Friday, May 25, 2012

Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective

Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective Review

Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective

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With global revenue surpassing twenty-five billion dollars annually, organic agriculture is a highly visible and rapidly growing component of agricultural production. In Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective, Paul Kristiansen, Acram Taji, and John Reganold, and their international group of contributors scientifically review key aspects of organic agriculture. At the intersection of research, education, and practice, the contributors look at the organic agricultural movement's successes and limitations. The first half of this book critically evaluates the agricultural production of both plants and livestock in organic farming systems. All major aspects of organic agriculture are explored, including historical background and underlying principles, soil-fertility management, crop and animal production, breeding strategies, and crop protection. This global and comprehensive overview also addresses the economic, social, and political aspects of organic farming. These include economics and marketing; standards and certification; environmental impacts and social responsibility; and research, education, and extension.


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Frommer's Florence and Tuscany Day by Day (Frommer's Day by Day - Pocket)

Frommer's Florence and Tuscany Day by Day (Frommer's Day by Day - Pocket) Review

Frommer's Florence and Tuscany Day by Day (Frommer's Day by Day - Pocket)

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Map your own adventure.  Florence & Tuscany Day by Day is the perfect answer for travelers who want to know the best places to visit and the best way to see the city.

Packed with color photos, this bestselling guide offers dozens of itineraries that show you how to see the best of Florence & Tuscany in a short time--with bulleted maps that lead the way from sight to sight. Featuring a full range of thematic and neighborhood tours, plus dining, lodging, shopping, nightlife, and practical visitor info,  Florence & Tuscany Day by Day is the only guide that helps travelers organize their time to get the most out of a trip. Inside this book you'll find:

  • Full color throughout with hundreds of photos and dozens of maps
  • Sample one- to three-day itineraries that include The Best of the Uffizi, Tuscany for Families, Tuscany for Food & Wine Lovers, Tuscany for Art & Architecture Lovers, and more
  • Star ratings for all hotels, restaurants, and attractions clue readers in on great finds and values
  • Tear-resistant foldout map in a handy, reclosable plastic wallet
  • Foldout front cover, with at-a-glance maps and quick-reference info


Sunday, May 20, 2012

Super Natural Home: Improve Your Health, Home, and Planet--One Room at a Time

Super Natural Home: Improve Your Health, Home, and Planet--One Room at a Time Review

Super Natural Home: Improve Your Health, Home, and Planet--One Room at a Time

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Beth Greer had been living what she considered a healthy lifestyle when a medical crisis prompted her to reevaluate everything—from the food she ate to the personal-care products she used and the environment she lived in. Now, in Super Natural Home, she shows the alarming extent of the dangerous chemicals we unwittingly expose ourselves to every day. As she did in her own life, she invites readers to put their lives under a microscope—to scrutinize what Americans put in and on their bodies and bring into their homes—and to make personal choices that will enable them to “live clean” in a toxic world.
The straightforward, solutions-based approach of Super Natural Home—complete with quizzes to help identify and correct potential toxic hot zones—speaks directly to what environment-conscious consumers really need: ultra-practical advice on what they can do right now to limit exposure to the poisons that are endangering them and their children. At a time when impeccable scientific research points to an alarming correlation between common chemical compounds and cancers, allergies, psychiatric disorders, and birth defects, among other serious health concerns, Super Natural Home gives consumers the tools to start protecting themselves and their families.


Friday, May 18, 2012

GrassRoutes Northern California Wine Country: Green Road Trips (GrassRoutes Travel)

GrassRoutes Northern California Wine Country: Green Road Trips (GrassRoutes Travel) Review

GrassRoutes Northern California Wine Country: Green Road Trips (GrassRoutes Travel)

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GrassRoutes Travel aims to show you a whole new way to explore and enjoy Northern California Wine Country. Divided up into 5 distinct regions: Undiscovered Coast (From Pt. Reyes Station to Westport along the coast), Cow Country (Cloverdale to Guerneville and environs), Santa Sonoma (Santa Rosa, Sonoma and Petaluma), New Napa (Yountville to American Canyon including Suisun Valley), Suburban Cowboys (Livermore and Pleasanton to Niles). The book is organized around and between these regions with access info for driving (w/ biodiesel fuel sources, of course), biking, and public transportation. Each region is then given the usual GrassRoutes treatment with pointers to the most interesting and inspiring local shops, activities, grub, scenes, etc. The travel guidebook category has gotten into a rut with cookie-cutter series galore. GrassRoutes guides do not recycle the same old tired info. The foundation of each guide is the actual experience of the writers—starting with series founder Serena Bartlett. What other guide to a city offers up an annotated listing of places to volunteer, encourages you to take the bus, and directs you to places to find inspiration


Monday, May 14, 2012

Uncorked: My Journey Through the Crazy World of Wine

Uncorked: My Journey Through the Crazy World of Wine Review

Uncorked: My Journey Through the Crazy World of Wine

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Marco Pasanella's behind-the-scenes memoir through the world of wine will captivate wine lovers with its story of one man who decided, at age 43, to change his life by opening a wine shop.

As Kitchen Confidential and Waiter Rant explored the front and back of the house at restaurants, Uncorked offers a peek behind the curtain of the wine world.

Pasanella takes the reader into the underbelly of his store and the industry, which is steeped in history yet fanatical about technology and brimming with larger-than-life personalities.

Infused with rich details of his historic waterfront building in New York City and his sojourns to Tuscany, Pasanella's memoir is one of transformation through a project many fantasize about but few commit to. A colorful cast of characters rounds out this fascinating journey through the world of wine.


Sunday, May 6, 2012

Lonely Planet New Zealand's South Island (Regional Travel Guide)

Lonely Planet New Zealand's South Island (Regional Travel Guide) Review

Lonely Planet New Zealand's South Island (Regional Travel Guide)

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Lonely Planet knows New Zealand like our own backyard, and this handy guide brings you the best of the country 's South Island in one easy package. Let us help you discover the South 's most breathtaking mountain roads, quietest off-the-beaten-track escapes and best city experiences.
Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.
In This Guide:
Comprehensive coverage of the highlights and hidden secrets
Itineraries to inspire great skiing, eating, wine-touring, driving or bushwalking experiences
Practical information on getting around by car, bus, plane or campervan


Friday, May 4, 2012

Wine Report 2008

Wine Report 2008 Review

Wine Report 2008

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The essential insider's guide to every major wine-growing region in the world, this book offers dozens of helpful Top 10 lists covering a broad range of topics, including Best-Value Producers, Greatest-Quality Wines, and Most Exciting or Unusual Finds. AUTHOR BIO: Tom Stevenson has been writing about wine for nearly thirty years and is the author of more than 20 books. He's been nominated Wine Writer of the Year on three occasions and received the coveted Wine Literary Award, America's lifetime achievement award for wine writing.


Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Finest Wines of California: A Regional Guide to the Best Producers and Their Wines (The World's Finest Wines)

The Finest Wines of California: A Regional Guide to the Best Producers and Their Wines (The World's Finest Wines) Review

The Finest Wines of California: A Regional Guide to the Best Producers and Their Wines (The World's Finest Wines)

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Unconstrained by tradition or viticultural regulation, California winemakers enjoy a freedom that has resulted in a remarkable range of world-class wines. Beautifully illustrated with original photographs and detailed color maps, this guide introduces California wine by exploring the best that the state has to offer --from lush Sonoma Chardonnay to spicy Santa Barbara Syrah to heady Amador Zinfandel. At the heart of the book, award-winning wine writer Stephen Brook offers 90 intimate profiles of top producers--from Napa and Sonoma to the North and Central coasts, the Sierra foothills, and beyond. Brook also includes general information on California wine history, wine culture, grape varieties, and more. Throughout, he searches for the characteristics that make California wine distinctive despite its tremendous diversity--and finds the answer in the state's unusual climate, especially the shifting interplay between fog and sun, as well as a lively and constant questioning of received ideas about viticulture, vine age, terroir, and winemaking techniques, all of which have helped winemakers to create complexity,individuality, and nuance in their wines.


Monday, April 30, 2012

Green: Grapes, Growers, Winemakers and Wine (French Edition)

Green: Grapes, Growers, Winemakers and Wine (French Edition) Review

Green: Grapes, Growers, Winemakers and Wine (French Edition)

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“Green: Grapes, Growers, Winemakers and Wine” is a nuts-and-bolts directory of “earth-friendly” vineyards, wineries and independent winemakers. The directory contains 3,230 listings of organic, biodynamic and sustainable winegrowers in 28 countries from across the world. Each entry includes a name, contact information and website address (if available). The main list is sorted alphabetically by name. A second list is sorted alphabetically by country. Interviews with 62 of the winemakers answer the questions, “Why go green?” and “Why stay green?”

Wine consumption and eco-awareness are on the upswing worldwide. This directory will serve current “green” wine drinkers, those looking to go “green” and also wine-sellers wanting to expand their inventories of earth-friendly wines. Lesser lists have appeared in print and online over the past decade. A directory this wide-ranging exists nowhere but in this book.


Sunday, April 29, 2012

Explorer's Guide Santa Barbara & California's Central Coast: Includes the Santa Ynez Coast: A Great Destination (Explorer's Great Destinations)

Explorer's Guide Santa Barbara & California's Central Coast: Includes the Santa Ynez Coast: A Great Destination (Explorer's Great Destinations) Review

Explorer's Guide Santa Barbara & California's Central Coast: Includes the Santa Ynez Coast: A Great Destination (Explorer's Great Destinations)

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"Consistently rated the best guides to the regions covered."—National Geographic Traveler

From the region’s laid-back beach towns to the jumble of Monterey’s Cannery Row, California’s Central Coast offers the most spectacular triptych of landscapes—surf, forests, and picturesque small towns—in the West. Includes coverage of the region’s vineyards, culinary gems, and coastal hideaways. Full color photographs throughout


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Food Lovers' Guide to Chicago: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants & Events (Food Lovers' Series)

Food Lovers' Guide to Chicago: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants & Events (Food Lovers' Series) Review

Food Lovers' Guide to Chicago: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants & Events (Food Lovers' Series)

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The ultimate guide to Chicago's food scene provides the inside scoop on the best places to find, enjoy, and celebrate local culinary offerings. Written for residents and visitors alike to find producers and purveyors of tasty local specialties, as well as a rich array of other, indispensable food-related information including: food festivals and culinary events; specialty food shops; farmers’ markets and farm stands; trendy restaurants and time-tested iconic landmarks; and recipes using local ingredients and traditions.


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Wines of France: The Essential Guide for Savvy Shoppers

The Wines of France: The Essential Guide for Savvy Shoppers Review

The Wines of France: The Essential Guide for Savvy Shoppers

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Sure the labels are confusing and the pronunciation daunting, but France's wines continue to set the standard for excellence around the world. Whether you're well versed in French terroir or you're dabbling outside your comfort zone, this comprehensive guidebook will make you an expert in today's best and best-value wines from France. Jacqueline Friedrich's unpretentious tasting notes are utterly enjoyable and contain the perfect balance of information on specific wines, vintages, prices, and producers. So, pour yourself a glass of Pouilly Fuiss?© (that's "pooh-YEE fwee-SAY"), sit back, and savor THE WINES OF FRANCE.


Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Big Green Cookbook: Hundreds of Planet-Pleasing Recipes and Tips for a Luscious, Low-Carbon Lifestyle

Big Green Cookbook: Hundreds of Planet-Pleasing Recipes and Tips for a Luscious, Low-Carbon Lifestyle Review

Big Green Cookbook: Hundreds of Planet-Pleasing Recipes and Tips for a Luscious, Low-Carbon Lifestyle

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A “Green-Over” is an eco-friendly recipe makeover. In Big Green Cookbook, you’ll find hundreds of luscious, low-carbon recipes. But this bonus recipe provides a sneak peek at how Jackie Newgent, RD, creates her greener recipes. Beef Burritos is the delicious, but not-so-planet-pleasing “before” recipe; Big Green Burritos is the equally delicious, eco-friendlier Green-Over.

Amazon.com Exclusive: Big Green Burritos from the author of Big Green Cookbook

Before Green-Over: Beef Burritos
Makes 8 servings: 1 burrito each

Ingredients
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 2/3-inch cubes
1 cup chunky medium salsa
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 tablespoon)
8 (8 to 9 inch) flour tortillas
2 cups cooked white rice
6 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook while stirring until brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the salsa, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil.
2. Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low; cook until the beef mixture is tender, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.
3. Remove the lid and continue to cook until the mixture thickens to desired consistency, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice. Adjust seasonings, if necessary.
4. Warm the tortillas according to the package directions. Cover with foil to keep warm.
5. Serve the beef, rice, cheese, and lettuce wrapped or rolled in the tortillas.

Nutritional Information
Per serving: 500 calories, 21g total fat, 8g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 65mg cholesterol, 990mg sodium, 47g total carbohydrate, 3g dietary fiber, 28g protein

After Green-Over: Organic Poultry-Pinto Bean Burritos with Farm-Fresh Veggies
Makes 8 servings: 1 burrito each

Ingredients
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound boneless organic chicken thigh with skin, cut meat and skin into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion, finely diced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 (15-ounce) can organic pinto beans, drained (do not rinse)
1 cup chunky hot salsa
Juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
8 (8 to 9 inch) whole wheat or sprouted grain tortillas
4 ounces shredded locally-produced or organic sharp cheddar or Monterey jack cheese (optional)
1 medium zucchini, coarsely grated (about 1 cup)
4 cups mixed fresh baby greens

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken meat and skin and onion and cook while stirring until the chicken is fully cooked, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the beans, salsa, lime juice, and salt to taste; bring to a boil.
2. Cover and reduce the heat to medium; cook until the chicken is nearly tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cilantro, cover, and turn off the heat. Let "lid cook" (cook covered while the burner is off) until the chicken us fully tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and let sit at least 3 minutes before serving.
3. Warm the tortillas according to package directions, only if necessary. Cover tortillas with a clean kitchen towel or cloth napkin to keep warm.
4. Serve the chicken mixture, cheese (if using), zucchini, and salad greens wrapped or rolled in the tortillas.

Nutritional Information
Per serving: 300 calories, 9g total fat, 2g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 35mg cholesterol, 750mg sodium, 46g total carbohydrate, 7g dietary fiber, 18g protein


After Green-Over:“How-To” Highlights
  • Choose poultry in place of beef; “green-size” the portion; and go organic when possible to help shrink your carbon footprint.
  • Pile on the produce to help boost heartiness of petite-portioned meat or poultry. Select seasonal veggies to add interest, flavor, nutrition, eye appeal, and overall satisfaction.
  • Opt for more flavorful ingredients, such as “hot” salsa, to create extra lusciousness without adding unnecessary ingredients.
  • Go fresh when the option is available and seasonal, such as fresh garlic instead of garlic powder.
  • Pick whole grain instead of “white” bread products; they’re less processed and more nutritious.
  • Reduce the amount of cooking energy that’s required by choosing tender or moist ingredients and just-right amounts of fat. Plus, use “lid cooking” to help tenderize without using extra heat.
  • Chop ingredients smaller for quicker cooking to save cooking energy and time.
  • Choose cheese that’s more flavorful so less is required—and go local or organic when you do.
  • Heat certain pre-cooked ingredients, like tortillas, only if necessary.
  • To cover something to keep it warm, choose a reusable cover, like a towel or cloth napkin, before opting for something recyclable, like foil.


  • Reduce Your Carbon Footprint with Green Cuisine

    "Going green" has spread to the kitchen! Big Green Cookbook is the first comprehensive, climate-conscious cookbook, ideal for both culinary novices and experienced cooks. Food and health expert Jackie Newgent reveals simple, practical, and sometimes even money-saving solutions for choosing and preparing food in planet-pleasing ways. It has never been easier to create everyday meals that maximize flavor while minimizing your environmental impact. Inside you'll find:

    • A green kitchen checklist

    • Over 200 delicious, easy-to-prepare, seasonal recipes that feature fresh, all-natural foods

    • Guidelines for going organic and tips for buying locally

    • Nutrition information and earth-friendly cooking tips with every recipe

    • Clever, new techniques for low-carbon cooking

    • An eco-friendly shopping guide and seasonal produce guide

    "The Big Green Cookbook shows you how deliciously easy it can be to reduce your carbon 'food' print. It's the perfect tool for anyone who wants to eat well and treat the earth right."
    Ellie Krieger, host of Food Network's Healthy Appetite and author of The Food You Crave

    "Big Green Cookbook is THE step-by-step guide for greening your kitchen and your cuisine. Packed with easy tips and fantastic recipes based on the best of the season, Jackie Newgent shows America how tasty green cuisine can be, and why it's so critical to our planet."
    Kate Geagan, MS, RD, author of Go Green Get Lean


    Sunday, April 22, 2012

    Drinking Japan: A Guide to Japan's Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments

    Drinking Japan: A Guide to Japan's Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments Review

    Drinking Japan: A Guide to Japan's Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments

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    Japan is home to some of the world's most interesting alcoholic beverages and to a phenomenally energetic bar scene. Drinking Japan is the first wide-ranging survey in English of the country's unique alcohol culture, with detailed coverage not only of the well-known rice brew sake but of much less explored traditions like shochu, awamori, beer, wine, and Japanese whisky. The book is a practical guide, offering richly illustrated reviews of 122 drinking establishments in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Hiroshima, Okinawa and further afield. The reviews are written with the newly arrived visitor to Japan in mind, with price guides, language help, advice on food and drink choices, and maps and directions to get you to the bars.  Drinking Japan offers detailed background on more than 150 of Japan's best drink brands and the people that make them. There is a long chapter on the history of sake and the contemporary sake world, and the first extensive descriptions in an English-language book of Japan's indigenous spirits, shochu and awamori. Whole chapters are devoted to Japan's whisky, craft beer and wine industries, offering insights that have until now not been available to readers in English.


    Friday, April 20, 2012

    The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food

    The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food Review

    The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food

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    Never before have we cared so much about food. It preoccupies our popular culture, our fantasies, and even our moralizing—“You still eat meat?” With our top chefs as deities and finest restaurants as places of pilgrimage, we have made food the stuff of secular seeking and transcendence, finding heaven in a mouthful. But have we come any closer to discovering the true meaning of food in our lives?
     
    With inimitable charm and learning, Adam Gopnik takes us on a beguiling journey in search of that meaning as he charts America’s recent and rapid evolution from commendably aware eaters to manic, compulsive gastronomes. It is a journey that begins in eighteenth-century France—the birthplace of our modern tastes (and, by no coincidence, of the restaurant)—and carries us to the kitchens of the White House, the molecular meccas of Barcelona, and beyond. To understand why so many of us apparently live to eat, Gopnik delves into the most burning questions of our time, including: Should a Manhattanite bother to find chicken killed in the Bronx? Is a great vintage really any better than a good bottle of wine? And: Why does dessert matter so much?
     
    Throughout, he reminds us of a time-honored truth often lost amid our newfound gastronomic pieties and certitudes: What goes on the table has never mattered as much to our lives as what goes on around the table—the scene of families, friends, lovers coming together, or breaking apart; conversation across the simplest or grandest board. This, ultimately, is who we are.
     
    Following in the footsteps of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Adam Gopnik gently satirizes the entire human comedy of the comestible as he surveys the wide world of taste that we have lately made our home. The Table Comes First is the delightful beginning of a new conversation about the way we eat now.


    Thursday, April 19, 2012

    The Best Wine Bars & Shops of Paris: Fifty Charming and Notable Cavistes

    The Best Wine Bars & Shops of Paris: Fifty Charming and Notable Cavistes Review

    The Best Wine Bars & Shops of Paris: Fifty Charming and Notable Cavistes

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    In this guide, you will find everything from establishments that have been serving Paris for a century or two to neighborhood cellars, conventional purveyors, hipster hangouts, and even ventures–as the French publisher says–with no “complexes” whatsoever. Some places have the traditional barrels on the sidewalk, old-fashioned wooden cubbyholes for storing the bottles, creaking floorboards, and shopkeepers in starched white aprons; others have ultramodern decor, sleek and streamlined design, waitstaff in jeans and sneakers. Beyond appearances, each cellar has its own approach, its own philosophy, and producers it swears by. One merchant may carry prestigious luxury vineyards; a second, bargain terroir wines; the third, 100 percent organic vintages; a fourth may offer wines for collectors. This is a cross-section of fifty reputable and distinctive shops and an excellent map for those wishing to navigate the wine merchants of Paris.
     
    The notable wines offered by each shop are highlighted, and there are lots of places that serve light meals–or even something more substantial–making The Best Wine Bars & Shops of Paris a great restaurant guide, too.