Bill Addison

Through easy-to-understand recipes, Chocolate Alchemy makes creating your own chocolate at home accessible to everyone, whether you are an avid cook or simply a chocolate lover. Called a female pioneer of bean-to-bar chocolate, Kristen Hard shares her philosophy and secrets to making chocolate, with clear instructions on minimal-processing techniques without additives. The book is filled with more than 100 innovative recipes that showcase chocolate s complex flavor, from pink peppercorn ginger truffles and hickory-smoked caramels to chocolate oatmeal cream pies and raw almond bark. Step-by-step photographs guide the home cook, but also allow for experimentation and customization. Chocolate Alchemy gives chocolate addicts the knowledge and confidence to set up their own chocolate laboratory and craft confections and baked goods with the true flavors of chocolate as the star of the show.

The all-time best-selling writer's handbook turns thirty. With insight, humor, and practicality, Natalie Goldberg inspires writers and would-be writers to take the leap into writing skillfully and creatively. She offers suggestions, encouragement, and solid advice on many aspects of the writer's craft: on writing from "first thoughts" (keep your hand moving, don't cross out, just get it on paper), on listening (writing is ninety percent listening; the deeper you listen, the better you write), on using verbs (verbs provide the energy of the sentence), on overcoming doubts (doubt is torture; don't listen to it)--even on choosing a restaurant in which to write. Goldberg sees writing as a practice that helps writers comprehend the value of their lives. The advice in her book, provided in short, easy-to-read chapters with titles that reflect the author's witty approach ("Writing Is Not a McDonald's Hamburger," "Man Eats Car," "Be an Animal"), will inspire anyone who writes--or who longs to.