I've been cooking for almost 20 years (in university, I lived with two guys who couldn't boil water without detailed instructions, so I did all the cooking), and I've successfully pulled off small-scale dinner parties (up to 8 people). So I know which end of a melon-baller to use.

I still found this book helpful - it demystified some things, and gave me a few new ideas - and a few more rave reviews at Easter dinner!

The only thing this book lacks (and it's probably too big a topic to cover) would be a brief examination of some of the more popular spices, what flavours they impart, and what foods they go best in/with.

VERY strongly recommended!!!

I picked this book out of the bargain books bin and it has been the BEST cookbook I've every used. It explains things well, but the recipes show you that you CAN have simple food that tastes outstanding. I will buy every book this woman writes!

I loved this book. I had been cooking for years, but this book offered a lot of practical advice and great recipes. For beginners, you delve right into preparing delicious meals right from the start. I intend to buy this book for my daughter.

McClain has fashioned a highly detailed, sophisticated, and complex history of Japan from 1603 to the present. The historiography is superb (he obviously is totally bilingual and is fluent in Japanese sources). The history is both descriptive (chronological, social, political, economic, family/personal) as well as analytic (how social structure affected the rise of industrial society, for example). The overall effect is to make Japanese history clear and comprehensible. The people of Japan stand out in distinct relief.

I was puzzled that the Boston Globe reviewer was much cooler toward this book than I think most readers are or will be. McClain's history will stand the test of time.

I am not writing a review in fact. But I can't find anywhere else here to ask my question: What is the difference between the college edition and hardcover ed.? There is no info on this.

If you are looking for an excellent resource on the history of Japan in the past 4 centuries, I recommend this book highly. It does an excellent job in tracing the tortuous path that wove from Japan's feudal fiefdom society to the current modern parliamentary democracy. In addition to the governmental and military matters that are generally covered, there is notable space dedicated to the arts and the contributions of women, peasants and others not normally found in history books. The maps and illustrations are adequate, and do help to support the text. Highly Recommended.

This cookbook not only gives you wonderful (easy) recipes, but also an insight to Southern Gospel Music. They are also donating a portion of the proceeds to the Southern Gospel Music Museum which I think is really generous!!

It's a great cookbook in the 'Southern Dinner on the Grounds' tradition -- great photos and trivia about Gospel Music legends including Bill and Gloria Gaither, Mark Lowry and the late J. D. Sumner and Brock Speer. A book with those great southern recipies alone is worth the price, but with this book you get photos, stories and more. Worth every penny!

This cookbook has some fabulous recipes. I have been cooking for about 19 years and this book is one of my favorites (I have a collection of over 75 cookbooks). The recipes vary from the challenging and the complex to the very simple that you can whip together when there are time constraints. Really popular at a recent potluck was a chocolate cherry cake recipe that was deceptively simple and yet was a hit with all who tried it. There is also many bits of interesting information and trivia about gospel music personalities. There are fantastic pictures of your favorite stars throughout the cookbook. The personality of the artists is expressed by descriptions of why this is their favorite recipe before each recipe is presented. This is an excellent book for either personal use or as a gift.

How this woman was able to take on the voice of a 13-year-old kid from the inner city just amazes me. This book deserves to get a lot more attention that it has. It stayed with me long after I was finished, and I shed more than one tear along the way. Teresa McClain-Watson had me wanting to adopt this kid!

I am a teacher who plans on teaching this book to high school students. When I read an excerpt from Chapter Two to 10th graders, they were hungry for more. Though this book may be scorned by some parents because of its use of profanity, it is a raw revelation of a young teenager's inner feelings towards a dad who rejected him. The protagonist's feelings are complex and often he is torn by an inner conflict that must infect most boys who yearn for their daddies' love. A MUST!

I thought Plenty Good Room was magnificent. The characters made me laugh, cry and remember. Poor Bay Dawson tried so hard! But, alas, his reunion with his father was not as he had hoped. Teresa McClain-Watson is an excellent writer. I enjoy the book thoroughly!

Indispensable for answering those political trivia questions that float into awareness late at night. Who WAS the first [woman, African American, Hispanic, Asian, gay/lesbian] to hold important office in a particular locale? The answers are in this book. Knowing the names, times and places, it's fascinating to imagine what it must have been like for these courageous American political pioneers.

Women and Minorities in American Politics

An impressive collection of information. From the very first paragraph, that a women voted in the New World in 1655, yes 1655, in the colonies by right of land ownership, to the last modest note, requests for additional information, it is a mine of golden information. There is information on women, nationalities, there are lists of first in the nation, first states and first women. This is undoubtedly a book that all researchers into gender and minority issues will want to reference and likely have on hand.

In addition to being informative it is well written with a sly sense of humor that will appeal in sometimes an appalling way. Discover the only congressmen be eaten by wild animals, he was not in office at the time. More relevantly he was working as a coal miner when it happened. That may not be such a bad change of occupation. Discover which state first allowed women to vote and why elected officials, all men, revoked their privilege.

Sadly it seems too small, for a nation over 200 years old we can only list 300 pages of women and minorities in politics. It should be a long as Who's Who.

I am currently reading this book for the second time. McClain discusses in easy-to-understand language God's unraveling plan of kingdom rule on earth. This book is definite reading to gain an understanding of the Old Testament covenants and their relation to Jesus Christ as "Mediatorial" King. In addition, McClain sheds light on the unique post-Pentecost era as a time of a reoffer to Israel of her promised Old Testament kingdom blessings through repentance and faith in Christ. This rejected, the Gentiles become members of the "ekklesia" or church. The Pauline epistles become, then, the outlaying of God's gradual revelation of the "mystery" or Church Age... which is closed at the "rapture." Israel's promised blessings, then, await a period of tribulation after which Christ will forcefully reenter history and take world power in a "Second Advent." McClain closes the book with an appendix on "Spirituality in the Kingdom" wherein he identifies Platonic Dualism as the main reason many Christians reject a literal millenial kingdom in the future. McClain convincingly shows that such Greek concepts are not found in scripture. Interesting, fun reading that makes you think throughout the day what you have read.

This book gives a wonderful, comprehensive picture of the plan of God throughout Scripture. Rather than being a stuffy book on Theology, this book excites as Mclain takes the reader on a tour through the Bible showing God's action in and through history. It will excite you to see God's plan in bringing His Kingdom. It will make you long to be a part of God's coming Kingdom.

i just wish it was still in print because i hate buying things off of the interenet. because the of the waiting part. but i can wait. any one who is finnished with the bigging part of learning japanese, you must buy this book.

This wonderful text covers so many words and phrases that are missing from basic Japanese training. The sections on verb-following and noun-following expressions are invaluable. The abstract words that nevertheless are crucial in everyday speech are here. I'm not very articulate tonight, but I am so glad I stumbled across this book (ordered it here but found it in a new Borders by luck). I wish the author would write a workbook to go with it. Very, very helpful, even for a low intermediate speaker like me. (An English-Japanese index would be a good addition to the next edition.)

I love this book. I also own the original Now You're Cooking. Elaine Corn gives great instructions, tips and the recipes are wonderful. I have used her books countless times when having company. I especially like the fact that she tells you the order of preparation and how to time everything. These books are great for college grads or brides. And the Chocolate chip cookie recipe in the Now You're Cooking book is the BEST.

I love this book! I have 'Now You're Cooking' as well and they are the two most used books in my collection. The recipes are for good, simple, full flavor meals. If you weren't raised in the chicken it can be daunting learning to cook, especially if you don't want to live off of boxed/canned foods. If you know someone moving out on their own, off to college, whatever, get this for them. It is fantastic!

If you want to understand the racism which divided and continues to divide people of this nation even in their churches, then you need to read this book. Written by a man who was close to Dr. Martin Luther King and deeply involved in the struggle against racism, this book tells the fascinating history of the Black Church formed within the Methodist Church and its role today.

This book is a great place to start for beginers of a Zen way of living. Its to the point. Zen living is covered for every aspect of your life. The authors put much time into making the basic understanding of Zen very easy to comprehend. Numerous ideas and excercises really put you into an understanding of what is wrong,why it's wrong and how to fix it through a Zen way of living. From work to creativity to just walking down the street this book will help.
Now I feel I can expand my Zen life style having learned the basic's. In the now.

I have been studying Zen off and on for years but was continually frustrated by the relentless obscurantism. On several occasions I asked questions on Zen newsgroups and was disappointed when people would answer my questions with riddles. Also, when I asked a Zen Roshi to answer some questions (even offering to pay him for his time) I found myself railroaded into taking his beginner's course a second time! I began to suspect that there are a lot of people out there who are so attached to some FORM of Zen that they have lost the ability to communicate the essentials in a compelling manner. They asked me, in effect, to "just have faith", perhaps inspired by their reports of bliss.

Sorry, but I've been there, done that! If you can't explain your valuable insight without a modicum of understanding of who I am and what I can grasp, then I'm not interested.

That's why I found "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Zen Living" (hereinafter TCIGTZL), so very refreshing. While I'm sure that some Zen purists will scoff, I was happy to have some perplexing questions answered. For example, I once asked on a Zen newsgroup, "What is the benefit of Zen? Why should I entrust the next 20 years of my life to some teacher whose qualifications I'm not able to assess?" In response, I got a lot of Zentastic blathering. It was as if they were trying to teach somebody calculus before arithmetic.

TCIGTZL, on the other hand, lays out the benefits quite clearly. I fail to see the harm in that; the authors carefully explain the "goaless goal" aspect of Zen, so there should be little danger of readers striving to attain and cling to those benefits. (If I may draw an analogy: you can explain the advantages of learning to read without getting people fixated on the actual process once they acquire the skill.)

So, at last, a bit of clarity! While Zen has long appealed to me at a gut level, I was getting to the point where I was asking, "After hundreds of years, why hasn't Zen improved its method of introducing itself to neophytes?" Maybe that's not fair -- maybe I wasn't looking in the right places -- but until I found TCIGTZL I was starting to think that I'd been wrong about Zen all along.

TCIGTZL does include a lot of material that is perplexing. I expected that. I also expect to find my future exploration of Zen frustrating. Now, though, I've read an accessible overview. I won't keep the book -- that would be too "clingy" -- but at least I now have some validation of my initial (favourable) gut reaction to Zen.

This book is just great. I have purchased numerous books on Zen and researched Buddhism on the internet. This book more than allot of others, really gets down to the practical nuts and bolts of how to apply Zen concepts to everyday life.

The section on your personal dukkha (anxiety & fear) and the worry myths are excellent! I have incorporated many of the ideas into my life with success. I also liked the history of how Zen came to America and evolved from the 60's and the "flower children". You are not going to get allot of technical jargon and heavy philosophical concepts. There is a good glossary and appendix at the end for further reading about that stuff, if you want to seek it out.

I am doing just that. This book has really given me a great understanding of what Zen is and how to apply it, while whetting my appetite for more. I want to study more about the Zen sutra's and traditonal teachings, but at least I am on my way to actually living Zen, while learning more about it. This is "the book" to begin your journey of finding out what Zen is all about and applying some of the concepts.

The only thing that is a turn off is the title. I have never understood the purpose of the titles in the "idiot's" and the "dummie's" guides. Most intelligent people are also seekers. Why can't they title the books as "For those who don't know about --- ".