Eat Like a DivaFrom the owner of the much-buzzed-about Vegan Divas Bakery on New York City's Upper East Side comes this beautiful, elegant, and undeniably delicious cookbook full of cruelty-free fare that anyone can make at home.Previously a manager and owner of the Payard restaurant and pastry shops in Rio de Janeiro, where she began her confectionary career and honed her craft, Fernanda Capobianco is a fifteen-year vegan who has translated her love of chocolate and sweets into both simple and refined desserts that are healthy and 100 percent free of animal products. In The Vegan Divas Cookbook, Fernanda shares her unique take on vegan eating, with more than seventy-five recipes for sweet and savory dishes accompanied by mouth-watering photographs. She'll guide you through the basics as well as the finer points of plant-based cooking and baking, offering tips for stocking a plant-based pantry and suggesting easy swaps to replace animal-based oils and fats to create healthier, and better-tasting, dishes. Always conscious of visual appeal, Fernanda also provides entertaining and decorating tips for turning out perfect plates and beautiful baked goods—a hallmark of the Vegan Divas brand.You'll discover the secrets to Fernanda's coveted low-cal desserts, including remakes of familiar classics like Chocolate Chip Cookies, Carrot Cake, and Chocolate Mousse; as well as show-stopping treats like Chocolate-Coffee Mini-Bundt Cakes, Lime-Raspberry Cheesecake Pie, and Chocolate Liégeois with Tofu-Tahini Ice Cream. But desserts aren't the only treats in store. Go guilt-free with savory lunches like Spiced Red Lentil and Coconut Milk Soup, Roasted Kabocha Pumpkin with Peanut Sauce, and Blue Potato Kale Salad.Whether you've been following a plant-based diet for years or you're just looking to incorporate more whole foods into your meals, Fernanda's recipes are so tasty you'll never miss the butter, eggs, or refined sugars and flour. These light, fresh, delicious dishes are sure to convert anyone to a Vegan Diva.

Good Luck Life is the first book to explain the meanings of Chinese rituals and to offer advice on when and how to plan for Chinese holidays and special occasions such as Chinese weddings, the Red Egg and Ginger party to welcome a new baby, significant birthdays, and the inevitable funeral. Packed with practical information, Good Luck Life contains an abundance of facts, legends, foods, old-village recipes, and quick planning guides for Chinese New Year, Clear Brightness, Dragon Boat, Mid-Autumn, and many other festivals.Written with warmth and wit, Good Luck Life is beautifully designed as an easily accessible cultural guide that includes an explanation of the Lunar Calendar, tips on Chinese table etiquette for dining with confidence, and dos and don'ts from wise Auntie Lao, who recounts ancient Chinese beliefs and superstitions. This is your map for celebrating a good luck life.

Don't unplug that bread machine. Lora Brody's back with a guaranteed winner: Pizza, Focaccia, Flat, and Filled Breads from Your Bread Machine. As sales of this amazing machine continue to mushroom, demand for new and exciting recipes continue. Lora's new book fills the bill. Using the machine to make doughs for more than two hundred varieties of breads, pastries, and baked dishes, Lora expands the scope of the bread machine in ways that will appeal to bread machine devotees as well as new converts. Choose from such innovative recipes as Porcini Mushroom Focaccia, Ploughman's Pizza, Blue Corn Bread Sticks, and Macadamia Lavosh.Try Lora's newest creation: Quitza, a cross between her favorite dishesquiche and pizza. For anchovy lovers there's finally a pizza with enough anchovies. For those with solid-gold palates there's a recipe for caviar pizza. Have a hankering for crackersTry Pesto Crackers, Spicy Beer Cheese Crackers, or Cheddar Crisps. Also included are invaluable hints on buying and storing ingredients and on troubleshooting, as well as a mail-order guide for ingredients and equipment.

My name is Christy Jordan and I like to feed people.I come from a long line of Southern cooks who taught me home cooking is best, life is good, and there is always something to be grateful for. I created Southern Plate so that I could share the recipes and stories that have been passed down through my family for more than nine generations. You won't find fancy food or new-fangled recipes in this cookbook—just easy, no-fuss Southern favorites such as Chicken and Dumplings, Homemade Banana Pudding, Aunt Looney's Macaroni Salad, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Daddy's Rise-and-Shine Biscuits. (I want to make one thing as clear as possible: How your mama made it is the right way! I'm going to bring it to you how my mama made it, which is the only right way for me.) These stories and recipes come from my heart. They are a gift from my ancestors, but the ability to have them heard is a gift from you. Take a seat at the Southern Plate table; you're with family now.

Here's the book chicken lovers everywhere have been waiting for: the companion volume to the bestselling 365 Ways to Cook Chicken. You can't have too many ways to prepare America's favorite bird, especially when the recipes are all brand-new -- with less fat, the latest ingredients and the most sensational flavors. Best of all, the recipes are quicker and easier than ever.In 365 More Ways to Cook Chicken, you'll find a dish for every occasion and every taste. There are American classics, such as Finger-Lickin' Barbecued Chicken and Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie and international specialties, such as Chicken Cacciatore and Basque Chicken with Tomatoes and Olives. There are chicken snacks, sandwiches, stews, roasts, barbecues and, of course, separate chapters for those perennial chicken favorites: salads (Grilled Chicken Taco Salad, and Caribbean Chicken Salad) and soups (Thai Chicken and Lemongrass Soup, and Sicilian Chicken Soup with Escarole and Pastina). Steamed Moroccan Chicken and Grilled Chicken Fra Diavolo are samples from the "Light and Lean" chapter, which, along with sections on one-pot chicken dishes and especially fast and easy recipes, make this collection invaluable.

In 2001 Chez Panisse was named the number one restaurant in America by Gourmet magazine -- quite a journey from 1971 when Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse as a place where she and her friends could cook country French food with local ingredients and talk politics.As the restaurant's popularity grew, so did Alice's commitment to organic, locally grown foods and to a community of farmers and producers who provide the freshest ingredients, grown and harvested naturally with techniques that preserve and enrich the land for future generations. After thirty years, the innovative spirit and pure, intense flavors of Chez Panisse continue to delight and surprise all who visit, and even those who cant get there know that Alice started a quiet revolution, changing the culinary landscape forever. Inspired by Chez Panisse, more and more people across the country are discovering the sublime pleasures of local, organic vegetables and fruits.Now join Alice Waters and the cooks at Chez Panisse in celebration of fruit. Chez Panisse Fruit draws on the exuberant flavors of fresh, ripe fruit to create memorable dishes. In this companion volume to Chez Panisse Vegetables, discover more than 200 recipes for both sweet and savory dishes featuring fruit. Glorify the late-summer peach harvest with Peach and Raspberry Gratin, and extend the season with Grilled Cured Duck Breast with Pickled Peaches. Enjoy the first plums in Pork Loin Stuffed with Wild Plums and Rosemary. Preserve the fresh flavors of winter citrus with Kumquat Marmalade or Candied Grapefruit Peel. Organized alphabetically by fruit -- from apples to strawberries -- and including helpful essays on selecting, storing, and preparing fruit, this book will help you make the very most of fresh fruits from season to season. Illustrated with beautiful color relief prints by Patricia Curtan, Chez Panisse Fruit is a book to savor and to treasure.

Choice is what it's all about: Choosing your favorite flavor, favorite topping or swirl-in, favorite frozen dessert. For no matter what kind of ice cream maker you own -- an inexpensive canister or a top-of-the-line electric freezer -- there's an extra special treat here for you.Exciting flavors include an assortment of vanillas of varying degrees of richness, several great chocolates, Butter Pecan, Sensational Strawberry, Peaches 'n' Cream, Utterly Peanut Butter and Double Ginger to mention only a sampling. For an extra flourish, there's a collection of ice creams with add-ons -- swirls and twirls, sauces and toppings. There is even an entire chapter of great reduced-fat light ice creams and nonfat frozen yogurts with names like Creamy Banana, Cappuccino, Date Rum and Maple Crunch.Many completely fat-free frozen delights are covered in the chapter called "Sorbets, Granitas and Other Ices." Enticing and refreshing, they come in flavors such as Kiwi-Lime, Mango Margarita, Spiced Rasberry and Strawberry Daquiri. And for showstopping, truly fabulous desserts, made completely in advance, turn to the last chapter, which contains ice cream cakes, pies and other frozen desserts.

This book is a revelation to Americans who have never tasted real Cornish Pasties, Scotch Woodcock (a splendid version of scrambled eggs) or Brown Bread Ice Cream. From the sumptuous breakfasts that made England famous to the steamed puddings, trifles, meringues and syllabubs that are still renowned, no aspect of British cooking is overlooked. Soups, fish, meat and game, vegetables, sauces, high teas, scones, crumpets, hot cross buns, savories, preserves and sweets of all kinds are here in clear, precise recipes with ingredients and utensils translated into American terms.

Peanut butter makes everything better. Think about it: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Cold Peanut Noodles. Peanut Butter Fudge. Still not convincedTry Peanut Butter Waffles, Pad Thai, or Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Centers. In The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book, the tenth addition to their Ultimate series, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough offer up hundreds of recipes and variations for America's favorite spread. From comforting Peanut Butter Sticky Buns to decadent Peanut Butter Cheesecake to outrageous Elvis Spread (peanut butter, bacon, and bananas), The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book takes Peanut butter way beyond the same old PB&J.

Our kids can be great eaters!After her son was born in 2007, Catherine McCord sought out resources to teach her how to prepare fresh, healthy, appealing meals for young kids—but she came up empty. With culinary school under her belt and a hungry baby to feed, Catherine started Weelicious.com, a website that has since grown into a comprehensive offering of kid-friendly family meals.Complete with beautiful color photos, tips and tools, lists of pantry staples, feeding plans, and more than seventy new recipes never before seen on Weelicious .com, Weelicious makes it easy to get kids eating healthy foods from their first bite. Catherine teaches parents how to turn their kids into great eaters who appreciate food and are open to exciting new flavors. With Weelicious you will:Stop being a short-order cook—whip up unique, delicious, and healthy recipes that everyone in your family, no matter what their age, will love.Inspire your kids to eat healthfully without resorting to sneaking or trickery—discover a wealth of great tips for getting kids to eat just by paying attention to how their food is prepared and presented.Get kids in the kitchen from day one—introduce kids to a variety of foods and include them in the cooking process to set them up for years of positive eating habits.Shop effectively (and make it fun)—bring your kids to the farmers’ market or grocery store for a hands-on learning experience when it comes to meal planning.Give kids some choice—strategically allow them to have more input and control over what goes into their bodies so they can “own” their choices.From first-food favorites such as Sweet Potato-Coconut Puree and The Teething Cookie to family-friendly Veggie Nuggets, Rice Cooker Mac and Cheese, Chicken on a Stick, Shrimp Tacos, and Cheesy Chicken Taquitos to treats like Banana Bread Cake, Raspberry-Cream Cheese Heart Tarts, and Chocolate Velvet Beet Cupcakes, these recipes are perfect for little taste buds and sophisticated adult palates alike—and best of all, every single recipe has been created with health and wholesomeness in mind.More than just a cookbook, Weelicious is the ultimate cooking bible for families—a resource that will stand the test of time as the family grows!

A renowned chef and nutritionist has the recipe for delectable meals with a healthy Mediterranean focus, featuring more than 100 recipes for flavorful, seasonal local foodHailed as the Napa Valley of the East, New York's Hudson Valley has become a major hub for local foods and agriculture—and Laura Pensiero's acclaimed restaurants are at the center of it all. Customers from near and far flock to Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck (named one of Hudson Valley's best restaurants in Hudson Valley Magazine) and Gigi Market and Catering in Red Hook to dine on Laura's interpretations of traditional Italian dishes that highlight the bounty of the farms, gardens, and artisans of the Valley.A celebration of the food of the Hudson Valley and the people who grow and produce it, Hudson Valley Mediterranean shows how to use seasonal ingredients to create delectable, nourishing meals. Here are more than 100 easy-to-prepare and cost-effective recipes made with the best ingredients and a touch of Mediterranean flair, including:Gigi Potato Gnocchi with Northwind Farm Chicken and Pea RaguBaked Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower and ChardFava Bean and Fregola SaladSpring (and Every Other Season) LasagnaSeared Salmon over Spring TrifolatiMr. Mink's Panzanella Salad with fresh herbsStrawberry Mascarpone TartThis local and seasonal food movement is happening throughout the country, and Pensiero invites everyone to bring these foods into their own kitchens and communities using regional resources—because cooking with fresh food harvested nearby brings pleasure to eating and connects people to their family, friends, and community.

When warm rains give way to vibrant crocus blooms, it's time to step outside and enjoy the bounty of spring. From succulent strawberries and apricots to savory green garlic and vidalia onions, Spring Gatherings finds inspiration in the season's freshest ingredients. Award-winning cooking instructor Rick Rodgers captures spring's finest flavors in dozens of easy and elegant recipes. Start off a dinner party with Roasted Artichokes with Green Garlic Goddess Dip or Vidalia Onion Soup with Cheddar Toasts. Impress your friends with a main course of Duck Breasts with Rhubarb-Cherry Chutney or Marinated Grilled Pork Chops with Apricots. Finish the meal with tangy and refreshing Strawberry Mousse and your guests may never leave!You'll also find Rick's favorite recipe for luscious Hamantaschen, perfect for filling the cookie jar, and a complete menu for an Easter feast featuring Roast Rack of Lamb with Mint Béarnaise and Coconut Tres Leches Cake. There's no better way to usher in the season than by sharing a hearty meal with family and friends. With mouthwatering recipes and beautiful color photographs, Spring Gatherings will bring the fragrance and beauty of spring to your table all year long.

Join New York Times bestselling author and Food Network star Guy Fieri for a second helping of the best diners, drive-ins, and dives across America!Guy Fieri strikes again with More Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, giving you a road map to road food that's earned its culinary citizenship in "Flavortown." Join Guy on a cross-country noshing parade, mapping out the best places you've never heard of—more than fifty establishments off the beaten path. Compete in a (no hands) apple-pie-eating contest at Bobo Drive-In in Topeka, Kansas, dip your taste buds in Sweet Spicy Love sauce at Uncle Lou's Fried Chicken in Memphis, Tennessee, and get a load of the killer four-cheese mac-and-cheese at Gorilla Barbeque in Pacifica, California. Filled with Guy's hilarious voice and rampant enthusiasm for these hidden culinary gems, More Diners, Drive-ins and Dives is the perfect book for lovers of the American food scene and fans of Triple D.

Twenty-two acclaimed writers celebrate the art of eatingWendell Berry Colette William Corbett Michael Dorris Alexandre Dumas M. F .K. Fisher Michael Frank Betty Fussell Evan Jones Judith B. Jones Barbara Kafka Madeline Kamman Charles Lamb Rose Macaulay Henry Matthews Joyce Carol Oates Francine Prose Paul Schmidt James Seay Charles Simic Edward Steinberg Alice WatersThere is more to be gained from our daily bread than mere sustenance. Curiosity, romance, ritual, and insight can be as much a part of a meal as any of its edible ingredients. In this delectable collection of essays on fine food and drink, twenty-two renowned writers capture the gestures, the celebrations, and the moments in which food, wine, and the act of eating transcend their initial purposes to become something far greater. A window into the eating lives of a handful of our finest literary artists, Not for Bread Alone is a tasty and most satisfying delight—a true culinary classic.

Firm, ripe tomatoes. Golden corn. Fragrant basil. Juicy peaches. Nothing compares with the bounty of summer when colors, flavors, and aromas are at their peak and cooking is easier than ever. Fresh, ripe produce is so tasty and perfect on its own that creating a terrific summer meal can be stress-free, delicious, and fun.In Summer Gatherings, award-winning cooking instructor Rick Rodgers has compiled his favorite simple summer recipes that make the most of the season's flavors. Purposely casual, stripped to their essentials, these recipes are uncomplicated by elaborate sauces or fussy garnishes, focusing instead on the fruits and vegetables that make summer cooking what it is. With Watermelon, Tomato, and Mint Salad to Fried Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms; Soft Shell Crab BLT Sandwiches; Chocolate Cherry Parfaits; Grilled Chicken with White Rosemary Barbecue Sauce; Risotto with Tomatoes, Basil, and Ricotta Salata; and Cantaloupe Ice Pops, Rodgers will help you take full advantage of summer's bounty.From family cookouts to neighborhood block parties, from picnics on the lawn to picnics at the beach, the appetizing recipes and photographs in Summer Gatherings are guaranteed to satisfy and inspire all season long.

Ian Jackman believes that life is too short to deny yourself our nation's true culinary treasures. Guided by food experts throughout the land, he travels from east to west—from small town to big city—uncovering local treats, guilty pleasures, and some oddities that no true food lover should miss. From lobster rolls and buffalo meat to banana cream pies and clam stuffies, Jackman finds the sinful temptations your taste buds crave—and he writes about them in a way that's certain to get any confirmed foodie salivating!Where you can find the very best burgers in America 21 varieties of apples you must try Lamb fries—eat or avoid?The country's primo pizza parlors And more!Escape the guilt and anxiety propagated by our puritanical, diet-obsessed society and indulge yourself with Eat This!

The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide by Wai Hon Chu and Connie Lovatt is the most comprehensive collection of dumpling recipes ever produced.Discovering that dumplings—as a category of food—have never been properly defined, Chu and Lovatt developed a definition that takes into account the ingredients, cooking methods, and shapes that most commonly define dumplings, not just in a particular region or culture, but around the world. "A dumpling is a portion of dough, batter, or starchy plant fare, solid or filled, that is cooked through wet heat, and is not a strand or a ribbon"This exciting collection shows us that not only are pot stickers, pierogis, and shao mai dumplings but so too are tamales, steamed cakes, and steamed breads. From Chickpea Dumplings in a Tomato Sauce (India) to Leaf-Wrapped Rice Packages Stuffed with Peanuts and Sausage (China), from Chocolate Tamales (Mexico) to a "Napkin" Bread Dumpling with Cherries (Austria), from Cloud-Shaped Bread Buns (Tibet) to Potato Dumplings with Cabbage Layers (Hungary), dumplings, whether steamed or simmered, are as fun to make as they are to eat. A truly passionate exploration of every dumpling type imaginable, The Dumpling contains dessert varieties, dumplings for gifts or entertaining, dozens of vegetarian and vegan options, fast and easy dumplings, as well as 21 pages of step-by-step dumpling making-illustrations. Arranged by month so as to encourage all of us to cook dumplings seasonally and year round, The Dumpling contains a recipe for every taste bud, table, and occasion. Chapters 10, 11, and 12 October No-Fuss Potato Dumplings Spiced Carrot Pudding Collard Greens with Corn Dumplings Chicken Paprika with Dumplings Bean Soup with Tiny Dumplings Chickpea "Fish" in a Spicy Onion Sauce Bacon and Sage Roly Poly Daikon Cake Cheddar Cheese and Potato Pierogi Lentil and Onion Pierogi Potato "Tamales" Stuffed with Chicken and Jalapeno Beef-Stuffed Plantain Balls in a Cassava-Corn Soup November Dumplings and Cocky’s Joy "Napkin" Bread Dumpling Turkey Stew with Stuffing Dumplings Cranberry Pudding Lord Randall’s Pudding, An Apricot Dessert Sticky Toffee Pudding Potato Dumplings with Crouton Centers Country Cabbage Soup with Large Cornmeal Dumplings Philadelphia Pepperpot Soup with Dumplings Large Beef- and Spinach-Filled Dumplings in Beef Broth Dumplings Stuffed with Pears, Figs, and Chocolate Pumpkin and Lentil Ravioli with Browned Butter and Rosemary "Little Ear" Dumplings Stuffed with Mushrooms in a Beet Soup December Root Vegetable Bread Dumplings Clootie Dumpling Starchy Coconut Stew with Slippery Rice Balls Guava Duff Potato Dumplings with Cabbage Layers John in the Sack Classic Christmas Pudding Chocolate Tamales Siberian Meat Dumplings Chestnut Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce Chicken-Filled Dumplings in an Escarole Soup Dumplings Stuffed with "Stewed" Breadcrumbs

It's salty, smoky, and sweet. It's experiencing a culinary renaissance. It can make almost any dish better. It's bacon, and it's the best meat ever. And now, here's the book that celebrates that deliciously sinful strip of cured pork belly. In Bacon: A Love Story, popular bacon blogger Heather Lauer serves up a piping hot dish of fun and facts with this definitive love letter to what she calls meat candy. Heather explores the ins and outs of how bacon finds its way to your skillet and what to do with it when it gets there.Bacon: A Love Story features:Makin' Bacon: a tour of country-style bacon outfits and their time-honored methods and traditions. Hankering for some pepper, cinnamon, honey, jalape?o, or vanilla bourbon-flavored baconThey've got it! There are also tips for making your own signature cure."Bacon Nation": profiles of bacon-loving chefs across the country who incorporate the meat into their menus in increasingly innovative ways.There's Bacon in This?: Heather dishes out more than twenty delicious recipes for tons of bacon goodies like Bacon-Wrapped Tator Tots, BLT with caramelized bacon, Jalape?o-Bacon Pizza, and a few surprises like Bacon Bloody Marys and Bacon Brownies.Bacon 411: an extensive resource section on all things bacon.Written in a witty, engaging style and brimming with Lauer's infectious passion for the Best Meat Ever, Bacon: A Love Story is a must-read for anyone who loves bacon or is passionate about food.

How would you like to eat rich, flavorful, healthy food at home and not worry about calories?Today show nutritionist Joy Bauer has helped millions of people improve their health, and now she wants to improve their home-cooked meals as well. Tired of the misconception that you have to dine out to eat delicious food, Joy proves in Slim and Scrumptious that not only can you eat fresh, rich, and filling food, but that it is quick, affordable, and easy, too! Slim and Scrumptious features more than seventy-five recipes for every meal and every taste. Whether you want Double Chocolate Pancakes or Eggs Benedict for breakfast, Sesame Chicken Tenders or Spicy Pork Tacos with Sassy Slaw for lunch, or Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak with Chimichurri and Creamy Spinach for dinner, Joy shows you that classic, rich food can still be made to taste great with just a fraction of the fat and calories. She also includes fun snacks, desserts, and appetizers that will keep you satisfied all day long, such as Cinnamon Cheesecake Fondue, Frozen Hot Chocolate, and Banana Pecan Bread. With every recipe, Joy helps you stretch your food and cooking dollars for everything from a fast and easy family meal to a relaxing and romantic dinner for two. These meals are so amazingly delicious, no one (but the chef!) will ever know that they're healthy, too.

William L. Hamilton loves a good gimlet. Rose's and lime. Straight up. Perfectly iced. Make the glass pretty too. "It ruined my reputation for thinking before I speak," he writes of that love. "I accept the trade-off." Like Lewis Carroll's Alice, when Hamilton sees it, he drinks it -- and tells the incredible tale.In "Shaken and Stirred," his biweekly Sunday Styles column, now an original book of his drinking adventures, the intrepid New York Times reporter offers a gimlet-eyed look at contemporary culture through the panoptic view of a cocktail glass. From the venerable martini to the young Dirty Jane, Hamilton shares his tip on the sip.You hold in your hands a guide to "how it goes down." Not a cocktail manual or a Baedeker to the bar scene but a drinker's guide to drinking. These are four-ounce adventures of cocktails and the people who make them, from the bartenders and chefs to the patrons, the politicians and the power players of the liquor industry.There are tales of the Champagne high life, the Long Island Iced Tea low life; men like Dr. Brown and his celery soda, and women like Eve and her Apple Martini. Hamilton's weekly Runyanesque rounds cover all the watering holes and their poisons, from the East Side's Southside to the Incredible Hulk in the Bronx, and monitors the latest trends, from the ultra-premium vodka wars to the Red Bull market. Shaken and Stirred is a report on a popular culture that comes alive after five, when the mood turns social and the moment is sweet (or sour, or bitter, or dry).Hamilton has also picked up the best (or the most unbelievable) cocktail recipes from bars, lounges and restaurants in New York City and beyond. There is common sense and creativity in the classics, and new inventions with their eye on the prize, such as the Huckleberry Ginn and the Bleeding Heart."drink me," said the bottle in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Hamilton has, in every instance, and bottled his thoughts in sixty-four essays that are as readable as they are drinkable. Mix a gimlet, or a Minnesota Anti-Freeze, or a Gibson or a Bone. And spend a night in, on the town.

The star of Food Network's Dinner: Impossible, Chef Robert Irvine shares the adventurous story of his life, his thoughts on cooking, and his favorite recipesThere are few chefs on the planet who do what Irvine does, flying around the world at a moment's notice to cook for heads of state, royalty, and celebrities. Irvine reveals his fascinating past and unorthodox culinary training. His career as a world-renowned chef began at the age of fifteen when he was discovered by Prince Charles while cooking in the mess halls of the British Royal Navy.In Mission: Cook! Irvine tells the wild stories of his career, from studying under the best European chefs to cooking for three thousand refugees on a beach while civil war raged in South Yemen to preparing an Oscars feast while coordinating the biggest chefs in the business. Sprinkled throughout are Irvine's most incredible recipes from his travels around the world, including Roasted Duck with White Bean Ragout, Truffle Oil, and Shaved Parmesan Cheese; Tea-Smoked Chicken; Lobster Risotto with Clams; and his ethereal Windsor Angel Food Cake. Easy to prepare and deliciously satisfying, these are dishes that everyone will savor.Irvine's candid stories and behind-the-scenes look at the creation of his Food Network TV show Dinner: Impossible prove that the life of a celebrity chef is anything but ordinary. As is Mission: Cook!—a unique and fascinating look into the mind and life of one of the world's hottest chefs.