This book is an absolute miracle and has turned me into a passionate home-Indian cook. The recipes are time-consuming, but they are so good. The flavors are incredibly bright, powerful and spicy and when Indian is home-cooked it is so fresh and delicious. There are a few dishes from this book that every time I make them, I can't stop talking about my dinner all night long. You know that feeling when your head is pleasantly on fire and you have a buzz from the spice, the flavor and the wholesomeness of your ingredients....? Spicy Parsi Squash and Bean Stew. I also find reading her thoughts and stories to be entertaining and enlightening.

I am adoring reading this cookbook—Melissa Clark is a very engaging food writer and seems like she has a good personality, as a human being. I love the way the book is organized (eclectic, but makes sense to me), starting with lazy breakfast-ish dinners. The next chatper is "the Farmer's Market and Me".... This is how I think, too. She has a kid and brings those needs and issues into her narrative, but not in the sense of cooking kid-friendly food. However. And this is a big, unfortunate however, I am not having a lot of luck with the recipes. This is possibly because she's playing with some home-cooking versions of Asian and ethnic flavors and the watered-down versions of those foods taste wrong to me. There is so much in the book that sounds delicious, that I'm going to keep trying for a few more recipes. Two cents on what doesn't work, so far, above.

For me, this is the only Italian cookbook I'll ever need. It is wonderful, and I don't think I've made anything that hasn't worked from it. This is my go-to for basic skills like pasta-making, ragu, bolognese sauce, meatballs, veal scaloppini, lasagna and more. It's old-school and doesn't have any pictures, but the techniques are things every cook should know.

This is a bible in my family. My husband and I are crazed Thai cooks and David Thompson groupies (...have seen him 'on tour' in Europe...) and this book is one of our most cherished resources, we have cooked dozens of dishes from it over the years. We do find it to be not everyday food, however. Thai is a challenge for everyday, because there's so much chopping and so many specialty ingredients, and DT is a challenge even for Thai food. I don't know if needing lychee and a roasted duck is authentic or only how the royal family eats in Thailand (suspect authentic?) but many/most of these recipes need things that aren't at all available in the US. And one can go quite astray for the Western palate in trusting him on making, like, a really skanky shrimp-paste relish as a condiment. But some of these recipes (I'll post separate reviews when I have the book in front of me) are all-time classics. Basically, cooking home-Thai has made it so my husband and I can no longer eat in Thai restaurants.

I really adore this cookbook. I'm sad that whoever published it didn't have the money to do photos, but the recipes all seem well-researched and the writer has done a fantastic job of making fussy French food everyday and easy, without dumbing anything down. The premise is that it's how a French housewife cooks, and that seems to be pretty accurate. I guess the author is a local food writer in Des Moines, IA and Francophile. Love love love.