by Joumana Accad

The book starts with a brief background of the author's childhood in Lebanon and her efforts to mesh her background with her adult life in America. She then explains details about food and attitude towards food in her native country and provides ideas for how to prepare authentic Lebanese food in less that an hour, by doing things like sautéing onions in olive oil and freezing them for fast use.

I was especially interested in the spices and primary flavors of Lebanese food, which she made very simple. This is something I've been looking for in cookbooks; how to achieve the flavor of the country with use of spices that are common in ethnic foods.

The detailed information about different grains and how to prepare them was very enlightening and presented in an east to follow style. I was particularly interested in learning about Mahlab (Orchid powder), and decided that I must source some.

The book had me basking in thoughts of fragrant spices, floral waters and nutty tahini long before I got to the recipes!

The recipes themselves cover a vast array of interesting sounding food, including soups, finger foods, salads, main courses, sides, stews and desserts. A lot is done with nuts, both as a protein substitute and in desserts. Apparently in Lebannon, meat is only eaten once a week so many of the recipes are vegetarian or use a little fat of the lamb or sheep to add protein and flavor.

Eating customs and especially the use of pita bread are explained as well as what to find in a typical Lebanese larder. The book finishes with a comprehensive glossary and an index, so that everything is easy to find.

Overall an excellent book for learning all about food of a specific country and one I will enjoy trying out recipes from very soon.

The problem really with this book is it tried to do All The Things and managed to do none of them particularly well. :/ It was confused. It couldn't decide if it wanted to be one of those somewhat sappy contemporary romances with a spatula sketched on the cover, a romantic suspense, or...well, it CLAIMs it's a hot book but... seems to be a quantity vs quality issue and the only really steamy scene wasn't even with the H/h.

So the heroine is a Pollyanna type who is all smiles and cheeriness. Prior to the breakup, her ex (a chef) had her as a guest while attempting to secure himself a TV show. They were more impressed with Ms Personality than Mr Ego. The trouble with all this is that she manages to come across as a ditz. She's attracted a stalker and only gets a bodyguard at her sister's insistence. Since she only rarely seems concerned about her stalker, the bodyguard decides (after a half-assed investigation) that it's a publicity stunt.

The H is that bodyguard. He and the h had met 18 months prior while both were drowning their sorrows - him because he'd gotten involved with a celebrity client and managed to get himself fired, and her because Mr Ego dumped her. So when he arrives at her apartment and discovers who his would be client is, he tries to be all professional. He's just not very good at it. I mean really; he decides potential stalkers are safe based on interviews. No background checks, no delving into their past, nothing. Translation, he missed the creep that was right under his nose. Even better, since nobody else thought the creep was a threat (not that they had the means to investigate), the creep had access to the h's apartment, her computer, etc. And after the H has decided (based on v. little investigation really) that the h is faking it, he goes off on her, then wonders a few weeks later (after she rescued herself really) why she won't answer his emails, phone calls, etc.

Sister is shallow and self-absorbed. She blithely lets creep into the apartment, lets him see the code *and* the password on the computer. She also is the star in the only really drawn out sex scene in the book (the rest are almost quickies with dirty words thrown in to claim hotness).

The creep is a producer. Everyone assumes he's gay. Nobody actually investigates him. Guess who is decidedly hetero and has a "thing" for BDSM.

This starts with Namari and the Tansus' party, along with an ominous reminder that resurrection spells don't always work. Also, there's a bit of fantasy politics: the elves say the dungeon belongs to them and they want it back. Mr. Tansu tells the local lord to stall. Meanwhile, Laios' party has finally caught up to the red dragon.

This was a fun volume, with lots of action (and, of course, more cooking). I really liked Kui's artwork - not only is this a delicious-looking food manga, the action scenes are clear and easy to follow.

I was really surprised that Laios and the others came across the red dragon so soon. I figured that particular storyline was going to be dragged out for at least another few volumes. It'll be interesting to see where the series goes from here. It bugged me a bit that not a single person from the party asked Marcille why the spell she performed

I loved the revelation that Senshi has cookware that doubles as high-quality shields and weaponry.

I'm looking forward to continuing this series. I want to see where the elf storyline goes, and I'm sure that the dragon's presence on the fifth floor, an area where it isn't usually found, is important in some way. And hey, the entire party still has to make it out of the dungeon somehow.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

This one took me a bit to get my bearings on since I hadn't realized that these guys would appear again and therefore hadn't really mentioned them in my past posts. I believe this volume starts with the same party that the series regulars came across back when they found the treasure insects. They're revived and continue on, only to be killed yet again by fish-men. The series regulars see them, are attacked by a kraken, and make a meal out of kraken parasite meat - kraken, as it turns out, isn't tasty like real squid. They also make a porridge using grain and waterweed collected from fish-men. Then Marcille

This is still a creative and fascinating series, even if Laios' and Senshi's insistence on figuring out how to eat literally everything they come across in the dungeon is a bit ick. The kraken parasite meal made my skin crawl. (And Laios deserved what he got for eating one of those things raw.)

In this volume, readers learn that Marcille and Falin met in school - Falin was skipping class to read in a real dungeon, which she'd observed enough to learn a lot about (back to the whole "dungeon ecosystem" thing). Marcille, meanwhile, wanted to learn how to create a safe dungeon, a place with all the benefits of a real dungeon (access to goods that can only be grown or found in a dungeon) but without the danger.

As usual, the story got a bit ridiculous, but in ways that made sense. I laughed at the

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Swanson makes it okay to fall in love with lions and tigers and bears. Dangerously Delicious is an edgy tale that's cuddle worthy. What began as a hostile business arrangement turns steamy really quick. Marco and Sage are thrown together for the sake of some furry friends and end up finding a kindred spirit within each other. When dealing with strong personalities and beautiful, exotic and potentially dangerous animals that's to be expected, but once the spark ignites all bets are off. Marco and Sage take an unusual route, but it's fun to watch them finally end up where they're meant to be.