Search Results for: General Interest

‘Wine is sunlight, held together by water.’


Galileo Galilei


No other beverage has created the excitement and emotion that wine has over its vast history. It fills our mouths with flavour and our hearts with joy. It’s also a subject whose complexities can be baffling and mysterious to the uninitiated – but wine expert Caro Feely is here to unveil all the secrets of this most marvellous drink.


Packed with engaging anecdotes, fascinating history and a wealth of information on the world of wine, this miscellany is perfect for any wine fan, from the expert to the casual drinker. So let’s raise a glass to the red, the white and the rosé!

Did You Know…
A piece of toast was dropped into wine in ancient Rome to toast someone for good health? The word ‘bridal’ originated from ‘bride ale’, a special alcohol brewed for a marriage feast? Rum was so important in New England that a contract wasn’t considered sealed until a glass had been drunk? Drink contains everything you have ever wanted to know about alcohol, from how to make absinthe to the cultural history of zythos (beer), and is packed with fascinating and curious facts about life’s ‘second greatest pleasure’ (according to essayist Samuel Johnson). Bottoms up! 

There are plenty of reasons to embrace veganism – for environmental, ethical or health reasons, and many more!

This easy-to-digest guide, packed with practical tips on vegan living, from food and drink to clothes and shopping, will inspire you to enjoy all that’s best about an ETHICAL AND ANIMAL-FREE LIFESTYLE.

‘One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.’


Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own


Prepare your senses for a feast of delicious food scenes in literature accompanied with recipes to bring them to life in your very own kitchen, including Turkish delight Edmund wouldn’t be able to resist, roast goose the Cratchits would be proud of and cucumber sandwiches Algernon would be loath to share.
This book is perfect for anyone who enjoys spending their days with a book in one hand and a saucepan in the other.

If you’ve ever experienced a hangover from hell and vowed never to put yourself through that kind of pain again, then this book is for you. Packed with hangover cures, recipes, games and advice, it’ll help you survive the shakes, sweats and shame (until the next time).

Just like a wild night out, this book offers the highs and lows of spending an evening with alcohol. Enjoy the ultimate party game to start things off, then check your level of drunkenness throughout the night (like the responsible drinker you are) with the drunk-o-meter, sight test, tongue twisters and more. But if your idea of a nice, relaxed night has turned into a drunken mess, the rest of the book will help you:
– Learn which type of hangover you have – and how to cure it
– Find out the truths and myths of hangover remedies
– Cook up a feast fit for a… hungover person
– Own your hangover and be ready for the next one!

Do you struggle to get the little ones in your family to eat anything of nutritional value or even so much as sniff at a green vegetable? Mealtimes can often feel like a battle of wills when there are fussy eaters to cater for. This handy cookbook, packed with mouth-watering, quick and easy-to-execute, nutritious recipes is your one-stop guide to introducing new flavours to a developing palate. With tips on how to encourage your child to try different things and helpful advice on how to turn fussy eaters into food lovers, happy mealtimes and satisfied smiles are guaranteed!
Recipes include simple soups and quick snacks, as well as hearty meals for all the family, including old favourites and exciting new dishes to tickle the taste buds.

When Elizabeth Bard followed a handsome Frenchman up the spiral staircase to a love nest in the heart of Paris, they thought they had found their perfect home.
But life had other ideas. Falling in love with a quirky house full of history on a last romantic jaunt before the birth of their first child, Elizabeth and Gwendal decide to move – lock, stock and Le Creuset – to the French countryside; a land of blue skies, lavender fields and peaches that taste like sunshine.
Part memoir, part chocolate-smudged family cookbook, Picnic in Provence is about everything that happens after the happily ever after, and reminds us that life, in and out of the kitchen, is a rendezvous with the unexpected.

How could we live without tea?
From its beginnings in Asia to its position as a popular global pick-me-up, tea has become the drink of choice for two billion people every morning!
This charming miscellany, packed full of fascinating facts and practical advice, as well as tasty recipes from spicy chai tea to traditional tea loaf, will intrigue, inform and delight lovers of this cheering beverage across the globe.  

Get into the party spirit with a masterclass in mixology

Swap the drab for the dazzle with this concoction of moreish recipes and nifty tips that will equip you with everything you need to create a delicious array of incredible drinks.

This book is the perfect companion for every cocktail lover. Whether you’re a budding bartender or a maestro mixologist, this handy guide will teach you everything you need to know to host an unforgettable soirée.

In this book, you will find:

– Delicious and crowd-pleasing cocktail recipes, including the Margarita, Tom Collins, Piña Colada, Negroni and Mai Tai
– Expert tips, tricks and techniques on blending the perfect drink
– Essential equipment for stocking the ultimate home bar
– Ideas and instructions for creating your own party décor
– Insights into the history and origins of each cocktail
Shaken or stirred, flaming or fizzy, let these cocktails make any occasion all the more memorable and marvellous.

We buy food we can point to. We stalk the streets until rush hour and wait for the little hatches to open in the sides of restaurants. From the steamy openings, cooks in overalls sell jiaozi (dumplings) and bowls of thick, sticky, white congee – an unholy cross between soup and porridge. Baozi, steamed white buns, are light as air. I buy them filled with water spinach and nettle – delicious dipped in sharp, black Chinese vinegar.

In 2008, Miranda and her partner set off for one last big adventure before settling down. They chose to travel through South-East Asia. All did not go to plan: Asian flu, falling off boats and the general chaos of a life abroad challenged them at every step, and yet, in the midst of it all, they fell in love with the culture and culinary delights of China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia.

Liven up the party with this heady collection of drinking games!

Choose from brain-boggling classics such as Fuzzy Duck and Twenty-One, or dizzying games of pure chance like TV Drinking and Vodka Roulette – whichever you play, you’re guaranteed to be gleeful and giggly by the end!

Most of these games have one thing in common: they combine a full glass of booze with making a complete fool of yourself – all the ingredients for a great night, in fact! These games take different formats – cards, chance, verbal, etc. – but the outcome is always the same: players will find themselves laughing hysterically at each other.

Each game has a list of what you will need to play – needless to say, you will need alcohol of some sort for all of them. So, gather your friends and crack open your favourite poison: it’s time to play some drinking games!

Please drink responsibly. This book is intended for use by adults only.

Beer is the world’s most popular alcoholic drink – a joygiving, convivial, nutritious and delicious gift from nature and possibly the most diverse alcoholic libation with over 100 different styles and thousands of brands. This book, written by a leading beer sommelier, not only delves into the rich history of beer production and drinking but contains practical advice and explanations of beer styles, which ones to drink and why, food-matching suggestions, and the not-to-be-missed best beers in the world. There’s no better accompaniment to the perfect pint.

Humans were seeking out alcohol millions of years before the word ‘keg’ was invented. This book contains everything you have ever wanted to know about drink, from how to make absinthe to the cultural history of zythos (beer). Packed with fascinating miscellany and curious facts to entertain your friends at the pub, this book is an essential compendium of knowledge about life’s ‘second greatest pleasure’ (according to essayist Dr Samuel Johnson). It is the perfect gift for yourself, or for anyone who enjoys raising a glass to good health. Bottoms up!

We all know that baked treats can warm our hearts as well as our stomachs, and that everything tastes better when you’ve made it yourself. This collection of delicious recipes is peppered with thoughtful quotes and bursting with fail-safe pick-me-ups, from piping-hot pies to sinful double-chocolate muffins. Bake these recipes and be down in the dumplings no more!

Clear away the clutter of takeaway tins and bring a new dawn to your student kitchen with this fresh edition of the original Student Grub cookbook – the original (and best!) cookbook for university newbies. As essential in every student’s kitchen as shot glasses and hangover cures, this easy-to-follow guide contains everything from basic recipes to world cuisine.

Whether you need inspiration for a post-pub snack or want to impress your date with a three-course culinary spectacular, this book will help launch you into a lifetime of good food.

‘At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year.’
Thomas Tusser

Don’t let the hustle and bustle of the festive period distract you from what should be the happiest time of the year. This indispensable gem of a book offers practical tips on everything from organising party games the whole family will enjoy to planning the all-important Christmas dinner, and will help ensure that Christmas is manageable, and more importantly, fun!

As Ellie’s fiftieth birthday approaches and her ambitions of a steady income, a successful career and an ascent of Everest seem as far away as ever, she begins to doubt she’s capable of achieving anything at all. So when her best friend Mick suggests a gruelling cycle ride from Land’s End to John o’Groats, she takes up the challenge. They opt for the scenic route which takes them along cycle paths, towpaths and the back roads and byways of Britain, unable to resist sampling local beers in the pubs they pass along the way. But as the pints start to stack up faster than the miles they’re putting under their tyres, Ellie wonders if they’ll ever make it to the finishing line…

‘In victory, you deserve champagne; in defeat, you need it’ – Napoleon Bonaparte.

Keep Calm and Carry On, a World War Two government poster, struck a chord in recent difficult times when a stiff upper lip and optimistic energy were needed again. But in the long run it’s a stiff drink and flowing spirits that keep us all going.
Here’s a book packed with proverbs and mantras showing the wisdom to be found at the bottom of the glass.

L’appetito vien mangiando! – Appetite comes while you are eating.

Vicky arrives in Tuscany to study the language and culture of Italy, but soon falls in love with charismatic chef Gianfranco and starts to learn the art of Italian cooking in his trattoria. On Sunday nights, after benches are stacked on tables, they explore the countryside by car, passing glassy lakes and ancient hill towns.

This colourful and intoxicating gastro-memoir takes you behind the scenes of romantic restaurants and bars in Tuscany, Umbria, Elba and Perugia. Interspersed with recipes, humour and heartbreak, it will leave you entranced and with a hankering for tagliatelle and truffles.

Did you know that up to one in five people in the UK suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)?

Are you one of them?

In this easy-to-follow book, Wendy Green explains how diet, food intolerances, gut infections and bacterial imbalance, stress and hormones can contribute to IBS and offers practical advice and a holistic approach to help you deal with the symptoms, including simple dietary and lifestyle changes and DIY complementary therapies.

Find out 50 things you can do today to help you cope with IBS including:

• Identify your IBS triggers and learn how to manage them
• Choose beneficial foods and supplements
• Manage stress and relax to reduce flare-ups
• Learn which types of exercise can help to relieve symptoms
• Find helpful organisations and products