The Ultimate Tailgaters Big Ten Handbook or Olive and the Caper

The Ultimate Tailgater's Big Ten Handbook

Author: Stephen Linn

Millions of Americans participate in tailgating at college campuses during football season. Between the students and the alumni, and the visitors, a crush of fans are looking for places to park, to eat, to take part in traditional activities for each campus, and learn more about the school and team history. For the first time ever, fans can find the details at every campus in their favorite conference. Want to eat barbecue while you’re visiting USC? Want to know more details about massive Michigan Stadium? Need a place to stay for that game in Clemson? Choose your conference, which encompasses all teams in all divisions, pack the ULTIMATE TAILGATER’S HANDBOOK in the car, and you’re ready. Recipes, local venues and rules, sidebars about unique activities in each place, side tours, insider tips, and photos will help make your game day the best ever. Features Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Stephen Linn is a reporter who markets Ultimate Tailgater television and news features around the country. He lives in Nashville.

Book review: Tormenting Thoughts and Secret Rituals or Healthy Life Kitchen

Olive and the Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking

Author: Susanna M Hoffman

This is the year "It's Greek to me" becomes the happy answer to what's for dinner. My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the upcoming epic Troy, the 2004 Summer Olympics returning to Athens--and now, yet another reason to embrace all things Greek: The Olive and The Caper, Susanna Hoffman's 700-plus-page serendipity of recipes and adventure.

In Corfu, Ms. Hoffman and a taverna owner cook shrimp fresh from the trap--and for us she offers the boldly-flavored Shrimp with Fennel, Green Olives, Red Onion, and White Wine. She gathers wild greens and herbs with neighbors, inspiring Big Beans with Thyme and Parsley, and Field Greens and Ouzo Pie. She learns the secret to chewy country bread from the baker on Santorini, and translates it for American kitchens. Including 325 recipes developed in collaboration with Victoria Wise (her co-author on The Well-Filled Tortilla Cookbook, with over 258,000 copies in print), The Olive and The Caper celebrates all things Greek: Chicken Neo-Avgolemeno. Fall-off-the-bone Lamb Shanks seasoned with garlic, thyme, cinnamon and coriander. Siren-like sweets, from world-renowned Baklava to uniquely Greek preserves: Rose Petal, Cherry and Grappa, Apricot and Metaxa.

In addition, it opens with a sixteen-page full-color section, and has dozens of lively essays throughout the book--about the origins of Greek food, about village life, history, language, customs--making this a lively adventure in reading as well as cooking.

Publishers Weekly

Traditional Greek cuisine favors sour tastes: lemons, capers, vinegar, wild herbs. Cooking with these pungent ingredients takes a sure hand or, failing that, a good recipe. Hoffman's book supplies the latter in abundance; it attempts nothing less than to capture the whole of Greek food culture between covers. That includes side notes on language, myth, literature and botany; details of regional specialties; lists of native greens; and an explanation of why we say "Greek" instead of "Hellenic." Like many warm-weather cuisines, Greek food relies on an abundance of grilled meats and fish and dressed greens. Hoffman presents them in dazzling variety, alongside familiar exports like Dolmadakia (stuffed grape leaves) and Tzatziki. Hoffman, an anthropologist and cook, includes recipes that might be challenging or improbable for American home cooks: Retsina-Pickled Octopus, Thyme-Fed Snails and "Greek-inspired ice creams" made with mastic or olive oil. There are labor-intensive recipes, too, showing how to make filo pastry and homemade sourdough noodles. Desserts-Semolina Custard Pie; Yogurt Cake with Ouzo-Lemon Syrup-go far beyond Baklava. With its fascinating trove of information, this work will please armchair cooks and traveling foodies. For those willing to surrender to its searingly bright palate of flavors, it's a boon to the kitchen, too. Photos, illus. (July) Forecast: With the Olympics in Athens next month, interest should be strong. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents:

	Introduction: The Olive, the Caper, and the Legacy of Greek Food	xiii
Part 1	Honored Drinks, Small Dishes, and Savory Pies
	From water to wine	5
	Water	7
	Wine	8
	Ouzo	13
	Tsikoudia	14
	Brandy and Sweet Liqueurs	16
	Beer	18
	Coffee	18
	Tea	20
	Fruitades and Other Drinks	22
	Meze: The Grand Array	25
	The Simplest Mezedes	27
	The Glorious Cheeses of Greece	28
	The Many and Varied Greek Olives	30
	The Salads and Spreads	32
	The Eggplant Urbanization of Miltiades	34
	The Cyclades and the Scent of Lemon	44
	Two Famous Vegetable Mezedes	47
	Inviting Meat Mezedes	52
	Zeus, King of the Gods	56
	Mezedes from the Sea	59
	Tart and Tantalizing Pickles	72
	The People, Provinces, and Culinary Specialties of Greece	76
	Savory pies: From Filo Pastry	83
	Filo Finesse	87
	The Shapes of Filo Pies and Pastries	90
	The Trail of the Olive	98
	Opulent Byzantium	110
Part 2	The Banquet of Dishes
	Bread: The Staff of Life!	119
	The Bread Man Cometh	123
	Greece's First Bread Bakers	126
	Cooking Bells and Beehive Ovens	144
	Cyprus: the Coppery Island	148
	Soup: For Hard Times and Good Times	151
	Fava Stories	158
	The Mycenaeans and Their Bill of Fare	183
	Salads: A Veritable Bounty	187
	The Tomato Revolution	194
	Pericles, the Father of Democracy	202
	The Sarakatsani, Greece's Roving Shepherds	211
	Eggs: The Daily Gift	215
	Oregano, Dill, and Mint	218
	The Greek Diaspora and the Denver Omelet	224
	Sustaining grain: Barley, Wheat, Rice & Noodles	227
	An Island Harvest	234
	The Sin of Opsophagia	236
	Saffron	240
	The Olympic Games	244
	Whence Cometh Trahana?	248
	Alexandria, Greek City by the Sea	254
	Alexander the Great and the Spread of Hellenism	258
	The vegetable parade	263
	Simmered, Sauteed & Fried	265
	The Herbs of Greece	272
	Stewed Vegetable Stand-Outs	282
	Apollo, the Sun God	284
	Crisp Croquettes and Fritters	292
	The Welcome Party	294
	Stuffed Vegetables	300
	The Renowned Casserole	313
	Two Greek Cooks, Two Great Moussakades	314
	Classical Greece--A Time of Philosophers and Farmers	318
	Fish and shellfish	323
	The Foufou	328
	Salt Cod, the Fish That Feeds in Hard Times	336
	Poseidon	340
	Where Did the Name "Greek" Come From?	344
	The Aegean and the Ionian--The "Fishing Ponds" of Greece	350
	Archestratos and His Fish	354
	The Minoans--Inhabitants of Greece Before the Greeks	356
	Meat: Of Every Sort	361
	Grilling	371
	The Caper Family Bush	378
	The Warp and the Weft: Sheep and Their Wool	382
	An Easter Journey on the Sea	396
	Who Were the First Greeks?	402
	Birds: From the Coop	407
	Chicken and the Changing Squares of Athens	410
	The Jews of Greece and Their Joseph's Coat Cuisine	432
	Wild game: From the Woods and Sky	437
	Aesop's Wild Kingdom: Morals with the Meal	452
	Savces, toppings, and marinades	455
	The Sauces	457
	Souvlaki Stands and the Best Tzatziki	466
	The Dodecanese Islands--Gateway of Many Sauces	476
	The Toppings	477
	Rhodes and the Crusaders	480
	The Marinades	482
	Greece's Saucy Minorities and Their Foods	484
	Fruit as the finale	489
	Greece's Fruitful Choices	491
Part 3	Confections Dulcet as Ambrosia
	Sweets: In Profusion	499
	Time-Honored Syrups	500
	From Beehive to Oven	503
	The Nuts of Greece	504
	Tsikoudia and the Moor	508
	A Final Validation	522
	How Spices Got to Greece	530
	Luscious Puddings	531
	Sweetness by the Spoonful	535
	Croesus and His Golden Coins	540
	Plato, the "Cool" Philosopher	544
	Seven Innovative Sweets	548
	Night Wine, Day Wine, and the Barefoot Compressor	550
	Cyclades Village Wedding	556
	Ceremonial Sweets	557
	The Ottoman Rule and the Greek Fight for Independence	562
	Conversion Tables	566
	Bibliography	567
	Index	572