As party invitations pile up in the mailbox, Rebecca Rather is up to her elbows in sticky meringue, creamy chocolate, and a sleigh full of savory treats to meet the entertaining needs of her neighbors.In The Pastry Queen Christmas, Rebecca shares nearly 100 traditional recipes reflecting her made-with-love-from-scratch philosophy and the tastes of small-town Texas. Show-off desserts such as Chocolate Cookie Crusted Eggnog Cheesecake, Sticky Toffee Pudding with Brandy Butterscotch Sauce, and Warm Pear Ginger Upside-Down Cake with Amaretto Whipped Cream are the perfect toppers to a family-style feast of Texas Spice-Rubbed Roast Pork, Baked Apple Pear Chutney, Brown Sugar Bacon, and No-Peeking Popovers. Still hungry the next morning? No problem-this country girl does an impressive breakfast, too: Bite-Sized Sticky Buns, Sweet Potato Scones, Cast-Iron Skillet Potatoes, and Mexican Ranch Chilaquiles ought to fill you up.And if you're still looking for excuses to entertain this season, you'll find ooey-gooey baked goods wrapped up as gifts, homemade craft and décor ideas to make your home sparkle, and holiday-worthy menus guaranteed to make your gathering a Texas-sized success. Tree-trimming, cookie decorating, and Santas running down Main Street . . . Christmastime is here.

    These interiors may be stunning, but they aren’t an honest reflection of how we really live and I think they make us feel bad about our own less-than-perfect homes.We are bombarded by perfect interiors, images that aren’t attainable because they have been styled to the point where they bear no resemblance to reality. These interiors may be stunning, but they aren’t an honest reflection of how we really live and I think they make us feel bad about our own less-than-perfect homes. Life Unstyled is about taking inspiration from real homes that are beautiful, creative and inspiring but at the same time a little rough around the edges, with signs of everyday life evident throughout. The first section, ‘Homes Unstyled’, sets out Emilly's manifesto for creating a stylish home that is beautiful but lived in. A Home is Never Done advocates allowing your space to evolve gradually so it is an ever-changing expression of your tastes and interests. Work with What You’ve Got suggests ways to make the most of the home you have rather than yearning for unattainable perfection. Signs of Life offers ideas for wrangling papers, clutter and other stuff. Creative Clutter tackles collections and displays, while Break the Rules rejects style diktats and shows how individuality can bring a home to life. The second section, ‘People Live Here’, visits real-life homes that are definitely not perfect yet display incredible style and creativity and reflect their owners’ needs, tastes and style. And throughout the book, quick fixes, DIY makes and ‘ Every Home Should Have…’ boxes offer creative solutions with unique results.

    In Bones, Jennifer offers a collection of recipes for cooking beef, veal, pork, lamb, poultry, fish, and game on their bones.Chicken, steak, and fish all taste better when cooked on the bone, but we've sacrificed flavor for speed and convenience, forgetting how bones can enhance the taste, texture, and presentation of good food -- think of rack of lamb, T-bone steak, chicken noodle soup, and baked ham. In her simple, bare-bones style, Jennifer teaches home cooks the secrets to cooking with bones.Each chapter of Bones includes stocks, soups, ribs, legs, and extremities (except for whole fish -- they don't have any). Many of the recipes are simple, with the inherent flavors of the bones doing most of the work. There are traditional, elegant dishes, such as Roasted Marrow Bones with Parsley Salad, Olive-Crusted Lamb Racks, and Crown Roast of Pork, as well as new takes on homestyle favorites, such as Maple Tomato Glazed Ribs, Coconut Chicken Curry, and Halibut Steaks with Orange Cream Sauce. Stunning, full-color photographs of dishes like Rabbit in Saffron Sauce with Spring Vegetables; Grilled Quail with Sage Butter; and Duck Legs with Cumin, Turnips, and Green Olives are sure to inspire.In addition to the recipes, Bones includes a wealth of information on a wide range of bone-related topics, including the differences among cuts of meat, as well as the history and lore of bones.

    Created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, the Zentangle method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. The Beauty of Zentangle celebrates this simple but elegant new craft with hundreds of sensational one-of-a-kind designs from around the world.Selected by the editors of Design Originals, the #1 publisher of Zentangle art, this amazing collection of Zentangle-inspired masterpieces encompasses a wide range of styles. Stunning works are included from breakthrough artists and CZTs like Suzanne McNeill, Cindy Shepard, Marie Browning, Sandy Steen Bartholomew, and many more. Their inventive tangles are at the forefront of a new wave of creative expression and personal freedom.

    See tips, techniques and recipes galore to help you make the perfect pie. Have you always had trouble making a perfect crust? Find advice from the experts right here! Never make an "ok" pie crust ever again. You'll see recipes for fruit pies, cream and custard pies, and other pies such as pink lemonade pie and strawberry rhubarb pie. Get over 30 pages of nothing but helpful tips, techniques and recipes to make the perfect pie.

    It just feels that way.Certified nutritionist Leanne Ely loves delicious food and is dedicated to enticing today’s busy families back to the dinner table with home cooking that cannot be beat. In Saving Dinner the Low-Carb Way, she integrates low-carb requirements into her mélange of dining pleasures for every season–providing easy-to-follow menus and highlighting per-serving measurements of calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates, cholesterol, and sodium for each dish.Itemizing ingredients by product in convenient lists, Ely makes your grocery shopping quick and effortless. She also gives you a helping hand in the kitchen with shortcuts that take the stress out of cooking, and suggests menu variations for children and family members who choose not to go the low-carb route.The result? These dinners are not only balanced and healthy but truly varied and delectably good to eat. Main dishes like Low-Carb Beef Stroganoff, Crustless Quiche Lorraine, Crock-Pot Pork Jambalaya, Skillet Salmon with Horseradish Cream, and nearly 150 other entrees (plus recommendations for great side dishes) make dinnertime special in more ways than one.

     Inside, you’ll find detailed recipes and instructions for all sorts of handmade recipe in a jar gifts, including • Cookie Mixes • Snack Mixes • Soup Mixes • Sauces • Seasoning Blends • Bath Salts and Body Scrubs We’ve got everything you need to know to create these quick and easy treats. Let’s get started!

    Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family’s typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.This edition of A Christmas Story gathers together in one hilarious volume the gems of autobiographical humor that Jean Shepherd drew upon to create this enduring film. Here is young Ralphie Parker’s shocking discovery that his decoder ring is really a device to promote Ovaltine; his mother and father’s pitched battle over the fate of a lascivious leg lamp; the unleashed and unnerving savagery of Ralphie’s duel in the show with the odious bullies Scut Farkas and Grover Dill; and, most crucially, Ralphie’s unstoppable campaign to get Santa—or anyone else—to give him a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle. Who cares that the whole adult world is telling him, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid”?The pieces that comprise A Christmas Story, previously published in the larger collections In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories, coalesce in a magical fashion to become an irresistible piece of Americana, quite the equal of the film in its ability to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone.From the Hardcover edition.

    Of anticipation and excitement. Of good times—and, of course, great food. This book celebrates everything surrounding Christmas with 100 delicious bakes for the festive season, as well as dishes for the big day itself. Whip up tempting Christmas nibbles like Mini Potato Farls with Smoked Salmon, or Parmesan Palmiers, perfect for a party. Spice up your home—and get the kids involved, too—with Gingerbread Tree Ornaments and a Cinnamon Christmas Wreath. And, of course, there are plenty of delicious ideas for what to do with all those leftovers. Each chapter also includes spectacular recipes from Bake Off finalists, and Mary and Paul reveal the secrets to those classic Christmas dishes—whether it's Paul's perfect mince pies or Mary's ultimate Christmas pudding. Packed with everything from edible decorations and delicious gifts to party dishes and showstopping centerpieces, this book is the perfect Christmas companion.

    Tolkien received letters from the North Pole - from Father Christmas himself! They told wonderful stories of mischief and disaster, adventures, and battles: how the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place, how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas's house, and many others.Now, for the first time, these letters are brought to life with specially arranged holiday music.REVIEW:"Tolkien at his relaxed and ingenious best." The Times of LondonABOUT THE AUTHOR:J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892-1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and author of such classic extraordinary works of fiction as 'The Hobbit', 'The Lord of the Rings', and 'The Silmarillion.' His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.©1997, 2004 (P)1997 Harper Collins UK

    But Rachel hasn’t come to Paris to mope she’s come to bake. Hard.Because the search for Paris’s next patisserie apprentice is about to begin! And super-chef judge Henri Salernes is an infamously tough cookie. But Rachel isn’t about to let her confidence (or pastry) crumble. She’s got one week, mounds of melt-in-the-mouth macaroons and towers of perfect profiteroles to prove that she really is a star baker.As well as clouds of flour, and wafts of chocolate and cinnamon, there’s definitely a touch of Christmas magic in the air… Rachel hasn’t come to Paris looking for a fairy-tale romance, but the city of love might gift-wrap her one anyway…Not even a dusting of icing sugar could make The Parisian Christmas Bake-Off a more perfect Christmas treat!

     This instant holiday classic is packed with 50 recipes, each gorgeously photographed and meticulously tested, along with dozens of decorating and packaging ideas. Filled with reimagined favorites like Giant Molasses Spice Cookies and Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies; confections like Peppermint Bark, Smoked Almond and Cacao Nib Brittle, and Dark Chocolate-Hazelnut Fudge; and detailed instructions for gorgeous gingerbread houses, cookie place cards, and edible ornaments, this is a cookie book like no other. Because the recipes are easy to scale up or down, Holiday Cookies is perfect for cookie exchanges, gift-giving, and just enjoying throughout the season. From a veteran baker and recipe developer, each cookie in this collection is guaranteed to be a stand-out, and destined to become your new Christmas classic.

    Whether you’re a full-time homesteader, a weekend farmer’s market devoté, or anyone looking to do more by hand, this overflowing resource will help you hone new skills in the kitchen, garden, and great outdoors. It includes: ·         More than 100 recipes for garden-to-table dishes, preserves, and cured foods ·         Small-space gardening advice on building a raised bed, choosing what to grow, and saving seeds ·         DIY projects, such as Mason jar lanterns and homemade notecards ·         Superwoman skills like assembling a 48- hour survival toolkit in an Altoids tin   Packed with beautiful photographs and illustrations, Modern Pioneering proves that becoming more self-sufficient not only means being empowered, but also having a lot more fun.

    But when his latest book, 'Martin Chuzzlewit', is a flop, his publishers give him an ultimatum. Either he writes a Christmas book in a month or they will call in his debts and he could lose everything. Dickens has no choice but to grudgingly accept ...

    Thanks to the 100 ideas in this volume, the craft is now available to everyone. In as little as an afternoon, beginners will be on their way to folding, gluing, and sewing handmade books in a variety of shapes and styles, from rolled scrolls to Jacobs ladders, folded flexagons to case bindings. Complete with photographs of the authors own master books and statements by more than 40 established book artists, this collection is sure to inspire. Culled from the authors best-selling books Creating Handmade Books, Unique Handmade Books, and Expressive Handmade Books, these projects will fuel bookbinding adventures for years to come.