I am using your textbook for a class I teach for the Oklahoma City/County Health Department. I Love It! The class I teach is the Food Service Operator's Certification Course that is required by all food service operators in this county. I am a Registered Dietitian who is contracted by Oklahoma State University-OKC and Francis Tuttle to teach the class for the health department. It is kind of a community service offered by the two schools. I have only been teaching the class for three years now, and by far your book is the best.

Your book has made my job so easy and so much fun! Some of my students are returning to do the re-certification class and bringing managers in who have not taken the class in 20 years. In the past, they have just challenged the test every three years, because they thought the class was too boring. (and they knew it all).
I would highly recommend this book to educators in the nutrition field. I think all nutrition majors need to know this important information. I also recommend it for a reference for my food service managers in my nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

As an instructor who teaches Food Safety classes to front-line employees, I find this text an excellent resource. It is comprehensive yet still easy-to-understand, a difficult combination to achieve for some of the technical aspects of foodborne illness, pathogens, etc. The cartoon-style drawings add to the enjoyment. I have had many trainees who share these positive comments. Only negative comment would be to include color photos instead of the old, grainy B&W.

Also recommended for the Food Safety Trainer: "Keyword Index: 1999 FDA Model Food Code"

Essentials of Food Safety & Sanitation is a comprehensive, easy-to-understand guide to help food workers produce safe food. In my job as editor of a food safety-oriented newsletter, I review and have access to a lot of training materials, but "Essentials" is the one I refer to the most for current, reliable information.

This is a wonderful book that crosses all boundaries! It is enlightening that the two sisters are of different species, thus clearing the way for discussion in families of any kind. Lucy appears to be, however, a rat (look at the size difference and shape compared to Estelle), which opens the door to political views for all ages.

This is a charming little masterpiece, and the kind of book you don't often see these days. The unspoken, unexplained fact that Estelle and Lucy, a cat and mouse, are sisters gives the story a wonderful sense of mysteriousness, and makes the characters all the more intriguing. I could not disagree more with Publishers Weekly on this one: I find Estelle, Lucy and their mother, with their fabulous little stoic faces, to be full of life and expression. That they are so restrained and subtle is the very thing that makes them so endearing and reminiscent of early 20th century children's illustration. I look forward to seeing future books from Anna Alter, and hopefully more of Estelle and Lucy, with much anticipation.

The illustrations in this book are wonderfully homey and old-fashioned. I love the fact that a mouse and a kitten can be siblings! This book is just adorable. Buy it for everyone you know!

This novel steps back to the begining of last century and presents a message to readers that spans over the ages."Fortress of the Heart: the Story of Anna" is a non-fiction novel that embraces the incredible journey of Anna Buchanan Coleman with such insight and clarity that the reader is sure to recognize her in a strong woman they know personally.
Coleman-Wells reached with both hands into the colorful tapestry that her mother, Anna, called life. As a result Ms. Wells constructed a masterpiece. This book could have gone several directions as far as theme. Anna Buchanan's life was chocked full of gender discrimination, racism, colorism,abuse, economic disadvantages, struggle for higher education being a minority....the list goes on.
Instead of focusing on negative circumstances that Anna endured, Shirley Coleman Wells plucked the gold thread of her mothers life to immortalize in this book as Anna's legacy...simply love. Out of bitter tears, lonliness, hurt,and abandonment sprang love that was well appreciated by Anna, like a cooling rain after a drought.
This novel, although heart wrenching and tear jerking at several points, celebrates life. The proverbial "calm after the storm" is personified in the life of Anna as a result of her strength, faith,resolution and service to others. "Fortress of the Heart" could have spanned several categories including drama, suspense, horror, romance and educatonal. But undoubtedly, after the last page is read, the reader will surely agree there is only one category that does this book justice........as a classic.

An inspirational story of how the hate of prejudice was overcome by the love of friendship. A most enlightening, thought provoking book, that touches the heart and soul. This is a must read for adults and children alike.

What a story! What heartache she went through and what trials and tribulations to have to endure as a child. Every chapter keeps you crying with her or laughing with her or yelling horray for you Anna. Everyone should read this book to find out what life can really be like with stupid prejudices and then find out how life can be without them. Should be required reading in the schools.

This fabulous book gives you a look into the life and struggles of a young Yugoslavian couple back in the turn of the century. It shows the strong ties families had to their religion as well as the persecution those who found and accepted Christ went through. As you read this suspensful page turning book, you can't help but smile and remember that God always keeps his promises to those who truely believe and fully trust in Him.

Hidden Rainbow is a book about struggling. Its about standing up for what you believe in, because its right, even when your whole community shuns you and your family avoids you. The only choice it seems is to flee the country and leave everything behind. Why risk it all? What could make a person so sure that they would give up the only life they ever knew? Trust. If there is only one thing this book teaches, it is to trust. trust that God has everything in control and no matter what happens He will guide you, keep you and protect you if you trust. A powerful novel, its hard to put down and hard to forget.

John and Anna Olesh, a hard working Yugoslavian couple, struggle to raise their family in the poverty of pre-WWI Serbia. Their difficulties increase when they turn from the superstitious sprituality they have known their whole lives, toward the Light and Truth that they know they must embrace.

I Can Spell Words With Three Letters is a wonderful book! My son (who is 4, but doesn't talk yet) loves to spell his favorite words with this flip book. I really like how it contains three alphabets for kids to flip through to spell with so that even if they can't write yet, they can still practice spelling. I also like how the word is on the back of each picture so the kids can check their work. My only concern is that the flip cards seem flimsier than they were in my original copy, but I like that the book now has a velcro closure so that the cards won't get bent as easily. But it is well worth the money. In fact we got our second copy to give as a gift.

This book is great! Before this book, my daughter was able to recognize letter sounds but did not understand the concept of linking the sounds together to make a word. By flipping three different piles of the alphabet, she was able to see, and therefore understand, this concept. I recommend this book to any pre-readers.

My 3-yr-old is learning to spell using this book! The spelling possibilities are endless and she enjoys playing with it alone. She is instantly gratified when she flips the page to see that she has spelled a word correctly.

The Girlhood Journeys series, written in the late '90's, is something that I've long wanted to see -- a series of books about kids in different historical periods, that talks about what their life was really like. This book fits the bill perfectly: Juliet is a freeman's daughter in medieval England, and her friend is the manor-holder's daughter. There is an excellent contrast shown between Juliet's lifestyle and that of her friend Marguerite. The book also has an excellent lesson about honesty ... teaching the importance of this value without preaching about it is perfectly executed here.
I'm a reenactor by hobby, and wish that books like this had been available to me when I was a young girl growing up. Parents who want their daughters to have a sense of history while still being entertained by good story lines should definitely investigate the Girlhood Journeys books.

This story is very good.It is about a girl name Juliet. She is ten years old and she is also a falconer.She is also a peasent.But one day Marguerite leaves Juliet to go to court.After she leaves a stranger steals Marguerite's kerchief.Juliet doesn't want to blame herself for it.Her brother makes a mistake by releasing one of the falcons.Juliet needs to try to find the preious bird.She doesn't want to lose her job being a falconer.I gave this book five stars because this is a very good book.I want to encourge you to read so you can be a very good reader.You should really read this book.It is very awesome!

I really like this book! The old-english dialect was a little hard to understant though.Juliet must lead a really cool life!

I read this 300+ pp. book in less than a week! I found it beautifully written, a most believeable story of a 19th century Tibetan Buddhist lama written in the first person. It includes abundant--though not excessive--poetic description, and a stark reminder of the basic Teachings of the perennial philosophy. If you've noticed that you can depend upon pleasure's opposite-- that is, suffering--to appear as part-and-parcel of life on this planet, as it unfolds with all of the myriad dualities, and that the "stock" answers just don't suffice, look to this lovely volume as fascinating reading and an introduction to some other possibilities to open your heart and mind.

This book was a fantastic novel of the story of a young monk's assignment to protect a baby who was to become the next Dalai Lama. Filled with beautiful descriptions, enchanting characters, magical transformations, contemplative insights, and high adventure, this book makes for fun reading. I didn't want to put the book down, but also didn't want the story to end. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the spiritual path.

Anna Cox's magical tale, Just as the Breeze Blows Through Moonlight, describes the very difficult life of one Thupten Heruka who lived in tht mystical country known as Tibet in the late 1800's. It is a deeply moving account of the struggle of one human being who strives to overcome the suffering of life in the hope of achieving spiritual enlightenment.
This book was delivered to Anna on the wings of a dream in 1992. Reading it was an experience that left me feeling enchanted, as if under some mysterious spell. As I read Thupten's story, I felt myself sinking deeper and deeper into a trance-like state that delivered me into the essence of this dream.
The life of this Tibetan yogi is an inspiration to all of us who are facing difficult times. It reminds us that spiritual journeys do not exist outside the human experience of pain and suffering. This lesson is especially meaningful to me now as our world is struggling to come to terms with some very frightening realities. I see so many of my loved ones who, like myself, continue to look for meaning and hope in a world filled with uncertainty and fears for the future.
As always, I wonder if hope lies in the Land of Dreams, where we can be reunited with our Beloved in that alchemical union of Partnership with the Divine. Anna's dream is clearly a magic carpet ride into the Land of Hope, a land that exists - just like the dream - primarily deep within ourselves.

This book is so fun to read that you forget you're actually learning a lot. Full of information that ranges from the very serious--how to be a solid friend and deal with family issues with aplomb--to the hilarious (see title). A savvy, smart book with good values at its core.

Great book!! You'd be crazy not to buy it; I really learned a lot from Anna's tips and suggestions!

This book is amazing!! I loved it so much that i bought it for all of my friends! PLEASE READ IT AND GIVE IT A CHANCE-it will really help ya out

For the totally nonRussian speaking English speaker, this is definitely the definitive Akhmatova (...say that ten times fast...). Not only are all her poems here (over 800), but we get a host of other useful things like introductory essays, an essay by Isaiah Berlin, chronology, notes, and tons of beautiful pictures of the beautiful poet herself.

Akhmatova is one of the premier 20th century poets, and it is a shame that her reputation is still only establishing itself among English speaking countries. This volume should help in that regard. However, it must be strongly emphasized that readers who hear Akhmatova only in English are really missing most of the beauty of her poems. Russian poetry is musically beautiful, and this is NOT carried over into the Enlglish, although it must be granted that Hemschemeyer does make some pretty valiant attempts to do just this.

So the reason for the four stars is that there is no Russian in this edition. Granted, the size of it would hardly permit it. So I would ask that people complement it with an edition of Akhmatova's poems in the original, and either learn cyrillic or get someone who can read them to read them to you! You will hardly recognize them, they are so beautiful. She is a master of alliteration, assonance and rhyme... all of these being so important to her lyricism.

I actually bought this edition, and when I found there was no Russian, I returned it and got Hemschemeyer's "Selected Poems of Anna Akhmatova" instead, which only has 100+ poems but has the Russian on the opposing pages. It was sad to have to do this, but after I sat down and read through some of the poems, I realized I had made the right decision. What I miss most are the pictures...

Akhmatova was one of the few unrepentant Acemist poets to survive Russia's Bolshevik revolution and subsequant Stalinist takeover and purges. She was seen by authorities as a dangerous element, related to the pre-revolutionary order. Somehow, even as her fellow poets - including friend Osip Mandlestam and husband Nikolay Gumilov - were executed, exiled, sent to camps, or fled, she managed to survive - outliving Stalin himself. Her poems range from the early tales of love and unrequitation, to the tormented later works such as Requium - a harrowing dedication to the victoms of Stalinism. Her use of words is fantastic - the reader can truly feel her presence. This collection is very comprehensive, and well-translted from the original Russian. Definately worth the $21.

Finally, the poems of one of my favorite authors are out in one book, and what a book this is! For lovers of graceful, touching, heartfelt poetry, but also for those who are interested in that period of Russian history between the twilight of the Czars and the horror of Stalin, Akhmatova's poetry covers a very wide spectrum. She wrote of love and nature. She wrote about and for her friends. She wrote about her personal tragedies and the tragedy of her country. If you have never read Akhmatova, do yourself a favor and discover her in this magnificent translation by Judith Hemschmeyer: translating poetry is particularly tricky, but the job is superbly done here, because it feels as if the author had written her verses in English, not Russian. If you like what you have read, or if you already appreciate Akhmatova's style and are interested in more about her life, nothing better than the book by Roberta Reeder on Anna Akhmatova. Reeder has also edited this volume and her love for the work of a great poet is evident. These "Complete Poems" are truly complete and satisfiying, ordered chronologically, supported by biographical material, photographs, and an astonishing section of notes. A book for the poetry lover in us, and also a book for the student. I must also say that the translation of "Requiem," my favorite poem by Akhmatova, is one of the best I have read. My only complaint has to do with the binding: this is a paperback, and we all know what happens to paperbacks, and at 948 pages this one may break fairly soon. My advice is to buy it nonetheless, and also buy one of those plastic, self-adhesive covers on sale in most big bookstores, protect the book with it and, as an additional touch, put one more layer of the hard plastic on the spine, so it'll reinforce it better and your book will last a lot longer. At least that is what I did with my copy and after almost two years it still looks new. So, a great collection, indeed, by a great poet, and by people who truly cared about her art. Five stars is the maximum, but I would give it more.

This is yet another Italian cookbook suffering from poor proofreading and kitchen testing (judging from the severe errors in the one recipe I've tried so far, the Polenta with meat sauce). I don't see how they could invest so much money in beautiful photography and printing and yet completely drop the ball in what matters most, making it easy and pleasant to generate the meals.

Of course, that doesn't matter most in selling the book off the shelf, so publishers are getting away with it. But I will gripe here when I have a chance and punish them for their oversight. (The thing could have been done in half the time, with a third the salt, and anyone trying it would realize this immediately once it was too late...) I also want preparation times in my recipes and make-ahead and storage/leftover notes.

Otherwise this book is beautiful and has one tempting page after another with plenty of useful Italian translations and an encyclopedia of ingredients and wine all of which sold me the book and I am generally happy enough with it. But I will defensively make the recipes from now on, now that my trust has been violated.

Being a huge fan of Italian cooking (and quite a good novice in my own right) I was very eager to find a good cookbook on the subject especially after returning from a month long culinary tour of the pennisula in November. Well, I hit the jackpot when a friend presented me with a copy of Gastronomy of Italy. It is a simple, beautifully written and presented book on the foods of Italy. Anybody who is looking for a really good book on Italian cooking need look no further than this. I spent over 3 hours on the first evening just savoring the recipes and drooling over the photographs!! Bella! Enjoy. Scott

Being a huge fan of Italian cooking (and quite a good novice in my own right) I was very eager to find a good cookbook on the subject especially after returning from a month long culinary tour of the pennisula in November. Well, I hit the jackpot when a friend presented me with a copy of Gastronomy of Italy. It is a simple, beautifully written and presented book on the foods of Italy. Anybody who is looking for a really good book on Italian cooking need look no further than this. I spent over 3 hours on the first evening just savoring the recipes and drooling over the photographs!! Bella! Enjoy. Scott