Best of Gifts of Good Taste (Leisure Arts #4597) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you love to make homemade gifts for any occasion, this is the book series to have. I got the Best of...just because I can check these out from our library but wanted one to keep on hand at all times.
The ideas are creative, some requiring much more work than I am willing to give, but you can accommodate them to your own level of investment! Anyhow, we are planning to do homemade gifts for Christmas this year, but I wanted something that wasn't just run-of-the-mill, that wouldn't wind up sitting in a drawer or, worse, in the trash! The ideas in here are great and give me a springboard for my own ideas (like I would not have thought to make homemade flavored butters and include a bag of bagels or homemade bread and then tie the gift bag with a cute little spreader knife into the bow!). Great ideas, great recipes.

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With these incredible, edible gifts, you can be the most creative gift-giver in town! This collection of favorites from Leisure Arts is brimming with delicious recipes and charming crafts to surprise everyone on your list. And to make it extra easy to use, the book is divided into two groups and printed as a flip book: one side has A Year of Gifts of Good Taste; the other is Christmas Gifts of Good Taste.Sections in the all-year collection are Quick Gifts, Tasty Gift Baskets, Friendship Gifts, Gifts by the Bagful, and Holiday Gifts. The Christmas collection has Breads and Spreads, Cakes and Pies, Candies, Cookies and Bars, Sauces, Seasonings and Mixes, and Snacks and Sips.

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Best-Ever Cookies: Cookies 'Round the Calendar...Yummy, Easy-to-Make Favorites for All Occasions (Gooseberry Patch) Review

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(More customer reviews)There are so many cookies in this book. Many I have never heard of and also the classics. Great for every holiday and every day. You can't go wrong with this book!

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Whether warm from the oven or wrapped up for giving, cookies are atimelessly classic treat. Bakers searching for an essential collectionof recipes should look no further than Best-Ever Cookies, anothermust-have book in the best-selling Gooseberry Patch cookbook series.Family & friends will love Old-Fashioned Butter Cookies, GlazedHoney-Walnut Bars, Chocolate Drops, Raisin-Nut Pinwheels and RaspberryMeringue Kisses. Filled with over 200 delectable delights perfect forspecial occasions or to enjoy every day, this book is destined tobecome a secret weapon for moms and grandmas everywhere! Hardcover, 224pages.

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China Bayles' Book of Days Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is sheer delight for all China Bayles' fans. I highly recommend it for anyone who shares my passion and hobby of herbs. Each day is filled with magic, useful information, gardening tips, recipes and so much more. I look forward to reading it each day. This is a super gift for friends who share a love for herbs. You will look upon each day of life as a gift and blessing. Thank you. BKC

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Show Me How: 500 Things You Should Know Instructions for Life From the Everyday to the Exotic Review

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(More customer reviews)I was delighted to find this little book at the store yesterday, and we decided over coffee to buy a couple of copies for presents. Lots and lots of illustrations and a wide variety of projects:
How to make the perfect bed
Tell time with a potato clock
A color coordinating wheel
Treat a snake bite
Tie basic sailing knots
Twist a balloon animals
Get out of a straight jacket
The authors run the Curiosity Shoppe in San Francisco, recently reviewed by "The New York Times": "You'll see fashionable, do-it-yourself types foraging for clever, handmade crafts at this shop in the Mission District. It carries items like coffee holders knitted from yarn, deer heads carved out of wood and skeleton keys fashioned out of porcelain."
This book would be fun to look through with kids, but it is actually written for adults. The website for the book (see the first Comment) is fast, graphic and very descriptive of the contents of the book. It will sell it to you [or not] with no further ado.
Robert C. Ross 2008

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Show Me How is a revolutionary reimagining of the reference genre, one part how-to guide, one part graphic art showpiece, and one part pure inspiration. In a series of 500 nearly wordless, highly informative step-by-step procedurals, readers learn how to do hundreds of useful (and fascinating and important and sometimes downright bizarre) tasks, including: Perform CPR, dance the tango, pack a suitcase, win a bar bet, play the blues, make authentic sushi rolls, fight a shark . . . and 493 more essentials of modern life. Packed with useful hands-on reference material, Show Me How is a work of art that just happens to also be an indispensable real-life resource.

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Vintage Notions: An Inspirational Guide to Needlework, Cooking, Sewing, Fashion and Fun Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this book after reading the review and article in the spring 2010 Stitch magazine. They included the Magic Apron pattern. Based on the review, I expected a lot more in the way of sewing techniques and patterns. This book is really just a reprint of Inspirations, a booklet put out by the Women's Institute and Mary Picken. The information is fun to read and much of it still applies today. However, the patterns are not as numerous as I expected, nor are they varied. 5 of the patterns are for aprons. Others aren't even patterns, just directions for monogramming or an article about cross stitch. The author could have deleted the 2-3 essays at the beginning of each chapter and added more crafting/sewing articles, which is what I purchased the book for. Including some of the lessons so often mentioned in the book would have added to it enormously.
If you're looking for more of a historic peek into the time period, this is a great book. If you're looking for a vintage pattern/techniques book, this is not the book for you.

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Homemade Christmas: Tried & true recipes, heartwarming memories and easy ideas for savoring the best of Christmas. Review

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(More customer reviews)Although the book's main focus is as a cookbook with over 175 recipes, it also includes a small Handmade section with gift ideas along with a chapter to aid in Creating Christmas Memories.
For those unfamiliar with the ongoing series, the books are compilations of favorite recipes sent in by readers. The preparation times and skill levels range from easy to advanced, but the majority of the recipes are created by busy people who effectively squeeze holiday cooking, baking and entertaining into a schedule packed with life's other daily obligations. So, if you want to make crescent rolls or caramels from scratch, recipes are in the book, but so are plenty of recipes that include just a few ingredients, that can be whipped up with little notice or difficulty.
I tried the recipe for Festive Cranberry Salsa and it was delicious with corn chips. The Candied Maple Walnuts were a nice twist on the usual sweet nuts with maple syrup, brown sugar, salt, pepper and cinnamon as main ingredients. And, the Easy Salmon Spread was quick and tasty.
The chapters are Creating Christmas Memories, Cozy Morning Brunch, Simmering Soups and More, Warm & Welcoming Suppers, Farmhouse Christmas Dinner, Old-Fashioned Desserts, Cookie Jar Classics, Homemade Sweets to Share, Gathering with Friends and Handmade from the Heart. There are no photographs, but there are charming illustrations. The paper will unfortunately absorb spills, so using a cookbook holder would be a good idea if that is a concern. The spiral binding is ideal for keeping the book open on any page.
This book is a good gift for someone with little time to cook or prepare for the holidays, along with the fans of the series.

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Grandma's gingerbread cookiescooling on the counter, an old-fashioned popcorn & cranberry garland on the tree and gifts made by hand, from the heart...sounds like a Homemade Christmas is on its way! Filled with scrumptious recipes that'll make holidays to remember, our new book is a festive must-have. Simple yet impressivedishes for your gatherings, celebrations and special familymeals...we've got you covered with recipes like Nan's cinnamon rolls,savory sausage balls, ham & cheese quiche, holiday pork loin and red velvet Christmas cake. Great gifts from the kitchen are also includedas well as plenty inspiring tips and ideas for celebrating with family& friends! Hardcover, 224 pages. (9-1/4" x 6-1/2")

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Quick & Easy Christmas (Gooseberry Patch) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Quick & Easy Christmas" is the latest collection of scrumptious holiday recipes from Gooseberry Patch. Featuring recipes for breakfast and brunch, snacks and appetizers, soups, sides, and salads, mains, desserts, and slow cooker, "Quick & Easy Christmas" has something delicious and easy to prepare for every holiday entertainment need. For such a festive, busy time of year, these are the perfect stress reducers - a winning backlist of fabulous foods that are wonderfully easy to pull together in that very busy 24-day period. Particularly appealing and praised for its flexibility is the section titled Slow Cooker." Here are pages of mouth-watering main courses that can be easily thrown into the crock pot and left to simmer to perfection whil running off to do any of the other myriad delightful tasks and activities that be-gem the season. From the classic Wacky Beef Roast to the Creamy Rice Pudding, these recipes fill out the need for a hot and tasty meal from beginning to end. Of course there are also festive holiday desserts and confections, Holiday Cranberry Trifle, Chocolate Fudge Pie, and Eggnog Cake are just a few that sound exquisitely tempting. All recipes are attractively presented with description, charming homey illustrations in black and whiteand green, and clear instructions, as well as including special extra tips and ideas for Christmas activities and crafts. "Quick & Easy Christmas" is an attractive, sturdy, plastic spiral-bound recipe collection that is sure to please all palates and become a classic Christmas cooking resource.


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