[Review] Modern Potluck: Beautiful Food to Share

Modern Potluck: Beautiful Food to Share

Uncover the best dish
 Modern Potluck is a cookbook and guide for today’s potluckers that delivers Instagram-worthy dishes packed with exciting, bold flavors. These 100 make-ahead recipes are perfect for a crowd and navigate carnivore, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and vegan preferences gracefully. With beautiful color photographs and lots of practical information such as how to pack foods to travel, Modern Potluck is the ultimate book for gathering friends and family around an abundant, delicious meal. 

review

I have always been obsessed about potlucks since coming from a different country, it was more like a way of eating than an actual event. We would always bring dishes whenever we went to someone's house and with several families that attended, that was our "potluck". Modern potluck is a gorgeous book that really does tell you how to present the dishes best and cook enough for the whole crowd. 

Beautiful presentations and amazing variety on the dishes, Modern Potluck really is an amazing book to get your hands on and hopefully actually taste the dishes! 

I received this book free from the publisher through the BloggingforBooks book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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[Review] The Wurst of Lucky Peach: A Treasury of Encased Meat

The Wurst of Lucky Peach

The best in wurst from around the world, with enough sausage-themed stories and pictures stuffed between these two covers to turn anyone into a forcemeat aficionado.

Lucky Peach presents a cookbook as a scrapbook, stuffed with curious local specialties, likecevapi, a caseless sausage that’s traveled all the way from the Balkans to underneath the M tracks in Ridgewood, Queens; a look into the great sausage trails of the world, from Bavaria to Texas Hill Country and beyond; and the ins and outs of making your own sausages, including fresh chorizo.

review

If you enjoy eating sausages as much as thinking, cooking, and dreaming about sausages - you will enjoy the "sausage" book. It was a combination of history, stories around the world and recipes about pretty much every sausage you can imagine. And if you think that this did not make sure drool - you are wrong. Because I want sausage as I speak about this now lol 

Overall, loved the humor and the stories, definitely must if you want to know what's up about your sausage ;)

I received this book free from the publisher through the BloggingforBooks book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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[Review] The Sleep Revolution

The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time

We are in the midst of a sleep deprivation crisis, writes Arianna Huffington, the co-founder and editor in chief of The Huffington Post. And this has profound consequences – on our health, our job performance, our relationships and our happiness. What is needed, she boldly asserts, is nothing short of a sleep revolution.  Only by renewing our relationship with sleep can we take back control of our lives.

In her bestseller Thrive, Arianna wrote about our need to redefine success through well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving. Her discussion of the importance of sleep as a gateway to this more fulfilling way of living struck such a powerful chord that she realized the mystery and transformative power of sleep called for a fuller investigation.

The result is a sweeping, scientifically rigorous, and deeply personal exploration of sleep from all angles, from the history of sleep, to the role of dreams in our lives, to the consequences of sleep deprivation, and the new golden age of sleep science that is revealing the vital role sleep plays in our every waking moment and every aspect of our health – from weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease to cancer and Alzheimer’s.  

In The Sleep Revolution, Arianna shows how our cultural dismissal of sleep as time wasted compromises our health and our decision-making and undermines our work lives, our personal lives -- and even our sex lives. She explores all the latest science on what exactly is going on while we sleep and dream.  She takes on the dangerous sleeping pill industry, and all the ways our addiction to technology disrupts our sleep. She also offers a range of recommendations and tips from leading scientists on how we can get better and more restorative sleep, and harness its incredible power.

In today's fast-paced, always-connected, perpetually-harried and sleep-deprived world, our need for a good night’s sleep is more important – and elusive -- than ever. The Sleep Revolution both sounds the alarm on our worldwide sleep crisis and provides a detailed road map to the great sleep awakening that can help   transform our lives, our communities, and our world.

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I need more sleep, that's the whole idea behind my stress. And I know that. So when I picked up The Sleep Resolution, I really thought that it would be a good book to read and figure out a way to get better sleep. And although it had a lot of great information on different facts that had to do with sleep and the science behind it, I felt like it was repetitive and kept saying that you have to commit to sleep. 

Overall, even though a good read to knowledge yourself about the structure and facts of sleep and sleep deprivation, I was slightly disappointed with it. Hope that everyone that does get this book is not reading it up all night and actually gets some sleep :) 

I received this book free from the publisher through the BloggingforBooks book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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[Review] The Productivity Project

The Productivity Project

A fresh, personal, and entertaining exploration of a topic that concerns all of us: how to be more productive at work and in every facet of our lives.
 
Chris Bailey turned down lucrative job offers to pursue a lifelong dream—to spend a year performing a deep dive experiment into the pursuit of productivity, a subject he had been enamored with since he was a teenager. After obtaining his business degree, he created a blog to chronicle a year-long series of productivity experiments he conducted on himself, where he also continued his research and interviews with some of the world’s foremost experts, from Charles Duhigg to David Allen. Among the experiments that he tackled: Bailey went several weeks with getting by on little to no sleep; he cut out caffeine and sugar; he lived in total isolation for 10 days; he used his smartphone for just an hour a day for three months; he gained ten pounds of muscle mass; he stretched his work week to 90 hours; a late riser, he got up at 5:30 every morning for three months—all the while monitoring the impact of his experiments on the quality and quantity of his work.

The Productivity Project—and the lessons Chris learned—are the result of that year-long journey. Among the counterintuitive insights Chris Bailey will teach you:
·         slowing down to work more deliberately;
·         shrinking or eliminating the unimportant;
·         the rule of three;
·         striving for imperfection;
·         scheduling less time for important tasks;
·         the 20 second rule to distract yourself from the inevitable distractions;
·         and the concept of productive procrastination.
In an eye-opening and thoroughly engaging read, Bailey offers a treasure trove of insights and over 25 best practices that will help you accomplish more. 

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The Productivity Project was definitely one of those books that made me feel lazy at first. This guy has done nothing but sleep only a couple of hours a day and then accomplish more in 24 hours than I would in a month, hell maybe a year! But the realization from Bailey's technique was really incredible because it made me realize that I could put some of these items to use. Some of the chapters really made me consider changing the way I live right now and what I spend my time on. His "What would you do if you had more free time" line has really gotten to me. 

Ever since I've read The Productivity Project, I really started to think about my life. It is a very good and easy read that makes you keep your attention longer. Some of the stories were just incredible to read, I'm glad I picked this up. 

I received this book free from the publisher through the BloggingforBooks book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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[Review] Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction

Superforecasting

A  New York Times Bestseller

An Economist Best Book of 2015

"The most important book on decision making since Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow."
—Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal
 
Everyone would benefit from seeing further into the future, whether buying stocks, crafting policy, launching a new product, or simply planning the week’s meals. Unfortunately, people tend to be terrible forecasters. As Wharton professor Philip Tetlock showed in a landmark 2005 study, even experts’ predictions are only slightly better than chance. However, an important and underreported conclusion of that study was that some experts do have real foresight, and Tetlock has spent the past decade trying to figure out why. What makes some people so good? And can this talent be taught?
 
In Superforecasting, Tetlock and coauthor Dan Gardner offer a masterwork on prediction, drawing on decades of research and the results of a massive, government-funded forecasting tournament. The Good Judgment Project involves tens of thousands of ordinary people—including a Brooklyn filmmaker, a retired pipe installer, and a former ballroom dancer—who set out to forecast global events. Some of the volunteers have turned out to be astonishingly good. They’ve beaten other benchmarks, competitors, and prediction markets. They’ve even beaten the collective judgment of intelligence analysts with access to classified information. They are "superforecasters."
 
In this groundbreaking and accessible book, Tetlock and Gardner show us how we can learn from this elite group. Weaving together stories of forecasting successes (the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound) and failures (the Bay of Pigs) and interviews with a range of high-level decision makers, from David Petraeus to Robert Rubin, they show that good forecasting doesn’t require powerful computers or arcane methods. It involves gathering evidence from a variety of sources, thinking probabilistically, working in teams, keeping score, and being willing to admit error and change course. Superforecasting offers the first demonstrably effective way to improve our ability to predict the future—whether in business, finance, politics, international affairs, or daily life—and is destined to become a modern classic.

review

Ever since I have started learning about stocks and the Wall Street market itself, I was really interested in how people forecast the future and predict on what is going to happen. Superforecasting really showed on what it is like to have that ability and learn the skill in the modern world. 

It was a good book to begin with but over time, it felt a little predictable. And if you're reading a book about forecasting and it becomes predictable, it's either you already a pro at this subject or it's getting boring. I still have gotten a lot of information but the overall morale of the book was clear: Use number to make your predictions in a well established time frame and always question your predictions until the time runs out. 

I received this book free from the publisher through the BloggingforBooks book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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[Review] A Bone to Pick by Mark Bittman

A Bone To Pick 

Since his New York Times op-ed column debuted in 2011, Mark Bittman has emerged as one of our most impassioned and opinionated observers of the food landscape. The Times’ only dedicated opinion columnist covering the food beat, Bittman routinely makes readers think twice about how the food we eat is produced, distributed, and cooked, and shines a bright light on the profound impact that diet—both good and bad—can have on our health and that of the planet. 

In A Bone to Pick, Mark’s most memorable and thought-provoking columns are compiled into a single volume for the first time. As abundant and safe as the American food supply appears to be, the state of our health reveals the presence of staggering deficiencies in both the system that produces food and the forces that regulate it. Bittman leaves no issue unexamined; agricultural practices, government legislation, fad diets, and corporate greed all come under scrutiny and show that the issues governing what ends up in our market basket and on our tables are both complex and often deliberately confusing. Unabashedly opinionated and invariably thought provoking, Bittman’s columns have helped readers decipher arcane policy, unpack scientific studies, and deflate affronts to common sense when it comes to determining what “eating well” truly means. As urgent as the situation is, Mark contends that we can be optimistic about the future of our food and its impact on our health, as slow-food movements, better school-lunch programs, and even “healthy fast food” become part of the norm. 

At once inspiring, enraging, and enlightening, A Bone to Pick is an essential resource for every reader eager to understand not only the complexities inherent in the American food system, but also the many opportunities that exist to improve it.

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With so many different views on "Gluten--free", GMOs, and other factors that have been considered in the food industry, it is hard to tell what is true and what is not true when it comes to this industry. Mark Bittman tells us how it is on where the food comes from, where this whole industry is going and how everything reflects our future and the future of children. 

As knowledgeable as this was, it was a little hard not to feel like Bittman just wanted us to stop eating all of the "junk" all together and just eat the plants that we grow in our house. I understand the whole aspect of having this mindset and I have thought about it. More often we don't think about how the food is produced in the first place, especially when it's processed. But this was a very interesting read and I found it fascinating. 

I received this book free from the publisher through the Blogging For Books book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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[Review] Yogurt: Sweet and Savory Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Yogurt 

A fresh, modern yogurt-centric cookbook that showcases the versatility of this dairy superstar in 50 recipes for appetizers, salads, soups, sauces, marinades, beverages, and desserts, and provides fail-proof directions for making your own yogurt at home.
  
Americans have fallen in love with yogurt, thanks to its creamy texture, tangy flavor, and health-promoting probiotic cultures. In Yogurt, a fresh and modern full-color cookbook, author Janet Fletcher demonstrates the versatility of this dairy superstar in more than fifty recipes for appetizers, salads, soups, beverages, and desserts. From roasted tomato bruschetta with yogurt cheese to meatballs in a warm yogurt sauce to a golden yogurt cake, these recipes showcase yogurt in dishes both rustic and sophisticated. Drawing inspiration from the culinary traditions of Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, India, and beyond, this useful handbook includes a guide to purchasing yogurt (all of the recipes work with quality store-bought brands), advice on choosing a yogurt maker, and easy methods for making yogurt, Greek yogurt, and yogurt cheese at home.

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Yogurt: Sweet and Savory Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner is an incredible book that is so much more than recipes. Starting with description of history and trajectory of yogurt, it includes tons of health benefits and many many possibilities that could be made from it. 

Perfect for clean eating, vegetarians and anyone overall, this recipe book really takes the subject of yogurt serious. One of the interesting things that I have found about this is that the texture of yogurt itself could make the dish very different. Using it for breakfast, lunch, and YES dinner is incredible. 

The illustrations are truly work of art. Beautiful piece to have at home and make great recipes for the whole family.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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[Review] How to Get Dressed: A Costume Designer's Secrets for Making Your Clothes Look, Fit, and Feel Amazing

How to Get Dressed

Costume designer Alison Freer’s styling kit is a magical bag of tricks, built to solve every single wardrobe malfunction on earth. TV and film productions wait for nothing, so her solutions have to work fast. In How to Get Dressed, Alison distills her secrets into a fun, comprehensive style guide focused on rethinking your wardrobe like a fashion expert and making what’s in your closet work for you. She provides real-world advice about everything style-related, including:


   • Making every garment you own fit better
   • Mastering closet organization
   • The undergarments you actually need
   • The scoop on tailors and which alterations are worth it
   • Shopping thrift and vintage like a rockstar
Instead of repeating boring style “rules,” Alison breaks the rules and gets real about everything from bras to how to deal with inevitable fashion disasters. Including helpful information such as how to skip ironing and the dry cleaners, remove every stain under the sun, and help clueless men get their sartorial acts together, How to Get Dressed has hundreds of insider tips from Alison’s arsenal of tools and expertise.

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How to Get Dressed is a book that every woman should have on hand. With Pinterest and the Internet overall, it is so easy to find information that can help women how to look better as well as have tips on fashion overall. However, it's all on the Internet and when you need information on hand, we often get confused on what to wear and forget everything that we've read. This book is more of a guide for years to come and it definitely helped me to look at my wardrobe in the new light. 

What I appreciated the most is that it's not a book to sell you on any specific fashion or follow a current trend. It is a guide on how to use your personality and what you have available to make sure that you feel the best and not become stressed when you feel like you have nothing to wear. One of the tips that I am using now is "Hang it Up". The author shares her experience on the set and transfers it into daily lifestyle to say that if you hang up your clothes, jewelry, undergarments, you will actually wear them so they won't stay hidden. 

Overall, I am happy that I got a chance to review this book. It is going to be a staple in my home and I know that I will come back to reference it. On the back it has tips on different stains and the solutions to clear them which I haven't used but excited to try in the future.  

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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[Review] Inspiralized: Turn Vegetables into Healthy, Creative, Satisfying Meals

Inspiralized

The definitive cookbook for using a spiralizer: the kitchen gadget that turns vegetables and fruits into imaginative, low-carb dishes.
 
On her wildly popular blog, Inspiralized, Ali Maffucci is revolutionizing healthy eating. Whether you’re low-carb, gluten-free, Paleo, or raw, you don’t have to give up the foods you love. Inspiralized shows you how to transform more than 20 vegetables and fruits into delicious meals that look and taste just like your favorite indulgent originals. Zucchini turns into pesto spaghetti; jicama becomes shoestring fries; sweet potatoes lay the foundation for fried rice; plantains transform into “tortillas” for huevos rancheros.

Ali’s recipes for breakfast, snacks, appetizers, sandwiches, soups, salads, casseroles, rices, pastas, and even desserts are easy to follow, hard to mess up, healthful, and completely fresh and flavorful. Best of all, she tells you how to customize them for whatever vegetables you have on hand and whatever your personal goal may be—losing weight, following a healthier lifestyle, or simply making easy meals at home. 

Here, too, are tons of technical tips and tricks; nutritional information for each dish and every vegetable you can possibly spiralize; and advice for spiralizing whether you’re feeding just yourself, your family, or even a crowd. So bring on a hearty appetite and a sense of adventure—you’re ready to make the most of this secret weapon for healthy cooking.

review

Ever since the "zucchini noodles" became popular, there have been a huge boom over the healthier versions of pastas, lasagnas, and other yummy foods that might not be so good for our waist. But Ali from Inspiralized revolutionized this trend and made it possible to have all that yumminess and still stay on track of weight loss and maintaining the healthy lifestyle. 

Even before the book was released, I was obsessed with her blog. Pinterest, other blog posts, she was everywhere. I was so happy when I found out that she is releasing a full book full of recipes and amazing things that you can do with a simple twist of spiralizer. I just bought a brand new one with lots of fancy additions and so far loving the recipes from the book! I was surprised that there was also a section on desserts but that will definitely satisfy my horrible sweet tooth! 

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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[Review] The Portlandia Cookbook

The Portlandia Cookbook: Cook Like a Local!

The companion cookbook to the hit show Portlandia by the Emmy-nominated stars and writers Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, with 50 delicious recipes for every food lover, freegan, organic farmer, and food truck diehard. 
Food plays a very special role in Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s award-winning satire Portlandia. Here are recipes for the dishes that define the show, from cult-raised chicken and Stu’s stews to pickled veggies and foraged green salads. Complete with new full-color finished food photographs and illustrations, humorous stories and sidebars from the loveable food-obsessed Portlandia characters (such as Mr. Mayor, Peter and Nance, and Colin the chicken), and advice on how to choose a bed and breakfast and behave at a communal table, this is a funny cookbook—with serious recipes—for anyone who loves food. And yes, the chicken’s local.

review

Always being a fan of the actual show Portlandia, I jumped into an opportunity to read this book and see what awesome recipes I can find. But WARNING! This cookbook is not just your regular cookbook. With everything from food description & funny comics, it has a great way of highlighting the incredible Portland culture and its quirks. Think my favorite part was definitely Pretzel Knots because, well HELLLLOOO! It's pretzels and I would eat a whole pound of them in one setting if I could. The book itself is divided into 5 sections which are Small Plates, Main Courses, Desserts, Drinks and Brunch. Recipes include notes from local chefs and the images are perfectly illustrated and absolutely beautiful! 
  

I received this book free from the publisher through the Blogging for Books book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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[Review] Make Up Your Life! by Michelle Phan

Make Up Your Life!

Michelle Phan has believed in makeup since the first time she was allowed to try eyeliner. When she looked in the mirror and saw a transformed version of herself looking back, she fell in love with the sense of confidence that makeup could give her. Ever since she posted her first makeup tutorial on YouTube, she has dedicated herself to inspire millions by using makeup as a tool for transformation and self expression. 

Now, Michelle has compiled all of her best wisdom into Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success--Online and Off. From creating a gorgeous smoky eye to understanding contouring to developing an online persona, Michelle has advice to help you transform every facet of your life. Make Up is packed with Michelle’s trademark beauty and style tutorials, stories and pictures from her own life, and advice on the topics she is asked about most, including etiquette, career, entrepreneurship, and creativity. From the everyday (such as how to get glowing skin) to the big picture (such as how to turn your passion into a profession), Make Up is a practical and empowering resource to help anyone put their best face forward.

review

Michelle Phan was one of the beauty gurus that I always watched on Youtube when I actually first started doing makeup. Amazing woman, I cannot believe how many things she accomplished over the short period of her life. This book has really made me understand more of who she is and where she came from. Her beauty tips and life tips overall are very great and I loved reading it. She is inspiration to thousands of young girls and can enlighten many young women to be the best they can be. 

I received this book free from the publisher through the Blogging for Books book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

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