September 2009 | Edition Three
	SEND TO A FRIEND | SIGN UP | CONTACT US WELCOME FOODIES The time has come again and we have packed this newsletter with so many delicious items from the menu that it is having trouble keeping it's belt buckle done up! We have a very special offer for this newsletter, everyone who orders ANY of the books featured can receive a free copy of Tips for Your Barbecue, valued at $24.95. This little gem is packed with all the information you ever needed to make a perfect afternoon's grilling, from choosing the BBQ, fuel and extra gadgets, to recipes for marinades, succulent seafood and the secrets of grilling.  Click here to read more about this book, or if you require something meatier to go with it, check out these meat-lovers cookbooks. To receive your free book, simply email me at marketing@booktopia.com.au, with your order number in the email's subject line. ...So, now I've convinced you to buy something, the decision remains: what to choose from this saucy selection? I have a special deal on the Chunky Cookbook Series; each of these delectable nine titles are going for $9.95, or you can get the entire set for just $59.95! You can also enter the draw for a signed copy of Cuisine Du Moi, Ben Canaider's uproarious send up of overpriced, undersized meals and their uppity chefs. This month my pick to satisfy the weekend baking cravings was Theo and Co, a scrumptious collection of pizzas for every taste, and my loved ones certainly did not turn their nose up at the left overs. The eagerly anticipated 4 Ingredients Gluten Free, and James Halliday's 2010 Australian Wine Companion, have been released to our shelves, and I have several special feature collections, including meals to fit your budget, Asian delicacies at home and some of the restaurants featured in the recent Melbourne Taste Festival. Also, don't miss out on signed copies of Pete Evans' My Grill, packaged together with Greg Duncan Powell's Beer, at one fabulously low price. Until next time, enjoy the party with your tastebuds, Karen Coleman Food and Drink Editor Booktopia SPECIAL DEALS 2 BOOKS IN 1 PACK: MY GRILL and BEER IN STOCK RRP: $79.90, Booktopia Price: $59.95 MY GRILL: FOOD FOR THE BARBECUE by Pete Evans SIGNED COPIES of My Grill We have gone blokey: we have paired together two of things men like most, beer and meat. Pete Evans started cooking seriously when his brother and mate opened up a restaurant in Brighton, Victoria. Fresh out of high school, until that time Evans had been flipping burgers in between catching waves - and he still tries to chase a wave whenever he gets the chance.   There's been a few adventures since that first Restaurant, The Pantry, first opened. Evan's was the man behind Hugo's at Bondi, the hugely popular Sydney restaurant that went on to become Hugo's Lounge Bar, Hugo's Bar Pizza and Hugo's at Manly. My Grill is Evans' third book after My Table and Fish, meanwhile this busy man has also found time to appear on the Lifestyle channel and Channel Nine's FRESH. In this book Evans presents three chapters of sizzling recipes starting with a weekend away, through a lazy afternoon barbecue and finishing with a slightly more stylish evening affair. These beautifully illustrated recipes range from simple dishes like baked eggs with chorizo to a light Thai beef salad and a scrumptious parmesan and sage crusted pork cutlet. Each chapter also contains cocktails to add a little fuel to the fire. Booktopia's Toni Whitmont spoke to Pete about My Grill. Click here to listen to this interview. BEER by Greg Duncan Powell Greg Duncan Powell is a professional drinker. He lives on the south coast of NSW where wine and beer companies send things for him to taste and he writes about them if he thinks they're any good. That doesn't take up too much of the day, so he also spends time surfing, playing guitar and watering the vegie garden. At university he wrote a thesis on marriage in twelfth century France and he always wanted to be a professional musician or a farmer. In this comprehensive beer guide Powell, um, taps (forgive me) into the growing obsession with boutique beers and breweries. He also covers the ever-increasing array of mass-market beers, acting as your tour guide through the dizzying array of amber liquids. Powell discusses how beer is made, providing a short history of brewing and taste-testing as many samples as the author could lay his hands on. Drawing on a fuel theme, these are categorised from 'Light (Unleaded)' - reduced alcohol beers, through to 'Biofuel' - boutique brews. Powell has also written two other books, Breakfast: Food Worth Getting Out of Bed For, and The Pig, The Olive and the Squid. He has also written a number of cookbooks with Ben Canaider, who's latest book, Cuisine du Moi, I shall be raving about in just a few more paragraphs... Together they have been dubbed 'the Roy and HG' of wine biz'. Click here to read a Sydney Morning Herald article on the boys, or click here to see one of their collaborative titles. Click here to buy this special pack. CHUNKY Chunky Cookbook Series Each RRP: $26.95, Booktopia Price: $9.95 Full set RRP: $179.55, Booktopia Price: $59.95 The bestselling and award-winning Chunky Food series offer clever collections of easy-to-cook, flavoursome recipes. They take their inspiration from a variety of international cuisines, and have been re-launched in 2009 for a whole new generation of cooks. Their speciality is the technical ease and versatility of recipes on offer. Since this series was first published in 2002, over two million copies have been sold globally. Of the nine, my two favourites are: SWEET FOOD: Start with the crème caramel, dip into a cheesecake or two and finish with a taste of chocolate fudge. Just about every dessert you have ever tried to say no to lies between these beautiful covers. VEGIE FOOD: Put 'em in a soup, stir fry, salad or pie - the choice is endless in this collection suitable for omnivores, vegetarians and vegans. I am particularly looking forward to my Eggplant, Ricotta and Pasta Pots. All remaining seven come in as close contenders for my third favourite spot: HOME FOOD: an update on the wonder that was meat and three vege. Each recipe is straightforward enough to prepare after work, and the ingredients can be found on the way home if they are not already lurking in the larder. FAST FOOD: Tailored to help find a little breathing space in a hectic day, using minimum preparation to create a delicious meal with minimum preparation. HOT FOOD: Warm your heart in more ways than one! Spicy curries, robust stews  and toasty bakes are found in here. FISH FOOD: In addition to 200 recipes, this book demystifies seafood with its vital information on preparation methods, such as scaling, gutting, boning and filleting fish, and cooking crustacea such as crayfish and lobster. Basic cooking methods such as panfrying, grilling, baking and deepfrying are also covered. BBQ FOOD: For all barbecues and grills (be they woodfired, electric or gas) here lies 200 recipes that will expand the mind about eating outdoors: from burgers, salads, salsas and sides to kebabs, roasts and desserts. SMALL FOOD: All about the entertaining, this book features dips, fritters, rolls and tartlets - each recipe designed for easy picking from the plate! COOL FOOD: As the sun comes out for summer you will love this collection of salads, mousses and fruity frozen delights. Click here to buy all these 9 titles for the special price of $59.99. Click here to buy any of the individual titles for just $9.95! CUISINE DU MOI by Gavin Canardéaux and Ben Canaider RRP: $29.95, Booktopia Price: $23.96 A SIGNED COPY giveaway 'The menu must always obey the "Four S" Rule: Seasonal. Sustainable. Semi-fresh. Seriously overpriced'. Gavin Canardéaux is a fabulously successful, ridiculously wealthy, endlessly hounded international celebrity – and expert in fine dining. And as Frankenstein to the monster, Ben Canaider is his creator. It is difficult to discern whether this is really a book or a piece of performance art. The writing and all its manifestations (such as a utube video, and Canaider’s appearance at the Sydney Writers’ Festival) have given Canaider the opportunity to role-play a flawless depiction of this character he so obviously loves to hate. Canardéaux epitomises everything the gourmet foodies purport to offer us, and then pushes it in the realms of the ludicrous, the preposterous and more than often the very impertinent. For instance, Canardéaux marvels at ‘how we’ve all come a long way’ from the traditional 1950s meat and three veg now that we have ‘medleys’ – roughly ‘three vegetable-based food items arranged by multiple apprentices’ hands on a plate, over which a tiny piece of protein is then placed. Pour froth and cornflour over everything and there you have it – restaurant quality cuisine’. Booktopia has a SIGNED copy of Cuisine Du Moi to giveaway! To enter the draw all you have to do is purchase any book from this newsletter, email me with you order number and answer, in 25 words or less, the following question:                      What do you like most about the Booktopia newsletters? Too easy! I can't wait to hear from you! Booktopia asked Canardéaux (and Canaider) a few questions about the book and how they find working in the food and drink industry. At times it was difficult to tell who was responding… Questions for Gavin: 1. Why did you write the book? Who did you have in mind whilst you were writing? Many are called to write cookbooks; few are chosen. I HAD to write this book, and I wrote it for myself, of course. 2. What are some of the things you love most about what you do? The bullying and the character-assassinations of apprentices. 3. What are some of your pet peeves on the job? Airport connections. 4. What meal do you prepare for yourself most often when eating alone? I never eat alone; it is the start of a slippery slope. 5. Do you have a 'white whale' - ie a meal/snack/drink that you have always wanted to try but never have? Yes, Waygu beef. I have an intolerance to it, owing to the fact it contains a naturally occurring compound that sets off my allergic system, to wit: IT IS F---ING AWFUL Questions for Ben: 1. Why did you write the book? Who did you have in mind whilst you were writing? The invoice. 2. Do you think the food and drink industry as 'Gavin'ish now as it has been in the past? More so. More and more chefs are taking on PR agents. Gavin is the tip of the iceberg. It will only become harder to make this shit up. A lot of these no-name chefs now do media for FREE, so desperate are they to brand themselves. 3. What is next for Ben Canaider? What is your next challenge? I'm going home this afternoon to prepare a roast chicken. As for the second question, I don't have challenges, I have work. 4. What would be your ideal Sunday afternoon lunch? TV. Landline on ABC1, from midday, with Kerry Lonegan's Commodities Report. And afterwards, at 1pm, I'd take luncheon. Ideally something I've cooked myself, sitting down, with wine. After lunch I then think about dinner, and I feel wonderfully self-improved having watched Landline.   You can visit Canaider’s website, where he proclaims himself ‘a typist who drinks’, by clicking here. You can also visit Canardéaux’ website by clicking here. Canaider has also written a number of other books, including a few with Greg Duncan Powell, including Beer. Click here to see Booktopia’s special deal on Beer. Click here to buy this book. HOW TO DRINK ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING by Ben Canaider IN STOCK RRP: $34.95, Booktopia Price: $13.95 Canaider has honed his skills to the point that eating, drinking, laughing and typing simultaneously is no problem at all for him. In this earlier book, Canaider discusses a variety of hangover cures and their varying degrees of effectiveness, the history and wonder of cocktails, the mourning of a 'beerjo' and how to survive a wine tasting. This book will make you fall in love with your favourite drinks all over again and possibly inspire you to start a flirtation with something new - like a sherry after dinner. Click here to buy this book. If you're more interested in a general guide to drinking well (ie not just alcohol but all sorts of good liquid substances), I suggest you try How to Drink. FEEDING MANY MOUTHS? MONEY SAVING MEALS by Philippa Sandall and Diane Temple RRP: $19.99, Booktopia Price: $15.99 This author dream team has come up with a rather unstoppable combination. They have found a series of recipes and tips to help you prepare meals for your family that are healthy, cost effective and low on preparation time. Between them they have devised an entire system of planning which could rejuvenate your lifestyle with its simplicity and calm innovation. Of the recipes in this book, so far I have tried a seafood pasta, the spaghetti with meatballs and a wonderfully simplified version of sang choy bau – the last of which was especially notable as it gained the most elusive and highly sought-after of praises – that of my mother-in-law! Most usefully, this book offers detailed tips and hints, and appeals to my sense of the useful tangent and the minor thrill in experimenting with alternatives (necessity is the mother of invention?). Booktopia had the opportunity to ask Temple a few questions about the book and the team’s process in creating it, click here to read that interview. The book is also accompanied by a number of rather special supporting materials, such as a very funky website, here, and Sandall and Temple’s health and price challenge to the Masterchef tv show, here. Temple ended her existence as a dietician when she discovered that a little butter doesn’t hurt and is really worth it – especially on a plateful of mushrooms. She writes the popular ‘Low GI Money Saving Meals' column for the GI News – the free, online monthly newsletter for the University of Sydney's Human Nutrition Unit – and has contributed to numerous recipe books for Low GI recipes and Diabetes prevention. Sandall is editor of the GI News and co-author of seven books including The Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook and Low GI Family Cookbook. Click here to buy this book. THE THRIFTY COOKBOOK   CLASSICS: ONE STEP AT A TIME   NEW FROM THE COUNTRY WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION by Kate Colquhoun RRP: $39.99 Booktopia Price: $31.99 This is a guide to living economically – in many senses of the word. Colquhoun stands out among cookbook authors for her detailed research and fascination with history, for instance, in 2006 she wrote on Charles Dickens’ vivid use of food to socially mark his characters and his wife Catherine’s coincidental authorship of a cookery book, What Shall We Have for Dinner?, under the pseudonym of Lady Maria Clutterbuck. Having recently written Taste, a story of Britain through it’s food, Colquhoun appropriately uses the products of that research to turn her attention to waste – or more precisely – how to reduce it. She claims that in the UK if everyone enacted a little grandma-wisdom at home, in one year the carbon footprint could be reduced by as much as that of a fifth of the cars on the road. Apart from this, we could spend less on making meatballs and fish cakes, simple stocks and soups, inventive rice and pasta, and great pies and pickles. She finally offers a sensible answer for what to do with spare egg yolks after making meringues, the starting-to-wrinkle fruit and veg, and stale bread or cakes. And, I did say she was economical: Colquhoun is also determined to reduce the time we have to spend behind the stove! She has also written A Thing in Disguise: The Visionary Life of Joseph Paxton, which was short-listed for the Duff Cooper Prize and she lives in London. Click here to read a review of this book from Hello Magazine. Click here to buy this book. If you’re looking for even more great ideas for how to get the most from your pantry and fridge off cuts, you might be interested in Love Your Leftovers.   by Keda Black RRP: $35.00 Booktopia Price: $28.00 Have you ever gotten half way through a recipe, read instruction number 4b and thought 'now how in the blimey do I do that?' Or my other favourite moment, reading a new recipe that looks really delicious until you come about three quarts of the way down the ingredients list and there lies some leafy green-sounding name that you wouldn't know how to pick out of a line up if your life depended on it. Black is a genius. He has devised an entirely new layout for this cookbook: using ceiling-aerial photographs of the ingredients and techniques required to create all the classics of restaurant and home style meals. Particularly useful are his images of the stages of creamed eggs, butter and sugar - allowing for easy identification of when yours is actually 'done enough'. He also cuts the vegetables and arranges them in that 'just so' manner only otherwise seen on TV. Of the 60 recipes featured you will find bechamel sauce, lasagne, soufflé, roast meat, ratatouille, stuffing and sauces - drawing  inspiration from Black's home - the cuisine of France. Above, an image from Classics: One Step At A Time. Black has also written a number of other books including The Vegetable Box and Sugar and Spice. Click here to browse all of Black's other books. Click here to buy this book.   by The CWA Each RRP: $24.95 Booktopia Price: $19.96 The fabulous people at the Country Women's Association who delivered enormously popular Country Women's Association Cookbook, have come through with more home style belly-warmers. This time they have come out with two new titles, Soups and Stews and Cakes - both containing a host of traditional delights from our nation's favourite cooks. For lunch or dinner, you will find spicy pork casserole, chicken minestrone, avocado soup, Hungarian goulash or a hearty pea soup. And for dessert you can take your pick from black forest cheese cake (I am making this one on the weekend!), moist banana cake, dried apricot and sultana log, pineapple carrot cake or peach, almond and yoghurt cake. The Association itself has been around for more than 80 years now and has come to reflect the way in which our pioneer women used the simple ingredients they had on hand to ensure their household a full belly year-round. Handed down through the generations each recipe is adapted to suit the available ingredients and local conditions, often using 'new' foods and influences as introduced by new members. Click here to look inside the CWA Soups and Stews Cookbook. Click here buy Soup and Stews. Click here to look inside the CWA Cakes Cookbook. Click here to buy Cakes. Click here to browse all  the CWA cookbooks. ASIAN As the winter months begin to ease off, I thought it was time to feature a range of cuisines that had the capacity to both fill the belly on those chilly nights when we've gotten home after dark, and offer up a crisp, crunchy salad as we sit in the sun on a warm weekend afternoon. So here it is: bringing the East into our own (relatively) Western backyard... the best in new Asian cooking! JAPANESE   CHINESE 501 BENTO BOXES RRP: $32.19 Booktopia Price: $25.75 Beware: if you have kids this collection of sculptural lunches may put you to shame. Featuring some of the most colourful and creative designs you can imagine out of the staples of a nutritious meal this book is more of a list of directions in arrangement than actual recipes. Tending towards the cute and caricatured, it is ideal for ideas on ways to spice us the kid's lunches or as a gift. To view an entire gallery of bento boxes from one of the book's contributor's, click here. Click here to buy this book. THE SUSHI LOVERS COOKBOOK Yumi Umemura RRP: $60.43 Booktopia Price: $48.35 For both beginners and experts, this beautifully illustrated guide combines both the classic hand rolls, Nigiri and Inari with atypical ingredients such as ratatouille and sun-dried tomatoes. Umemura teaches cooking in Tokyo and is a frequent contributor on Japanese television and in magazines. Click here to buy this book. If you're looking for something steamy on your plate, like a good tempura, you could try Kentaro Kobayashi's Easy Japanese Cooking: Donburi Mania.   IRON CHEF RRP: $35.00 Booktopia Price: $28.00 Chen Kenichi This cult Japanese TV programme pitted guest chefs against the resident Iron Chefs in sport-champion style cook-offs. In this book the winner, Chen Kenichi presents a collection of 50 easy-to-follow recipes adapted for a western audience. In the style of the show, each of the 50 recipes present an unusual approach to familiar ingredients. Click here to buy this book. SIMPLE: CUISINE OF A NEW GENERATION Jimmy Chok IN STOCK RRP: $49.95 Booktopia Price: $24.95 This beautiful combination of eastern and western flavours and techniques deliberately uses only ingredients you will find at the local supermarket - or, at a pinch - your local asian grocery. Chok fills his cookbook with humour and finely designed photographs that will make your mouth water . Inspired fusion recipes include Confit of Miso Sake Veal Cheek with Asian Spice Couscous or Foie Gras Burger. Click here to buy this book. If you are just starting to try your hand at Chinese cooking you could start with Kylie Kwong's fabulous Simple Chinese Cooking or, for something more generic, Chinese Cooking Made Easy (IN STOCK). Classic Straits Chinese Food : A Unique taste of Southeast Asia (IN STOCK) could also offer more experienced cooks a new range of flavours. LITTLE VIETNAM   PAIRING WINE WITH ASIAN FOOD   MUSIC FOOD AND LOVE Nhut Huynh RRP: $49.95 Booktopia Price: $39.96 Huynh and his business partner Jeremy McNamara own RQ Restaurant in Surrey Hills and are about to launch an online asian grocery store. Huynh escaped communist Vietnam in a fishing boat, made his way from a refugee camp in Malaysia before arriving in Australia in 1984. Huynh provides extra information for each recipe such as it's regional origin, his own family memories and storage tips. Click here to see inside this book. Click here to watch a video of Huynh speaking about his new cookbook. Click here to buy this book.   Edwin Soon RRP: $26.99 Booktopia Price: $21.59 Soon grew up  in Singapore where as a toddler he gained an early initiation to wine as he tapped into his Dad's store of Tawny Port after his Mum stopped buying Woodward's Gripe water (in those days it contained a tiny bit of alcohol)! Later, he moved to Australia and trained as a winemaker, hoping to buy a vineyard. Somehow instead he found himself writing about wine and has never stopped. In this book he explains the Asian kitchen and food combinations including all major cuisines and highlighting the most common dishes such as dim sum, seafood, curries, street foods and typical restaurant meals. Click here to buy this book.   Guo Yue RRP: $35.00 Booktopia Price: $28.00 More a memoir than a cookbook, this intimate account of life in pre-revolutionary China uses food and music to represent life-affirming experience, symbolising freedom of expression and familial love. As he recalls his childhood amidst a close-knit family of musicians living in a Beijing alley,  Yue gives the reader a taste of family life in China and real Chinese home cooking. He shares a few delicious traditional recipes, passed on through the generations. These are based on a few simple ingredients and love of good food. Yue is a bamboo flute musician who has performed for the BBC Concert Orchestra. Click here to buy this book. MELBOURNE TASTE FESTIVAL All things eventually come round again: the Taste Festival returned to Melbourne, eating up a storm from the 27-30th August. There were a whole host of fabulous restaurants featured this year, only of few which I have been able to mention here - for more information click here. RESTAURANT FIFTEEN   MOVIDA There are now four Fifteen  Restaurants around the globe, inspired by Jamie Oliver to combine rigorous, on-the-job training for disadvantaged youth, with top class food and friendly, approachable service. Our very own Melbourne branch is headed by Tobie Puttock, who worked with Oliver for two years at the Fifteen London. Fifteen Melbourne new guides 20 young apprentices each year. Click here to visit the website for Restaurant Fifteen Melbourne. JAMIE'S MINISTRY OF FOOD  Jamie Oliver IN STOCK RRP: $65.00, Booktopia Price: $52.00 What is the Ministry of Food? It is a global movement, initiated by Jamie Oliver, inspiring people to get cooking again. It is based on the premise that anyone can learn to cook – that it’s fun, cool, can save you money and you and your family can live a healthier life. Obviously, if you're reading this newsletter you probably don't need much convincing. Here's where 'Pass It On' comes in: the mission of anyone who learns a new recipe is to teach two other people how to make it too. And here's the really impressive part: it's named after the Ministry of Food that existed in the UK after World War II broke out, when the government had to assist families in getting enough nutrition from their rations and provided education in the form of cookery demonstrations, recipes and useful advice on how to best use the ingredients available. Women who could cook were also sent to workplaces, factories, schools or wherever they were needed. As a result the British public during this period had one of the healthiest diets of any time in history. The movement is enormous now, with online pass it on chains spanning continents in all forms of media including written recipes, utubes, email chains and more. Click here to see Oliver describe the campaign in his own words. Click here to buy this book.   SPANISH CULINARY ADVENTURES Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish RRP: $49.95, Booktopia Price: $39.96 Anyone who has been to Spain (or wants to!) will appreciate the unbridled flamboyance of this cookbook and it's writers. Camorra was born in Barcelona but bred an Aussie. He travelled back to the home of his ancestors in 2000 to witness the full glory of its cuisine and atmosphere. Determined to export some of the relaxed, cheerful, creative Spanish dining experience back to Oz, he named his restaurant after the art and film movement that flourished after the death of the Fascist dictator, Colonel Franco. This was an era characterised by innovation, excitement, energy and celebration - the spirit that the Movida restaurant draws upon. The cookbook features 125 recipes from the restaurant as well as information about Spanish ingredients and cooking methods, capturing the essence of Spanish cuisine. All chapters and recipes are introduced by the author, highlighting a particular ingredient, cooking method, anecdote or cultural influence. Click here to watch Camorra prepare Pulpo alla Gallega - a regional Spanish octopus dish. Click here to visit the Movida website. Click here to buy this book. DAILY ITALIAN Tobie Puttock RRP: $39.95 Booktopia Price: $31.96 Puttock discovers, reinvents and perfects his recipes from simple food using fine, fresh ingredients.  He sees a recipe as a blueprint, the point from which a creative cook at home can begin to explore and craft a dish to personal taste, ability and dietary preference. His energetic writing ignores some rules and creates new others. It pushes the boundaries of tradition whilst sticking closely to the guiding principle of Italian cuisine: that cooking is, above all, an act of love. Click here to buy this book. CELEBRITIES IN THE KITCHEN   MISS DAHL'S VOLUPTUOUS DELIGHTS Allan Campion and Michelle Curtis RRP: $69.95 Booktopia Price: $55.96 Campion and Curtis have been writing about the local food scene for 15 years now - first for Epicure in The Age and Australian Gourmet Traveller, before starting on cook books and food guides such as The Foodies' Diary and The Foodies' Guide to Melbourne. In The Kitchen is a culmination of the best of their work since they began writing together in 1993. With more than 1000 recipes, plenty of advice, personal stories behind the recipes and photographs, the mammoth collection weighs in at a whopping 2.4 kg! Campion and Curton chose recipes that they felt represent modern Australian home cooking. They claim 'simplicity, seasonality and freshness are the key... We've also listened to our readers in the selection process. Dishes such as spaghetti with breadcrumbs, tuna, parsley and lemon caused a wave of emails from adoring fans; likewise, muffins that taste like doughnuts have an enthusiastic fan club.' Each chapter begins with a basic recipe and slowly builds the skills of the cook, for example Soups begins with basic stocks, followed by simple vegetable soups, moving to minestrone... and the finale is Asian dumpling-style soups accompanied by soda bread, focaccia and naan. Ease and 'minimum washing up' are always high on the agenda. Click here to see inside this book. Click here to buy this book.   The Art of Eating a Little of What You Fancy Sophie Dahl RRP: $39.99, Booktopia Price: $31.99 This hardbound book is actually sumptuous. The binding itself oozes juicy voluptuousness onto my desk - I want to physically squeeze it's warm colours and japanese-blossom-inspired designs. The recipes are sorted by seasons - giving you nutrition to satisfying your craving of the calendar month and a good deal of 'soul food' for the varying moods that come with the changing weather and passing year. Dahl was jet-packed into teenage fame by association to her uncle, Roald, and as a consequence her size became a topic of public scrutiny at precisely the age when she needed it least.  She had a career as a model before embarking on a crash course of diets ranging from Atkins to Raw Food.  Now in her twenty-ninth year, this book is essentially Dahl's manifesto on dietary peace: settling into one's body with compassionate common sense by celebrating the joy in food and eating. Jamie Oliver, a good friend of Dahl, says that her recipes are so fabulous and so desirable she has tons of men queuing up after her! Click here to browse inside this book. Click here to buy this book. THE BEDROOM SECRETS OF THE MASTER CHEFS   FEED ME NOW & ON RUE TATIN Irvine Welsh IN STOCK RRP: $24.95, Booktopia Price: $13.95 As a slight diversion try this: from the Irish crime author of Trainspotting, this is a novel about unravelling the mysteries of the minor celebrity. It has some great potential: food, sex and very black comedy. Click here to buy this book.   Bill Granger IN STOCK RRP: $74.90 Booktopia Price: $44.95 There are still some signed copies of this special pack waiting, hoping, wishing to leave our warehouse and enter your kitchens! So if you haven't partaken of the Granger home delights yet - what are you waiting for?? Click here to hear Bill Granger create brunch on ABC radio. Click here to buy this book. HEALTH COOKBOOKS GREEN PHARMACY GUIDE TO HEALING FOODS   FAST FRESH AND FABULOUS   HEART FOOD James A. Duke RRP: $39.99 Booktopia Price: $31.99 Using proven natural remedies, Dr. Duke (PhD) demonstrates how to treat and prevent over 80 of the most common ailments. This is an updated version of his earlier work on herbal medicine that expands into the popular subject of food as medicine. Click here to buy this book.   Janelle Bloom RRP: $39.95 Booktopia Price: $31.96 Straight from the set of Ready, Steady, Cook Bloom presents what she deems a 'commonsense' and 'delectable' approach to feeding ourselves and our families. Click here to see inside Bloom's book. Click here to see Bloom speaking about her book. Click here to buy this book.   Veronica Cuskelly and Nicole Senior RRP: $29.95 Booktopia Price: $23.96 This is the 'user friendly' version of healthy heart eating: each recipe is designed with options to help you make the most of what's in your pantry and create three different variations. All have nutrition information and a GI rating, plus the book contains a host of extra lifestyle and nutrition tips. Click here to buy this book. DIETS FOR SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE VERY VEGETARIAN GO VEGAN CALENDAR by Sarah Kramer RRP: $24.95, Booktopia Price: $19.96 The absolute wonder woman who brought us How It All Vegan, The Garden of Vegan, La Dolce Vegan! and Vegan A Go-Go! has done it again. In characteristic Kramer style, January starts with a Maxwell Smart mock-up: report to control immediately - you have a mission to go vegan. By July you are cooking 'Better than Butter Tarts' and for the end of the year you have an Attack of the Delicious Tomatoes from  your 'Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta with Kalamata Olives and Capers' to look forward to. Your wall will love this one just as much as your belly does. Click here to buy this book. THE VEGAN TABLE by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau RRP: $34.17, Booktopia Price: $27.34 Another particularly thrilling new release in this little niche of the world is Patrick-Goudreau's eagerly anticipated new book, The Vegan Table. Patrick-Goudreau's Joy of Vegan Baking was VegNews' Cookbook of the Year and  she now celebrates plant-based cuisine from all over the world, including the Mediterranean, Middle East, Mexico, Asia, India and Africa. Recipes range from Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Spread, Decadent Chocolate Truffles and Simple Stuffed Capsicum as Patrick-Goudreau explores how to cook great vegan food everyone will appreciate - from groups of two to ten and for every special occasion. Click here to buy this book. If this is really is your corner of the table - you absolutely will not want to miss Vegan Scoop - for a more detailed gander click here.  ENJOY LIFE'S COOKIES   THE GLUTEN FREE KITCHEN Leslie Hammond RRP: $34.17, Booktopia Price: $27.34 150 allergy-free cookies, brownies and bars that are free of gluten as well as the eight most common allergens. Hammond teaches how to use naturally allergy-free ingredients and substitutes to add richness, texture and nutrition to your baking without losing the yumminess! Click here to buy this book.   Sue Shepherd RRP: $35.00, Booktopia Price: $28.00 Shepherd is a dietician with coeliac disease, but her cookbook caters to most common types of dietary conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome, fructose malabsorption, lactose intolerance, and intolerances to fructans, raffinose and sorbitol. She explains all of these in her introductory chapters and aims to help families with a variety of conditions to cater to everyone's tastes. Click here to look inside this book. Click here to buy this book. FOR AND WITH KIDS ANNABEL KARMEL'S COMPLETE FAMILY MEAL PLANNER   CONFETTI CAKES FOR KIDS   COMPLETE PREGNANCY COOKBOOK Annabel Karmel RRP: $35.00 Booktopia Price: $28.00 The queen of kids cooking returns with her essential guide to quick and inspired recipes straight from the fridge and pantry. Previously released as Favourite Family Recipes, there shouldn't be too many complaints from this collection. Click here to buy this book. If you liked this you might also like Australian Womens' Weekly: Kids In The Kitchen or The Baking Book.   Elisa Strauss RRP: $55.00 Booktopia Price: $44.00 The founder and head designer of Confetti Cakes in New York, Strauss is also a former designer for Ralph Lauren and famous for her cakes as elaborate as a platter of sushi, wine bottle in a crate, and designer handbag. In this book aimed at a child's skill level, designs include a sock monkey, an MP3 player and playful hula gingerbread girls and boys. Click here to buy this book.   Fiona Wilcock IN STOCK RRP: $45.00 Booktopia Price: $22.50 This essential kitchen companion for expecting mothers is split into three parts: part one, Essential Facts covers key information on mother and baby nutrition in an accessible way. Part two, Menu Plans, looks in depth at nutritional requirements and likely food-related problems for each stage of pregnancy. Part three features over 100 delicious dishes, specially devised for expectant and new mothers. Click here to buy this book. INTERNATIONAL THEO AND CO.   CURRY KITCHEN The Search for the Perfect Pizza Theo Kalogeracos RRP: $34.95 Booktopia Price: $27.96 My favourite recipe in this entire book (and I have tried a few of them - thanks to the kind people at New South Books) is for the fresh pizza dough. It doesn't seem to matter how humble the ingredients are that I pile on top of it - this moist, chewy, fluffy heavenly base magically turns it into gold. The book covers everything from sauces to gourmet vegetarian, seafood, roast meats and even dessert pizzas (I defy anyone to go past the chocolate mud pizza - unless it's onto the apple-pie-style pizza). Theo is owner and chef of Little Caesars' Pizzeria, click here to visit their website. Click here to buy this book. If you're looking for more great pizza a home you could try Pizza Modo Mio.   Jacki Passmore RRP: $49.95 Booktopia Price: $39.96 In this beginners guide you will learn how to prepare an entire range of Asian flavours: fragrant or fiery, simple or spicy, sweet or sour, classic or contemporary. Minimal time and effort is required for this range of 250 dishes including tandoori paste, Indonesian spinach & pumpkin curry, prawn korma, Singapore chicken in coconut curry, Balti lamb & zucchini curry, sticky rice and fresh chilli sambal. Most of the ingredients are also available in your local supermarket. Click here to buy this book. BAKING HOMESTYLE PIES AND TARTS by Geoff Armstrong RRP: $34.95, Booktopia Price: $27.96 This is one of those seriously dangerous series, for a few reasons. Most immediately it runs the risk of social embarrassment as you drool through your first viewing of the pages, and then later, as you continually return to your morish creations, your hips may begin to complain. But it is so beautiful! Do not be deterred by the banal practicalities of life - enjoy (just a bit)... Click here to see inside this book. Click here to buy this book. HOMESTYLE COOKIES, MUFFINS AND CAKES by Peter Macinnis RRP: $34.95, Booktopia Price: $27.96 The oh-so yummy recipes in this book include chocolate hazelnut scrolls, cappuccino slice and two toned biscuits. There are also basics and toppings sections with detailed step-by-step photographs to provide guidance for a novice. Experienced bakers will find that each recipe is beautifully styled, and a diverse range of origins and flavours are featured. Click here to see inside this book. Click here to buy this book. DESSERTS LEGLESS DESSERTS TO GET YOU IN THE SPIRIT   LOW CALORIE DESSERTS Kylie Banning RRP: $34.11 Booktopia Price: $27.29 The ultimate in decadence: a wicked selection of recipes made up lucious spirits and liqueurs. Your parties, entertaining and evenings at home will be much feistier with these kicking desserts. Click here to buy this book. If you're more interested in the cocktail than the dessert, I suggest you take a look at the new format edition of the bestselling Cocktail book.   Christine France IN STOCK RRP: $32.95 Booktopia Price: $15.95 We all have to think more conservatively than we'd like about our diets, but why cut out desserts entirely when you can make appropriately waistline-trimmed choices? This book opens with a discussion of ingredients, techniques and equipment before launching into a full-scale extravaganza of fruity, moussed-up, souffléd, custarded and frozen colourful delights. Click here to buy this book. DESSERT RECIPES FROM LE CHAMPIGNON SAUVAGE David Everitt-Matthias RRP: $69.95 Booktopia Price: $55.96 For the more adventuresome among you, Dessert is Everitt-Matthias' second book that pushies the boundaries of a chef’s art. Since 1987, David and Helen Everitt-Matthias have owned and run Le Champignon Sauvage restaurant in Cheltenham. He is a ‘masculine’ chef; in the sense that he starts with flavours and believes that the real, bold taste of the ingredients should shine through. He says that 'I'm confident that 90% of the time, if I'd mentally constructed something that I believed [in, it] would work.' For example his sweetbreads dish sprinkles spices such as liquorices, orange powder and mushroom powder then vacuum packs and cooks it at 60 degrees for about four hours until the breads are just able to hold their shape. Then they are then refrigerated until needed, when they are roasted and the onion crust is put on (as is the Asian technique). A new dessert he has developed involves cold chocolate fondant, with caramel in the middle and roasted barley with a malted milk ice cream. This book’s chapters focus on specific families of ingredients: Chocolate and Nut, Fruit, Vegetable, Roots, Pods, Seeds and Bark, and Wild. The book is, very appropriately, introduced by Heston Bluementhal who has donned Everitt-Matthias 'the epitome of what a truly great modern day chef should be'. Booktopia still has stock of two of Bluementhal's bestsellers, click here for more details.   Click here to read an interview with Everitt-Matthias. Click here to buy this book. GLASS OF WINE, ANYONE? JAMES HALLIDAY'S 2010 WINE COMPANION AUSTRALIAN WINE COMPANION 2010 by James Halliday RRP: $59.95 Booktopia Price: $47.96 James Halliday's Wine Companion is the no 1 bestselling guide in the Australian industry. Each year it is keenly anticipated and the 2010 edition is no exception. Halliday's extensive knowledge, tasting notes, vintage ratings and advice on optimal drinking supplements the practical information he provides on wineries - including opening times, contact details, vineyard sizes, web addresses, and biographies of the winemakers. 5798 wines are featured, 142 new wineries, a ranking of wineries throughout Australia, vintage ratings for each region and a regional index of food, accommodation, music and cellar-door sales accompanied by colour maps. Click here to buy this book. AUSTRALIAN WINE ENCYCLOPAEDIA by James Halliday IN STOCK RRP: $34.95 Booktopia Price: $27.96 Who are the movers and shakers in the Australian wine industry today? Who declared cab sav the most heavenly variety available? Halliday has compiled the definitive guide to all things wine in Australia, from Abbey Creek Vineyard to zinfandel. Here there are detailed explanations of regions, personalities, grape varieties, winemaking processes and the terms used in discussing wines. This investigation into the details and workings of wine will satisfy the curiosity of both new initiates and experts. Click here to buy this book.			In This Issue My Grill Chunky Cookbooks Cuisine Du Moi Money Saving Meals Asian Cuisine Melbourne Festival Celebrity Chefs Health Cookbooks Very Vegetarian Gluten Free For and With Kids International Baking Desserts Wine For Weight Loss 4 INGREDIENTS GLUTEN FREE Kim McCosker and Rachael Bermingham The original queens of fast, easy, mess- free, budget-friendly tucker are back! The phenomenon began to take over Australian kitchens just 24 months ago, and since then the most commonly asked question of this dynamic duo is 'do you have any gluten free recipes?' Seeking advice from the Coeliac Society of Australia and that of Queensland they have devised 340 gluten free recipes they deem 'fabalicious'. RRP: $19.90, Booktopia Price: $15.99 Click here to see a selection of their recipes. Click here to buy this book. NEED MORE BUZZ? Click on the links below to visit various other buzzes: September Booktopia Buzz August Romance Buzz August SF & Fantasy Buzz July Mind, Body, Spirit Buzz July Craft Buzz BOURKE STREET BAKERY The Ultimate Baking Companion Paul Allam and David McGuinness Straight from Sydney's Surry Hills Allam and McGuinness take the novice home baker on a ride through rustic breads such as their famous spelt sourdough to flaky pork and fennel sausage rolls and onto the most addictive of sweet pastries like ginger brulee and pistachio tart. Click here to see inside this book. RRP: $69.95 Booktopia Price: $55.96 Click here to buy this book. THE FOODIE HANDBOOK The (Almost) Definitive Guide to Gastronomy Pim Techamuanvivit As every pub-goer knows, Pims pack a punch. And this feisty little San Franciscan is no different. She has created a very stylish little manual to eating at the best restaurants, really appreciating it, and then creating simple, inspired combinations of the flavours you experienced there at home. Alain Passard's Strawberries in Hibiscus and Vanilla Soup looks just divine, using a grand total of five ingredients (water, sugar, vanilla, hibiscus and strawberries) and even secured Passard a marriage proposal! Techamuanvivit's sage advice on fine dining removes all pretension from the experience to leave only the essence of having yourself a good time! Click here to see Techamuanvivit's blog. RRP: $49.95, Booktopia Price: $39.99 Click here to buy this book. COOK IN BOOTS Ravinder Bhogal Those of you who remember my May edition of the Food and Drink Buzz would recall my delightfully sinful book of the month: Selfish Food for Modern Life. If you liked that, then Cook in Boots should be heading straight for your kitchen shelf. Bhogal also loves to eat alone, but she is quite clear on this point - she loves to eat anywhere and with anyone - as long as it is done well. Her definition of 'done well' comes from the feeling in her soul, a happiness atune to kicking off the your heels and indulging the body's desires. She created the book for a modern kind of woman who needs cooking to cater to mood as well as busy lifestyles, and be accessible and fun. Click here to see inside this book. RRP: $39.99, Booktopia Price: $31.99 Click here to buy this book. FRESH EGGS DON'T FLOAT Lara DePetrillo and Caroline Eastman Bridges DePetrillo and Eastman Bridges are perfect to give out advice on cooking mistakes - because they have just made them. Most cookbook writers forgot what it's like learning to cook long ago, and do not dish out the benefit of their experience, for example, that cheap or old tins need to be lined so you can get the food out of them. This is a high-spirited approach to food without the fancy gadgets and over-complicated instructions. DePetrillo learnt to cook when she became a mother, and Eastman Bridges uses cooking as her creative outlet, as a private chef and vegan baker. RRP: $32.95, Booktopia Price: $26.39 Click here to buy this book. If you are on the hunt for a simple, delicious food manual - I would suggest Faking It, by Valli Little, is the ultimate textbook. DINNER IN TEN Ed Halmagyi Straight from the set of Better Homes and Gardens into our hands, Halmagyi's mission in life is to demonstrate how quick and easy it is to cook even restaurant-style meals. He says he 'wants to demystify restaurant food... the whole dining experience is all about entertainment. Food is a prop - designed to bring life to conversations, stories and the occasional arguments which occur around a dining table'. RRP: $34.95 Booktopia Price: $27.96 Click here to buy this book. MEAT For all those carnivores (and omnivores) reading, a couple of real sizzlers... Click on the title to order. THE GREAT AUSSIE BLOKE'S COOKBOOK Kim Terakes RRP $24.95 Booktopia price $19.96 HOT OFF THE GRILL: BARBECUE RECIPES WITH AN ASIAN TOUCH Carol Selva Rajah RRP $42.95 Booktopia price $34.36 MORE FOR YOUR SLOW COOKER Given the slow cookers' enormous resurgence in popularity of late, I have featured a couple of new titles that should keep you going. Click on the title to order. JEWISH SLOW COOKER Laura Frankel RRP $42.95 Booktopia price $34.36 ULTIMATE SLOWCOOKER Sara Lewis RRP $27.99 Booktopia price $22.39 WEIGHT LOSS The Bodytrim recipes look so delicious I am even considering giving them a go! (Regular readers will know of my general aversion for 'diet' books.) Click on the title to order. Each RRP: $34.95 Booktopia Price: $27.96 THAI FOR WEIGHT LOSS: BODYTRIM SYSTEM (WITH DVD) Geoff Jowett, Sukanya Kietprasert IN STOCK GREEK FOR WEIGHT LOSS: BODYTRIM SYSTEM (WITH DVD) Geoff Jowett, Manoli Tressos IN STOCK FRENCH FOR WEIGHT LOSS: BODYTRIM SYSTEM (WITH DVD) Geoff Jowett IN STOCK ITALIAN FOR WEIGHT LOSS: BODYTRIM SYSTEM (WITH DVD) Geoff Jowett, Franco Berlusconi IN STOCK COOKING FOR EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY How could have we forgotten our favourite furry friends until now?? Throw Me A Bone features some of the best canine treats, meals and snacks for all those pooch-pamperers out there. RRP: $24.95 Booktopia Price: $19.96 Click here to buy this book. PHILOSOPHY OF COOKING THE PHILOSOPHER'S COOKBOOK Martin Versfeld IN STOCK RRP $29.99 Booktopia price $11.95 HUMBLE PIE Gordon Ramsay IN STOCK RRP $24.99 Booktopia price $19.99 RECIPE JOURNALS LARGE RECIPE JOURNAL: WITH A CUPCAKE COVER or A WOODEN SPOON AND BOWL COVER New Holland RRP $24.95 Booktopia price $19.96 AWW RECIPE JOURNAL Australian Women's Weekly RRP $19.95 Booktopia price $15.96