This is a comprehensive and invaluable guide to making entertaining at home stress-free. With over 200 foolproof recipes, covering all kinds of events, and with preparation and cooking times, as well as tips and techniques on choosing wine, styling the table and short-cuts, this is the ultimate cookbook to ease you through every occasion. Allen defies comparisons by quickly establishing her forte: proffering direct, charming, and top-notch culinary counsel, in addition to 250 recipes. "Keep it simple" is the heart of her philosophy (in keeping with her admission that she can't type or use a word processor!), which is proven through luscious color photographs, practical menus and entertaining advice, and foodstuffs familiar and unusual. Contrast poached apricots with sweet geranium leaves against a dozen oysters. Or a tomato fondue with cilantro versus the fruitcakelike barm brack. All recipes are delivered with serious chef tips (for instance, canned tomatoes need a surprising amount of sugar to counteract their acidity) as well as many tongues in cheek ("although you don't want to assume that all your guests are dipsomaniacs, have too much rather than too little"). Little is left untouched, whether it's gourmet trends, such as the appropriate menus for a cocktail party or gracious credit to innumerable contributors. Witty and impossible to resist. Barbara Jacobs Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Darina Allen is Ireland's best-known food ambassador and award-winning author of Irish Traditional Cooking and Darina Allen's Ballymaloe Cookery Course. She founded the world-renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, Ireland, which offers courses that range from learning to cook perfect jams to the three-month diploma course for professional cooks. Darina is winner of the International Association of Culinary Professionals' "Cooking Teacher of the Year" award in 2005. She is also a tireless campaigner for local produce and a Trustee of the Soil Association in the UK. Used Book in Good Condition