Plan the perfect Baby Shower with Jennifer Adams

Pea in the Podcast, a newly launched baby website, talks about everything baby and pregnancy related and Baby Showers author Jennifer Adams is currently featured on the site offering tips, ideas and even some history about Baby Showers.

Check out Jennifer's interview here.

Country French Kitchens Garners Rave Review from Design Professional

Country French Kitchens by Carolina Fernandez has received a wonderful review from American Society of Interior Designers member Holly Holden.

"A stupendous Country French reference guide... it's like having a designer by your side whispering what IS done and not done!

"Having my own Interior Design business for over 20 years, and as an A.S.I.D. Allied Member, I only wish that I had this book before now in my office reference library to use as a design tool with my clients! The exemplary photographs serve as a superb "talking-tool" when discussing the many details and design options available to anyone designing a kitchen, whether Country French or another style. Kitchens are the center of activity in any house and quite often, the most expensive renovation cost when updating or designing a house. Carolina Fernandez does a brilliant job of explaining the details found in a Country French kitchen which instantly relay an air of authenticity.... making it inviting, timeless, functional and unique to the owners who create it. My interior design mantra is to make any interior look as if it has always been there, just comfortably embellished with time, nothing new or over the top decorated. Her advice on using antique doors as the front facade of a closet, antique glass in the cabinets, and using light fixtures that have a patina of their own endorse what I try to create in my interiors. You are in for a treat when you see the myriad of lovely Country French kitchens photographed from various angles and read her enchanting commentary!"

Deborah Madison asks: What do you eat when you're alone?

Best-selling cookbook author Deborah Madison seeks out the answers to that question in her upcoming book:

What We Eat When We're Alone

The book, set to publish in May, delves into the relationship people have with food when they dine alone. Are people secretly indulging on cakes and cookies or are they serving themselves mini gourmet feasts? A little of both apparently.

Following are a couple of fun excerpts from the manuscript:

Here are some of the odd things that people confess to eating:

• Saltines crumbled in milk
• Oyster crackers or matzo in coffee
• Life Cereal dredged with Coffee-mate, the original formula only, none of that low-fat or flavored junk
• Cream of wheat made with lumps
• Dried cereal with broken butter cookies, drowned in milk
• Wonder bread, flattened, covered with butter and sugar, then frozen briefly, so it becomes a kind of sugar cookie
• Cake batter (especially chocolate) and raw cookie dough (especially chocolate chip)
• Frozen pound cake shaved into thin pieces and eaten cold
• Cold leftover spaghetti that's stuck together, fried with Swiss cheese

"When I'm cooking for myself, it happens like an urge. That is, it probably isn't a regular mealtime. I first notice that I'm hungry and then have a vision of something that is in the fridge or the pantry. Then I dream up a recipe for it." -- Patrick McKelvey, musician and graphic designer.

The couch is a place of solace and comfort for many women, but it can be a challenging choice when eating with animals. When Roz goes to the couch to have dinner while studying Roman antiquities, she says, "I set my food on the coffee table and eat around the cat, which is inevitably in my lap. This makes the eating part a bit tricky, especially if shrimp are involved. Then, it's one for Tiny, two for me, one for Tiny, two for me."

And now for a recipe:

GRILLED CHEESE AND GREEN CHILE SANDWICH

For fans of Southwest flavors, it's hard to find a better grilled cheese than one that includes a long, roasted green chile.

1 long green chile or poblano, roasted
2 slices bread
Grated or sliced cheese to cover such as Monterey Jack on Muenster
Chopped cilantro
Butter or olive oil

1. Remove the skin and the seeds from the chile, and slice into long strips.
2. Cover one piece of bread with enough cheese to reach nearly to the edge. Add the chile, chopped cilantro, and more cheese. Top with the second piece of bread and brush with olive opil. Put it in a panini machine and press. Cook until the bread is marked and the cheese is melted. If you don't have a panini machine, melt a teaspoon of butter or olive oil in a small skillet. Add the sandwich and cook over medium-low head so that the cheese is soft by the time the bread is golden. Press on it a few times with a spatula while it's cooking. When golden brown on the bottom, turn it over, add another bit of butter and cook the second side until golden.

So, now the question: What do you dig into when you're eating alone?

Leave us a comment with your ideas!

Havana on Current TV

Author of Dinner at your Door Alex Davis on EveryDay with Marcus & Lisa Ryan

Alex Davis, co-author with Diana Ellis and Andy Remeis of Dinner at Your Door, recently traveled to Atlanta to interview and do a cooking demonstration on the show Every Day with Marcus & Lisa on FamilyNet TV Tuesday, Oct. 21.

Alex Davis and Lisa Ryan in the studio's kitchen.

Alex Davis preparing to cook her famous Alex's Crab Corn Chowder on the set.

Click here: Alex's Crab Corn Chowder

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It Came From Berkeley reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle

'It Came From Berkeley': Wackiness in context
Justin Berton
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

If Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly ever reads local journalist and Chronicle contributor Dave Weinstein's book, "It Came From Berkeley: How Berkeley Changed the World," O'Reilly might be amused to learn that the lefty college town originally was founded on religion, as a moral retreat from that Sodom and Gomorrah across the bay, San Francisco.

"Berkeley was always meant to be a place apart," Weinstein said. "A really moral, quiet place, where intellectuals could meditate, surrounded by nature."

The description still fits, even if downtown is more crowded by men who wear pink tutus while riding unicycles.

But for anyone who has wondered how and why Berkeley became an adjective meaning zany-liberal-smarty-pants, Weinstein tracks down the historical and cultural dominoes that led to milestones such as the Free Speech Movement, bans on plastic foam cups, traffic "calming" roundabouts and, of course, tree-sitting.
Full article, click here...

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Get Raw!

Raw food chef and cookbook author Matthew Kenney (Everyday Raw and the upcoming Entertaining in the Raw) has launched two new websites. These two sites are designed to help educate the public about the benefits of eating raw food. Questions are answered, recipes shared, and insights are relayed.
Check out the sites:

• http://www.matthewkenneylifestyle.com/


• http://www.matthewkenneycuisine.com/

'Dreamy Creamy Carrot Cake' on Good Things Utah

Anyone for Jell-O?

Melissa Barlow and Jennifer Adams, authors of 101 Things to Do with Gelatin are being featured in today's issue of The Deseret News. The great article also highlights four delicious recipes from the cookbook. I can't wait to try out that Key Lime Pie! Check out the article here.

And I just couldn't resist posting this great masterpiece of Photoshop (sorry ladies!) that ran with the feature. (credit: Deseret News)

Havana Before Castro author invited to book festival

As the great reviews continue pouring in, Peter Moruzzi, author of Havana Before Castro, received a coveted invitation to speak at the Miami International Book Festival in November. While in Florida, the author is planning several slide show/lectures and signings throughout the area. For updated information, log on to http://www.havanabeforecastro.com/

Speaking of reviews, here are a few worth noting:

“A jaunty, poignant portrait of the city in its pre-revolutionary heyday as a Caribbean playground. [The book] goes a long way toward filling in the mental picture of a city that has been enticingly evoked by movies such as "Our Man in Havana" (1959) and "The Godfather: Part II" (1974).”

– The Wall Street Journal

“If you’re looking for images, “Havana Before Castro” has them in bulk. Peter Moruzzi’s infatuation with Cuba is illustrated in grand and grandiose style. It’s a pop-culture potpourri.”

– Newsday

“[The book] really put me there: It made me feel like I was staying in towering modernist hotels, ogling dancing girls at nightclubs like the Montmartre, swilling mojitos with Graham Greene and Meyer Lansky, and tapping my toes to the Orquestra Aragón.”

– Los Angeles Times

“The glamour of Old Cuba with its music, nightlife, culture and tropical beauty is perfectly expressed in these pages.”

– Desi Arnaz Jr.

“…[includes] scores of photos that feature mid-century modern architecture – still the best, if you ask my opinion.”

– Tampa Tribune

“A beautiful book that is a wonderful visual complement to 'Havana Nocturne.' It's easy to picture Havana in the 1950s because so much remains unchanged -- the cars, the clothes, the casinos waiting for a new government.”

– The Oregonian

Fall into Cooking with Food Festivals of Italy

Chef Leonardo Curti's recipe for Totelloni di Zucca(Handcrafted tortelloni filled with pumpkin) from the beautiful book Food Festivals of Italy is now being featured on Amazon.com's "Fall into Cooking" feature. Check it out here.

What a perfect recipe for the crisp autumn evenings and a fantastic way to use up those pumpkins growing in the garden patch.

Dinner Co-ops soothe stress during tough economic times

Co-author of Dinner at Your Door, Alex Davis, explains how starting a dinner co-op can soothe stress during an economic downswing

Living it up in tough times

"Since food is typically one of the largest expenses in a household, conventional wisdom tells us we should all be huddled in the kitchen eating PB and J’s for dinner while we glumly sip our water. But we in dinner co-ops are quietly thumbing our noses at the financial meltdown. At least when it comes to dinner.

"When we launched our dinner co-ops, we gave up takeout during the week, along with hurried, unsatisfying restaurant meals that never seem worth the money. We also stopped buying those lame supermarket ingredients you keep around for when you have no better idea. We transferred these funds into a virtual purse we can spend at the gourmet store, farmers market, butcher and baker on a single menu for the week. When you focus most of your weekly shopping on a single exciting menu—shopping is quicker, easier, and a lot more fun. Last week I found myself buying wild mushrooms and phyllo dough, ripe peaches to grill with basil—and for the first time, TRUFFLE OIL. Sound expensive? It was a fraction of what we would’ve paid to eat out. Don’t let Wall Street get you down. Get together with your favorite cooks and let the good times roll." - Alex Davis, co-author of Dinner at Your Door.

Consider creating your own dinner co-op with Dinner at Your Door, by Alex Davis, Diana Ellis and Andy Remeis.

For more information or to order, visit our Web site: