James McNair

This book, being from Chronicle, offers truly page-wrinkling, mouth-watering photographs. But it also includes -- among a few really unlikely-to-be-made recipes -- a great deep dish recipe, good advice on dough and tools, and advice that doesn't rely on you spending lots of money to outfit your kitchen. It was written before grilling pizza became popular, which is too bad, but I still keep this one on the kitchen shelf. (I've worked in two different pizza places, so I can claim to speak with show more some authority. So there.) show less

I have several pizza cookbooks, but this one has the basics covered pretty well. Most of the pizza we eat is homemade (so is our ice cream). Covers a lot of the variants, crust-wise. You can pretty much take it from there with toppings.

Wanted to give it 4 stars because Ortho/Chevron publishes the suggestion to use plant oils to repel insects. Of course, if that does not work, it does also mention malathion, and "appropriate chemicals...unless you plan to eat the blooms"! And "snail pellets". [23] Elected not to include information on strictly medicinal or poisonous herbs. Trouble for those of us grazing. And although the general information is excellent -- planting, propagating, harvesting, storing -- it's a jumble, and show more the photos are in color but not great quality or quantity.

Practical methods to practice "Herban Renewal"--growing herbs from all over the globe, in beautiful "utilitarian landscapes", in creative and enjoyable ways with an Illustrated Guide of 160 available plants/products. Intriguing ideas, but sometimes not much explanation. For example, recommends "coffee plant" as ornamental without explaining why we aren't all growing the bushes??

Here are a few random tidbits:

LISTS by "Themes": Shakespeare {incomplete!}, good cook's, tea garden, fragrances, dyes, color, flower, "medievals", "bee garden", cover, indoor, borders, and "to repel insects". [16-19]

DANDELION WINE. Pick 2.5 gallons of just-opening dandelion flowers. Layer with 6 thinly-sliced oranges, 10 lbs of sugar, and 4 gallons of warm water in a 5-gallon crock. Leave at room temperature for 3 weeks "until the bubbling stops". Strain through cheesecloth. Cap bottles and store in cool dry place. {[64] Can't wait; eat the leaves and roots raw or roast.} show less

Time-tested breakfast faire with gorgeous photos. Popovers and Dutch Babies are our go-to favorite brunch recipes.