Spice Lilies or Booze and the Private Eye

Spice Lilies: Eastern Secrets to Healing with Ginger, Turmeric, Cardamom, and Galangal

Author: Susanne Poth

The first book to bring together all the medical, culinary, and historical information on this amazing plant family.

• Provides complete information on a family of spices scientifically proven to improve digestion, lower cholesterol, reduce heart disease and strokes, eliminate free radicals, and relieve nausea.

• Includes more than 40 delicious recipes--from the exotic to the simple--using these spices.

Members of the plant family Zingiberaceae, known as spice lilies, have been eaten by the peoples of the Far East throughout history for their healing properties as well as their delicious taste. Recent scientific studies have confirmed the wisdom in these folk practices: ginger, together with its relatives turmeric, cardamom, and galangal, has been found to be effective in treating and preventing a wide number of illnesses. The Spice Lilies is the first book to bring together in one volume all the medical, culinary, and historical information on these four spices. From their ability to stimulate production of saliva, gastric juices, and bile--all of which contain enzymes that digest food--to their noted antibacterial and antiviral effects, all the healing properties of this remarkable plant family are covered. Ginger and turmeric are famous for their ability to prevent arteries from clogging and are known to reduce the effects of rheumatic diseases. Cardamom not only reduces heartburn and freshens breath but also can alleviate coughs. Galangal can make cruciferous vegetables much easier to digest.

In addition to providing complete health information on the spice lilies, Susanne Poth and Gina Sauer include more than 40 recipes designed to take fulladvantage of the healthy and delicious nature of these spices. From Thai soups that highlight galangale's unique flavor to piquant lamb curries, apple chutneys, and ginger cookies, The Spice Lilies will make staying healthy a delicious endeavor. 

Interesting textbook: Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor or Epicurean Part One

Booze and the Private Eye: Alcohol in the Hard-Boiled Novel

Author: Rita Elizabeth Rippeto

The hard-bitten PI with a bottle of bourbon in his desk drawer-it's an image as old as the genre of hard-boiled detective fiction itself. Alcohol has long been an important element of detective fiction, but it is no mere prop. Rather, the treatment of alcohol within the works informs and illustrates the detective's moral code, and casts light upon the society's attitudes towards drink.

This examination of the role of alcohol in hard-boiled detective fiction begins with the genre's birth, in an era strongly influenced and affected by Prohibition, and follows both the genre's development and its relation to our changing understanding of and attitudes towards alcohol and alcoholism. It discusses the works of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane, Robert B. Parker, Lawrence Block, Marcia Muller, Karen Kijewski and Sue Grafton. There are bibliographies of both the primary and critical texts, and an index of authors and works.

Table of Contents:

	Dashiell Hammett : "behind in our drinking"	33
	Raymond Chandler : "alcohol was no cure for this"	60
	Mickey Spillane : "can't spell cognac"	86
	Robert B. Parker : "this was no job for a poet"	106
	Lawrence Block : "a wide awake drunk"	130
	"Groomed to this end for years" : the rise of the woman PI	158