Books

The English Country Kitchen

HUZZAH!

My latest cookbook,

.The English Country Kitchen

is here! At long last it’s out and waiting to take it’s place on your cookbook library shelves. This book contains 250 delicious recipes that I gathered during the ten years that I spent traveling the English countryside; from Lands End, in the south-west corner of Cornwall, to the Roman wall in north.

These are comfortable, homey, country recipes, recipes that are family friendly and hearty. These are recipes guaranteed to please that wee bit of country squire that lurks deep down inside each of us; recipes that conjure up the comfortable images we enjoyed while reading “Wind in the Willows,” “Winnie the Pooh,” “Alice in Wonderland,” and the “Chronicles of Narnia.” You will find recipes to help you host an English Tea, a Hunt Breakfast, a punting picnic, a Mystery Evening or a Harry Potter dinner.

Plowman's Lunch and a pint of good ale

Who says the English don’t eat vegies?

Mystery fans will find recipes that Lord Peter Wimsey, Miss Marpel and Hercule Poirot would have enjoyed. You can make a Hobbit seedy cake and reminisce about the Cratchet’s Christmas dinner. Here are delicious recipes gathered from the width and breadth of the English countryside and over 500 years of English history. And you will find more than recipes. This book is liberally seasoned with delicious bits of folk lore, trivia, history and adventure. This book will turn around any pre conceived ideas you may have about English food.

Jubilee Pie

And remember, if you order your copy through the Amazon search engine you find here, you will be helping to maintain this website, because I will receive a small percentage of the sale. I receive a small percentage of any purchase you make through that search engine, whether it’s one of my books or not. It doesn’t even have to be a book. Thank you.

Afternoon Tea Banbury Cakes Trifle, Strawberry Ring, Roly-poly

Give Books

The English Country Kitchen

THE

ENGLISH COUNTRY KITCHEN

Tooting my own horn:

After 30 years of writing cookbooks, my first piece of fiction has finally been published.“Valley of Zin” is a culinary Mystery set in the heart of the Sonoma Valley wine country, and as you may have guesses, revolves around the production of Zinfandel.

My other books include:

ARIBA: Vegetarian and Vegan Southwest Recipes (scheduled for release soon)

Artichoke Extravaganza 2009

The English Country Kitchen - 2009

Absolutely Avocado - 2006

Cake Mix Classics - 2006

Retro Fiesta - 2005

Some Like It Hotter - 1986

A is for Codawada - 1978

They are available through Amazon. To find books on Amazon you may use this search tool. Thanks oodles.

It’s never too early for kids to learn to cook. My own three were in the kitchen and cooking by the time they were five. By the time they were ten they were cooking real meals and were a real help when I was preparing for a party; and I don’t mean finding them things to do so they could feel like they had helped, I mean a real help, in fact I couldn’t have gotten by very well without them. They were able to fold won ton, roll dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), prep vegetables and knead bread dough. In fact I can go so far as to say that they were about the only people who really were a help to me in the kitchen – because I had trained them. And consider this, if your kids have helped to make it, they are more likely to eat it.

Give Books:

Books are the best gift you can give a young person. Books don’t need batteries. Books don’t have calories.

Why give books? Because the state of literacy among young people in the United States is in a shocking state. I took a seminar about children’s literacy a few years ago and was appalled by some of the information I learned. Did you know that by the time the average child in the United States is five years old, he has watches T.V. for as many hours as it takes to get a PHD? That is appalling. And that is why I am urging you to give books, not battery operated toys, not gift certificates to a burger palace, not the latest CD or DVD, but books. And I truly don’t care where you buy them. Yes, it would be beneficial to me if you went to Amazon though my site because that way I will get a small percent of the sale; however, the really important thing is that books get into the hands of young people. Buy them at a used book store or thrift store if necessary, but wherever you get them, give the kids on your gift list books.

Oh yes, turn off the T.V. after dinner and read to your kids, even older kids. As St. Martha would say, "This is a good thing."

One of my all time favorite books is “The Wind in the Willows.” I highly recommend it for the young and the young at heart. When life is a bit too stressful and I need to go to a quieter, more peaceful place for a spell, I pick up my well worn copy of The Wind in the Willows and join Ratty and Mole on the river for a picnic. If you can find a copy of the classic edition illustrated by Arthur Rackham, so much the better, but it will most likely be quite expensive.