When 25-year-old Laura Smart moves from Cleveland to Manhattan to take a job at a magazine, she hopes the world will become her oyster. Instead, she has to deal with the demands of her self-absorbed boss and the shallow world of women's magazines.

Featured in People's "6 Cocktails for Day Drinking - That Won't Make You Sleepy Later," Handcrafted Cocktails helps you create the perfect cocktail, any time! Enjoy classic cocktails in true pre-Prohibition style--throughout the day! Inside you'll find more than 100 recipes for the perfect brunch cocktails, refreshing afternoon cocktails and invigorating happy hour drinks, plus dinner cocktails perfect for pairing with meals, and relaxing nightcaps. Each cocktail recipe is carefully crafted to create the perfect balance of the sweet, the sour, the bitter and the spirit, producing a delicious drink every time. The secret is using fresh, house-made mixers. You'll find complete instructions for making your own simple syrups, bitters, liqueurs and cordials using unique ingredients such as cardamom, cilantro, rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, five-spice and more. Plus you'll learn the fascinating histories of classic pre-Prohibition cocktails such as the very vintage Sherry Cobbler and the silky smooth Ramos Gin Fizz and try some new Prohibition-inspired cocktails such as the Kitty Burke and Bees in Kilts. Give these great cocktails a taste--you're sure to discover your new favorite drink.

All the kitchen secrets, techniques, recipes, and inspiration you need to craft transcendent cocktails, from essential, canonical classics to imaginative all-new creations from America's Test Kitchen. Cocktail making is part art and part science--just like cooking. The first-ever cocktail book from America's Test Kitchen brings our objective, kitchen-tested and -perfected approach to the craft of making cocktails. You always want your cocktail to be something special--whether you're in the mood for a simple Negroni, a properly muddled Caipirinha, or a big batch of Margaritas or Bloody Marys with friends. After rigorous recipe testing, we're able to reveal not only the ideal ingredient proportions and best mixing technique for each drink, but also how to make homemade tonic for your Gin and Tonic, and homemade sweet vermouth and cocktail cherries for your Manhattan. And you can't simply quadruple any Margarita recipe and have it turn out right for your group of guests--to serve a crowd, the proportions must change. You can always elevate that big-batch Margarita, though, with our Citrus Rim Salt or Sriracha Rim Salt. How to Cocktail offers 150 recipes that range from classic cocktails to new America's Test Kitchen originals. Our two DIY chapters offer streamlined recipes for making superior versions of cocktail cherries, cocktail onions, flavored syrups, rim salts and sugars, bitters, vermouths, liqueurs, and more. And the final chapter includes a dozen of our test cooks' favorite cocktail-hour snacks. All along the way, we solve practical challenges for the home cook, including how to make an array of cocktails without having to buy lots of expensive bottles, how to use a Boston shaker, what kinds of ice are best and how to make them, and much more.

"Randel is endlessly fascinating, and Holloway’s biography tells his life with great skill." —Steve Weinberg, USA Today John Randel Jr. (1787–1865) was an eccentric and flamboyant surveyor. Renowned for his inventiveness as well as for his bombast and irascibility, Randel was central to Manhattan’s development but died in financial ruin. Telling Randel’s engrossing and dramatic life story for the first time, this eye-opening biography introduces an unheralded pioneer of American engineering and mapmaking. Charged with “gridding” what was then an undeveloped, hilly island, Randel recorded the contours of Manhattan down to the rocks on its shores. He was obsessed with accuracy and steeped in the values of the Enlightenment, in which math and science promised dominion over nature. The result was a series of maps, astonishing in their detail and precision, which undergird our knowledge about the island today. During his varied career Randel created surveying devices, designed an early elevated subway, and proposed a controversial alternative route for the Erie Canal—winning him admirers and enemies. The Measure of Manhattan is more than just the life of an unrecognized engineer. It is about the ways in which surveying and cartography changed the ground beneath our feet. Bringing Randel’s story into the present, Holloway travels with contemporary surveyors and scientists trying to envision Manhattan as a wild island once again. Illustrated with dozens of historical images and antique maps, The Measure of Manhattan is an absorbing story of a fascinating man that captures the era when Manhattan—indeed, the entire country—still seemed new, the moment before canals and railroads helped draw a grid across the American landscape.

Regarding Cocktails is the only book from the late Sasha Petraske, the legendary bartender who changed cocktail culture with his speakeasy-style bar Milk & Honey. Forewords by Dale DeGroff and Robert Simonson. Here are 85 cocktail recipes from his repertoire—the beloved classics and modern variations—with stories from the bartenders he personally trained. Ingredients, measurements, and preparations are beautifully illustrated so that readers can make professional cocktails at home. Sasha's advice for keeping the home bar, as well as his musings, are collected here to inspire a new generation of bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts.

From Tokyo to New York, a cocktail renaissance is happening as "bar chefs" create delicious elixirs worthy of their kitchen counterparts. An epicenter of this barroom artistry can be found at the Absinthe Brasserie & Bar in San Francisco (a city that spends more money per capita on alcohol than any other in the country). Bartenders Jeff Hollinger and Bob Schwartz share their artisan approach for stunning creations that unveil a new spectrum of flavors. Fresh herbs and even aromatic lavender are deftly used to augment classic and new cocktail recipes. Syrups and mixes are carefully crafted from scratch, ensuring small-batch perfection and a harmony of flavors. Acclaimed photographer Frankie Frankeny captures their virtuoso mixing performances with a refreshing take on the cocktail, creating a showpiece for any living room.