Every home cook has thoughts on the right and wrong ways to use spices. These beliefs are passed down in family recipes and pronounced by television chefs, but where do such ideas come from? Many are little better than superstition, and most serve only to reinforce a cook’s sense of superiority or cover for their insecurities. It doesn’t have to be this way. These notes On Spice come from three generations of a family in the spice trade, and dozens upon dozens of their collected spice guides and stories. Inside, you’ll learn where spices come from: historically, geographically, botanically, and in the modern market. You’ll see snapshots of life in a spice shop, how the flavors and stories can infuse not just meals but life and relationships. And you’ll get straightforward advice delivered with wry wit. Discover why: Salt grinders are useless Saffron is worth its weight in gold (as long as it’s pure) That jar of cinnamon almost certainly isn’t Vanilla is far more risqué than you think Learn to stop worrying and love your spice rack.

    But that stumbling is what made them great. With barely an idea of how to make ice cream, they turned to their friends for advice: chefs, chocolatiers, brewers, and food experts of all kinds, and what came out is an ice cream company that sees new flavors and inspiration everywhere they look. Using a super-simple ice cream base you can make in about the time it takes you to decide on a scoop in their shop, here are dozens of their most beloved, innovative, (and a couple of their most controversial) flavors, like Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons, Roasted Strawberry and Toasted White Chocolate, Roasted Parsnip and Banana, Buttered Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, and Olde People. But more importantly, this book reveals what they've learned, how to tap your own creativity and how to invent flavors of your own, based on whatever you see around you. Because ice cream isn't just be a thing you eat, it's a way to live.

    Kamp, a writer and editor for GQ and Vanity Fair, chronicles the amazing transformation from the overcooked vegetables and scary gelatin salads of yore to the current heyday of free-range chickens, extra-virgin olive oil, Whole Foods, Starbucks, and that breed of human known as the foodie.

    As Ellen Wu shows, liberals argued for the acceptance of these immigrant communities into the national fold, charging that the failure of America to live in accordance with its democratic ideals endangered the country's aspirations to world leadership.Weaving together myriad perspectives, Wu provides an unprecedented view of racial reform and the contradictions of national belonging in the civil rights era. She highlights the contests for power and authority within Japanese and Chinese America alongside the designs of those external to these populations, including government officials, social scientists, journalists, and others. And she demonstrates that the invention of the model minority took place in multiple arenas, such as battles over zoot suiters leaving wartime internment camps, the juvenile delinquency panic of the 1950s, Hawaii statehood, and the African American freedom movement. Together, these illuminate the impact of foreign relations on the domestic racial order and how the nation accepted Asians as legitimate citizens while continuing to perceive them as indelible outsiders.By charting the emergence of the model minority stereotype, The Color of Success reveals that this far-reaching, politically charged process continues to have profound implications for how Americans understand race, opportunity, and nationhood.

    In Democracy Matters, West returns to the analysis of the arrested development of democracy, both in America and in the crisis-ridden Middle East.In a strikingly original diagnosis, he argues that if America is to become a better steward of democratization around the world, we must first wake up to the long history of imperialist corruption that has plagued our own democracy. Both our failure to foster peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the crisis of Islamist anti-Americanism stem largely from hypocrisies in our dealings with the world.Racism and imperial expansionism have gone hand in hand in our country's inexorable drive toward hegemony, and our current militarism is only the latest expression of that drive. Even as we are shocked by Islamic fundamentalism, our own brand of fundamentalism, which West dubs Constantinian Christianity, has joined forces with imperialist corporate and political elites in an unholy alliance, and four decades after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., insidious racism still inflicts debilitating psychic pain on so many of our citizens.But there is a deep democratic tradition in America of impassioned commitment to the fight against imperialist corruptions---the last great expression of which was the civil rights movement led by Dr. King---and West brings forth the powerful voices of that great democratizing tradition in a brilliant and deeply moving call for the revival of our better democratic nature. His impassioned and provocative argument for the revitalization of America's democracy will reshape the terms of the raging national debate about America's role in today's troubled world.

    Author Shauna Sever also includes easy recipes for homemade graham crackers, drinks for mallow dunking, and a host of irresistible desserts, including Lemon Dream Whoopie Pies, Blonde Rocky Road, and S’mores Cupcakes.

    The book is a scholarly, but readable exploration of the hidden forces behind what we eat. The author explains how this food revolution has transformed our bodies, our social lives, and the world we live in.

    That's because the real thing is much subtler and more delicious than any platter of overcooked corned beef and mushy cabbage could ever be. Real Irish food is brown soda bread so moist it barely needs the yolk-yellow butter; fragrant apple tarts with tender, golden crusts; rich stews redolent of meaty gravy and sweet carrots; crisp-edged potato cakes flipped hot from a skillet directly onto the plate. Forget meatloaf or mac and cheese - this stuff is the original comfort food."Real Irish Food" is the first comprehensive cookbook to bring classic Irish dishes to America with an eye for American kitchens and cooks, and with tips and tricks to help reproduce Irish results with American ingredients. Transform plain white fish by baking it with grated sharp cheese, mustard, and crumbs. Discover that celery takes on new life when sliced, simmered in chicken stock, and served in a lightly thickenedsauce.From hearty roasts to innovative vegetable dishes, from trays of fresh-baked scones to rich, eggy cakes, and from jams bursting with tart fruit to everything you can do with a potato, there's no food so warm and welcoming, so homey and family-oriented, so truly mouthwatering as real Irish food.

    She chronicles the many accomplishments in America of Chinese immigrants and their descendents: building the infrastructure of their adopted country, fighting racist and exclusionary laws, walking the racial tightrope between black and white, contributing to major scientific and technological advances, expanding the literary canon, and influencing the way we think about racial and ethnic groups. Interweaving political, social, economic, and cultural history, as well as the stories of individuals, Chang offers a bracing view not only of what it means to be Chinese American, but also of what it is to be American.

    More than 200 unique and intriguing recipes for all kinds of Greek dishes.

    From making the most tender burger patties to grill-roasting a leg of lamb, from making pan sauces for cutlets to simmering homemade duck confit, from griddling the fluffiest pancakes to tempering chocolate, making caramel, and baking French pastry, the test cooks of ATK shine their spotlight on simpler, smarter, foolproof strategies. The first section, Essentials Every Home Cook Should Know, covers core techniques. Learn why it's crucial to season with salt properly before and during cooking for the best Roasted Bone-In Chicken Breasts and Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp. Cook any piece of salmon to silky perfection through our high-low roasting technique. The middle section, Techniques You Didn't Know You Couldn't Live Without, includes techniques we developed from an unexpected angle of discovery. Bake crusty, golden, bubbly-topped pizza by using a skillet. Fry easy, restaurant-quality homemade French fries by starting the potatoes in room-temperature oil. The final section, The Bucket List, gives you the know-how to make dreamed-about projects come true. Barbecue true Texas beef ribs in a standard kettle grill. Cure your own bacon or gravlax in your refrigerator. Bake, assemble, and decorate a show-stopping layer cake for any special occasion.

    Of a Feather traces the colorful origins of American birding: the frontier ornithologists who collected eggs between border skirmishes; the society matrons who organized the first effective conservation movement; and the luminaries with checkered pasts, such as Alexander Wilson (a convicted blackmailer) and the endlessly self-mythologizing John James Audubon. Scott Weidensaul also recounts the explosive growth of modern birding that began when an awkward schoolteacher named Roger Tory Peterson published A Field Guide to the Birds in 1934. Today birding counts iPod-wearing teens and obsessive "listers" among its tens of millions of participants, making what was once an eccentric hobby into something so completely mainstream it's now (almost) cool. This compulsively readable popular history will surely find a roost on every birder's shelf.

    Bette Davis's eyes, Joan Crawford's bitchy elegance, Stepin Fetchit's stereotype, Sidney Poitier's superhuman black man...  These are the movie stars and the qualities that influenced James Baldwin...  and now become part of his incisive look at racism in American movies.Baldwin challenges the underlying assumptions in such films as In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and The Exorcist, offering us a vision of America's self-delusions and deceptions.  Here are our loves and hates, biases and cruelties, fears and ignorance reflected by the films that have entertained us and shaped our consciousness.  And here, too, is the stunning prose of a writer whose passion never diminished his struggle for equality, justice, and social change.From The Birth of a Nation to The Exorcist--one of America's most important writers turns his critical eye to American film.

    Assertive and bold, lemons can be flamboyant, tart, and tangy as in the Lemon Granita or sweet, mellow, and velvety like the creamy Lemon Panna Cotta. Over 70 recipes--from the classics to lip-smacking new favorites--are all enticingly presented in Luscious Lemon Desserts. These recipes vary from the simple to the sublime, from the quick and easy to the most elaborate showstoppers. Author Lori Longbotham provides great tips on buying, storing, and using this most popular fruit. Whether it's a fast and fabulous lemon pudding or a Mile-High Lemon Angel Food Cake, the name says it all: Luscious Lemon Desserts. Yum!

     Like it or not, a healthy credit score is essential if you want to participate in today’s financial world. But very few people actually understand how their credit score is determined. Worse yet, most don’t know how their score is used by all kinds of companies and banks to dictate financial terms that will strongly affect their daily lives. When consumers interact with the world of credit, they do so from a position of weakness. In Your Score, Anthony Davenport aims to change that. Finally, here is a road map for navigating the confusing world of consumer credit. Drawing on the real stories of his own firm’s high-profile clients, as well as the stories of middle-class Americans, he reveals the hidden credit pitfalls that await even the most careful consumer and shares smart strategies to avoid them.  An accessible but detailed manual, Your Score finally lets readers take control of their credit score, understand how to play the game, and gain an insider’s knowledge of how to better navigate the most important financial decisions of their lives.