Seasons of the Italian Kitchen or Great American Beers

Seasons of the Italian Kitchen

Author: Diane Darrow

Italian cooking draws its inspiration from the roll call of seasonal ingredients that pass through its kitchens, and in this splendid volume Diane Darrow and Tom Maresca share the simple secrets of making the most of the best fresh, top-of-the-season foods from farm and woodland, lake and sea. The Seasons of the Italian Kitchen presents two hundred recipes according to the four seasons and the traditional courses of the Italian meal: antipasto, primo, secondo, contorno, dolce. All are wed (as they always are in Italy) to the wines that best match them, and the recipes have been tested and adapted to seasonal ingredients readily available in the United States. Richly stocked with delightful anecdotes and culinary lore gathered from the authors' long love affair with Italy, they invite both amateur and expert to experience the Italian genius for making the most of the moment.

Library Journal

Darrow, a food writer, and Maresca, a wine authority, are also the authors of La Tavola Italiana (LJ 2/15/88), a regional Italian cookbook with an emphasis on wine. Here they offer more of their favorite recipes, this time organized seasonally, each with a wine suggestion. Lengthy headnotes and boxes include culinary history, preparation, notes, and information on ingredients and Italian specialties such as gnocchi and granitas. Many of the recipes are exquisitely simple, while others are more involved and time-consuming. Italian cookbooks abound, and some of these dishes will be familiar, but the authors' text is well written and informed, and there are some unusual regional specialties here, too. For most collections.

New interesting textbook: Healthy Foods for Happy Kids or Promoting Physical Activity and Health in the Classroom

Great American Beers: Twelve Brands that Became Icons

Author: Bill Yenn

This book celebrates 12 of those great regional quaffs, some of which still exist as brand names under large brewers. Each chapter is devoted to the history, players, advertising, breweries, and, of course, the product associated with each brewer. All regions of the United States, as well as Canada, are represented. Brands include Acme, Ballantine, Falstaff, Hamm's, Lone Star, Lucky Lager, Miller, Olympia, Pabst, Rainier, Rheingold, and Schlitz. Archival photography, period advertising, and other breweriana have been sourced from some top collections in the country, illustrating how each brand survived and thrived despite such external factors as wars, Prohibition, and tax hikes, and the ultimate fate of each is explained. About the AuthorBill Yenne is the San Francisco-based author of more than three dozen books, mainly on historical topics. He is also a member of the American Society of Journalists & Authors (ASJA) and the American Book Producers Association (ABPA), and he is a graduate of the Stanford Professional Publishing Course. Among his beer books are Beers of North America, Beer Labels of the World, Beers of the World and the Field Guide To Breweries, Microbreweries of North America and an MBI bestseller The American Brewery (0-7603-1470-5).- Rare archival imagery from collections around the nation- In 1950, the nation's top ten brewers accounted for 38 percent of annual production. By 1980 that number had risen to 93 percent- The industry went from a high 4,131 breweries in 1873 to a low of 80 in 1983