Julia M. Pitkin

A year's menus and recipes for almost any occasion, along with table prayers, food customs, and religious and cultural traditions. Features national holidays, family gatherings, religious celebrations, ethnic festivals, and get-togethers with friends.

Rich, intense, and beautiful, the 105 wonderful dessert recipes that make up this book are among the best ever presented on the international TV series, "Great Chefs". of color photos.

Specialties of the House is a collection of recipes most frequently requested by guests of more than 690 of the best country inns and bed and breakfasts in the United States and Canada. Here are hundreds of top-quality, time-and-again-served recipes created by the innovative cooks and chefs of the in industry. The dishes featured represent a cross-section of North American cuisines and range from simple breakfast dishes that often can be prepared in advance and served the next morning to fine, chef-created entrees that use the finest, freshest ingredients available. Busy home books can trust these recipes, for they have been prepared dozens of times by the innkeepers and chefs who submitted them. the most comprehensive book of its kind in print, Specialties of the House contains recipes from inns in every area of the continent—from Vancouver to Miami, Hawaii to Maine.Specialties of the House is also useful as an aid to choosing the perfect place to stay while traveling, whether for a relaxing stay at a dream destination or for stopping over on the way to another location. Along with the recipes, the book provides a fact-filled introduction to every inn, allowing the reader to sample the distinctive flavors of the inns without leaving home. Frequently, historical information about the area is included to aid the busy traveler. Handsome line drawings enhance the book and convey the look and feel of an inn experience.The extensive, cross-referenced index makes it easy to locate recipes and create menus for all occasions.

Bless This Food is a unique cookbook that combines wonderful menus and recipes with table prayers, food customs, and religious and cultural traditions. The menus are for a wide variety of occasions—traditional national holidays, family gatherings, religious celebrations, ethnic festivals, life passages, and get-togethers with friends. Organized by seasons, Bless This Food is eclectic in its choice of cuisines—from French, Italian, English, American, Jewish, and Irish to Native American, African American, and Hispanic. The occasions celebrated are also eclectic and culturally diverse, celebrating the many traditions from which America’s citizens have originated. The main religious celebrations of the Christian and Jewish traditions are included. The authors’ own interests are reflected in their choices of such occasions as Sir Winston Churchill’s Birthday Breakfast, Claude Monet’s Birthday, A Jane Austen Holiday Lunch with Friends, Robert Burns Night, and Blessings in Deed, in which a meal is prepared for another person or family. Beautifully and elegantly designed, and illustrated with sketches by Tonya Young, Bless This Food acknowledges the sacred nature of the everyday pleasures of food and table.