Learn how California rice is grown in this illustrated children's book.

A badass modern Cajun cookbook from Top Chef fan favorite Isaac Toups and acclaimed journalist Jennifer V. Cole, featuring 100 full-flavor stories and recipes. Things get a little salty down in the bayou... Cajun country is the last bastion of true American regional cooking, and no one knows it better than Isaac Toups. Now the chef of the acclaimed Toups' Meatery and Toups South in New Orleans, he grew up deep in the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana, where his ancestors settled 300 years ago. There, hunting and fishing trips provide the ingredients for communal gatherings, and these shrimp and crawfish boils, whole-hog boucheries, fish frys, and backyard cookouts -- form the backbone of this book. Taking readers from the backcountry to the bayou, Toups shows how to make: A damn fine gumbo, boudin, dirty rice, crabcakes, and cochon de lait His signature double-cut pork chop and the Toups Burger And more authentic Cajun specialties like Hopper Stew and Louisiana Ditch Chicken. Along the way, he tells you how to engineer an on-the-fly barbecue pit, stir up a dark roux in only 15 minutes, and apply Cajun ingenuity to just about everything. Full of salty stories, a few tall tales, and more than 100 recipes that double down on flavor, Chasing the Gator shows how -- and what it means -- to cook Cajun food today.

Some recipes are dreamed up in the kitchen. Others are dished up from the dirt. For Andrea Bemis, who owns and operates an organic vegetable farm with her husband in Parkdale, Oregon, meals are inspired by the day’s harvest. In this stunning cookbook, Andrea shares simple, inventive, and delicious recipes for cooking through the seasons. Welcome to life on Tumbleweed Farm—where the work may be hard, but the stove is always warm.

In the midst of the Great Depression, minor league baseball thrives in small-town South Louisiana, where the Evangeline League, named in honor of Longfellow's heroine, draws hundreds to dirt fields and grandstands in places like Jeanerette, Abbeville, and Opelousas. In 1935 Gemar Batiste, a talented young pitcher from Texas, is recruited to try out for the Rayne Rice Birds, makes the roster, and immediately begins garnering fame for himself, his team, and the league. But Gemar is not the same as his teammates and opponents, and his skills on the diamond cannot erase those differences. He grew up on a reservation in Texas, an Alabama-Coushatta Indian dreaming of hurling strikes in the big leagues. During his season with the Rice Birds, Gemar is asked to play the stereotypical Indian and enticed to cheat, which goes against his view of the diamond as a sacred place of honor. Constantly challenged as he tries to protect his identity as an Alabama-Coushatta and uphold the integrity of the game, Gemar like the Evangeline League's namesake comes to embody loss, perseverance, and commitment. Much like minor league baseball itself, the story of Gemar Batiste's season in the Evangeline League is a work of satire, humor, tragedy, and triumph.

A playful and delicious cookbook from the host of ABC’s Food for Thought with Claire Thomas and creator of the much loved food blog The Kitchy Kitchen. Every cook needs an arsenal of staples, whether for the perfect dinner party entrée to wow a crowd, or throw-it-together lunches for lazy afternoons…but we all know that the real fun comes in making basic recipes your own. The Kitchy Kitchen is tastemaker Claire Thomas’s solution for amping up your everyday culinary routine, introducing her approach to her own kitchen: loose, personal, unfussy, and most of all, fun. With new takes on classic favorites—think adding farmer’s market peaches to upgrade a BLT, spicing up tempura cauliflower with a zesty harissa sauce, or transforming basic red velvet cupcakes into decadent pancakes—this cookbook is filled with fresh, produce-driven recipes for every skill set and occasion. It’s your best friend and personal chef, all rolled into one. Gorgeously illustrated and peppered with stylish entertaining tips and quirky essays that will inspire you to take the recipes you love and make them new, The Kitchy Kitchen will make your life in the kitchen a little easier, a little more fabulous, and positively delicious.

Fuchsia Dunlop trained as a chef at China's leading cooking school and is internationally renowned for her delicious recipes and brilliant writing about Chinese food. Every Grain of Rice is inspired by the healthy and vibrant home cooking of southern China, in which meat and fish are enjoyed in moderation, but vegetables play the starring role. Try your hand at blanched choy sum with sizzling oil, Hangzhou broad beans with ham, pock-marked old woman's beancurd or steamed chicken with shiitake mushrooms, or, if you've ever in need of a quick fix, Fuchsia's emergency late-night noodles. Many of the recipes require few ingredients and are startlingly easy to make. The book includes a comprehensive introduction to the key seasonings and techniques of the Chinese kitchen, as well as the 'magic ingredients' that can transform modest vegetarian ingredients into wonderful delicacies. With stunning photography and clear instructions, this is an essential volume for beginners and connoisseurs alike.