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In Chef’s Secrets, more than 80 renowned chefs share the tricks, timesaving techniques, and kitchen wisdom they’ve learned through years of experience.
 
     •  Steven Raichlen on Building a Three-Zone Fire on a Charcoal Grill
     •  Charlie Palmer on Roasting a Perfect Turkey
     •  Bruce Aidells on the Secret to Flavorful Pork
     •  Gary Guitard on Tempering Chocolate
     •  Plus techniques from Sara Moulton, Marcus Samuelsson, Norman Van Aken, Roxanne Klein, James Peterson, Emily Luchetti, and dozens of other top-notch chefs!
 
Each technique is explained in the chef’s own words, along with a short, revealing interview and a detailed profile of the chef’s accomplishments. With tips stretching from the basics (how to peel ginger with a teaspoon) to the extreme (how to peel a tomato with a blow-torch), Chef’s Secrets is an essential reference for any food lover’s bookshelf!

Quirk’s Amazing Magical Wonder Deck charmed amateur and professional magicians with its gorgeous aesthetic and fiendishly clever card tricks. Now these same readers can experience a complete course in magic with Mysterio’s Encyclopedia of Magic and Conjuring—a giant compilation of more than 300 tricks and variations.

Here are illustrated step-by-step instructions for rope tricks, money magic, mind-reading effects, stage illusions, everyday magic, and plenty of all-new card tricks. Readers will learn how to bend spoons, stretch handkerchiefs, levitate glassware, make small children disappear, shuffle playing cards with aplomb, and much more—everything from simple street-magic effects to epic on-stage illusions. Mysterio’s Encyclopedia of Magic and Conjuring is a beautifully designed reference for magicians of all ages and abilities.

GABE FAJURI is an associate editor of Magic, the world’s leading trade journal for magicians. He also publishes scholarly titles on the subject of conjuring. He lives in Chicago.

Remember the bestselling Choose Your Own Adventure series that you read as a kid? This hilarious parody features the same format and similar illustrations-but the stories offer a whole new kind of adventure!

Like an interactive version of Sex and the City or Bridget Jones’s Diary, this romantic comedy follows a young woman’s quest for love in the big city, amid the dangers of torn stockings, maxed-out credit cards, obnoxious roommates, adulterous husbands, dark alleys, and worse.

On every page, YOU have control of the story: If you suggest that your date’s hands are moving too fast, turn to page 128. If you insist that he run to Rite-Aid for protection, turn to page 51. If you throw caution to the wind and unfasten his belt, turn to page 117.

Choose wisely, and you could wind up with the love of your life. Choose poorly, and you could wind up on the Internet, in a series of lurid photographs that would make your mother blush. Anything can happen-and it’s all up to you!

MIRANDA CLARKE based this book on her own dating experiences (except for all the incredibly hot guys-she made those parts up). She lives in Philadelphia.

“Choose Your Own Adventure” is a registered trademark of Chooseco LLC, Waitsfield, Vermont.

This book is in no way sponsored by or affiliated with Bantam Books, Inc. or the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books and its owner, Chooseco Inc.

Forget boring mojitos, put down that tired cosmopolitan, and stop sipping that ridiculous appletini! It’s time to embrace Old Man Drinks-the cocktails your grandfather would remember from his nights on the town, way back during the Eisenhower administration. Here you’ll find histories and recipes for Old-Fashioneds, Sidecars, Clover Clubs, Rusty Nails, Hot Toddys, Monte Carlos, and more than 60 other vintage cocktails. Accompanying the text are evocative black-and-white photographs of real old men enjoying their beverages of choice-and dispensing such timeless words of wisdom as “I’m gonna die some day, so I may as well drink” and “I’ve taken an involuntary vow of celibacy.” Pull up a stool, break out the pickled eggs, and get ready for a round of Old Man Drinks!

ROBERT SCHNAKENBERG is the author of The Encyclopedia Shatnerica (Quirk, 2008), Christopher Walken A to Z (Quirk, 2008), and other nonfi ction books. He lives in Brooklyn.

Forget Yinglish. Put aside Franglais. It’s time to brush up on Spanglish—the Latino Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of languages that’s sweeping the nation!

In Pardon My Spanglish, stand-up comic Bill Santiago chronicles the quintessentially American joys of his mother tongue: the quirky, often hilarious fusion of Latino Spanish and American English spoken everywhere from the barrio to the local mall.

Readers will learn:
• The pseudo-syntax of Spanglish (as observed by a comedian with no formal training in
linguistics whatsoever)
• The Top Ten Best Things About Spanglish (#7: Gives you a competitive edge in Spanglish Scrabble)
• Why People en Español is not simply called Gente
• Classic gaffes every Spanglish-speaking gringo should avoid (“Estoy embarasado” does not mean you’re embarrassed—it means you’re pregnant)

Full of indispensable tips and witty observations, Pardon My Spanglish is a hilarious celebration of Latino culture.

BILL SANTIAGO is a stand-up comedian who debuted nationally on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and appears regularly on The Late Show with Conan O’Brien. He lives in New York City.