Herbs enhance and enliven meals. Herbs are the leaves of fresh or dried plants. Spices are the aromatic parts: buds, fruit, berries, roots or bark. Most spices thrive in tropical regions, while herbs can be grown in your own garden or indoors in a sunny place. Some herbs can also produce spices.

If you think of the Coriander/Cilantro plant, cilantro is the herb and the seeds are known as coriander. This is why this book is so helpful as it explains the plants in detail. I didn't realize the root was also used in Thai curries. A recipe for Guacamole is included on the same two-page spread.

Elizabeth Lambert Ortiz is an authority on herbs and spices and international cuisine. She created this sourcebook in order to guide the reader to information on more than 200 herbs, spices, essences, edible flowers and leaves, aromatics, vinegars, oils, teas, coffees and just about every seasoning a modern cook needs to produce flavorful foods.

With 750 spectacular full-color photographs and 185 recipes you will learn how to create characteristic flavors that define cuisines of the world.

The Contents Include:

Growing and Harvesting Herbs
Drying and Preserving herbs
Edible Gifts

Kitchen Herbs: Chives, Dill, Angelica, Chervil, Tarragon, Borage, Tansy, Coriander/Cilantro, Lemongrass, Fennel, Hyssop, Bay, Lovage, Lemon Balm, Mint, Bee Balm, Sweet Cicely, Basil, Marjoram, Oregano, Parsley, Burnet, Rosemary, Sorrel, Sage, Savory, Thyme and Lemon Verbena.

Kitchen Spices: Galangal, Celery Seed, Annatto, Sassafras, Mustard, Chili, Paprika, Ajowan, Caraway, Spice Mixtures, Cassia, Cinnamon, Saffron, Cumin, Turmeric, Curry Powerders, Cardamom, cloves, Asafoetida, Star Anise, Juniper, Mace & Nutmeg, Nigella, Poppy Seeds, Allspice, Anise, Pepper, Sumac, Sesame Seeds,. Salt, Tamarind, Fenugreek, Vanilla and Ginger.

Flavors of the World: An absolutely amazing section on the traditional ingredients used in cultural cuisine all over the globe.

Vegetable and Fruit Flavorings
Extracts, Essences & Sweeteners
Edible Leaves & Flowers
Oils, Vinegars & Dairy Products
Sauces, Preserves & Condiments
Coffee, Tea & Spiced Drinks

Some of the recipes you might enjoy: Chiles Rellenos, Fruit Salad with Cardamom, Moroccan Preserved Lemons, Gingerbread Cookies, Rose Petal Ice Cream, Beet Salad with Walnut Oil Dressing and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.

Did I mention how amazing this book is? If you love to cook, this is a must-have resource for your cookbook collection. It is also just pure fun to read!

Gorgeous Photography and oh, so wonderfully organized!

Books I know you will love is you enjoy this one:

The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld
How to Cook by Delia Smith
The Herbal Drugstore by Linda B. White, M.D.
Cooking A to Z by Jane Horn
Webster's New World Dictionary of Culinary Arts by Steven Labensky
The Quotable Cook by Kate Rowinski

If you had this book, you'd know that Agar-Agar is a seaweed and Zahtar is a blend of sumac, roasted sesame seeds, and ground thyme. Encylopedia indeed! I purchased this book to learn about herbs and spices so that I could cook flavorful while cutting salt, fat, mayo, and other bad things in my diet. If you only get one one kitchen reference on this subject, make it this one. I started giving this book as a gift to friends and family and now they're giving it as a gift as well. It's divided into the following sections:

-Introduction
-Kitchen Herbs
-Kitchen Spices
-Flavors of the World (Characteristics of the world's cuisines)
-Vegetable and Fruit Flavorings
-Extracts, Essences, and Sweeteners
-Edible Leaves and Flowers
-Oils, Vinegars, and Dairy Products
-Sauces, Preserves, and Condiments
-Coffee, Tea, and Spiced Drinks

'Nough said. Buy this book, you can't beat the price and you'll love the content! Check out the sample pages for a glimpse of what you're in for.

I brought this book home with me after a trip to England 8 years ago. Now that it is available in North America I can recommend it for anyone wanting to figure out what really grows in an herb garden. I was looking for a book to explain all the herbs I previously had only read about on the menus I was eating from. Full pages are devoted to most of the world's common herbs & spices. The digrams are exceptional for Food ID and each item includes an example recipe, handling, prep, and storage techniques. The more I have learned about cooking, the more details I have found hidden in the pictures and text. It even rivals my best coffee table books!

I have borrowed this book from a member of my single's group (he is now married) and I stored the book for awhile. When I started to get interested in someone, I figured I needed to open this book up and see what Mrs. Elliot had to say. I was very challenged by her very balanced and Biblical view of the roles of men and women. Roles that has been attacked tremendous by the femininist movement and the dogma of 'uni-sex' roles. Mrs Elliot's chapters are very short yet packs a powerful essay on the formula on how to stand up to be a real man for the Lord Jesus Christ in a fallen world. Definitely a book worth investing your time in (male or female).

"The mark of a man" is a superb book. God's standards for manhood are presented for men and women to read. The book reveals that true manhood is attainable and realistic. Nowadays, the mark between men and women is blurred. This book reafirms the divine difference of men from women. A refreshment in the midst of the confusion.

"The Mark of a Man" is for those who have been wondering like me where are M-E-N. The book is a relief; God's intended role for MEN exists and is not unrrealistic. I recommend the book to men, to see what God invested in them. The book is a confirmation of what I had at the back of my mind. Nowadays, the mark of a man and a woman is blurred, but no longuer so, once you read this book which reaffirms the divine difference between the two sexes. It is a pure refreshment.

I am a friend of a friend of the writer of this book. My friend shared it with me. I think it is a wonderful, funny, heart-touching book. I am not a mother yet and it had many great things to say to me anyway. This is definitely a great book to purchase and read for yourself and give as a gift to a friend.

Through a God-given gift, Elisabeth K. Corcoran has written an amazing book that mothers and women of all ages will relate to and be encouraged by. I took time out of my own chaos to read this book from cover to cover in one sitting. I am so glad that I did! My relationships with God, my daughter, and my husband will benefit from it, too. This book is personal, honest, humorous, thought provoking, touching, inspiring, comforting, and life changing. Beth is a wonderful example of a Godly woman, mother, and wife. She has helped me put my "chaos" in order and proper perspective by putting many of my own thoughts and feelings into words. This book is very refreshing to read, and it has helped renew the joy of my salvation. It celebrates motherhood, which is the greatest privilege that God has blessed me with. Mothers, our children are only ours to borrow for a little while, so enjoy them while we can! Read Calm in My Chaos and be blessed!

Being a mother, I can't help but relate to the many inspiring stories that are in the book, "Calm in My Chaos", by Elisabeth Corcoran. Each of the stories she has written, each thought, each dream and experience, has been captured and shared in a book for all to read.

Elisabeth touches upon moments in her life that made an impact - both profound and everlasting. She discusses many personal experiences, including the birth of her child and personal reflections. Included in each story are Christian prayers and bible passages, which lend additional support and encouragement to those of the Christian faith. Readers, especially mothers, will no doubtedly be able to relate to Elisabeth's words. In fact, she shares so many personal experiences that readers may find themselves thinking of her as a close friend. I myself have related a few of her stories to experiences and situations in my own life.

My ParenTime recommends "Calm in My Chaos" - it is very well written and beautifully expressed.

Heard the taped version of LIFE LESSONS by Elisabeth
Kubler-Ross and David Kessler . . . the authors, experts
on death and dying, use this book to help answer the
question: Is this really how I want to live my life?

It got me to think about what was important to me
and, also, how to go about obtaining it . . . as is the
case with some books on tape, this is one that I wish
I had also read because there were so many
quotable parts that I would have wanted to go back
to . . . for example:
Being there and caring is everything in love, in life and
in dying.

Whether you're married or not, if you want more romance
in your life, fall more in love with the life you have.

In any relationship, one person makes pancakes, the other
one eats them.

Everybody falls. Hopefully, they get up. That is life.

You have made being a mother a wonderful experience.
It was worth living just to be with you.

Remember that play is more than a light hearted moment
here and there. It's actual time devoted to play. You have
to get away from work, get away from life's seriousness.
There are a million ways to introduce play back into your life.
Instead of checking the stock market first thing in the morning,
read the comics, see a silly movie, buy a fun outfit, wear a
colorful tie. If you like, where work is conservative, wear fun
underwear. Practice saying yes to invitations, be more
spontaneous, do something silly. Anything can be play,
but beware, any form of play can also be turned
into productivity.

This book is the best book I've read in a very long time. It's for all of us who lose sight of what's important in our lives. It's about how to live life without regret, without fear, with inner peace, which, as someone currently going through a divorce and recently unemployed, I have to say, that's really tough sometimes. And, yet, this book helps us all see the true beauty in our everday lives, no matter how small. It helps you see that things happen for a reason, even if that reason is very difficult to figure out at times. So, if you think your life is good, this book will help you see that it's actually great; if you think your life is terrible, you hopefully will come away thinking that it's not so bad after all.

This is one of the most important books that I've read in the last 30 years. I purchased 22 copies of this book, so far. I am giving this book to everyone that I love or for whom I care. I find myself reading it over and over again. Each time that I read it, it holds some different meaning for me. The authors offer up the wisdom of those who have entered the zone of "dying soon". Each author in their own unique way urges the reader to listen to this wisdom now, while there is, hopefully, many more years to apply it. I love the brutal honesty of Kubler-Ross, who has in her later years, suffered a debilitating stroke. She is in recovery now but still angry about it. However, because the stroke did not kill her, she realizes that there are still many lessons for her to learn in this life. This book is not morbid but rather, uplifting. The advice and descriptions can suit anyone at any stage of their life. If you are fighting certain "battles" in your life, as we all are, you may find comfort knowing that you may not in this life learn all the lessons that you need to. As the authors put it so well, even the most terrible people in our lives can become our teachers.Whether you are just beginning your life experiences or you have had many, this book gives you so much to consider.

The accounts of the martyrs on the beach are inspiring to say the least. They will challenge the most stalwart believer to ask, " Am I willing to give everything?"

Often we label books like these as being too graphic and descriptive for children, but I would like to suggest that allowing our young people to read of these accounts will do wonders for the church. Nate Saint, Jim Elliot their compatriots, and family are heroes to modern Christendom, and therefore should be offered to our children as such. Our children will lead the body of Christ in the years to come and they should be inspired by men and women of faith and courage. Give your child a "hero" that cared about nothing more than spreading the truth of Jesus Christ.

The Fate of the Yellow Woodbee may be a suitable introduction for your pre adolescent child. It is written by Dave and Neta Jackson and published by Bethany House. As always read these books to determine whether or not they are appropriate for your child.

"I seek not a long life but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus"- Jim Elliot

The events in this book took place in the 1950's. A group of young men set out as missionaries to reach a previously un-reached savage tribe in South America. This books tells of the lives of the men and some of the events that lead up to their slaying. I did like the book "Shadow of The Almighty", (which is the life story of one of these men, Jim Elliot) better than this one, but only because it gave a more in depth look at what motivated a man to live up to what he said he believed. My favorite quote from that book sums up the whole of "Through Gates of Splendor" as well, and is as follows: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose". I also very strongly recommend the book "The Savage My Kinsman" (also by Elisabeth Elliot) which is a book that picks up where this one leaves off, of how Elisabeth went back to the same tribe of people who killed her husband to carry the message that her husband had set out to give. It's a must read!

This book by Elisabeth Elliot is one of the most moving, most challenging books I have ever read. Not only does it depict the great obedience of Jim Elliot and the other 4 missionaries, but it shows the unimaginable faith of their wives after their deaths. It makes any Christian evaluate themselves and ask themselves, "How much am I really willing to give up for the Lord?"

I originally picked this up because it was by the same publisher as the American Girls Series (I am a huge fan of the Josephine and the Felicity books), along with Spring Pearl. I dove into this book, to say the least. The story is about the daughter of a widowed French man, named Cecile. One day while out in the woodlands, a royal entourage passes by and a woman losses her course and finds Cecile. As it turns out, she is the Duchesse de Orleans from the Versailles Court. Madame as she known as around Versailles adopts Cecile and takes her to the frivolous court where Cecile is introduced to the royal family and the grandeur of France. The stories of the Versailles intrigues w/ Cecile are wonderful. They are very detailed, very amusing, very entertaining, and full of hidden morals. Although some of the scenes were unecessary, the story overall was a grand treat. The best scene I think was perhaps the Christmas ball, as entertaining and scandalous as it was. The story ends in tragedy, with the death of one of the little dauphins. Cecile is banished because she helped keep the other dauphin from his family, therefore putting him in danger (but really saving him). Cecile is sent to a girls' school, and forever leaves behind Versailles behind the gates of gold.
This story was great, the best in the series I'd say. Great details, development, characters, and enough to capture your mind. Although, I may be overating this book, as I am obsessed with the French courts of Versailles, Marie Antoinette, and all French royalty, I am sure everyone who tries this book will enjoy it. And of course, since I am one of the biggest fans of the Royal Diaries out there, I have to add that Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles, would be an excellent book to read alongside Cecile.
Bon travail Mary Casanova!

Before you press the NO button on the bottom of this review saying that it is not helpful, please read my review because it is OK. This book is so horribly horible it is wonderful. The book begins at 12 year old Cecile Revel's poor village. She finds a woman (the king's sister in-law to be correct) who is injured and has her father help the lady. The lady then lets Cecile come with her, leaving her life as a peasant to be a servant of dogs at the kings palace. And of course even a servant to dogs at a palace is better than being a peasant in a shack. So then she goes to a life at court and recieves word that her father has died. So then she's all depressed and then she starts to fall for Phillipe, a boy her age that often escorts her around. Then she is accused of killing royalty, and then more royalty, and then again, another member of the royal family. She learns of her father's devestating past. She is not allowed to go to the Royal Christmas Ball. (What a shame that was, I was looking forward to her going with Phillipe) She is sent away to a boarding school at the end of the story. About all of the main characters die. It is a book that is so horrible, but, in a funny way, it is good. I would recommend it to all GIRLS aged 11 to 14.

This book is so good! I cried. I laughed. I felt like I was Cecile!! Mary Casanova is an excellent writer. I don't want to tell you anything about the book, then it'll spoil it and you wont read it!! I also suggest you read the other Girls of Many Lands books, although this is the only one I've read so far.

Elisabeth Harvor has the gift of creating wonderful, flawed, human, captivating characters who come so alive on the page. She gets to the heart of the experiences of women and men in love, wanting love, fearing love, in families, in fear - of loneliness, of illness, of failure....
Claire Vornoff takes risks that both alarm and delight. Declan Farrell is the man your mother would warn you against. Isn't that reason enough to want him?!
I loved being dismayed by Claire. I can't believe you're going back there, I would think, at the same time as thinking You must go back, what you find there is not something you can turn away from.
Elisabeth Harvor's poetic use of language is one of the great joys of this book. I found myself re-reading paragraphs I'd just read for the sheer pleasure of the language.
I highly recommend "Excessive Joy Injures the Heart" to anyone who seeks finely observed characters in a compelling story told in richly expressive language.

I read Excessive Joy Injures the Heart after a friend recommended it to me. I suspected I would love the novel because of its striking, poetic title, and I was right. What I loved most about this novel was its language, its gently rhythmic, sometimes fierce and astute, prose. Unlike "plot-driven" novels, whose intrigue fades with the conclusion of the action, this is a book you can read again and again. The language and the characters are real and alive, animated and complex, never false. I was drawn into these people's lives so much that I couldn't put the book down. I highly recommend it.

Excessive Joy Injures the Heart is amazingly funny and sad and deep. As an American reader, it was refreshing to read such an atypical Canadian novel, since Claire Vornoff, its protagonist, is totally unlike the women characters in other Canadian novels that I've read. She's so much more unapologetically neurotic and defnitely so much more human and witty. Highly intelligent and highly recommended.

I've read a lot of books on parenting but I found this one to be especially good. It's not about 'time-outs' and sleep problems and that kind of thing but it really talks about some underlying assumptions we have as parents that we're unconscious of. These assumptions affect lots of decisions we make about how to raise our children. I'm bothered by the pressure on my kids - ages 3, 7 and 12 - that I see all around but I've never knew how to do anything about it or even really how to think about it. This book has helped me formulate what I really think about happiness and success in terms of children - what I really want for them. It's one of the most helpful books I've read recently and I think it's going to make a big difference in how I view these pressures and how I raise my kids.

In "The Trouble with Perfect" Dr. Guthrie offers a unique and much needed perspective on raising children in this modern age of competition to always be the best and have the best. Not only is this important book enlightening and refreshing in its content and message to parents, it is enjoyable, easy to read and funny while exploring serious and difficult topics. This book is a "must read" not only for parents, but for all adults who spend time and interact with today's children.

Kathy Matthews offers no-nonsense advice with a sense of humor. This how-to-parent-and-feel-good-about-yourself book is a must read. . .and, along with Jim Trelease's book on reading aloud to your children, will certainly become a standard baby shower gift from me in the coming years. Matthews speaks with the authority of a mother comfortable in her own skin--and with her own children. Brava, Ms. Matthews!

A remarkable first hand book that gives you insight in how to actually surrender yourself to the Lord, and how to fully come to know Him and experience Him in your heart. Through this you will find true peace in your soul. God is using Hannah Whitall Smith to deliver an important message. A must read for any Christian wanting to grow in their love relationship with Christ.

This book is one of the best in Christian literature. The main point the author brings across is that we can put all our trust in God and live in perfect peace knowing all is within God's abounding providence. I found it to be a blessing to read and I will probably read it over again and again in the future. It is full of spiritual insights and appeals to the mind as well as the heart. Hannah W. Smith maintains a victorious and glorious Christian life is not only attainable but God's purpose for us. Do yourself a big favour and read this book through. You will thank God afterwards.

Another great book is Brother Lawrence's "The Practice of the Presece of God". Both of them are life changing.

A remarkable first hand book that gives you insight in how to actually surrender yourself to the Lord, and how to fully come to know Him and experience Him in your heart. Through this you will find true peace in your soul. God is using Hannah Whitall Smith to deliver an important message. A must read for any Christian wanting to grow in their love relationship with Christ.

I have little that is critical to say about this book: I bought it with certain purposes in mind (to find a few authentic recipes for certain classic French dishes such as Coq au Vin which I first tasted in Manhattan in New York at a young age) and to find a few new ones for French HOME cooking (and not whatever is 'nouvelle cuisine,at that, about which I have only read, in any case), and it has more than fulfilled them. The recipe for Coq au Vin de Bourgogne (which I have yet to prepare but have read carefully and will be making before long), for example, is not just presented in a cut and dried fashion, but the instructions for what Elizbeth David calls "A typical Burgundian recipe, from the Cloche d'Or in Dijon", are given and then discussed by the author as to ways of proceeding, given the difficulties that she has noted, in practice, in making it. (In the case of this recipe she does not just say in her list of ingredients that is made with red wine, but specifies a sound red Burgundy, Beaujolais, or Macon. Since I had never made it, and had viewed making it with some trepidation, I appreciated the fact that not only has she included an obviously excellent recipe for it, but she has, in the course of her presentation and discussion, persuaded me that, even though I know I can't make it adequately well, perhaps if I pay attention to what she writes in this cookbook, and I just follow the(this) recipe(s), more or less, what results may be food which will be (just, at least?) good enough. Of course I was interested in her recipe for Boeuf à la Bourguiginone (which is something which, as of this time, I have yet to make, but had more than planned on cooking at this time, in that I had prepared it to the point at which it could be stored to be completed later, which became necessary, since I got into a car accident recently, and am still recovering from some trauma, so this wonderful dish has to wait until I am truly fine), which is is worth reading and paying attention to, although of that, I have others which are not to be dismissed either. A further remark or two. This cookbook has so many interesting recipes that I haven't had the time to read all that many of them (nor have I owned it that long). One section, not to be overlooked entirely, is on the preparation of vegetables, and I was grateful to read there not only a recipe or two for the lowly leek without its necessarily being the leek in leek and potato soup, or the same in just leek soup, but, the leek as, yes, a vegetable, in good standing, WITHOUT her calling it "the asparagus of the poor"!! Finally, there is a recipe for Escargots farcis for which I cannot find the 'ingredients' for in my area . The 'ingredients" I am referring to are BOTH the shells and the snails which were sold separately in a local chain supermarket in my neighborhood, years ago, on the upper East side of Manhattan. Unfortunately that supermarket is no longer there. I am glad that the recipe for Escargots is included in David's French Provincial Cooking (the cooking of the various regions and provinces of France, not just Provence, is discussed in her wonderful introduction, followed the recipes from the same), since I hope to find them here at a later date. This cookbook, then, is quite a find for me, and it will continue to be in times to come. To some extent this review is premature because I have not actually made, or even read, all that I would like to of her recipes yet, but it seems to be that time anyway, which means that already this has proved to be a wonderfully helpful cookbook (if , for example, you know how to make mayonnaise but haven't done so for a while, and need help, and even calming, along the way, what she has to say in this cookbook is well worth reading and may even help you with all of that), which I highly recommend.

In 1968, twenty years before I wrote "At Home With The French Classics", two books started me on my lifelong quest for raising ones appreciation and enjoyment of fine food. The Foods & Wines of France, by Roy Andries De Groot and Elizabeth David's French Provencal Cooking gave me an understanding of French food and cooking that has stayed with me ever since. Elizabeth David writes recipes that you can taste and smell while reading. You can see the color of the vegetables and the slow simmering of sauces, and you are inspired to cook. Anyone who is interested in French food should make this book mandatory reading.

What I wanted was a book of unfussy French recipes to be done in 15 minutes. What I got was a book with no list of ingredients, no photos, no color, and "a useful dish for those who have to get a dinner ready when they get home from the office" taking 3 hours to cook (Daube de Boeuf Provencale). Obviously, it seemed, I had made the wrong choice.

On further reading, however, what unfolded was something beyond a "cookbook," and ultimately more useful. This is a superb book. French Provincial Cooking should be approached and read as a series of short stories, as well written and evocative as the best literature. The voice is highly personal and opinionated, sometimes sharp and catty, but always true and ultimately sympathetic. It is always entertaining.

And the recipes, it turns out, are less intimidating than at first glance. Most importantly, they work if your aim is to produce the most excellent food imaginable. There is nothing slick here, no L.A. hype or N.Y. blah blah blah, and obviously, they have been tried and perfected; what initially seem to be annoying details (e.g., for omelettes, eggs "should not really be beaten at all, but stirred," whereas for scrambled eggs, they should be "very well beaten") are actually secrets not to be skipped, that elevate a good dish to a superb one. The lesson is that good food should be done simply, but it takes care, attention to detail, and frequently, time.

I find these recipes don't stint on the butter, cream, and wine, making them seem a little frumpy, but every one I've tried has been delicious. Ratatouille, salade Nicoise, terrinee de porc, piperade are all the best I've had. It doesn't get much better than this. Deserts are a model of simplicity and elegance; peaches with sugar and white wine; bananas with sugar, kirsch, and cream; pineapple with kirsch. These ARE easy, and thankfully, E. David had the self-confidence to actually put them down in a book.

French Provincial Cooking is superb in all ways. It's the real thing!