i purchased this book based on the on-site reviews. although it must have worked for some, not this cook. i enjoy the kitchen a lot and consider myself pretty good at it --- just a bit bored and restless with my current menus. this was just way too stuffy. or perhaps the new phrase is "way too martha". yick. the menus are dated and boring. oh well, i tried.

The photos in this book are really gorgeous and the recipes do work. However -- there is NO WAY one person could make any of the full menus in just an hour! I would say that each individual dish takes at least an hour -- doing a whole Martha menu is a major undertaking. Another problem -- many of the ingredients are hard to find (even in the sophisticated greater Boston area!) and she relies heavily on fresh herbs in practically every recipe, which is just not practical for me. Not only is fresh sorrel unavailable in any store I know of, but even sorrel SEEDS, so you can grow your own sorrel, are hard to find!

I didn't know how to cook to save my life when I bought this book...this and the Silver Palate cookbook were the first I ever used. I found the recipes here easy, and have had great results...the only downsides are that some of the ingredients are expensive and hard-to-find if you don't live in a major city, and, even 10 years later, they still take longer than an hour to prepare.

But who cares? I'm a sucker for cookbooks with lots of glossy photographs, and I don't care what anyone thinks, I love Martha. If you do, too, then you will enjoy this book.

This is my first Martha Stewart book. I like her shows, and have previously tried two of her recipes (made one myself, tasted someone else's) which I both liked. The recipes in this book looked enticing and not too complicated. But the amounts and cooking times are off. There is so little fat that you are not frying or baking, yet not enough liquid to stew. So food burns easily. Nothing gets salted until the very end, and thus is not as tasty as it could be. If you cook with perfect, freshest ingredients (which Martha always recommends), maybe the results will be better. But I do not live in Napa Valley, and my ingredients, even those bought in expensive organic supermarkets, don't do the trick. Want healthy *and* tasty? Get Jacques Pepin.

I was disappointed in this book...Had high hopes....not really "healthy" recipes, imo, and the recipes are un-appealing. I've seen way better health-conscious cookbooks, shocked to see Martha miss on this one!!

Typical to a Martha enterprise, this book is well-conceived, thoughtful, and gorgeously produced. It contains a wide variety of meals, arranged according to season. This concept allows the cook to find recipes for foods that are fresh in the market and make the most of what is in peak flavor. The recipes include familiar dishes with new twists and unique dishes that tempt. Unfortunately, the recipes seem not to have been tested adequately, as sometimes the amounts were off or the cooking times were wrong. This seems to be a problem in some of the recipes presented in the Martha Stewart Living magazine. Also, ... not all of these dishes are exactly quick. The criticism about underseasoning in the dishes is valid; final products were at times quite bland. In a cookbook de-emphasizing fats, use of herbs, spices, and seasonings becomes important. For an experienced cook with a critical eye, this may be a source for ideas. ...

The following books are better in my opinion:

The Lady & Sons Just Desserts: More Than 120 Sweet Temptations from Savannah's Favorite Restaurant, Somersize Desserts, Unbelievable Desserts With Splenda: Sweet Treats Low in Sugar, Fat and Calories.

I especially liked some of the low fat desserts because I do not want to get fat like Martha.

the recipes had hard to find ingredients, and they werent very good in my opinion,

I bought this book for my husband's aunt and am now buying a copy for myself - I already tried one recipe and aside from the fact that the brownies burned around the edges, they were delicious. The beautiful photos are inspiring. My complaint? Martha seems to consistently omit ingredients from her recipes - later writing a note in the next mag issue, apologizing for the omission. I question as to why the oven temp was so high for this recipe so buyer beware - double check all the ingredients and watch that oven!

Martha has proven once again that her books are NOT for those who have a modest and realistic budget for their wedding. The price of her book is the indication. Don't bother spending $75 for her book full of old ideas, go out and window shop at your local bridal show. Looking for timeless ideas? You can look somewhere else for a lot cheaper price.

Gaby deLourdes-Renoir reviews(a Top-10 Amazon.com reviewer) made us love Martha Steward books. "Wedding" is full of extraordinary pictures. You just dream you were there! Will your daughter ever know such beautiful moments? Martha Steward helps you to think "yes" as an answer. Just because she explains you how to cut into small pieces a huge "wedding-cake" (the wedding party you will have to organize). Chapters are divided into specific subjects that can easily be handled by one specific responsible in your family. In the "lightning" chapter, you will discover through artistic (and useful) pictures how to create a cheap impressive range of lights in the garden with yellow paper bags and ordinary candles. All chapters include bright ideas for beautiful people (like you and me...). I love books that make me feel "I can do it". Especially when they show me beautiful people a a help in the identification process.

I always manage to find some idea in all of Martha Stewart's books that I can make my own. I have used the wedding books to make both anniversary and wedding cakes and find the instructions to be detailed and easy to follow. Everyone raves about my chocolate cake with chocolate curls, both taken from the instructions for the groom's cake. My son is getting married soon and we have kept the wedding costs for below $3000.00, including the caterer, by using many of the ideas I have gotten from this book!

ALl I have to say about this book is one thing: It's a shame an art-driven publisher like Clarkson Potter would allow an ugly cover like this to bear their logo. Obvious last-minute slap job of magazine scrap pieces. What a waste of money.

I am a Martha Stewart fan, but this book disturbed me with its creepy pastels and white motif that pervaded the book. This sucked the Christmas spirit right out of me. I do yearn for the deep rich colors and and old money feel that were the Martha of yore. Now everything is post-divorce bright minimalist.

If you subscribe to the magazine you will be very disappointed. Most of the projects are articles directly out of the past couple years' Winter issues. If you don't subscribe, you will enjoy the book. It's a scam for true Martha devotees.

I tried to prepare a few dinners using this and the meals tasted lousy. I think she lost her touch due to her ethical and legal problems. There are better boooks out there.

This cookbooks provides you with the recipes from the entire year of Marta Stewart Living magazines. Since I have used many of those recipes from her magazine, I found having them all compiled in one volume much more convenient (even though I have every issue the book covers).

For rave reviews, try the guacamole recipe. It is by far the top requested item for me to bring to a gathering!

Overall, a great book.

This cookbook's tantalizing recipes and mouthwatering photos are irresistable. It even inspired my husband to cook something other than linguine for the first time. Last night, he successfully followed the recipe for mint and pistachio leg of lamb and it was flawless. Thank you Martha for bringing divine meals from another universe to our home in this gorgeous and accessible cookbook . It has everything I could ever want to eat and hopefully everything my husband wants to cook! Tonight, cornflake-encrusted chicken!

Try Carolyn Bell's book, Gooseberry Patch Old-Fashioned Country Christmas: A Holiday Keepsake of Recipes, Traditions, Homemade Gifts, Decorating Ideas & Favorite Childhood by Vickie Hutchins or the wonderful Gooseberry Patch series of books which are delightful. I always love the Gooseberry books.

I tried a few and it took hours to do. I guess I need the staff she has on her show. I think you can do better.

Though the piano music is not useful for me (don't have a piano), I like seeing the acutal words to the Christmas songs, and believe their presentation in the book, with burnished corners and pretty fonts, greatly enhances the product. As for the crafts that go with these traditional songs, they are a joy to behold, and not all that difficult or time consuming to make.

Martha's books are by far better a product than her "By Mail" or "Catalogue for Living" kits, so if you're interested in putting out some money to have beautifully elegant Christmas decorations like her own, go with the book and assemble your own materials.

This book chronicles the renovation/restoration that Martha Stewart completed on a historic New England farmhouse. It is very specific about many of the tasks that she completed, and gives some general how-to information (how to hire a contractor, create a landscape design, etc). I was disappointed because I was looking for ideas to restore and renovate my "new old house" and didn't really find much inspiration here. Much of the decorating revolved around painting murals and designs on the floor, which is something that I don't plan on doing. If you are planning a major renovation project to a large, historic home, this book might be a good starting place but I wouldn't rely on it for all of my information. Although it didn't really help me with my specific plans, it was an interesting, sometimes sketchy, read.

This book is to home improvement, what a Rolls Royce is to the automobile world. Everything is done in grand style, for instance, the fences in her gardens are all hand made. She uses genuine copperleaf to spruce up a flight of stairs that no one will ever see, due to location. This book is big, literally, bold, beautiful and luscious in every way, except practicality

Just like her "Quick Cook" book, the "Menus" book has fabulous photos and recipes that do work, but each RECIPE takes at least a full hour; there is no way one person could do a whole menu in an hour unless he/she had six arms. Also, like the other book, many of the ingredients are hard to find, and almost all of the recipes call for fresh herbs (and you can tell that dried herbs just wouldn't work).

How can a new book look this old? It's the same old sagey, seafoamy greens and pale yellows that Martha has pushed for, like, 20 years now. I like Martha, but I was assuming that her new book would be about new colors that are more on trend than this. I'm disappointed.

please, if you regularly buy martha stewart living magazines, DON'T bother buying this book. unless of course you want to see more of the same, but packaged altogether with nice binding and a deceptively original cover. it's not even actually "more" of the same, but actually "the same" -- this is a compilation of reproductions, old stuff that was published over the years. not too fresh, and particularly aggravating to someone who's a subscriber.

My husband and I are at the tail end of redecorating our house and this book came out just in time to help me plan the color scheme for our sunroom (I love the celadon color scheme). I only wish I'd had this book before decorating my other rooms. (I keep looking at my white ceilings now and wishing I'd painted them a color!) Anyone who loves the sophisticated understated monotone color schemes that are one of Martha's trademarks will find this "best of" book a useful addition to their decorating collection.