When I read it was 80 pages, I expected it to be a regular sized book. It's only about the size of a postcard! (4.5" X 5.5") No photos at all. If you want a Tex Mex cookbook, this one is great, but I just ordered a different one to go along with it for a "complete" recipe collection.

This software was provided free with my Payroll Accounting textbook. The textbook itself is very well written, and is easy enough to follow. The software, however, is another story.

I am required to use this software to complete a "Payroll Problem" final project for my class. This software is so poorly put together, with help files that are less than helpful. The book instructs us to follow steps to enter data in the format desired. This is quite the challenge. For example, we're told to code Liability Payments to their respective vendors; this would normally be a reasonable request, however it was nearly impossible to even find how to do this, and when I finally did, it didn't work. I followed the instructions provided in the "help" files, and got no results. As I sit here, I still have no Cash Payments Journal, nor have I ever seen a Vendor List. When working with the "W-2 Statements" it makes no allowance for tax deferred deductions, so total wage amounts are incorrect, making the "W-2 Form" feature completly useless.

I work with Quickbooks on a daily basis (which I also have an issue or two with), and there are virtually no similarities between this program and REAL accounting software. I can see why this was given away for free, and I can only hope no one actually tries to use this to keep books for a business.

An excellent textbook for learing the basics of computerized accounting. Very well presented, starting with an overview of chart of account layout, AR/AP, Payroll, Partnerships & Corporations. The last chapter on setting up a complete accountig system is really nice. I am using for self study & find the book easy to follow. This is set up with college level 2 reading level assumed. This is the text currently being used by a local college for their course. Very well worth the full price of the product.

This book assumes you have taken a basic course in accounting, or have basic accounting background. (I find that you can get by without the accounting background, but it will take longer to complete the course). I find the text very well laid out, almost self explanatory. This is the text that most Junior Colleges are using at this time. The company is very quick at resolving any questions/problems you may encounter. I reccomend this book for anyone wanting to learn more about computerized accounting.

We dined in the restaurant and enjoyed the food; I found it to be comparable with restaurants in Mexico. I ordered the book and was totally disappointed. The dishes I enjoyed in the restaurant are not in the book! It is a generic cookbook about tex-mex food obviously written to capitalize on their fame. They don't even have the recipe for the chimichurri sauce that is on every table.

Los Barrios is our family's favorite place to eat here in San Antonio. The food is great, the place is huge and the owners are nearly always there to ask us how we're doing and if we're enjoying our meal.

That said...well, I'm a bit biased about Blanco Road's best eatery.

The cookbook, though, is a letdown. We bought it while paying for a meal and had it autographed (Diana was our cashier) immediately. The book has some great stories, but the recipes are watered down versions of what's on the menu. We attempted to replicate our fave foods at home (y somos talentosos en la cocina). We couldn't with the book.

It's a fun read, but it's not going to enable you to make tasty, Los Barrios-like mole at home.

One of the people who reviewed this book below hasn't even read the book or been to the restuarant. Giving something one star under these circumstances makes no sense, and isn't useful to anyone.

Anyway, I'm a San Antonio native (now in D.C.), and I like this book. It gives really easy, very basic recipes for simple, slightly north of the border cuisine. No, you won't get mango burritos or anything wildly trendy, but you will get easy
recipes for green enchiladas and fajitas-worth the price of the book alone. I've got a large collection of Mexican and Tex Mex cookbooks, and this one gets used often.

It's the best I've found for true SW style homeplans, but many of the plans are not SW -- just houses with tile roofs. They're all 2,000 sq. ft & up, many twice that size, which puts them out of reach for me (too expensive to build)

Although the book does have a few Pueblo-style plans like those featured on the front and back cover, very little of the book is devoted to them. Most of the houses it contains are what I would term as fairly traditional, nonsouthwestern houses; their tile roofs seem to be the basis for their inclusion. I have yet to find a good collection or two of southwestern plans. Most of the floor plans were unappealing to me as well.

However I just wished there had been more real life photos instead of the monochrome sketches to help actually visualize what the house would look like after construction. Definitely useful for someone planning to build adobe style.

The authors produced a much better book when they compiled The Border. Rancho de Chimayo has very few recipes, some of which call for Velveeta of all things, and the warnings about drinking and driving in the Cocktail chapter, are annoying.

This restaurant may be the darling of the New York food writers, but NY food writers don't know anything about Southwestern food.

Spend your money elsewhere.

The authors of The Rancho de Chimayo cookbook DO love New Mexico. The sub-title states: "The Traditional Cooking of New Mexico," and the cookbook lives up to that statement. The first 48 pages gives history of New Mexico through native foods, folk-lore, spirituality and settlers bringing their own norms of food production. Unfortunately,you will not find the flavor of New Mexico in restaurants outside of N.M. I lived in N.M for 10 years. If you have ever been charmed by N.M.'s food & beauty you can re-create this experience through this cookbook. Try it!

I was expecting an intelligent, informed checklist with pertinent information about the region's reptile fauna. Instead it reads more like a children's book. Grainy outdated pics and a measly one or two lines of description about each animal. There are many more books on this subject that are more informed and thorough in their approach. Just my opinion though.

An especially useful guide for those who spend a lot of time in the outdoors and are located in the Southwestern USA. The book has color pictures, which makes it easier to identify the animals that are encountered. Also included are prevention tips when dealing with certain animals, and also some emergency methods for the possibily of a snake bite. Overall this is a very good book for identfying snakes, lizards and turtles of the southwest.

The recipes may produce some tasty dishes, but you really need to be in New Mexico to work with this cookbook as it calls for New Mexico style green chiles and the types of dried chile powder found in New Mexico.

Not really a Tex Mex book, in my opinion. I've lived in Texas all my life and even the Tex Mex section recipes look strange to my eye.

Although she goes to some length in the introduction to explain what exactly it is that separates authentic Tex-Mex from 'Old' Mexican cuisine or Southwest US interpretations of Mexican themes, the recipes Jane Butel gives us in this collection still draw heavily from throughout the southwest.

Those recipes include not only the standards -- enchiladas, tamales, fajitas -- but also variations (like huevos rancheros 'California style,' with iceberg lettuce instead of tortillas *blech*), new creations, and even some of her own family recipes. The suggested menus are good starting points for thinking about your own fiesta, while the 'equipment and ingredients' chapter is a sound introduction for folks unfamiliar with this type of cuisine. The instructions for making a margarita (seemed like a good thing to test) are straightforward, though the mention of adding one-quarter of an egg white for a 'frothy' mix struck me as sacrilegious, if not downright nauseating.

In all, an okay cookbook for people determined to have something about 'Mexican food' (as understood in the US) on their shelves. But us real Tex-Mex devotees are left wanting more.

The recipes in this book sample (not cover) the range of Mexican-inspired American cooking found in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. I suspect that it is not the thing for residents of any of those states who are religious about their cuisine, but it is a great sampler cookbook for we deprived northeasterners who sometimes don't know the difference between tex-mex and old mexican, let alone think that it means something between Taco Bell and Don Pablo's.

The recipes in this book range from the very simple (caseroles made from leftover tortilla chips and canned sauces) to the more involved "real" dishes.

If you live in Pennsylvania and suspect that you could make a better, more authentic enchilada sauce than you enjoy at chi-chi's, you won't be disappointed. If you are looking for comprehensive looks at the cooking of Texas or Mexico, then you're out of luck.

The recipes themselves are clear and easy to follow. Freezing suggestions are a nice addition, and many (not all) of the recipes include introductory text (something I always want in a cookbook), but photographs are lacking and the index is not terribly special (another feature I look closely at when rating a cook book).

Overall, this is a solid 3-star cook book that I am getting a lot of enjoyment out of.

I'm reading through the 20 sample pages of the book. The first thing that pops up in my mind is, why do they call the Seguin family by their titles rather than their names. One gets the impression that the writers think the names are "Don" Seguin and "Dona" Seguin. Hey, there, Don, what's for dinner? I wonder if they realize this.

Next, the tamale recipe. It calls for masa harina, so I am guessing it is an adaptation of an old recipe. Why then, do they just call for "chili pods" instead of giving a quantity or weight, and defining whether they mean ancho (which they probably do), pasilla, guajillo or a combination of the three.

If my comments are valid, this indicates that there is some very sloppy journalism at work here.

Clearly the writers meant readers to have fun with
this cookbook. It would be fairly hard to catch
a bear for the bear grease. But interesting and
tied into Texas history, including special
menus for various Texas heroes. Worth the time.

After living in Arizona most of my life I was expecting more from this cookbook. It's always a toss up. Half the time the recipies are not really that good. (Make sure you try them out yourself first, before making them for guests.)

Ms. Clark has written a book about her interviews with young people and their families and has tried to draw conclusions about their religious beliefs from their television-watching habits. There are so many questions raised in the reader's mind that the book can hardly be called a valid study--perhaps an extensive opinion poll would be more apt.