The Best of Vietnamese & Thai Cooking : Favorite Recipes from Lemon Grass Restaurant and Cafes
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (11 October, 1995)
list price: $22.95 -- our price: $15.61
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Editorial Review

Mai Pham has woven wonderful memories between the recipes of this beautiful book:memories of her childhood in Bangkok, her Vietnamese family and their reverence for good food, her husband's search for the best pho recipe in Saigon.Therecipes themselves are light, healthy, and loaded with the unique flavors --strong and delicate, tangy and mild, sweet and mouth-puckeringly sour, always exotic and delicious -- of Southeast Asia.Phamowns the Lemon Grass Restaurant and Cafes in Sacramento, and is a well-known teacher of Southeast Asian cooking. ... Read more

Reviews (31)

Not AuthenticVietnamese Cooking
There are no photographs of food, how am I suppose to know what I'm cooking and am I making it rite.

Too Americanized. I want to enjoy authentic Vietnames food not Vietrican food. I bought this book so I can get away from American food but to find myself cooking Vietnamese food American style.

Nouvelle Vietnamese recipes
The recipes are neither authentic Vietnamese's nor Thai's but they are good recipes that are cookable and nutritious. I admire Mai Pham for her intelligent in creating new versions of cooking great Vietnamese food. Although the recipes are not calling for ingredients found in old style recipes but the outcome/result of the dishes are comparable to the old style and most of all they are healthier and more fit for our new lifestyle, for example -- she uses mayonaise instead of pork fat to make Shrimp paste, that is very brilliant! My grandmother, who was a well known cook in my hometown would not come up with this.
Without the alternative ingredients (mayo in place of pork fat), my friends and I who only consume seafood and vegetable now will never have a chance to taste this dish again. I am thankfull for having the alternative in creating healthier authentic Vietnamese and Thai dishes.

The authentic recipes are always valuable and the alternative, nouvelle recipes are great!

Authenticity aside, the recipes are good
As can be gathered from the reviews below, there is some disagreement as to whether the recipes in Mai Pham's cookbook represent "authentic" Thai and/or Vietnamese cooking.I'm neither Thai nor Vietnamese, but my guess would be that the recipes, which come largely from Pham's American restaurant, have been adapted somewhat to appeal to non-native palates (the spice level in the Thai recipes seems low, for example).Those looking for "authentic" Thai or Vietnamese recipes may want to look elsewhere.

That having been said, I sometimes find the authenticity fetish a bit much.If you read Pham's chapter introductions, you discover that she is a woman who has moved around a great deal, and her cooking has been influenced by multiple native traditions.Cooking in America is a real melting pot venture, and while this has led to some deserved ribbing from those whose countries have more developed palates, it has also led to a dynamic, creative treatment of food.I think Pham's work falls on the positive side of this dichotomy.To put it plainly, her recipes taste good, are well written and tested, and combine different cuisines with good results.Her recipes are not fusion, and are not ground-breaking in the way of those of say, Ming Tsai, but they are simple and tasty. ... Read more

Isbn: 0761500162
Subjects:  1. Cookery, Thai    2. Cookery, Vietnamese    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Lemon Grass Cafe (Sacramento,    6. Lemon Grass Restaurant (Sacram    7. Lemon Grass Restaurant (Sacramento, Calif.)    8. Regional & Ethnic - Asian    9. Regional & Ethnic - Thai    10. Regional & Ethnic - Vietnamese    11. Cooking / International   

Bodum Chambord 8-Cup Coffee Press with Bonus Coffee Catcher
Average Customer Review:
Kitchen
list price: $50.00
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Editorial Review

Bodum's French press makes it easy: coffee, water, wait, enjoy.Simply insert the plastic coffee catcher in the glass carafe, measureone rounded tablespoon of coarsely ground coffee per 4-ounce cup, pourin the hot water, stir, and place the lid on the carafe. Waitapproximately four minutes, then slowly press down the filter. Thefilter will snap into the coffee catcher, trapping all the loosegrounds. When you pull the filter out, it pulls the coffee grounds outwith it. Bodum's Chambord coffee press brews rich and aromatic coffeeand does not use paper filters, which trap oils in the coffee, thusremoving the flavor nuances. Because of its 8-cup capacity and elegantdesign, this French press is great for dinner parties, letting you brewyour guests' coffee right at the table. --Rhonda Langdon ... Read more

Features

• All parts are dishwasher safe
• Brews 32 ounces of coffee; retains beans' oils for rich, complex flavor
• Filter snaps into coffee catcher, pulls all coffee grounds out with it
• Sturdy, chrome-plated brass frame; easy-to-clean glass carafe
• Stainless steel press mechanism; replacement parts available

Reviews (14)

Great for some people, but not for my tastes.
I'm very picky about my coffee.I'm the type who buys whole beans from a local coffee roaster in small batches and know when the roasting dates are.I buy just enough to last me 2 weeks and no more.I do this to keep my stock fresh.I bring the coffee home and grind it myself -just before brewing- in a coffee MILL, not in those cheap blade grinder.I also use fresh reverse-osmosis-filtered (not tap or bottled) water to bring out the full flavor of the coffee.After all this work, I know I must use the best coffee maker.After using paper filters for so many years, I thought I try the French Press because one of my Seattle friends (w/Starbucks connections) told me that's the TRUE way to make coffee.I even watched a Starbucks video where the coffee expert used the French Press to make the coffee.So, I thought, "Hey, I gotta get myself this Bodum 8-cup French Press!"After using it for several months, I switched back to using paper filters.Why?Because I didn't like the extra residue in my coffee.I think it actually ruined the coffee than enhance it.Yes, I tried different grinds (extra fine to extra coarse) and even varied the brew time.Still, I preferred the clean taste that paper filters gave me.Yes, the plastic coffee catcher thing this comes with is more of a gimmick... I took it off and kept it off the whole time I used this coffee maker.It doesn't really work that well...instead, it just adds one more thing to clean at the end... another hassle.Another thing I hate is the fragile glass flask.I already broke it once while cleaning it only after a month of owning it.I had to go buy a replacement that costed almost half the original price of a brand new unit.Now that I've switched back to paper filters, this thing just sits on the counter...a pretty-looking kitchen ornament and something to impress the guests with I guess.It's a matter of taste... if you're the type who like really strong coffee and don't mind the residue, then this is for you.If you're the type who like stout beer and ales with the residue floating around, then you'll like this.When I mean residue, I don't mean big chunks of coffee beans floating around or anything nasty.It's more like the difference between apple juice versus apple cider (murky).My Starbucks friend who loves extra extra dark strong coffee swears by this thing.He's the kind who thinks that coffee grown in Vietnam is the best coffee... the strongest coffee sold in America is too weak for him.Go figure.

It works, and the coffee catcher is a godsend
Other reviewers have complained that this is advertised as 8-cup but is actually 4-cup. The "cups" specified are 4oz coffee cups, not 8oz US measuring cups. If you do 30 seconds research at the manufacturers web site, you can confirm this. For me, this is not a problem, as it was exactly as expected: 5/5.

I had some problems with the item shipping, but this was the fault of the delivery firm rather than the vendor, and the vendor was prompt, courteous and helpful in dealing with those issues. Again 5/5.

The coffee catcher is a great bonus. It makes cleanup about 10 times easier. No more scooping out gunk with a spoon, just tip the basket into a paper towel. There are two slight problems. First: On the manufacturers website, it's listed as "Free". This ought to mean that Amazon doesn't charge any extra for it. This is not the case. I forget how much extra I paid, but it may have been near five dollars. Second: Unclipping the basket from the bottom of the plunger is done in a non-obvious way, and it took me a good couple of minutes fiddling to figure out how to do it without sending coffee grounds flying across the room, including reading the enclosed instruction leaflet (which does not detail the procedure). Over-all 4/5 for the catcher.

The mesh on the plunger isn't very fine. Using coarse-ground coffee as recommended, you don't get any actual grounds in your cup, but an the filter lets through an awful lot of the fine powdery residue that forms a little puddle of gunk at the bottom of the cup. 4/5 for the filter.

As to the actual quality of the brew? Well, in my opinion that's more conditioned by how much care you take in selecting and storing your coffee beans, and even more so how much care you take in the actual preparation. The press does not noticably detract from a decent brew in any way, as long as you're savvy enough to neither freeze nor boil at any point. 5/5

Great Coffee Press/Catcher Needs Work
As one of the premier French Press Makers, Bodum makes a fine product.For those who enjoy the French Press style of coffee making, this is as easy as it gets.There is one beef I have and thats with the coffee catcher.I feel the design is poor and in reality, while catching a majority of the grounds, its messy to handle.Personally, I could do without it.Other than that, its a great product and highly recommended. ... Read more

Asin: B00006BIMQ
Subjects:  1. French Presses    2. Coffee Presses   

Bugs Bunny on Broadway
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (29 January, 1991)
list price: $18.98 -- our price: $18.98
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Editorial Review

Though it's the "cast album" to the touring Bugs Bunny on Broadway show, which featured a 50-piece orchestra playing to the original cartoons, the real stars here are not the musicians but Carl Stalling and Milton J. Franklyn. As the composers behind the Looney Toons cartoons, Stalling (and later Franklyn) expertly composed scores that borrowed from classical music, popular songs of the day, and the whimsical compositions of Raymond Scott. Working with talents like Chuck Avery (the most musically adventurous of Bugs Bunny's directors) and voice actors Arthur Q. Bryan (Elmer Fudd) and Mel Blanc (virtually everybody else), they created some of the best-loved music of the century. They also introduced classical music to new generations through their loving reenactments of Rossini's The Barber of Seville (as "The Rabbit of Seville") and, amazingly, the entire Ring cycle (condensed to seven minutes in "What's Opera, Doc?"). Not as expansive as the two volumes of the Carl Stalling Project, Bugs Bunny on Broadway nevertheless is a fine collection that concentrates on an oft-overlooked legacy of Bugs Bunny and company. --Randy Silver ... Read more

Features

• Cast Recording

Reviews (14)

Not For Purists
If you have an ear for the original recordings, then this collection is not for you.On tracks like "The Rabbit of Seville" the switch from the original soundtrack to the modern re-recording is both jarring and unsatisfying.If you loved the "live" show then this may bring back some memories for you.If you want to hear the original performances of the great music from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, I recommend "The Carl Stalling Project" instead.

Cute CD for Looney Tunes fans
Sure, it's not for everyone's taste but no fan of Bugs or Daffy can be without this CD. Outside of the famous 'Merry Go Round Broke Down' and Merrie Melodies theme the Looney Tunes cartoons are well known for paying tribute to and parodying classical music and there's loads of that behavior to be had on this CD. The popular song 'What's Up Doc' is also featured here and there's just enough of Daffy Duck included to keep me happy. Hard to come by but worth getting if you can pick it up cheap.

Oh, the memories this brings back!
I never thought I'd hear some of these again.At their height, the Warner Brothers studio used classical music very cleverly in their animations, and this compilation gives us a sampling of the best.About the only thing that made me not give it the full five stars was that it didn't have the excellent "Daffy's Rhapsody." ... Read more

Asin: B000002LOA
Subjects:  1. Film    2. Music Theater    3. Pop    4. Soundtrack    5. Soundtracks & Film Scores    6. Vocal