[.ca] Romancing The Stove (ISBN 1573248584)

From Amazon.com:
Margie Lapanja made a fortune baking and selling her Cowboy Cookies. She shares the chocolate, nut, oat, and coconut-studded recipe in Goddess in the Kitchen while urging you to bring more play and passion into your cooking. As one of many inspirational quotes in this book suggests, "Communion, union with divinity, is accomplished by means of food" (Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul). If Chicken Soup for the Soul is your cup of tea, then Goddess in the Kitchen is likely a cookbook for you. Lapanja, a card-carrying member of the Wild Woman Association, is passionately dedicated to encouraging uninhibited behavior. Her indulgences--mostly benign--lean toward daydreaming about eating virtuously lean Mango Tapioca Pudding on a desert island, sipping champagne with buttery shortbread (a sweet once associated with the Celtic spring celebration Beltane), and the like. Before each recipe, she provides historical and mythological information, particularly about the earth-mother Demeter and other goddesses, or some New Age inspirational advice, often combined with provocative personal ramblings. Since Lapanja's motto is "Eat dessert first," many of her recipes focus on sweets. Written in an all-out style, this is a book you will love or hate. It's for you if advice like "We need to fall back in love with our food, the cooking process, and ourselves" speaks to you, or if your heart melts at the true story of the passionate romance between a priest and an ex-nun who ultimately wed, had six children, and still love to linger over a bowl of Pasta with Ginger Shrimp Soul Sauce. --Dana Jacobi

Nourishment!:
This book is chock-full of luscious, easy to prepare recipes that delight all the senses. It transformed me from a one dish wonder to a gourmet gal! Margie Lapanja makes cooking a pleasure. The stories, trivia, folklore, and facts on food are astounding, quirky, amusing, and always interesting. I find it so wonderful to whip up a recipe and read an engaging tale while I wait for it to cook up in the oven or on the stove. This book helped me unleash my creative culinary skills and to discover the power of great food, lovingly prepared. I especially appreciate that this cookbook is just as appropriate for a skilled chef as well as the "can't boil water" set. It makes a great gift.

It does bring your family together.:
I wouldn't of believed it...but it's true. Putting these dishes together brought a lovely spirit into our home. I actually had all the ingredients in my pantry for most of the recipes and they were easy to prepare and my family thought I was a goddess. DREAM PUFFS are a must when you want to show your kids just how much you love them in the kitchen. When I have to work a long day and need to get back in touch with the family, GODDESS IN THE KITCHEN is the cookbook I pull out first. Let the spirits in.

Delicious:
Who ever reads a cookbook? I used my cookbooks to find recipes and skip through all the fluff. This is the first cookbook I've actually read and thats because it a celebration of life. light a candle, grab a good bottle of wine and cook.

Absolutely Amazing!:
This book is an absolute treat! It's not just another cookbook -the delicious tales that go with the recepies are food for the imagination and for the soul, while fabulous and pretty simple recepies are wonderfully surprising treats for the tastebuds. I especially love the Cowboy Cookies which were a huge hit at my Christmas potluck party.

ABSOLUTE MUST:
I ABSOLUTELY ADORE THIS BOOK. IT IS A MUST HAVE FOR EVERY KITCHEN. I LOVE THE WAY SHE MAKES COOKING FUN, EXCITING AND PLAYFUL. THERE ARE SOME VERY INTERESTING TWISTS TO SOME COMMON RECEIPES AND LOTS OF INSIGHT ON WISHES AND HOW TO ACHEIVE THEM! I AM VERY ANXIOUSLY AWAITING HER NEXT CREATION (BOOK)! THE COWBOY COOKIE RECEIPE ALONE WILL PAY FOR THE BOOK AND MAKE GREAT GIFTS FOR BIRTHDAYS, HOLIDAYS, OR JUST BECAUSE! CONGRATULATIONS MARGIE YOU'VE DONE A TERRIFIC JOB! JK