In Under Pressure" Thomas Keller shows us how sous vide which involves packing food in airtight plastic bags & cooking at low heat achieves results that other cooking methods simply cannot
- in flavour & precision. For example steak that is a perfect medium rare from top to bottom; & meltingly tender yet medium rare short ribs that havent lost their flavour to the sauce. Fish which has a small window of doneness is easier to finesse & salmon develops a voluptuous texture when cooked at a low temperature. Fruit & vegetables benefit too retaining their bright colour while achieving remarkable textures. There is wonderment in cooking sous vide
- in the ease & precision (salmon cooked at 123 degrees versus 120 degrees!) & the capacity to cook a piece of meat (or glaze carrots or poach lobster) uniformly."

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There's a reason why Stephen King is one of the best selling writers in the world ever. He knows how to write stories that suck you in & are impossible to put down. The New York Times describes it as a 'relentless tidal pull' & Stephen King has done it time & time again with stories like The Shawshank Redemption Misery The Green Mile & The St&. In Under the Dome he has produced another riveting masterpiece. The end of every chapter hooks you into the next drawing you inside a psychological drama that is so rich you don't read it you live it. It is the story of the small town of Chester's Mill Maine which is inexplicably & suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. No one can get in & no one can get out. The normal rules of society are suddenly changed & when food electricity & water run short the community begins to crumble. As a new & more sinister social order develops Dale Barbara Iraq veteran teams up with a handful of intrepid citizens to fight against the corruption that is sweeping through the town & to try to discover the source of the Dome before it is too late.. . ...

Celebrated storyteller Stephen King returns to his roots in this tour de force featuring more than 100 characters
- some heroic
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The memory of a brief visit to Burma had haunted Rory Mac Lean for years. A decade after the violent suppression of an unarmed national uprising which cost thousands of lives & all hopes for democracy he seized the chance to return. Travelling from Rangoon to Mandalay & Pagan into the heart of the Golden Triangle he hears stories of ordinary people struggling to survive under one of the most brutal & repressive regimes in the world & meets Aung San Suu Kyi perhaps the most courageous woman of our time & the embodiment of all Burmas hope. On his journey Mac Lean exposes the tragedy of a hundred betrayals. Under the Dragon" is a perceptive & heartbreaking portrayal of contemporary Burma a country that is shot through with desperation & fear but also blessed
- even in the darkest places
- with beauty & courage."

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' When people ask me what I do for a crust & I tell them that I'm a novelist they immediately assume that my life is a non-stop carousel of limos television appearances hair-dos devoted fans stalkers & all the glitzy paraphernalia of being a public figure. It's time to set the record straight. I write alone in a darkened bedroom wearing my PJs eating bananas my laptop on a pillow in front of me...' Her novels are read & adored by millions around the world
- now read Marian Keyes' collected pieces: regular bulletins from the woman under the duvet. Bursting with her hilarious observations
- on life in-laws weight loss & parties; her love of shoes & her LTFs (Long-Term Friends); the horrors of estate agents & lost luggage; & how she once had an office Christmas party that involved roasting two sheep on a spit Moroccan style
- it's the perfect bedtime companion & will have you wincing with recognition or roaring with laughter.


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Tibor Fishers hilarious first novel follows the adventures of two young Hungarian basketball players through the turbulent years between the end of World War II & the anti-Soviet uprising of 1956. In this spirited indictment of totalitarianism the two improbably heroes Pataki & Gyuri travel the length & breadth of Hungary in a epic quest for food lodging & female companionship. ...

Under the Greenwood Tree is Hardy's most bright confident & optimistic novel. This delightful portrayal of a picturesque rural society tinged with gentle humour & quiet irony established Hardy as a writer. However the novel is not merely a charming rural idyll. The double-plot in which the love story of Dick Dewey & Fancy Day is inter-related with a tragic chapter in the history of Mellstock Choir hints at the poignant disappearance of a long-lived & highly-valued traditional way of life. ...

This edition presents a critically established text based on comparisons of every revised version. Hardy placed this tale among his Novels of Character & Environment a group which is held to include his most characteristic work. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

The arrival of two newcomers in the quiet village of Mellstock arouses a bitter feud & leaves a convoluted love affair in its wake. While the Reverend Maybold creates a furore among the village's musicians with his decision to abolish the church's traditional 'string choir' & replace it with a modern mechanical organ the new schoolteacher Fancy Day causes an upheaval of a more romantic nature winning the hearts of three very different men
- a local farmer a church musician & Maybold himself. Under the Greenwood Tree" follows the ensuing maze of intrigue & passion with gentle humour & sympathy deftly evoking the richness of village life yet tinged with melancholy for a rural world that Hardy saw fast disappearing."
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Go on a journey to the centre of the earth & back with this brand new title in the ground-breaking See Inside" series. This subject is perfect for the lift-the-flap treatment & the book uses embedded flaps to great effect to explain the world under our feet from plants & animals to underground trains & pipes right through to the earth's core past gold mines stalagmites & fossils. It contains over 50 flaps to lift." ...