Karyl Bannister's "Cook & Tell" is a cookbook with recipes culled from her much-loved culinary newsletter by the same name. It bears the same homey, happy tone and the same simple, yummy recipes. Most importantly of all, the contents are aimed squarely at the real cooks in the world--the folks food writers Jane and Michael Stern term on the back cover "not trend-setters or celebrity chefs, but real people who worry about making tender pork chops for supper and moist chocolate cake for birthday parties."

You never know what you're going to find here, as many of the recipes were shared by readers of Bannister's newsletter. So prepare yourself for the intriguing idea of cooking fish on the top rack of the dishwasher ("all the cycles!") as detailed on p. 180, or for the "you can't have too much stuff!" tenet in evidence in such recipes as Pear Upside-Down Chocolate Cake and One-of-Each Soup. But it's all good, and many of the recipes are accompanied with testimonials from Bannister's loyal audience who proclaim just about every recipe to be nothing short of mouth-watering.

Bannister's own lean line drawings illustrate the book, and they are as much a pleasure to look at as the recipes are to make. This is a winner for any home cook.

I bought this for my mom, and she ADORES this book. She uses it all the time. I couldn't give you more info, other then the fact that she's 54, and adores it, and your mom will too! ~Andy

From the creative artwork adorning each recipe to the understandable, easy-to-follow cooking directions, I enjoyed this cookbook from cover to cover. I found that I could make most of the dishes with a minimum of fuss and what's more, they taste great! I would definitely recommend this for the beginning cook as well as those of us who are more accomplished. It was a pleasure to read just for the sake of reading and it also makes a great gift.

I love to cook, and entertain my clients quite frequently with interesting and unique recipes. Therefore, I am always looking for fantastic new recipes, but don't always know exactly what a certain ingredient might be. This book explains a lot about ingredients you might not use often, but may be necessary for that great recipe. The descriptions are succinct and easily understood, and I now take the book with me while shopping for an "exotic" (meaning, I may never have used it before -- it may be commonplace to some other cook) ingredient. The pictures really help you know what you're looking for and how to know if it's fresh, etc. Required text for anyone who loves to cook with flair!

I have used this reference again and again from looking up curious spices to distinguishing chile peppers. A must for every cooks "display" as it intrigues even those who are not interested in cooking at all! We love the photographs and presentation!

terrific photgraphs and summaries...easy to use..extremely informativ

Ross and I met at the NAB Radio Show in August 1999. He had just given a performance for the convention. We discussed how both our wives had decided to change their lifestyles. Very funny & practical book. That really is his body on the cover!

A friend of mine brought this book out at a party and we all roared. It actually shamed one man into cooking for the first time. She got it from Ross at a comedy club in San Francisco. I want to see the video. Very cool.

I bought this book by comedian Ross Shafer (hos of match Game, Fox Late Show, Almost Live) and I heard it is being reprinted by Miramar Productions and that a video is also coming out. It's fun to get for your husband. And thepictures of Ross are cute too.

If you have children of your own read this book. As I read Cookin' at Cook's I was struck with emotions, as a Father myself I do not know how I would react to my children going through the trials that this child went through. I can say that after reading this book it was comical at times trying to understand how a child might view this world we live and how the faith of a child can and will change the hearts and souls of those around them. I would recommend this book to anyone who is suffering from a illness or handy-cap that has been diagnosed as a situation without hope....

Cookin' At Cook is one of those rare books that inspire me as a therapist to obtain several copies to give to clients who are involved in a tragic situation and need guidance and inspiration to find a way to survive creatively.

Jim McClelland has magically entered the mid of an infant and, with empathy born of love, has enabled him to tell his story. This book is a real treat for those of us who love children and their parents.

I have never been very religious, but would consider myself spiritual. To your credit, I have felt a renewed interest/need in exploring my religious self again.

This book has everything a reader could ask - good loving, good characters, good times all round. A double dose of the Cook brothers is just what the doctor ordered. I can't wait to see what Molly O'Keefe cooks up next.

Imagine my excitement to see that Molly O'Keefe authored both books in this Duet! After reading her previous book in an earlier Duet, I was hooked and have been looking for her ever since. Her storylines are both fastpaced and funny, with just the right amount of va-va-voom! And the characters...drool... I'm so glad she chose to continue the stories of the gorgeous Cook brothers and tell us what happened to the other two. Both stories play on the brothers' specific personalities and the novels manage to avoid the trap that so many fall into: reading an overused plot that repeats a previous book. I hope to see more from this author. Her unique writing style has hooked me back into reading these books...I guarantee that you will be singing the praises of BOTH books in this Duet.

I loved the characters and the humor in these books.

Carol Finch's story takes place on a stress management ranch. Our hero's sisters have arranged for their regimented, in-a-rut older brother to be taken there for an enforced two week vacation. Without his electronics and his routine, he is lost and is *not* a happy camper. Soon though, his long-dormant instincts revive, much to his chagrin. This fish-out-of-water story humorously tells of one man's return to life and the unlikely woman who instigates it. It's an amusing, romantic and well-written tale.

A working ranch in Montana is the setting for Molly O'Keefe's story about a social worker from Los Angeles who brings a South Central gang wannabe there for a summer out of his normal enviroment. This program is her brain child and she's determined for it to succeed. Little does she know that she'll be the one seduced by the ranch and its inhabitants, specifically its emotionally scarred foreman. The main characters had emotional depth and the secondary characters were nicely developed. The humor, sexual attraction and romance were well done. This is apparently Ms. O'Keefe's first book and it is an excellent beginning. Here's hoping she keeps on writing and gives us more stories about the Cook family of Montana!

Is this the first book by Molly O'Keefe? If so, I eagerly look forward to more work from this writer. Her vivid characters will remind every reader of some individual from her own life. It's nice to see a writer effectively inject so many humorous scenes amidst the sexy ones - and the sexy ones really got my pulse racing! I hope she keeps writing about the Cooks - I'd love to see what happens with the two younger brothers in the family! Yummy!

For readers both old and new, this book is a must-read!

I liked the Carol Finch story best of the two, though I liked them both. Mr. Predictable has a kind of hero I really like. He is uptight and needs to let go to his real feelings. Only the heroine can get to him, and once he lets go, he is really hot.

In Molly O'Keefe's Too Many Cooks, I liked the plot of the hero's family working as matchmakers - I'm a big fan of matchmaker plots. I like the way the heroine was very big on helping people, especially kids. Like the hero of Mr. Predictable, she was also a character who needed to lighten up, and falling in love with the hero really helped her. I like this with either hero or heroine as a theme.

Very sexy, funny book!

If you're from the Mainland and have visited Kaua'i, you are no doubt still haunted by its charms - this book will bring you right back. The photography is wonderful.

My wife and I have been to Kauai several times and have not, until now, been able to fully relate to friends on the Mainland the awesome, magical sensation that is Kauai. This collection of embracing color photographic art does just that and even more. Absolutely phenominal color photography. Panoramic, comprehensive and select Island views that truly capture the magnificient beauty that is uniquely Kauai; unspoiled, tropical island paradise. If you've been there, this book will vicariously return you; If you haven't been there, well, this is the second best place to experience "da kine" Garden Isle. Aloha!

I really enjoyed seeing the towns, instead of all the usual scenic things, like those unavailable westside beaches. I had spent 6 weeks over there after hurricane Iniki working and had driven to so many areas that it was nice to see where I had driven from the air. I liked seeing where roads went from a new perspective and the towns like Kapaa where I lived near, and Wailua, etc.

Just when it seemed there was nothing else to be said about southern cooking, Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock print this outrageously wonderful book. All your favorite Southern recipes and then some are here-- from pimento cheese to pigs' feet to pecan pie to pound cake. This book is far more than a collection of recipes, however. There are tips on everything from the best cornmeal to use for different cornbreads to the use of peanut oil versus homemade lard. Most importantly, this book is the story of a friendship that transcends generations and race and distance.

The color photographs by Christopher Hirsheimer are exquisite. Many of them approach art--particularly the photos of fruits and vegetables-- and should be enlarged and framed. This cookbook opens with the famous Scarlett O'Hara line: "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again." She would if she read this cookbook.

A great book to give to both those who cook and those who don't or to anyone interested in the rich heritage of Southern cooking.

Being from the south myself, I can truthfully state that this book is quinissential true southern cooking. No fluff, no fancy additions to simple pure dishes - this book includes straightforward and delicious earthy southern food recipes. The recipe for fried chicken alone is worth the price. Anyone who relishes hearty dishes dictated by the seasons and the harvest on the southern farm will be richly rewarded here. I own 30 or so cookbooks, but this one is by far my favorite. And the stories from the authors are wonderful.

This book is the best thing that has happened to me all summer. The book is a pleasure to read and all the recipes I've tried work. It's about the joy of preparing good, simple foods and the real gift of feeding people. Yummm.

Let me start out by saying that an excellent starter book on FEA has yet to be written. It's a frustrating situation, but we'll have to live with it for now. Cook has the foundation for a really good book here. He does a decent job of explaining element formulations and their limitations without bringing on endless pages of variational calculus that we're all sick of seeing in FEA books.

But the book needs more development. What engineers want is a book that will give the BASIC mathematical foundations, and then get on with showing how to DO finite element analysis. That was the attempt of Adams and Askenazi's book, "Building Better Products with Finite Element Analysis", but unfortunately it came across as overly-simplified and lacking in specifics (too much fluff, and not enough meat).

In contrast, Cook zeros in on the core material without wasting words. Problem is, the material comes across in a cursory manner without the development it deserves. The author frequently broaches complex topics, and then gives insufficient discussion to clarify them. I'm sure he understands them, but the rest of us need a little more explanation, in layman's terms, with examples.

In summary, the book needs more... more real world problems; more examples on how to avoid pitfalls in applying boundary conditions; more useful discussion on contact analysis; more quantitative information on how fine to make a mesh. Sure, we all know that hex elements are better than tets, but how much better? Roughly how many hex elements per 90 degrees of arc are required to get sufficient accuracy for hex-8s, tet-4s, and tet-10s? I realize there are no exact answers to these questions, but surely there are rules of thumb that practicing engineers use, because most practicing engineers don't have time to run 10 different mesh refinements and do a convergence analysis.

I apologize if I sound like I'm venting, which I am, but if you don't find any of this helpful, just remember what you paid for it.

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Every FE analyst NEEDS to know the content in this book, because as the author points out, FE modeling is much more than mere meshing and pre-preprocessing. It's nothing fancy, just a numerical method for the solution and the rest of the process, knowing the problem theoretically and conceptually is much more important than pretty pictures. A MUST HAVE for every FE analyst.

Taking Chineese, Greek and Roman cooking influences, Smith ofTV fame brings forth an offering which resembles the James Beard books which provide not only great recipes but a running commentary on the culture which produces the food and some experience remembrances by the author.

This is fun cooking and well done. Well representative of the cuisines and done with helpful hints on each.

A workhorse for the cook willing to use it to branch out and experiement in these formative areas of food history. For openers, try Spareribs with Black Beans and Pepper Sauce, Halvah Cake or the Seafood Risotto.

My humble opinion is that Roman cooking is slighted out of the three. See Malto Mario for some great Rome recipes.

This book by Jeff Smith has to be my favorite one that he has written. This book focuses on recipes from China, Greece, and Rome. The recies in this book are flavorful, and very enjoyable. My favorite recipe in here is strangely enough Garlic, Eggs, and Pasta. There is a wide range in recipes, both in flavors and ingredients. Jeff Smith does an excellent job of paring history as well as anecdotes with all of his recipes. This should be a must add for anyone who enjoys historical cooking.

Whenever I entertain my Greek relatives, they are amazed by my flair in their native cooking. Jeff's recipes are easy to follow and make Greek cooking simple.