The Esmeralda books tell the stories of a mother and daughter who live in the city but love to visit the country farm where the child's grandmother lives. This is the first in a series of Esmeralda books. The tales originated as stories created by the author to entertain her grandchildren while they were riding in her car. They would sit quietly, completely enthralled with Esmeralda's adventures. The author could see their reactions in her rear view mirror as each story unfolded. "Nana, Esmeralda! Esmeralda!" would be heard from the back seat of the car soon after they would hit the road. As the children grew a little older, they would request a theme and the author would build a story around it. The characters have become part of their family and many of their adventures often come to mind. The descriptions in the stories come from four generations of the author's family, their animals, and their homes. Simple tales of a very special family's love.

Esmeralda and her mother live in the city, but they love to visit Grandmother's farm. The time they spend at the farm is filled with fun, family, and love. This is the fourth of the Esmeralda books. Birthdays are always special occasions when you're a child, and Esmeralda's is no exception. She's celebrating with friends and family, and her readers are invited! So come along and see what surprises lie in store in Esmeralda's Birthday Visit to the Farm!

A little girl and her family come together to prepare for warm weather while creating a special new addition to Grandmother's farm.

The Esmeralda books tell the stories of a mother and daughter who live in the city but love to visit the country farm where the child's grandmother lives. This is the second in the series of Esmeralda books. The tales originated as stories created by the author to entertain her grandchildren while they were riding in her car. They would sit quietly, completely enthralled with Esmeralda's adventures. The author could see their reactions in her rear view mirror as each story unfolded. "Nana, Esmeralda! Esmeralda!" would be heard from the back seat of the car soon after each journey began. The characters have become part of their family, and Esmeralda's adventures often cross their minds. The descriptions in the stories are inspired by four generations of the author's family, their animals, and moments they spent together. Simple tales of the love shared by a very special family.

Esmeralda and her mother live in the city, but they love to visit Grandmother's farm. The time they spend at the farm is filled with fun, family, and love. This is the third of the Esmeralda books, and there's a surprise in store. Grandmother's coming to visit Esmeralda and her mother in the city! Be sure to read the first two of the Esmeralda books: Esmeralda's Autumn Visit to the Farm and Esmeralda's Christmas Visit to the Farm Enjoy Esmeralda's Grandmother Visits the City!

“A beautifully photographed . . . introduction to Japanese cuisine.” —New York Times “A treasure trove for . . . Japanese recipes.” —Epicurious “Heartfelt, poetic.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Expand a home chef’s borders” with this “essential guide to Japanese home cooking” featuring 100+ recipes—for seasoned cooks and beginners who crave authentic Japanese food (Martha Stewart Living). Using high-quality, seasonal ingredients in simple preparations, Sonoko Sakai offers recipes with a gentle voice and a passion for authentic Japanese cooking. Beginning with the pantry, the flavors of this cuisine are explored alongside fundamental recipes, such as dashi and pickles, and traditional techniques, like making noodles and properly cooking rice. Use these building blocks to cook an abundance of everyday recipes with dishes like Grilled Onigiri (rice balls) and Japanese Chicken Curry. From there, the book expands into an exploration of dishes organized by breakfast; vegetables and grains; meat; fish; noodles, dumplings, and savory pancakes; and sweets and beverages. With classic dishes like Kenchin-jiru (Hearty Vegetable Soup with Sobagaki Buckwheat Dumplings), Temaki Zushi (Sushi Hand Rolls), and Oden (Vegetable, Seafood, and Meat Hot Pot) to more inventive dishes like Mochi Waffles with Tatsuta (Fried Chicken) and Maple Yuzu Kosho, First Garden Soba Salad with Lemon-White Miso Vinaigrette, and Amazake (Fermented Rice Drink) Ice Pops with Pickled Cherry Blossoms this is a rich guide to Japanese home cooking. Featuring stunning photographs by Rick Poon, the book also includes stories of food purveyors in California and Japan. This is a generous and authoritative book that will appeal to home cooks of all levels.

A delightful new cozy mystery from USA Today bestselling author Amanda Flower! There's fowl play afoot on the farm Shiloh Bellamy has saved her family's farm from financial ruin—but now what? She's barely scraping by on the farm's new organic business model and the fall festival she organized to drum up business comes to a screeching halt when the body of a prominent townswoman is discovered underneath a scarecrow in a nearby field. Worst of all, the evidence points to Shiloh's childhood best friend, Kristy, as the prime suspect. Between cooking up delicious treats made with her farm's produce, convincing her cantankerous father to let her do things her own way, and dealing with a newcomer in town who could be serious competition for her customers, Shiloh doesn't have time to wade into a murder investigation. But with a killer on the loose and suspicious activity circling closer and closer to Shiloh and the people she loves, she realizes there's nothing to do but roll up her sleeves and get down to the dirty work of finding the killer and clearing Kristy's name once and for all. This book is perfect for cozy mystery readers and fans of Kate Carlisle, Denise Swanson, and Bree Baker!