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Summary: "A Spoonful of Ginger" is "A Spoonful of Sugar" for Sure!
Review: "A Spoonful of Ginger" is "A Spoonful of Sugar" for Sure! When the songwriters who wrote "A Spoonful of Sugar" wrote that wonderful song from Walt Disney's Mary Poppins they surely must have had this book in mind! In their new autobigraphical book "Walt's Time" (also available at amazon.com) they described how their song too was inspired by an easy way to swallow down a medicinal remedy by way of tasty food! In "A Spoonful of Ginger" we see how herbal remedies are in fact the real medicine that can help a person get well and heal himself "In a most Holistic Way!!!"
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Summary: This book is an excellent addition to any culinary library!
Review: Fans of Asian-inspired cuisine have a terrific, new resource in Nina Simonds' book. Enjoy!
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Summary: my favorite cookbook
Review: I absolutely love this cookbook! I have searched for years to find a good Asian cookbook and this is it. Next to my Joy of Cooking, I can't live without it. The recipes are delicious, simple, easy to make; the ingredients easy to find (and I live in an area where not many people seem to be into Asian cuisine, unfortunately). Even those who don't care for most Asian food will find recipes they love in this book. My children love these recipes, and they are typical McDonald's lovin' preschoolers. Two thumbs up! You must give this cookbook a try! It is definitely the best Asian cookbook I have ever tested.
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Summary: Mislabelled
Review: I first saw Nina on PBS and ran to the computer to see if I could find her book. I have ordered many a cookbook and resold a few because they only had a recipe or 2 that I could use. Not this one. It has many soy sauce and oil stains because I use it so much. This book is great because it is truly authentic. I say this because I found several recipes for dishes that my Chinese mother-in-law cooks when she comes over from Honk Kong. Nina's Noodle Cookbook is a great book to get, too. My husband's favorite recipe is the spicey Chinese peanut sauce, which we have a lot of during the summer as a cold noodle salad. Nina also gives lots of variations on her recipes so it is easy to vary a recipe according to what you have on hand or what you are able to find in the grocery store. Speaking of that, many of the ingredients are easy to find in non-Asian food markets.
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Summary: "sense"sational Chinese cooking
Review: I first saw Nina on PBS and ran to the computer to see if I could find her book. I have ordered many a cookbook and resold a few because they only had a recipe or 2 that I could use. Not this one. It has many soy sauce and oil stains because I use it so much. This book is great because it is truly authentic. I say this because I found several recipes for dishes that my Chinese mother-in-law cooks when she comes over from Honk Kong. Nina's Noodle Cookbook is a great book to get, too. My husband's favorite recipe is the spicey Chinese peanut sauce, which we have a lot of during the summer as a cold noodle salad. Nina also gives lots of variations on her recipes so it is easy to vary a recipe according to what you have on hand or what you are able to find in the grocery store. Speaking of that, many of the ingredients are easy to find in non-Asian food markets.
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Summary: Most beautifully illustrated book on Herbal Chinese Cooking
Review: I found this book to be the best gift book for anyone interested in cooking, herbal healing or just a beautiful coffee table book. The recipes are savory and easy to follow. The stories are fascinating. The photos are so luscious you can almost taste the food. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: If you love Asian foods, this book is a MUST!
Review: I got this book online a week ago after thumbing through it at my local bookstore. Already I've made two of the recipes in the book, and they tasted heavenly! This cookbook is a MUST for the Asian foods enthusiast. Very easy to follow instructions, and easy to find ingredients. Contains recipes from many different Asian cuisines. I bought it primarily because I was looking for good oriental soup recipes, and the soup recipe I tried last night is just outstanding (Chicken Miso Soup with Snow Peas). My 19-month old toddler just loved it, and asked for seconds. I also tried a vegetable dish with a nice sauce, and again my little girl surprised me by eagerly eating all the veggies. The sauce is very versatile, and I've used it a second time with other vegetables I had on hand. Highly recommend this cookbook!
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Summary: Anyone who loves cookbooks can't live without this one!!
Review: I love this cookbook! The first day I recieved it I cooked from it, and the food is great. It is part cookbook, part reader, and part picture book. I highly recomend this!! Anyone who loves flipping through cookbooks will have hours of entertainment and lots of tasty dishes.
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Summary: I Really Wanted to Like it, But...
Review: I was given this cookbook as a gift a few weeks after I returned from a semester living in China. I was so excited, expecting that I'd be able to replicate (or at least approximate) the wonderful Chinese textures and flavors that I missed so much. Unfourtunately, most of the recipes in this book didn't achieve authentic (or, frankly, even very good) tastes. This could be because Simonds seems intent on lowering the fat/oil content of most dishes, but there are two other persistent problems with the recipes: most sauces are thicker/stewier than they should be and flavors aren't strong enough. The photos and anecdotes are interesting, but there are too many of them. I felt like Simonds was more intent on dropping Asian foodie names than she was on sharing the techniques and ingredient ratios that make Asian cooking so enjoyable. If you want to learn how to make good fried rice, this book has somethign to offer you. If you want to learn how to make other Chinese (and other Asian) dishes, I'd advise that you look somewhere else (you might try Madhpur Jaffery's World Vegetarian - all of the Chinese dishes I have cooked from that book have been excellent).
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Summary: I like the soups alot, so far.
Review: I've made two of the soups from this cookbook and liked them both. The Healthy Hot and Sour Soup was the first thing I could really taste after a long bout with a cold and it was good. Even my husband liked it and he is usually one to make a face at anything labeled healthy. I also made the chicken soup with snow peas and tofu. I felt full, but not overly stuffed, which is a great thing to feel after the holidays. I plan on continuing to try more recipes from this book.
The recipes are a blend of Asian food traditions and the book does not pretend to give you authentic recipes from any particular country. This approach is fine with me, I like good food.
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