9/7/14 - Downtown Italian by Joe Campanale, Gabriel Thompson, and Katherine Thompson

Downtown Italian gives us the background on the writer’s adventures as restaurateurs in New York City.  In the fall of 2007 they opened the restaurant dell’anima. They tried to capture the flavor of a favorite restaurant in Florence, Italy.

This cookbook not only captures the flavors of Italy but it captures what the owners bring to the Italian table.  If you've never been to Italy or to New York City to their restaurant you’ll feel like you were sitting there, enjoying a good glass of wine and some fantastic food.  I love Italian food but my cooking of such is minor to the recipes found herein.  The recipes are broken down so that amateur cooks would be able to master the dishes.  The book starts off with an introduction of the writers/chefs then moves on with beneficial notes on wines.  The book then takes us to course after course of recipes.  I wish we enjoyed meals as the Italians do; relaxing, family gatherings that not only fill the stomach but the soul.

Downtown Italian is a well put together book with so many new recipes to try and Old World Italian recipes that have been revamped. This is a yummy cookbook for the Italian chef in you.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review.

8/25/14 - Kind of Paleo: The Caveman Diet for Normal People By Kelly D. Williams

Kind of Paleo by Kelly D. Williams is a breakdown of the Paleo diet in layman’s terms.

The book is a beginner’s guide to the diet sweeping the nation.  It gives an introductory from both sides of the fence from true believers of the diet to true skeptics of the diet.  You will see success stories and promoters and moderate to hard-core haters.  I was surprised that there were no recipes in the book, taught me to read the description better.  Even though, I learned a lot about the diet and realize that I’m neither a hunter-gatherer, nor a caveman.  I do, however, grow some of my own food.   

If you don’t know anything about the Paleo diet you will after you read this book.

I received this ebook from LibraryThing for review.