Situated beautifully at the intersection of Michael Pollan, Ruth Reichl, and Barbara Kingsolver, Heirloom is an inspiring, elegiac, and gorgeously written memoir about rediscovering an older and still vital way of life.Fourteen years ago, Tim Stark was living in Brooklyn, working days as a management consultant, and writing unpublished short stories by night. One evening, chancing upon a Dumpster full of discarded lumber, he carried the lumber home and built a germination ...

Flowers are probably the most popular choice of all cake decorations. The simplest representation of a flower is a cut-out shape. Other more interesting ways of representing flowers are to create fabric-effect flowers out of paste or to try your hand at creating lifelike flowers. There are many books written on the art of sugar flower making; LindySmith touches on this subject here, showing you how to make lifelike poppies and peonies, as well as fabric roses, blossoms and dahlias, and sim...

With our world so storm-tossed and rudderless, this might just be the book for our times.Sun-drenched Tuscany is synonymous with the ideal life. But it didn't happen by chance. Since the Etruscans, the Tuscans have treated their breathtaking countryside with sagacious respect and, in hamlets and hill towns, have built a culture of simplicity, beauty, neighborliness, good food, and a love of daily life.Ferenc Máté, a Tuscan resident for twenty years, explores this idyllic ex...

A part-time emergency medical technician humorously chronicles life in a small Wisconsin town, featuring tales of romance and auto repair.Hilarious and heartfelt, Truck: A Love Story is the tale of a man struggling to grow his own garden, fix his old pickup, and resurrect a love life permanently impaired by Neil Diamond. In the process, he sets his hair on fire, is attacked by wild turkeys, and proposes marriage to a woman in New Orleans. The result is a su...

“A profound, graceful, and literary work of philosophy and economics, well tempered for our times, and yet timeless. . . . It will change the way you look at the food you put into your body. Which is to say, it can change who you are.” — Boston GlobeFrom acclaimed author Barbara Kingsolver—recipient of numerous literary awards including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Humanities Medal, the Dayton Literary Peace Pr...

Our fascination with what we eat, its provenance, and its preparation just keeps growing—and food writing has continued to explode. Once again, editor Holly Hughes plumbs magazines, newspapers, newsletters, books, and websites for the year's finest culinary prose—"stories for connoisseurs, celebrations of the specialized, the odd, or simply the excellent" ( Entertainment Weekly). Featuring essays and articles from established food writers and rising stars, as well as some literary...

Wondering if you're a true carnivore? Looking for a great recipe for Rattlesnake Chili? Read this book: a fast, funny, and enlightening celebration of the immense joys of flesh—consuming it, that is.The average American consumes 218.3 pounds of meat every year. But concerns about mad cow disease, industrial feedlot practices, and self-righteous vegetarians have made the carnivorous lifestyle somewhat déclassé. Now, Scott Gold issues a red-blooded call to a...

Pumpkins and monsters and bats! Oh My! These aren't your typical grade school papier-mache projects. Get ready to let your creepy, creative juices flow, and sink your teeth into some chill inspiring Halloween projects. For more projects, check out Papier-Mache Monsters.

The popular New Yorker writer combines the style of Mary Roach with the on-the-ground food savvy of Anthony Bourdain.Dana Goodyear’s narrative debut is a highly entertaining, revelatory look into the raucous, strange, fascinatingly complex world of contemporary American food culture. At once an uproarious behind-the-scenes adventure and a serious attempt to understand the implications of an emergent new cuisine, it introduces a cast of compelling and unexp...

A beautifully written food memoir chronicling one woman’s journey from her rural Midwestern hometown to the intoxicating world of New York City fine dining—and back again—in search of her culinary rootsBefore Amy Thielen frantically plated rings of truffled potatoes in some of New York City’s finest kitchens—for chefs David Bouley, Daniel Boulud, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten—she grew up in a northern Minnesota town home to the nation’s largest French fry factory, ...

A room-by-room guide to creating domestic bliss.Home—it’s the place where we can let down our hair, loosen our clothes, put our feet up. It’s where those we love most share in the ordinariness and extraordinariness of our days. It’s where many of us spend lifetimes trying to get back to. As the proverb goes, it’s where our hearts are.Simple Pleasures of the Home is for everyone who has the nesting impulse—from passionate and accomplished home decor...

From "the funniest writer in America," a book about cooking and cleaning for people who don't know how to do those things and aren't about to learn ( The Wall Street Journal).In addition to debunking popular myths about bachelors (they are in fact not creatures known to hang around the house in silk smoking jackets, sipping brandy from oversized snifters), #1 New York Times–bestselling author P. J. O'Rourke offers some useful advice about housekee...