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Written by Jonny Mardling
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Thursday, 04 March 2010 |
 Cooking Dirty
Author: Jason Sheehan
Format: Hardback
Published: 01/03/2010
ISBN-13: 9781848871885
From his first job scraping trays at a pizzeria at the age of fifteen, Jason Sheehan has worked at all kinds of restaurants across America, from Buffalo to Tampa to Albuquerque: at a French colonial and an all-night diner, at a crab shack just off the interstate and a fusion restaurant in a former hair salon. In "Cooking Dirty" he tells the story of one man's addiction to the urgency, stress, and adrenalin of minimum-wage kitchen work. His universe becomes 'a small, steel box filled with knives and meat and fire', where the kitchen is a fraternity with its own rites and initiations: cigarettes in the walk-in freezer, sex in the basement, drugs everywhere. Restaurant cooking sets a series of seemingly endless personal challenges, from the first perfectly done mussel to the satisfaction of surgically sliced foie gras. The kitchen itself is a place in which life's mysteries are thawed, sliced, broiled, barbecued, and fried - a place where people from the margins find their community and their calling. Cooking Dirty is a passionate, funny, electrifying memoir of addiction: an addiction to kitchen work. It reveals the hell and glory of restaurant life, as told by a survivor.
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571
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
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Written by Jonny Mardling
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Thursday, 04 March 2010 |
 Chivalry: The Origins And History Of The Orders Of Knighthood
Author: Kevin L. Gest
Format: Hardback
Published: 18/03/2010
ISBN-13: 9780711034501
To most people these days, the mention of a Knight will conjure up images of a time in Ancient History when men spent their time carrying out daring exploits and rescuing damsels in distress - the age of chivalry. The reality of course is vastly different, and this book sets out the key facts relating to the various Orders of Chivalry in existence in Britain and sets them in their historical context. It introduces the beginnings of the orders of knighthood in the early years of warriors on horses and the origins of chivalry, then investigates in turn the main Western orders of knighthood which have a connection in this country - the Knights of St John (also known as the Hospitalers or Knights of Malta), the Knights Templar (the Poor Soldiers of Christ), the Golden Fleece, the Roman Eagle, the Most Noble Order of the Garter - as well as summarising the other significant orders of chivalry. The author explores the history of each order from its foundation to its present day incarnation. He also looks at the cultural legacy of each order, and the buildings and artifacts that remain today, as well as its connections with Masonry and its place in present day life.
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570
(2 votes, average 4.50 out of 5)
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Written by Jonny Mardling
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Thursday, 04 March 2010 |
 Bad Laws: An Explosive Analysis Of Britain's Petty Rules, Health And Safety Lunacies, Madcap Laws And Nit-Picking Regulations.
Author: Philip Johnston
Format: Paperback
Published: 25/03/2010
ISBN-13: 9781849010108
Over the past thirteen years, New Labour has made us wade through a quagmire of petty rules, health and safety lunacies, madcap laws and nitpicking regulations. We have been snooped on, hectored and hounded by state nannies from cradle to grave, all because government and its agencies have nothing better to do than to interfere in our lives. It would not be so bad if the Government ran the country well, but we have to put up with high taxes, street crime, late and dirty trains, the unjustified and disproportionate use of fines and charges, bloody-minded parking restrictions, excessive public sector waste, preposterous European directives, useless and unaccountable council officials and multi-culturalist busybodies. In this explosive and groundbreaking new book, Philip Johnston makes a stand and exposes the 'Bad Laws', those irritating laws, regulations and Whitehall idiocies that make life in Britain the day-to-day nightmare that it is today.
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Written by Jonny Mardling
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Thursday, 04 March 2010 |
 Warriors
Author: Jack Ludlow
Format: Paperback
Published: 1/03/2010
ISBN-13: 9780749007041
Will the might of the byzantine empire crush the ambitions of the warrior brothers? It's 11th century Italy. The Byzantines rule the South, but do so in the face of constant revolt from their unwilling subjects - a strife that extends from the great trading ports to the rich agricultural lands of Apulia. The Lombards, heirs to a northern tribe, are no exception and their leader, Arduin of Fassano, brings into the conflict the fearsome mercenary brothers, the de Hautevilles, to help him in his quest - to destroy the power of Constantinople.
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