Butterflies On A Sea Wind: Beginning Zen

Book Description

Anne Rudloe was attracted to Zen as a college student. But it seemed premature for a 21-year-old to focus on the difficulties of life when she'd hardly begun to live. Twenty-five years later, she was ready to explore the spiritual discipline that originated in Asian monasteries more than a millennium ago.Rudloe's quest is compellingly chronicled in Butterflies on a Sea Wind, which combines the rigor of formal monastic Zen practice with the challenges of integrating Zen concepts into modern daily life. Her narrative describes both the physical and mental demands of Zen retreats and how she applied what she learned there to her work as a marine biologist in Florida, as well as to the rigors of raising children and caring for an elderly grandmother. In words that intimately draw in her readers, she describes how Zen helps us look inward and use the wisdom we find there to reach out to others.Buddhism is one of the fastest growing spiritual traditions in America today. During the 1990s, the number of organized Buddhist centers in this country grew more than 40 percent, from 429 to 1,062. While there are many books about Zen on the market today, few give a clear picture of what it's like to actually sit down and begin a meditation practice and then apply it to a daily life. Likewise, few books discuss the types of issues most people face every day: raising a family and earning a living.Butterflies on a Sea Wind does all this and more.

Customer Reviews:

Sincere and helpful.......2006-11-30

This book chronicles Anne Rudloe's beginning experiences at Zen retreats. Whatever our religious practice, our mind can "chatter like monkeys" and become irritated at our assessment of own progress. The book is particularly superb in its honesty at dealing with life "in the real world" ...with an aging grandma, nearby coastal development, and just her own irritations at life.

I've had the pleasure of taking a coastal class from Dr. Rudloe, and bird watching in the same natural areas she visits (Fiddlers Point, St. Joe Bay, Appalachicola National Forest), and appreciated the peace that comes to her in these areas. The writing may be best in describing her connection to these areas. As a writer about Zen, she has the paradoxical task of writing about illuminating experiences that the masters would probably say, should not be so scrutinized. Some of these paragraphs, seems a little saccharin, but in the context of this book are needed.

You can feel the author's struggles.......2002-10-26

What a wonderful, gentle book! I thought this was a superb example of "living Zen," the kind of Zen book that is half didactic and half personal autobiography. Anne Rudloe invites us into her home to see her struggle with her 90-year-old, cranky grandmother and her sons (named Cypress and Sky). I thought Ms. Rudloe did a superb job of showing us how difficult it is to apply Zen practice when our nearest and dearest drive us insane. But her moments with her sons outdoors watching deer or the stars or the sunset were magical. I thought the pivotal center point of the book was on p. 80 where she describes having just listened to "Stars and Stripes Forever" with her boys while watching a heron. She concludes: "In that moonlight, in that moment, Zen, the finger that points to the moon, was nonexistent." Wow.

I loved the book and appreciated the many words of wisdom and teaching that Ms. Rudloe graced us with. My only teensy complaint is that towards the end of the book, she spent too much time lecturing at us, and not enough time injecting that personal, human, story-telling touch. I think she had so much to say about Zen that she sacrificed our attention span for her goal of getting it all said. I really hate to be critical in any way whatsoever, but might I suggest that if she had taken her own words about Zen disappearing, she might have given us the chance to figure it out for ourselves by yet another story or angle on her life. Too many words muddy the waters.

Book Description

A novel of passage from childhood to young womanhood in a traditional Hindu community in colonial Trinidad.

Customer Reviews:

A well-written & sincere recollection of a Caribbean childho.......1999-07-30

Persaud's latest novel is a tribute to her own use of memory as a writer. Part memoir, part fiction, this is a great novel for those who spent any part of their childhood in the Caribbean. My memories came back as I read the novel which incorporates the defiance of a headstrong girl who is trying to figure out just who she is in the complex and confusing world around her with important narrative allusions which parlay the socio-historical background of the time and place (pre-Independence Trinidad). As a story of growing up, it resonates with things in common to us all worldwide and brings back those things that seem lost to us now and that we should cherish. I gave this one to my mom.

A Caribbean 'Cider with Rosie'.......1999-06-05

this is abook which is beautifully written with an entrancing story and understated political insight into what it is to be a child

Butterflies in the Wind: The Truth about Latin American Adoptions

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For every parent raising children in today's problematic schools and neighborhoods
A Must-Read
Tender story of adopting & raising Latin American children

Butterflies in the Wind: The Truth about Latin American Adoptions
Jean N Erichsen
Manufacturer: Authors Choice Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Adoption | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Family Relationships | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0595323936

Book Description

The book chronicles not only the adoption of their three children abroad, but follows each of their children (including their biological son) into young adulthood. It vividly depicts their difficulties in raising teenagers in a cross-cultural, transracial home, and also exposes the frightening conditions facing today's kids in our public schools, including gang issues, drop outs, and culture clashes. It provides valuable insights to parents and non-parents as well. This book was a real eye-opener and awakened me to the harsh realities our teens must face in what I would have thought were quality schools. Although told from a parent's point of view, they very effectively explored the emotions, indeed the angst, of their teenage children.
--Jo-Anne Weaver, adoptive parent of a Chinese daughter placed by Los Niños International, and Senior Acquisitions Editor of Education and Developmental Psychology for Harcourt Brace.

Customer Reviews:

For every parent raising children in today's problematic schools and neighborhoods.......2007-09-23

Butterflies are delicate, exotically beautiful, and terribly vulnerable. Jean Erichsen chose an apt metaphor for the twin daughters she and husband Heino adopted from Columbia. Following a memorably happy childhood shared with the Erichsen's biological son Kirk, the twins began a calamitous rebellion against parental authority in junior high school. They sneaked out at night with boys their parents didn't know, lost interest in their studies, were frequently tardy or skipped school altogether. It wasn't until they became ensnared in rival gang vendettas and were expelled from high school that they became truly aware of where their lives were headed and eagerly began to accept the help their parents persistently held out to them.

When the twins were ten years old, the family visited the orphanage from which they were adopted. All of them had their hearts stolen by a precocious little boy named Omar, who had been left in a bus station by his mother when he was six. The three siblings readily agreed that he should be adopted by their parents. Ever fearful of being abandoned again, Omar tried to be the perfect child. He was bright, athletic and charistmatic, which eventually caused the twins to be jealous and resentful toward him. This,too, created turmoil and unhappiness.

Jean and Heino lived the worst nighmares of every parent as the girls they nurtured and loved turned their back on them in favor of a lifestyle totally antithetical to family values. Smoldering beneath the surface were issues of race and culture as well as anger at their birth mother for giving them up for adoption. Their adoptive parents are white Scandinavian/German; the twins are darker skinned than most of the Chicanos with whom they tried to identify.

Jean writes with candor, insight, humor and sensitivity, sharing the intimate details that make the story so real to the reader. She has charted the journey of a once-happy family through an emotional upheaval that lasted almost four years before mutual love and respect were regained. The twins, now adults, are key personnel in the international adoption agency the Erichsens founded in 1981.

The book can also be read as an armchair adventure. Jean's finely wrought descriptions of landscapes, people, the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty in places like Panama City, Belize, and Bogota are on a par with those of well-known travel writers.

A Must-Read.......2005-08-13

Before I read this book, I thought it would be another heart-warming adoption story of a family who brought three children, two twin girls and later, a boy, home from Columbia and then lived happily ever after. What I discovered was that this book is much more than that. It is a compelling account of what it was like raising these children to adulthood, with all the trials and tribulations most parents must face with their kids, but with cross-cultural, transracial and adoption issues added to the mix. This book is a reality check on what it is like raising children of a different culture and race. It will leave you with nothing but respect and admiration for Jean and her husband as they are faced with challenge after challenge, especially during the teen-age years. Their patience, determination, and unconditional love for their kids is heartfelt. I highly recommend it for anyone involved in adoption.

Tender story of adopting & raising Latin American children.......2005-01-11

'Butterflies in the Wind' is a helpful book for parents raising children in a family with different race children. We adopted our lovely & vivacious 29 year old daughter, thirty years ago and I sometimes find it hard to explain to her, our journey and mission to adopt her. But Jean has helped me with this by writing this book. She has a special knack for putting into words, the many feelings, thoughts and struggles of parents and children. Her love and compassion for children shows through in many delightful anecdotes (I found my self laughing out loud while reading the section on 'teen' challenges). I appreciate her no-nonsense, unwavering approach to child rearing. The challenges of the 80s and 90s raising kids, were tough. But discussing the challenges never seems to take away from the main message of the book, that children are treasures to be protected, nourished and cherished in a family.

Butterfly in the Wind: The Life of ""Tojin"" Okichi, Concubine Against Her Will of the First American Consul in Japan

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Butterfly in the Wind: The Life of ""Tojin"" Okichi, Concubine Against Her Will of the First American Consul in Japan
Rei Kimura
Manufacturer: Olive Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9080612960

Book Description

Combining a gripping love story with a revealing look into 19th-century Japan, this biographical novel chronicles the bittersweet story of Tsurumatsu and Okichi Saito-a young Japanese couple torn apart by the whims of international politics. When the first American consul, Townsend Harris, arrived in Japan, he took a liking to Okichi, who, despite already being married, was promised by her local governor to Harris, and remained his concubine for five years. Her marriage with Tsurumatsu was destroyed and she was never fully reaccepted into Japanese culture after having been a foreigner's mistress. Recounting the depths of suffering that befell Saito after Harris returned to America, this work reveals a tumultuous era in Japanese history through one young woman's moving story.

Butterflies in the Wind: Spanish/Indian Children With White Parents

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Tender true story of adopting & raising multi-race children

Butterflies in the Wind: Spanish/Indian Children With White Parents
Jean Nelson-Erichsen , and Heino R. Erichsen
Manufacturer: Los Ninos Intl
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews:

Tender true story of adopting & raising multi-race children.......2005-01-04

"Butterflies in the Wind" is another helpful book for parents raising children, but especially in a family with other race children. My husband and I were helped greatly 30 years ago, by the authors, and their initial book, "How to adopt Internationally." When we decided to add to our family by adoption, we heard about Jean and Heino, then in our city, and learned how to go thru the process. We learned so much from them in adopting our beautiful, 29 year old daughter, and it is fun now to read about their experiences which were similar, but not exactly like ours. I have found it hard to explain fully to my daughter our journey and mission to adopt her. But Jean has helped me with this by writing this book. She has a special knack for putting into words, and in her writing, the many feelings and thoughts of parents. Her love and compassion for children shows through in many delightful anecdotes (I found my self laughing out loud while reading the section on 'teen' challenges) but I also appreciate her no-nonsense approach to child rearing in general. Much of what she writes about applies to any family, international or regular. The challenges of the 70s, 80s and 90s raising kids, were tough. But discussing the challenges never seems to take away from the main message of the book, that children are treasures to be protected, nourished and cherished in a family.

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Butterflies In The Wind
Ida B. Crozier
Manufacturer: Vantage Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Butterflies on the Wind 1989 (Butterflies on the Wind, 1989)

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Butterflies on the Wind 1989 (Butterflies on the Wind, 1989)

Manufacturer: Guild Press (MN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0940248360

A Butterfly Flies Towards the Wind: A Collection of Poems, Thoughts, and Memories in English and Spanish

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A Butterfly Flies Towards the Wind: A Collection of Poems, Thoughts, and Memories in English and Spanish
Claribel Coreano
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1420828681

Book Description

A Butterfly Flies Towards the Wind is not simply a collection of poems but a collection of the author's life experiences. You will find yourself laughing, crying, and rejoicing with the emotion of each poem as if it may have happened to you. Throughout the book, you will feel the different stages of the author's heartfelt sorrow and triumph. As a result of the many difficulties shown in the various poems, you may come to understand and perhaps have a deeper understanding of yourself. A Butterfly Flies Towards the Wind is a portrayal of hope and inspiration that carries you into the depths of humanity.

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Butterfly in the Wind: The Life of "Tojin" Okichi, Concubine Against Her Will of the First American Consul in Japan
Rei Kimura
Manufacturer: Olive Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 9080612944

Emotions - Black Butterfly, Take Flight to Ride the Winds

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An anthology of free-verse poetry written to inspire and foster renewed appreciations

Emotions - Black Butterfly, Take Flight to Ride the Winds
Tawana Moore-Cedeno
Manufacturer: Black Butterfly Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0977055108

Product Description

It s about experiencing, expressing, releasing, and learning to control your... Emotions. Like the wings of a butterfly that quickly flutter back and forth in the air, so too your emotions shift, changing with each of life s passing winds. Each wind of emotion puzzling you, each sentimental twist of air bewildering you, and each stormy feeling giving you an assortment of mixed messages, as it takes you on countless and continual journeys and down distinct and diverse routes and passages. Inside this book of poems and poetic stories you ll encounter passionate moments of want and desire. You ll experience feelings of hate, disappointment, rejection, and despair. You ll come across guilt, sorrow, pain, and fear. You ll discover an appreciation for the things you like and truly love. You ll find joy, comfort, and peace. And you ll come to know whose faithful presence has been watching, allowing, and protecting you through each wind in your life. But, most importantly, you ll understand that each wind exists to help you, correct you, challenge you, as well as lead, motivate, and encourage you. And yes, if need be...break you! Each wind building upon the other to bring out the potential inside you, so that you will be more sure of the actions, the directions, and the choices you make in life, regardless of the emotional winds or how turbulent their force. So spread your wings, Black Butterfly, Take Flight to Ride the Winds. Rise and ascend on high and glide gracefully upon the winds. You re learning to manage your emotions. You can control them!

Customer Reviews:

An anthology of free-verse poetry written to inspire and foster renewed appreciations.......2007-08-07

Washington D.C. native Tawana Moore-Cedeno presents Emotions: Black Butterfly Take Flight to Ride the Winds, an anthology of free-verse poetry written to inspire and foster renewed appreciations for the things one likes and truly lovers. A few poems have Christian themes, but the overwhelming message is of positive support and well-being. "Rising Sun": It is so sweet, Your glory / Magnified from on high. / Shining down upon your children, / Each new morn justified. / Your gentle dawnings / Illuminate darkness / And quietly turn night to day, / Brightly lighting our paths / So that we may find our way.

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A wonderful story that is all Wendy
Law and Chaos: The Stormbringer Animated Film Projects
W. Pini
Manufacturer: Berkley Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0936861045

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful story that is all Wendy.......1997-01-22

Wendy Pini, creator of ElfQuest, explains her triumphs and failures of creating a movie based on the Stormbringer series. A must for artists, especially women. It also has artwork any fantasy art fan would love. Though she fails in making the movie, she wins knowledge and explains her mistakes. A very uplifting artist's story.

Law and Chaos - the "Stormbringer" Animated Film Project

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Law and Chaos - the "Stormbringer" Animated Film Project

Manufacturer: Father Tree Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HKLTCQ

Book Description

Akiko and her crew — Spuckler Boach, Mr. Beeba, Poog, and Gax — have faced dangers unimaginable to the average fourth-grade earthling. Now their mission is finally coming to an end. At last they’ve reached the castle of Alia Rellapor — but that doesn’t mean that things have gotten any easier. The castle is heavily guarded by robots and getting inside won’t be easy. If they do get in, they have to locate Prince Froptoppit, free him from captivity, and escape from the castle without alerting the guards or their leader, the half man — half machine Throck. Can a girl who’s too scared to be school safety leader pull it off? If anyone can, Akiko can!

Download Description

Akiko and her crew -- Spuckler Boach, Mr. Beeba, Poog, and Gax - have faced dangers unimaginable to the average fourth-grade earthling. Now their mission is finally coming to an end. At last they've reached the castle of Alia Rellapor -- but that doesn't mean that things have gotten any easier. The castle is heavily guarded by robots and getting inside won't be easy. If they do get in, they have to locate Prince Froptoppit, free him from captivity, and escape from the castle without alerting the guards or their leader, the half man-half machine Throck. Can a girl who's too scared to be school safety leader pull it off? If anyone can, Akiko can!

Customer Reviews:

Great Fun For All Ages!.......2002-04-14

The quest for the kidnapped Prince Froptoppit concludes in this volume. The art and writing by Mark Crilley is superb; Very funny moments effortlessly mix with great suspense, The mysterious Throck's secret is revealed, and there's a GREAT twist involving Alia Rellapor. Crilley is improving as a storyteller with each successive book. This one just zooms along!

Fans of the Akiko comics will love this book, and it would make a great read for young fans of Harry Potter.

Akiko and the great wall of trud.......2001-11-14

This is the best book I have ever read it has action tension and is easy to read. Plus it has realistic characters.

Average customer rating:

It's not Le Guide Culinaire, but it's functional.

A generally good cookbook with some flawed recipes

Superior Chef's Cookbook for Serious Foodies. Buy It.

Scott Conant's New Italian Cooking
Scott Conant , and Joanne McAllister Smart
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Italian | European | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America

Artisanal Cooking: A Chef Shares His Passion for Handcrafting Great Meals at Home

Boulevard: The Cookbook

Amuse-Bouche: Little Bites That Delight Before the Meal Begins

Happy in the Kitchen: The Craft of Cooking, the Art of Eating

ASIN: 0767916824
Release Date: 2005-10-25

Book Description

The award-winning chef of two of New York’s most celebrated restaurants presents his fresh, vibrant approach to Italian cooking with recipes that reveal the secrets behind his most acclaimed dishes.

Scott Conant, chef-owner of L’Impero and Alto restaurants in Manhattan, has been thrilling diners and impressing critics since L’Impero opened in 2003. Now he translates his inspired combination of the best of New American cooking with the best of Italian cuisine into more than 130 sophisticated but easy-to-follow recipes. Here are the dishes that have garnered national attention and unanimous praise, including melt-in-your-mouth beef short ribs, the creamiest polenta, intoxicatingly fragrant roast chicken, and a deceptively simple Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce that transforms an everyday meal into something sublime.

Because Scott understands that home cooks don’t often have as much time to spend in the kitchen as they’d like, his New Italian Cooking includes many dishes that suit hectic weekday schedules—meaning they can easily be made in 45 minutes or less—such as Seared and Slow-Roasted Sirloin of Beef or Grilled Shrimp with Mint, Orange, and Fennel Couscous. When he slows things down for the weekend, it’s with luxurious braises and roasts that require more time but not necessarily more effort, including Oven-Braised Lamb Shanks with Red Wine Vinegar and a sumptuous, long-simmering Bolognese Sauce.

Featuring 30 captivating color photos, new insights on Italian ingredients, and friendly yet meticulous instructions, Scott Conant’s New Italian Cooking is a book to turn to again and again for the best of contemporary Italian cuisine.

Customer Reviews:

It's not Le Guide Culinaire, but it's functional........2007-05-29

I think this book is ok. Scott is selling pots and pans on qvc now. It's not a great cookbook, but it is ok with some good dishes that many people could adapt easily to make their own which is what Chef Scott was trying to explain in the book.

A generally good cookbook with some flawed recipes.......2006-06-13

At first perusal I felt some reservations about Scott Conant's modernizations and reworkings of classic Italian fare, but these were misfounded. Conant really is one of those exceedingly rare chefs who can take a classic dish and bring it to new life through creativity, free thinking, and great technical chops. So, after cooking many of his recipes, I can comfortably and gratefully say that Conant knows his way around the international kitchen. No doubts there.

Trouble is, several of these recipes just don't work. I know that in saying this I'm in danger of admitting incompetence in the kitchen. But I am a very accomplished home cook and I have never experienced the same frustrations cooking from Marcella Hazan's equally refined recipes. I have to conclude, with respect for the chef, that whatever alterations he and writer Joanne Smart made to the restaurant recipes [to make them suitable for home kitchens] were not carefully edited.

For example: the Tuna Poached in Olive Oil Infused with Thyme, Rosemary, and Lemon was realy quite bad, despite two attempts with premium ingredients, including sushi-grade tuna. The results were overpoweringly flavored of thyme and Rosemary, and the fish turned to an indigestibly oily mush. Not edible. I consulted our excellent neighborhood seafood-loving chef, who suggested reducing the herbs to 1/10 of what's in the recipe, using the oil as a marinade at room temperature, and then searing the tuna briefly. I did this and loved it. Note that my attempts cost me 40 ounces of premium tuna at $10.99/lb, and two QUARTS of my best olive oil. Grrrr. I wish this recipe were a fluke. The Silken Brussels Sprouts for Two, besides being a nuisance to make, has resisted several attempts at something appealing: it results in an unattractive, oily mass. It tastes pretty good, but if I were to serve it as part of a "romantic dinner for two", as the author suggests, I would lose my dinner date and spend the evening wiping olive oil off the stove, alone. I have several other black marks in the margins of this book.

But there have been glorious successes, too. The White Bean and Escarole Soup is excellent. The Braised Short Ribs have great bang for the buck. The Warm Fagiolini and Goat Cheese Salad is very nice indeed, and the Wild Mushroom Ravioli is outrageously yummy. I could go on.

Some of these recipes suffer from their trip from restaurant to home kitchen. Read the recipes carefully before you start, and remember that art-house cuisine is a high-wire act that few can follow, no matter how competent we are as home cooks.

Superior Chef's Cookbook for Serious Foodies. Buy It........2005-11-13

`Scott Conant's New Italian Cooking' by, you guessed it, Scott Conant (chef-owner of L'Impero in New York City) and cooking writer for hire, Joanne McAllister Smart impresses me as being the kind of book I was really expecting from Terrance Brennan's `Artisanal Cooking'. While it is not quite as cerebral as Paul Bertolli's `Cooking by Hand', it is definitely more thoughtful than some other leading neuvo Italian cookbooks such as those from Rose Gray and Ruth Rodgers of London's River Café or their irrepressible protégé, Jamie Oliver. While Oliver and River Café offer lots of smart but easy recipes, Conant gives us somewhat more involved recipes dealing much less with pasta and more with some of Italy's more exotic ingredients such as bottarga (dried, pressed fish roe) and guanciale (cured pig's jowls). And Senor Conant is totally unapologetic about using these hard to get ingredients. While my hero Mario Batali will often specify this ingredient and say you can substitute pancetta, Conant insists that the real guanciale have a flavor that simply cannot be reproduced by protein from some other part of the pig.

Conant's sense of `new Italian' cooking is also different from Mario, who, with his love of ramps and other local ingredients, sees himself as adapting the Italian concentration on local ingredients with those ingredients which are local to the farms around the New York metropolitan area. Conant relies on purely Italian ingredients with an emphasis on Italian techniques such as carpaccio that may not be familiar to most American fans of Italian cuisine.

Conant is also very big on pairing dishes with wine and being almost totally ignorant of wines, I will take it for granted that Senor Conant knows what he is talking about in this area and, if wine is your thing with Italian food, this book is doubly valuable to you.

Conant's culinary center of gravity seems to be the northern coasts of Italy, with much more risotto, polenta, and gnocchi dishes than dishes with dried pasta. He also does a lot with seafood.

Many of the recipes in this book are relatively easy. But, on average, they are not as easy as Rodgers, Gray, and Oliver. Many recipes also seem to be not too far removed from the professional kitchen, as there are a lot of instructions for prepping up to a point and bringing to table readiness at the last minute. This restaurant orientation also gives us several very interesting pantry preparations. One, in particular, is a ginger flavored oil which almost seems like a throwback to the Medieval European lust for oriental spices including ginger and the now-rare galangal.

The book is also filled with very nice insights about Italian cuisine and food in general. I found his comment on salmon very interesting when he said that he rarely serves salmon as a main course, as it is easy to become bored with the tastes from a big chunk of this fish. I never thought of this before, but it is really true that grilled or poached salmon can get old in the mouth really fast, although I have a hard time imagining becoming bored with lox.

The chapters are quite conventional, with one each for:

Small Tastes
Salads and Soups
Pasta and Gnocchi
Risotto
Main Courses
Vegetables and Side Dishes
Sweets and Cheeses

There are several comments which go to the heart of cooking technique, such as his recommendation to quickly pan-sear beef and other meat, followed by a slow roasting to bring it up to serving temperature through and through. This means the book has, for me, the most important quality in a restaurant cookbook. It gives valuable clues on cooking common ingredients which help you deliver good, hot food to the table.

The one thing I find totally puzzling about this book is how poorly it is designed, especially compared to some other recent publications by Broadway Books. While Sara Moulton's new cookbook by Broadway is a model of typographical clarity, almost worthy of something from Alfred A. Knopf, this Conant volume is done in stark black and white with a really light, uninteresting font and ascetic gray borders around the headnotes. Some of these borders are in slightly more interesting colors, but I get the impression they gave Broadway's artistic staff the day off when they designed this book. The cover and the few color photographs are nice, but there are none for the important section on how to make fresh pasta. You can read this and go visit one of Marcella Hazan's excellent illustrated tutorials on how to do this. This artistic economy is surprising in light of the conventionally high list price of $35, compared to Ms. Moulton's nicely modest $29.50 list price.

This is an excellent supplement and alternative to one of the recent encyclopedic Italian cookbooks from Batali and Michele Scicolone. It may put off the casual cook, but it is pure gold for the serious foodie.

Highly recommended.

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