FOR THE BOOKSHELF 10-1-1998

Meetings & Conventions: Short Cuts October 1998 Current Issue

October 1998

Short Cuts:
FOR THE BOOKSHELF

Canyon Ranch Cooking: Bringing the Spa Home by Jeanne Jones, HarperCollins Publishers, New York City, $40
The price tag is a bit steep, but Canyon Ranch Cooking is more than a collection of recipes. From cover to cover, it has the eye-appeal of a coffee table book, along with nutrition, fitness and cooking advice throughout. Created by Jeanne Jones, the syndicated food columnist who helped develop the original menus for the Canyon Ranch resort spa in Tucson, Ariz., this is a cookbook for busy yet health-conscious people who like to cook - as long as it doesn't take too long. While the book looks fancy, the recipes themselves are surprisingly easy. We whipped up three in the M&C test kitchens (okay, our homes): Gazpacho and Asian pasta were both simple and satisfying; the tamale pie tasted good but looked disturbingly like watery dog food. In some cases, we wanted more detailed instructions (e.g.: To drain or not to drain the canned tomatoes or the green chiles? When the recipe calls for both fresh ginger and fresh ginger root, what's the difference?). Yet, the pictures are so tantalizing, our testers are motivated to try a few more.