What's New, Cupcake?

What's New, Cupcake?

by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson

I haven't had this much fun since Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make the first cupcake craft book from the team of Karen Tack and Alan Richardson.

In the forward of What's New Cupcake? they promise fun, spectacle and ease...and they deliver on all accounts. This book leaves you laughing out loud - calling people over to look at cupcake art (be careful husbands get grouchy after about the third time) - and racing to the kitchen to see what ingredients you have on hand!

There are cupcakes for every occasion and some just to titillate! From Stuffed Turkeys for Thanksgiving to Ghosts and Black Cat cupcakes for Halloween. Whole cake displays made of individual cupcakes artfully arranged in a Formula One car - a Summer Water Park - Golf Course (complete with sand trap) - Yarn Platter that will delight the knitter's (or crochet fans) in your life. Some standouts for me were the Ants on a Picnic and "I Thought You Ordered Chocolate Moose?".

From first hand experience I can confirm delivery on the "easier than the first book" promise. I made the Rubber Ducky cupcakes...yummy, easy and a definite conversation piece at the Easter table!

One of the really nice things about this book is the "so many ways to decorate" section where they breakdown various candies, cookies, toppings and misc. parts. It is a great how to for creating flowers, whimsical mosaics, borders, animals and more. This is knowledge that you can use to make everything you cook CUTE!!! but don't get carried away with it, even the most tolerant family may decide you need an intervention.

Ok now, off to the gym!

Giada At Home by Giada De Laurentiis

There Goes My Diet..., March 14, 2010

By	"Reading It All - Robyn" (Orange County, CA USA)

...not really! but this book (even the ARC in which the photos are Black and White) will tempt even the most reluctant cook into the kitchen.

In Giada at Home: Family Recipes from Italy and California the popular Food Network star shares her love of food - not just the nourishment that food provides but she celebrates the power that food has to bring people together - family and friends.

This book shows why Giada has become the star of a hit TV series...her sincerity comes across as she generously shares the traditions of her grandmother and mother married with her talent for making it current.

I've been trying some of the recipes and I can't seem to make it past the Appetizers...bruschetta, crostini and OMG the Smoked Salmon and Apple Carpaccio with Granny Smith Apples...the flavors melt together mmmmm.

The book ranges from Appetizers, Soups & Sandwiches to a first ever look at Brunch on Giada's Porch, a feature which hasn't been in previous books.

All of this is interspersed with photos of Giada with family and friends enjoying food and life in her lovely home.

Momofuku's David Chang - the Julia Child of Asian Cooking...

Momofuku

by David Chang

and Peter Meehan

With Momofuku David Chang does for Asian cooking what Julia Child did for French cooking...Asian recipes you can make in your American kitchen.

Chang writes in the smart,edgy, funny and somewhat irreverent style that put him where he sits today, at the head of an Asian cooking dynasty! With four award winning restaurants (of the same name) in New York City, (Chang conquered this city that can take a new chef, chew him up and spit him out) we know that this is more than chef this is a business man.

The partnership with Peter Meehan gives Momofuku the feel of two guys talking over a couple of beers. This book is written as only a friend can help you write about yourself - the honesty in both the story and the dialog is genuine and will speak to most readers. And the tone is set with the dedication page where the authors print a quote from a fifteenth century Zen Buddhist high priest next to one from Born Standing Up by Comedian Steve Martin.

If you are looking for a book full of recipes - this delivers. But Chang takes you through his story and reveals the process and journey he took to not just cook but to understand. From his journey to find the perfect ramen to his story of finding the secret to cooking the perfect steamed buns for his famous steamed pork buns...you actually read through the book and the stories spur you on to try the recipes.

With each recipe he gives you substitutions that work in an American kitchen and how to find hard to source ingredients.

BRAVO to both David Chang and Peter Meehan!!!

Reviews from Amazon:

“The breathless hype is true. His food is as good and as exciting as everyone says it is. David Chang has opened up a new direction in dining and cooking. With his troika of Momofukus, he changed the whole game. Scary-smart, funny, and ambitious, the wildly creative Chang is the guy all chefs have got to measure themselves by these days.”
—Anthony Bourdain

“As a food professional I am always on the look out for the new, the different, and the delicious. It was with great pleasure that one day I tasted David Chang’s pork buns at Momofuku. Since then, I have sampled almost all of his delectable creations and I am so pleased that I finally have a book of recipes that will allow me to try to emulate them at home.”
—Martha Stewart