Born in Milan, Anna del Conte grew up in Italy in a gentler time. When war came to Italy everything changed: her family had to abandon their apartment & the city for the countryside, where the peasants still ate well, but life was dangerous... As a teenager, Anna became used to throwing herself into a ditch as the strafing planes flew over, & was imprisoned, twice. Her story is informed & enlivened by the food & memories of her native land
- from lemon granita to wartime risotto with nettles, from vitello tonnato to horsemeat roll, from pastas to porcini. Anna arrived in England in 1949 to a culinary wastel&. She married an Englishman & stayed on, & while bringing up her children, she wrote books which inspired a new generation of cooks. This is a memoir of a life seen through food
- each chapter rounded off with mouthwatering recipes.

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Prized for its texture, flavour & versatility, risotto has been part of the Italian diet since the eighth century & is one of Italy`s most famous dishes. This revised & updated edition of Valentina Harris` seminal work shows you how to prepare, cook & serve this iconic dish using ingredients from the humble tomato to the much sought-after truffle. With a fully updated introduction & some brand new recipes, as well as background information on the history of this famous dish, Valentina provides essential information on the variety of rice that can be used for risotto & how to make the all-important stock. Recipes are supplemented by beautiful photography of the dishes by Ian Garlick & a step-by-step guide to the perfect risotto. This is the perfect book for any risotto lover. ...

Different regions of Italy have their own classic rice dishes, from the soupy Rice & Peas of the Veneto to the Hunter`s-style Rabbit Risotto of Umbria & Tuscany, but what they all have in common is the careful cooking of the rice to perfection. For a simple but comforting dinner, there are plenty of dishes packed full of warming cheese & butter, such as Saffron Risotto, Wild Mushroom Risotto or Artichoke & Pecorino Risotto. Lighter fish & shellfish dishes include the dramatic Black Risotto, flavoured with squid ink, Seafood Risotto or Crab & Chilli Risotto. There are also many tempting meaty options, from hearty family meals to dinner party dishes. Children & adults alike will enjoy Ham & Leek Risotto, while you can impress guests with Pheasant & Red Wine Risotto. There are also a few ideas for using up leftover risotto (or for when you simply want to ring the changes), such as Arancini or Rice Croquettes with Tomato Sauce, as well as some surprising sweet delights such as Cherry & Almond Risotto Puddings or Risotto Ice Cream. With useful recipes for various stocks, easy-to-follow instructions for making a basic risotto & a guide to the different kinds of rice available, this is a complete guide to risotto for all lovers of the classic Italian dish. ...

The 1:50, 000 topographic map gives a more general picture of the ground features than a basic map. It shows settlements, houses, roads, cultivated areas, waterways, cutting areas, mires, rock exposures, & relief. One map sheet covers an area of 30 x 40 km & one centimetre corresponds to 500 metres on the ground. The 1:50, 000 topographic map is also an ideal complement to nautical charts as it provides useful information about the land areas adjacent to waterways. For example, all Finnish sea areas are covered by 1:50, 000 topographic map sheets. ...

The 1:50, 000 topographic map gives a more general picture of the ground features than a basic map. It shows settlements, houses, roads, cultivated areas, waterways, cutting areas, mires, rock exposures, & relief. One map sheet covers an area of 30 x 40 km & one centimetre corresponds to 500 metres on the ground. The 1:50, 000 topographic map is also an ideal complement to nautical charts as it provides useful information about the land areas adjacent to waterways. For example, all Finnish sea areas are covered by 1:50, 000 topographic map sheets. ...

For thousands of years, Plains Indians & their ancestors have occupied the vast region that stretches from the Mississippi river to the Rocky Mountains & from the Canadian plains to the Gulf of Mexico. From about 1800 one of the most important units, beyond the extended family, was the warrior society a social, political & ritual group that engaged in warfare & organised ceremonial life. The societies offered members the opportunity to gain honours through individual acts of bravery such stealing horses, capturing women, & taking scalps during war raids, but also had a rich ritual life marked by a strong sense of spirituality. Through a selection of unique objects from the British Museums collection, this beautifully illustrated little book explores the world of the warriors of the North American Plains. Here are exceptional examples of feather headdresses, shields, moccasins, painted hides, scalps, pipes, tomahawks, & traditional & contemporary costumes. Many of these items may seem initially familiar from popular culture, but their deeper ritual significance is revealed by the author. A perennially popular subject, this book will appeal to young & old alike. ...

In Rituals, Amsterdam of the fifties, sixties & seventies is viewed from the perspective of the capricious Inni Wintrop. An unintentional suicide survivor, the unexpected gift of life returned lends him the curiousity, & impartiality, to survey others` lives & rountines. Inni`s opposite, the one-eyed downhill skier Arnold Taads measures his life by the clock, while his disowned son Philip follows Japanese rituals which themselves seem to render his existence meaningless. A novel for those who seek to unravel our mysterious, apparently directionless lives... ...

In a tale replete with scandal & opulence, Luke Barr, author of the New York Times bestselling Provence, 1970, transports readers to turn-of-the-century London & Paris to discover how celebrated hotelier César Ritz & famed chef Auguste Escoffier joined forces at the Savoy Hotel to spawn the modern luxury hotel & restaurant, where women & American Jews mingled with British high society, signaling a new social order & the rise of the middle class. In early August 1889, César Ritz, a Swiss hotelier highly regarded for his exquisite taste, found himself at the Savoy Hotel in London. He had come at the request of Richard D` Oyly Carte, the financier of Gilbert & Sullivan`s comic operas, who had modernized theater & was now looking to create the world`s best hotel. D` Oyly Carte soon seduced Ritz to move to London with his team, which included Auguste Escoffier, the chef de cuisine known for his elevated, original dishes. The result was a hotel & restaurant like no one had ever experienced, run in often mysterious & always extravagant ways--which created quite a scandal once exposed. Barr deftly re-creates the thrilling Belle Epoque era just before World War I, when British aristocracy was at its peak, women began dining out unaccompanied by men, & American nouveaux riches & gauche industrialists convened in London to show off their wealth. In their collaboration at the still celebrated Savoy Hotel, where they welcomed loyal & sometimes salacious clients, such as Oscar Wilde & Sarah Bernhardt, Escoffier created the modern kitchen brigade & codified French cuisine for the ages in his seminal Le Guide culinaire, which remains in print today, & Ritz, whose name continues to grace the finest hotels across the world, created the world`s first luxury hotel. The pair also ruffled more than a few feathers in the process. Fine dining would never be the same--or more intriguing. ...

` After many years I had excised myself from the life I had led in town, just as one might cut a figure out of a landscape or group photo. Abashed by the harm I had wreaked on the picture left behind, & unsure where the cut-out might end up next, I lived a provisional existence. I did so in a place where I knew none of my neighbours, where the street names, views, smells & faces were all unfamiliar to me, in a cheaply appointed flat where I would be able to lay my life aside.` In RIVER, a woman moves to a London suburb for reasons that are unclear. She takes long, solitary walks by the River Lea, observing & describing her surroundings & the unusual characters she encounters. Over the course of these wanderings she amasses a collection of found objects & photographs & is drawn into reminiscences of the different rivers which haunted the various stages of her life, from the Rhine, where she grew up, to the Saint Lawrence, the Hooghly, & the banks of the Oder. Written in language that is as precise as it is limpid, RIVER is a remarkable novel, full of poignant images & poetic observations, an ode to nature, edgelands, & the transience of all things human. ...

A navigational chart for the River Amazon showing depths, currents & sandbars. Towns & cities along the river are marked but no information is given other than for the river itself, so most of the chart is white. Presumably the date of this chart (1962) means that it should be used for actual navigation only with caution. However, for those cruising the river it would make an interesting way of charting your progress. ...