Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees by Kian Lam Kho

I love Chinese food, eating and cooking it.  I've always been interested in learning how to better my Chinese food cooking skills so this book caught my eye.

When I received the book, I love the feel of it.  It's a heavy duty book and lots of gorgeous pictures.

I tend to read cookbooks like a novel and this is one cook book that feels like a novel.  Mr. Kho make this book novel like.  He goes through the history of different types of Chinese cuisine, delves into Chinese cookware (wok, knives, etc) and ingredients.  He talks about general techniques and the theory behind it.

This book is broken up into twelve main chapters on cooks, from wok (stir fry), to braising and a section on sweets.

I love how it takes very simple techniques and encourages you to experiment with it and then move on to more difficult techniques and recipes.

I really like the pictures and especially like the note boxes sprinkled throughout the book, like ones such as what to do with left over oil.

I would highly recommend this book for all those who want to learn more about Chinese cooking.

More Info about this book

Author's Info

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Food52 Baking by Editors of Food52, Foreword by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs.

I've been following the Food52 blog and site for and was excited to see this book on baking that they released.











Upon receipt of this book I cracked it open like a novel from beginning to the end.  I bookmarked several recipes, most of them from the breakfast goods and cookie section.  What I noticed, the recipes in this book are not very difficult in terms of the ingredients needed or amount of time.

For example, one recipe that I want to try is the Yogurt Bread, which sounds like such an odd mix but it sounds so simple, only flour, baking powder, salt, plain yogurt and milk. That it.  How easy could it be.

This book is great for baker for any skills because there are recipes ranges from ridiculously easy, like Yogurt Bread, to something a bit more complex.

It will make a baker out of all of us.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."