Tea or Rick Steins Seafood Lovers Guide

Tea: East and West

Author: Rupert Faulkner

"Ecstasy is a glassful of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth." Thus the great Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin declared his passion for tea, the beverage that has been the focus of pleasure and leisure in both East and West for centuries, and that today is second only to water in worldwide consumption. This delightfully illustrated volume—the ideal gift for any tea lover—tells the story of tea around the world and celebrates its contribution, past and present, to civilized life.

The tea party was as much a staple of social life in ancient China as it was in 19th-century Europe, and bricks of tea transported perilously by yak caravan were as central to life in the Tibetan monastery as the simmering samovar was to that in imperial Russa. The text explores it all—from the Japanese tea ceremony to the advent of the tea bag—and the wide-ranging illustrations capture the fascinating history of the brew that prompted Samuel Johnson to proclaim: "Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannut use exercise, and will not use abstinence."

About the Author:
Rupert Faulkner is a Curator in the Asian Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where he is responsible for the collections of Japanese ceramics, contemporary crafts, and ukiyo-e prints.

Table of Contents:

	Foreword	8
1	Production and Trade	11
2	China	29
3	Japan	45
4	Tibet and the Himalayas	59
5	Russia, Iran and Turkey	73
6	Western Europe	87
7	Tea after 1900	109
	Further Reading	123
	Notes	124
	Index	126

Interesting book: The Sims 2 or Information Security Governance

Rick Stein's Seafood Lovers' Guide: Recipes Inspired by a Coastal Journey

Author: Rick Stein

Having sold more than 200,000 copies in hardcover, Rick Stein’s classic guide to the best in British and Irish seafood is now available in paperback, featuring scores of tasty recipes and color photos.

In this outstanding book, Rick Stein, Britain’s top seafood chef, takes us on a journey in search of the best fish in Britain and Ireland. The book is organized geographically, and Stein offers colorful details of fish–catching and fish–eating traditions as well as local life and legends. Singling out native delicacies, he offers six to eight recipes per chapter, including Brandade and Haricot Bean Soup with Trufþe Oil, Stuffed Grilled Mussels, Stir–Fried Clams with Ginger and Garlic, and Poached Sea Bass with Beurre Fondue. Each beautifully illustrated chapter ends with an area map and a guide to the best hotels, restaurants, pubs, and suppliers. Rick Stein’s books include the award–winning English Seafood Cookery and Taste of the Sea. The BBC series that accompanied Rick Stein’s Seafood Lovers’ Guide won the Glenfiddich 2001 Television Program Award.

Publishers Weekly

In this beautiful full-color cookbook, British seafood expert Stein delves into the many wonders of the United Kingdom's fish. Interspersed among the recipes are restaurant suggestions, lush photographs and the stories of those who make their livings from the waters around Britain: fishermen, lobstermen, restaurateurs and fishmongers. Their stories underline the dangers of overfishing in U.K. waters while documenting the decline of the independent fisherman's way of life. Despite the veddy Britishness of this cookbook, several of Stein's recipes are easy to follow no matter what side of the Atlantic one lives on: Devilled Mackerel with Mint and Tomato Salad, Stir-Fried Clams with Garlic and Ginger, and Poached Haddock with Mussels, Spinach and Chervil are a few examples. Likewise, the Salmon en Croute with Currants and Ginger is easy and elegant, although the recipe does ask that home cooks seek out a fillet that originated "behind the gut cavity of a 3-4 kg (7-9 pound) fish." Other recipes, however, like Gurnard Fillets with a Potato, Garlic and Saffron Broth involve fish unlikely to be found at an American fishmonger's, and the "American" alternative offered at the chart in the back of the book can occasionally be just as esoteric. Recipes like Salt Ling, Tomato, and Potato Pasties employ dried salt fish-perhaps a bit briny for the American palate-and Kedgeree of Arbroath Smokies, which Stein includes in his "classics" section, may also be a bit too foreign. As a chronicle of British seafood in all its glory, this book succeeds terrifically, but as a recipe collection for the American home cook, it doesn't fare nearly as well. However, the pictures are so pretty and the writing is so engaging that perhaps the book's practicality might just be beside the point. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.