Annotated Art

Annotated Art: The World's Greatest Paintings Explored and Explained by Robert Cumming
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Good for both people new to art & art history and for those who know a bit already. The author discusses the artists' techniques, why the paintings are significant, materials used, and symbolism. There is a lot of information packed into the little annotations! For teens with art assignments, this would be a good place to start researching if the artist or movement is represented within (it covers most of the main developments in painting).

Recommended to people curious about art and who don't want to be intimidated by a longer book. :)

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Organic Gardening!

Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Green Resource for Every Gardener by Fern Marshall Bradley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a terrific reference for the home gardener with at least a little bit on just about everything you'd want to know. I plan to pick up a copy for myself to have on hand since we now have more gardening opportunities. :) I will admit I haven't read every page at this point, but did read the articles on the topics relevant to what we're growing right now.

Highly recommended for all gardeners (especially beginners!).



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The Pot and How to Use It

The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker by Roger Ebert

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Before going any further, I will admit that there weren't as many recipes as I'd have liked. I know some of that is due to differences between rice cookers' timing mechanisms and other related issues. Still. Essentially, it lets you know that you can use a rice cooker to make a variety of dishes (with rice! ... or noodles, or oatmeal, etc...) as one pot meals without using a stove. A lot of these, though, you can use a slow cooker for or cook on the stove in one pot. It is a nice tool for summer time cooking, though, when you wouldn't want to turn on the oven or stand over a simmering pot on the stove.

All that being said, I give it 3 stars because Ebert and the blog comments he's included are so entertaining. A great culinary quick-read. Recommended for people with rice cookers! :D



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Bunny Drop

Bunny Drop 1 by Yumi Unita

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I am enjoying this since it takes on a lot of grown-up issues: do parents "sacrifice" themselves to raise kids? should they? what makes a family? how should adults explain things to children like death? Probably because I have a lot of similar thoughts floating around in my mind, I find it a little comforting to have a comic story with a lot of the same issues. I don't like a lot of the novels with these topics because they're too melodramatic or the characters are too self-centered to be enjoyable.

Recommended to parents who enjoy comics/manga.



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Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Having read through the forward and some of the pre-recipe chapters, I've determined that I like the writing style. Having made a couple of the recipes (a sauce good on fish & eggs and a steak recipe w/sauce), I've determined that this is a cookbook I must own. I will cook fish more often just because that recipe was so good (& simple too). I doubt greatly that I'll cook every recipe a la Julie & Julia, but it is so well put together and so clear that it is really a book that belongs on the shelf of everyone who cooks at home. It pushes you out of your culinary ruts with a nudge and gives a range of possibilities for cooking the same dish over and over, but with variations so it's different every time you bring it to the table. And though some of the dishes take some time, those that I tried did not & dinner was finished within 30 minutes with the addition of a simple green salad or some "steam in bag" veggies that balanced out the fish (or steak) with the richer sauce very nicely.

I think it'd take a very long time to fully appreciate this book, so I'm hoping to receive it for Mother's Day or my birthday this year, but will keep the copy I borrowed from the library until I can't renew it anymore!

A must-own for everyone who cooks at home and those who don't, but love food. If I could give a book 6 stars out of 5, I'd do it.

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