South African Gourmet Food and Wine

South African Gourmet Food & Wine published by Dorrance Publishing is a lovely cookbook. I was impressed by the center section of beautiful and mouthwatering photographs, the well laid out recipes with every ingredient listed first, (no surprises halfway through a recipe), and all measurements are given in both customary and metric measurements; marking this volume as the truly international cookbook it is!

My one and only disappointment was in discovering that the traditional dishes of South Africa occupy only the first 77 or so, of the book's 300 pages. Although, as the authors explain in the quite interesting forward, South Africa, like the United States of America, is a melting pot of different ethnic groups. Further perusal of the book certainly proves this statement: featured are Middle Eastern dishes, Italian sauces, Chinese Chicken Salad, & several lovely cheesecake recipes.

From the Traditional section my family especially enjoyed Bobotie, a spiced ground beef dish, first pan browned, then baked, beneath a custard topping and served with rice and a delicious selection of condiments. Monkey Gland Steak, also from the Traditional Recipes section certainly caught our eye! It is not made with Monkey Glands, but is a recipe for a delicious BBQ sauce.

We discovered several other favorites from the international section of the cookbook as well. Some examples are Chicken in Balsamic Barbecue Sauce, Javanese Chicken, and a delicious Grilled Veggie & Pasta Salad. Two or three wine suggestions are listed below each entree; and a list of suppliers for South African products from both the U.S and Canada, a very helpful addition, is listed within the Contents page.

What was my favorite recipe from the book? After considering this question quite a bit I must admit it was a dessert: Banana Ginger Cake. Dense, moist and spicy, it was absolutely delicious. Usually banana breads taste... well, like bananas! But this concoction had a lovely, not quite banana, highly spiced flavor all its own. It disappeared very quickly and has earned a place of honor in the "favorite sweet breads section" of my Rolodex!

South African Gourmet Food and Wine is a cookbook I am happy to include in my cookbook collection, and is a volume which I am certain will become smudged and well worn, as I refer to it again and again over the years!

I received a complimentary copy of South African Gourmet Food and Wine as a member of the Dorrance Publishing book Review Team.

Lisa Taylor is currently living life on the edge in the mountains of Utah. Mother of five, including "Girly Girl", her beautiful daughter with Down Syndrome, and four crazy boys, Lisa spends her days enjoying nature, writing, homeschooling, and searching for her passport in a no doubt vain attempt to one day escape to the Islands. (Which "Islands" make no difference whatsoever). She records some of her family's adventures as well as her own (often sarcastic) observations upon life in general at her blog Its Own Sweet Will. http://www.neebeep.com/itsownsweetwillneebeepc/

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The Dancing Gourmet: A Ballerina's Healthy Recipes for Fitness

Linda Hymes shares a full repertory of delicious, healthy recipes that are fit for dancers and non-dancers alike in The Dancing Gourmet: Recipes To Keep You on Your Toes. Heck, these are recipes to keep you fit. Hymes knows the secrets of preparing tantalizing dishes that won't add to your waistline- she trained at the prestigious School of American Ballet in New York City before becoming a professional ballerina for fifteen years. After retiring, she pursued her greatest passion- food- and attended the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu in London.

The Dancing Gourmet is a perfect marriage of gourmet food and elegant aesthetic. Anyone who loves ballet or who wishes to look like a dancer by eating right will enjoy the mouth-watering, colorful photos of food and Hymes during some of her finest dancing moments- both seem to jump right off the page. The Dancing Gourmet is flavored with humor throughout it pages: the recipes are categorized by ballet's positions of the feet, from first position (appetizers and small plates) through fifth position(entrees). The final section involves the prerequisite visit to the Land Of the Sweets (a reference from the second act of the much-beloved Nutcracker) which no ballet career or gourmet dining experience should be without.

Eating right doesn't have to be a punishment. In fact, it can be quite pleasurable. Choices from the third category of salads (not just rabbit food!, according to Hymes) such as the grilled chicken salad with spicy blackberry dressing, thai eggplant salad with pickled garlic, and sole and salmon twirls with maple glaze are appealing, or curried banana balls with masoor daal and cold sesame soba with tofu for the vegetarian crowd. Top it all off with a cup of fresh-brewed chai and a slice of pavlova cake. Brava!

Grier Cooper is a California-based writer, photographer and dancer. She draws on over twenty years of experience as a dancer, teacher and performer to create fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. For more information and tips about dance, sign up for a weekly free newsletter @ http://www.griercooper.com/ and receive a free E-book, "The Dancer's Guide To Life".

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How to Prevent Disease With Healing Gourmet

The Healing Gourmet seven book series is a product that is based on the theory that you are what you eat and modern day food and eating habits are making many of us seriously ill or at least contributing to it. Read on for a review of this product.

There are five damaging aspects of modern day diets outlined in the series as follows:

1. Inflammation: known as the quiet killer and the cornerstone of degenerative disease and physical aging.

2. Glycation: over consumption of carbohydrates or foods prepared in a certain way.

3. Oxidation: it happens naturally but if left unchecked can cause rapid physical aging and chronic disease.

4. Depletion: a deficiency of key nutrients that can damage human DNA in a similar way to exposure to radiation.

5. Toxification: caused by a shortage of nutrients in our food and greater exposure to harmful toxins through chemicals in water and taking of medicines for example.

The seven book Healing Gourmet series claims to give you hundreds of tips on how to prevent these problems. This includes what is referred to as life-saving information and advice based on research and claimed to be scientifically proven.

You also receive lifetime membership to the Gourmet Health website. This includes over 1,500 healing recipes with every recipe providing full nutritional information on all key ingredients. There are hundreds of articles explaining how different foods and nutrients protect you against disease; along with encyclopaedias; a personalized recipe search and other information.

At this stage, the Healing Gourmet series is on sale for a one-time fee of $US67. A 60 day 100 per cent money back guarantee accompanies the deal. The product appears to provide a lot of useful information at what is a reasonable price and I have not seen any bad reviews about Healing Gourmet.

If you suffer from poor health, or are concerned http://app-products-info.webs.com/ about developing health problems, this 7 book series may be worth trying.

I have a background in business as well as having worked for a boss in various employment from politics to the civil service. I am currently involved in a consultancy where I advise on business start-ups in the renewable energy and building sectors.

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