s iconic creations and stories from the last days of the restaurant. A cookbook and time capsule, wd~50 is a collectible piece of culinary memorabilia. Fans of Wylie, food lovers, and industry insiders who have been waiting for a chance to relive the excitement and artistry of wd~50 can finally do just that. 

Drunk with the thoughts of knowing all about rum? Rum: The Manual (Mitchell Beazley , $19.99) is an instruction manual, if you will, about how to drink rum of all kinds. Product Details More than 100 different rums are featured and analyzed, from rich, sweet mellow Guyana rums to the vegetal peppery rums of Martinique or Guadeloupe and contemporary spiced rums. A selection of classic and contemporary cocktails shows just how wonderfully versatile this spirit is.

Also on the menu: Two nifty spiral-bound cookbooks for the young-at-heart, both from Storey at $18.95 each Baking Class: 50 Fun Recipes Kids Will Love to Bake! fits kids ages 8–12 and features 50 easy-to-follow recipes. Product DetailsLively step-by-step photos teach bakers-in-training how to knead dough, make biscuits, decorate cookies, and produce a perfect pie, along with essential skills like following directions and accurately measuring ingredients. They’ll learn to make both sweet and savory treats and will use fresh fruits and vegetables in recipes such as Bursting with Blueberry Muffins. The tasty companion: Cooking Class: 57 Fun Recipes Kids Will Love to Make (and Eat!) contains more than 50 recipes designed for the cooking abilities and tastes of children ages six to 12. Product DetailsBasic cooking techniques are explained in kid-friendly language, and recipes include favorites such as applesauce, French toast, popcorn chicken and pizza. There’s also some great imaginative presentations . . . think egg mice, fruit flowers and mashed potato clouds.