Today the Santa Clara Valley is known as the Silicon Valley. However, not so long ago it was called the "Valley of Heart's Delight". Lisa Prince Newman grew up in that special time and place, among the fruit and nut orchards that surrounded her home town of Saratoga. She discovered her love for baking with the bounty of fruit ripening just outside her family's kitchen door. Lisa's passion for apricots fills this book with recipes that showcase the singular flavor and surprising versatility of the California apricot. Deeply influenced by the Santa Clara Valley's natural beauty and agricultural heritage, Lisa celebrates the apricot, its people, and its history in this very personal cookbook. For the Love of Apricots showcases 68 recipes from Breakfast to Cocktails that show you how to enjoy apricots throughout the year. A unique cookbook/memoir, For the Love of Apricots is a tribute to the orchardists and farmers who continue to grow California's most wonderful fruit.
A troubled teen turns to cooking lessons to win her emotionally distant mother’s love in this “moving [and] extraordinary” novel (The Atlantic). Lorca spends her life poring over cookbooks to earn the love of her distracted, angry mother, a prominent Manhattan chef who left Lorca’s father and is now packing her off to boarding school. Desperate to prove herself, Lorca resolves to track down the recipe for her mother’s ideal meal. She signs up for cooking lessons from Victoria, an Iraqi-Jewish immigrant profoundly shaken by her husband’s death. Soon these two develop a deeper bond while their concoctions—cardamom pistachio cookies, baklava, and masgouf—bake in Victoria’s kitchen. But their individual endeavors force a reckoning with the past, the future, and the truth—whatever it might be. “Sassy, brash, acrobatic and colorful…I want to read it again and again.” —Time “Impressive…Soffer’s style is natural and assured.”—Meg Wolitzer, All Things Considered, NPR “Breathtaking…a profoundly redemptive story about loss, self-discovery, and acceptance.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “Soffer’s prose is as controlled as it is fresh, as incisive as it is musical.” —Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin
"Today the Santa Clara Valley is known as the Silicon Valley. However, not so long ago it was called "the valley of heart's delight". Lisa Prince Newman grew up in that special time and place, among the fruit and nut orchards that surrounded her home town of Saratoga. She discovered her love for baking with the bounty of fruit ripening just outside her family's kitchen door. Lisa's passion for apricots fills this book with recipes that showcase the singular flavor and surprising versatility of the California apricot. Deeply influenced by the Valley of heart's delight's natural beauty and agricultural heritage, Lisa celebrates the apricot, its people, and its history in this very personal cookbook."--Page [4] of cover.
“Breathtaking…Riveting and profound! I adored this book!” —Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan Collector “A deeply involving and important novel by a master storyteller.” —Susan Wiggs, # 1 New York Times bestselling author INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER In this moving, suspenseful debut novel, three courageous women confront the complexities of trust, friendship, motherhood, and betrayal under the rule of a ruthless dictator and his brutal secret police. Former foreign correspondent Gina Wilkinson draws on her own experiences to take readers inside a haunting story of Iraq at the turn of the millennium and the impossible choices faced by families under a deadly regime. A BuzzFeed Most Anticipated Historical Fiction Release A Target Book Club Pick A Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books Selection At night, in Huda’s fragrant garden, a breeze sweeps in from the desert encircling Baghdad, rustling the leaves of her apricot trees and carrying warning of visitors at her gate. Huda, a secretary at the Australian embassy, lives in fear of the mukhabarat—the secret police who watch and listen for any scrap of information that can be used against America and its allies. They have ordered her to befriend Ally Wilson, the deputy ambassador’s wife. Huda has no wish to be an informant, but fears for her teenaged son, who may be forced to join a deadly militia. Nor does she know that Ally has dangerous secrets of her own. Huda’s former friend, Rania, enjoyed a privileged upbringing as the daughter of a sheikh. Now her family’s wealth is gone, and Rania too is battling to keep her child safe and a roof over their heads. As the women’s lives intersect, their hidden pasts spill into the present. Facing possible betrayal at every turn, all three must trust in a fragile, newfound loyalty, even as they discover how much they are willing to sacrifice to protect their families. “Vivid…secrets and lies mingle as easily as the scent of apricot blossoms and nargilah smoke. Wilkinson weaves in the miasma of fear and distrust that characterized Hussein’s regime with convincing detail. Richly drawn characters and high-stakes plot.” —Publishers Weekly
Lavinia Maud craves the moment the last wisps of life leave her victim's bodies--to behold the effects of her own poison creations. Believing confession erases the sin of murder, her morbid desires are in unity with faith, though she could never justify her skill to the magistrate she loves.At the start of the 16th century in Tudor England, Lavinia's marks grow from tavern drunks to nobility, but rising prestige brings increased risk. When the magistrate suspects her ruse, he pressures the priest into breaking her confessional seal, pitting Lavinia's instincts as an assassin against the tenets of love and faith. She balances revenge with her struggle to develop a tasteless poison and avoid the wrath of her ruthless patron.With her ideals in conflict, Lavinia must decide which will satisfy her heart: love, faith, or murder--but the betrayals are just beginning.
Picked warm from a tree, a California apricot opens into halves as easily as if it came with a dotted line down its center. The seed infuses the core with a hint of almond; the fruit carries the scent of citrus and jasmine; and it tastes, some say, like manna from heaven. In these pages, Robin Chapman recalls the season when the Santa Clara Valley was the largest apricot producer in the world and recounts the stories of Silicon Valley's now lost orchards. From the Spaniards in the eighteenth century who first planted apricots in the Mission Santa Clara gardens to the post-World War II families who built their homes among subdivided orchards, relive the long summer days ripe with bumper crops of this much-anticipated delicacy. Book jacket.
Pomegranates and pistachios. Floral waters and cinnamon. Bulgur wheat, lentils, and succulent lamb. These lush flavors of Maureen Abood's childhood, growing up as a Lebanese-American in Michigan, inspired Maureen to launch her award-winning blog, Rose Water & Orange Blossoms. Here she revisits the recipes she was reared on, exploring her heritage through its most-beloved foods and chronicling her riffs on traditional cuisine. Her colorful culinary guides, from grandparents to parents, cousins, and aunts, come alive in her stories like the heady aromas of the dishes passed from their hands to hers. Taking an ingredient-focused approach that makes the most of every season's bounty, Maureen presents more than 100 irresistible recipes that will delight readers with their evocative flavors: Spiced Lamb Kofta Burgers, Avocado Tabbouleh in Little Gems, and Pomegranate Rose Sorbet. Weaved throughout are the stories of Maureen's Lebanese-American upbringing, the path that led her to culinary school and to launch her blog, and life in Harbor Springs, her lakeside Michigan town.
More than 100 extraordinary desserts—with photos and meticulous instructions—by the creator of the internationally acclaimed blog Cafe Fernando: “Superb.” —David Lebovitz, bestselling author of My Paris Kitchen Written, styled, photographed, and designed by Cenk Sönmezsoy, The Artful Baker shares the inspiring story of a passionate home baker, beginning with his years after graduate school in San Francisco and showcasing the fruits of a baking obsession he cultivated after returning home to Istanbul. Sönmezsoy’s stories and uniquely styled images, together with his original creations and fresh take on traditional recipes, offer a window into the life of this luminary artist. The Artful Baker is comprised of almost entirely new content, with a few updated versions of readers’ favorites from his blog, such as Brownie Wears Lace, his signature brownies topped with blond chocolate ganache and bittersweet chocolate lace (originally commissioned by Dolce & Gabbana and awarded “Best Original Baking and Desserts Recipe” by Saveur magazine); Raspberry Jewel Pluot Galette, inspired by Chez Panisse’s 40th anniversary celebrations; and Devil Wears Chocolate, his magnificent devil’s food cake. Covering indulgences from cookies to cakes and tarts to ice creams, recipes include Pistachio and Matcha Sablés; Tahini and Leblebi (double-roasted chickpeas) Swirl Brownies; Sakura Madeleines; Sourdough Simit, the beloved ring-shaped Turkish bread beaded with sesame seeds; Isabella Grape and Kefir Ice Cream; Pomegranate Jam; and Blanche, a berry tart named after the Golden Girl Blanche Devereaux. Each has been tested by an army of home bakers with varying levels of skill, equipment, and access to ingredients, and revised to ensure they’ll work flawlessly in any kitchen. Measurements of ingredients are provided in both volume and weight (grams), and where a volume measurement isn’t useful, weight measurements are provided in both ounces and grams.
"Apricots from Chernobyl" is a collection of beautifully crafted narratives on life in the former Yugoslavia, and subsequently in America, by widely published author and essayist Josip Novakovich. Exploring topics that include emigration, definition of borders, societal diversity, and the decay of religion, Novakovich's narratives are approachable and engaging. Whether describing his feelings of apprehension upon approaching a boarder, or the difficulties encountered when writing in a second "tongue," Novakovich is fresh, wry, and consistently entertaining. "Apricots from Chernobyl" offers a candid portrayal of global existence, skillfully blending its sometimes brutal but often ironic and humorous realities.
A comprehensive guide to home preserving and canning in small batches provides seasonally arranged recipes for 100 jellies, spreads, salsas and more while explaining the benefits of minimizing dependence on processed, store-bought preserves.
