Customer Rating: 
Summary: Cookbook
Comment: Great gift for the cook in your life who loves to learn new tricks and recipes. Lovely book.
Customer Rating: Summary: Beautiful Book
Comment: This was a gift for my daughter, she had heard it discussed on NPR's Splendid Table. I looked through it and was very impressed and now plan on buying one for myself.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat disappointing
Comment: I asked for this book after hearing Lynne and Sally discuss it on NPR. It sounded very appealing in that context, but I can't heartily recommend it. Here are the specific items that trouble me:
1. It's poorly indexed (and scantily indexed). Here is an example. There is a nice tip in the book regarding how to thaw frozen shrimp properly, while keeping and enhancing the flavor. I came across it while browsing, but when I went back to look for it again, it couldn't be found. Not listed under shrimp, the obvious place. Finally located it again by searching other entries for fish. When I am looking for information or a recipe, I go to the index first.... I don't have time to browse an entire book every time I want to cook something. Someone suggested I could just make notes, but that seems like a pain.
2. Many complete pages are taken up with large quotes printed in variably sized fonts, which is not what I am looking for in a cook book. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations will do for that. To me the effect is jarring, a bit like being shouted at, and it makes me wonder if they didn't quite have enough material to fill the book otherwise.
I have not tried the recipes yet. I do own "The Splendid Table", which is a wonderful book, rich with information, great illustrations, and a terrific index, so I don't really get why this book is so inferior in that respect. If you are thinking about buying it, I'd look it over in a store before purchase.
Customer Rating: Summary: Too Busy to Read
Comment: The use of many different font sizes, styles, colors, boldface and italics on all a single page is enormously distracting. Why would any editor allow that? It's unnecessary clutter which I find, well, distasteful! I have such a hard time getting past the chaotic visuals on each page that I simply don't use the book.
Customer Rating: Summary: Another superb book by Lynne Rossetto Kasper
Comment: When I purchased Ms. Kasper's book, "The Splendid Table" over ten years ago, I knew immediately that it was going to be a classic. It is a clear, concise, beautifully written, homage to the amazing food of northern Italy. Not only were the recipes amazing, the text was fascinating and informative. The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food
Ms. Kasper and her radio show co-host have done it again. While not quite up to the lofty standards of her previous work, Ms. Kasper has nonetheless managed to write another fascinating and fun read. The recipes here are simple, straightforward, and they easily integrate into the lives of those of us who have crazy schedules.
Ms. Kasper and Ms. Swift offer fascinating tips and lore as well as recommendations on building your cookbook library.
My one quibble with the book is its design. The text can be a bit overwhelming because of a mixture of font sizes and types. It's a bit distracting.
This book is definitely a keeper. A superb choice for an everyday cookbook or as a gift for someone whose cooking skills are very basic. Outstanding.
