Rejected by Hollywood as too fat, actress Mary Jane Moran endures a series of operations to reemerge as thin, gorgeous Jahne Moore, and embarks on her new career in Tinseltown.

Publisher Description

From the New York Times–bestselling author of The First Wives Club: This novel about an aging actress’s revenge on Hollywood is a “hoot” (Entertainment Weekly). Mary Jane Moran was an ambitious New York stage actress who lost the role of a lifetime and the one man she loved—all because Hollywood thought she was too plain and too old to star in the movies. But M. J. knew what she had inside—she just needed a little help bringing it out. Two years, forty pounds, sixty-seven thousand dollars, and a full round of nips, tucks, lipos, and implants later, the Broadway gypsy moth emerged a gorgeous butterfly with a new name and a new body. The woman now called Jahne Moore was svelte, sexy, and ripe for the big time. Jahne and her two sisters-in-arms—one ruthless LA native and one sweet Texas belle—are making their move on the West Coast. Television’s top creator wants them in the season’s white-hot new series. But as the starlets climb furiously to the top, they struggle to hide the secrets of their pasts. And Jahne Moore must give her most convincing performance ever when the same man who once broke her heart begs her to play a starring role—both in his show and in his life . . . “[A] juicy novel about Hollywood celebrities and secrets.” —Publishers Weekly “Compulsively readable.” —Daily News (New York) “Delicious and satisfying.” —Detroit Free Press

While fads such as hula hoops or streaking are usually dismissed as silly enthusiasms, trends in institutions such as education, business, medicine, science, and criminal justice are often taken seriously, even though their popularity and usefulness is sometimes short-lived. Institutional fads such as open classrooms, quality circles, and multiple personality disorder are constantly making the rounds, promising astonishing new developments—novel ways of teaching reading or arithmetic, better methods of managing businesses, or improved treatments for disease. Some of these trends prove to be lasting innovations, but others—after absorbing extraordinary amounts of time and money—are abandoned and forgotten, soon to be replaced by other new schemes. In this pithy, intriguing, and often humorous book, Joel Best—author of the acclaimed Damned Lies and Statistics—explores the range of institutional fads, analyzes the features of our culture that foster them, and identifies the major stages of the fad cycle—emerging, surging, and purging. Deconstructing the ways that this system plays into our notions of reinvention, progress, and perfectibility, Flavors of the Month examines the causes and consequences of fads and suggests ways of fad-proofing our institutions.

Charlie Stetko had a life to envy. A penthouse in Manhattan, a beautiful girlfriend, and a high-octane marketing career. Or so she thought. When her girlfriend sends her packing, Charlie ends up unemployed. Without a place to live or money of her own, she’s forced to do the one thing she vowed she never would: go back to Shaker Falls, Vermont. Back to her parents and back to the small town life—and the people—she left behind. Back to a part-time job in the new bakery in town. Emma Grier thought Charlie was the love of her life until that uppity Manhattan entrepreneur swept Charlie off her feet. Charlie left everything in Shaker Falls behind, including Emma’s shattered heart. But Emma picked herself back up and now owns a popular restaurant in town. As for her love life? She doesn’t need one. Something else she doesn’t need? Charlie waltzing into her restaurant to sell her the bakery’s pie.

Throughout time, people have chosen to adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet for a variety of reasons, from ethics to economy to personal and planetary well-being. Experts now suggest a new reason for doing so: maximizing flavor -- which is too often masked by meat-based stocks or butter and cream. The Vegetarian Flavor Bible is an essential guide to culinary creativity, based on insights from dozens of leading American chefs, representing such acclaimed restaurants as Crossroads and M.A.K.E. in Los Angeles; Candle 79, Dirt Candy, and Kajitsu in New York City, Green Zebra in Chicago, Greens and Millennium in San Francisco, Natural Selection and Portobello in Portland, Plum Bistro in Seattle, and Vedge in Philadelphia. Emphasizing plant-based whole foods including vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, the book provides an A-to-Z listing of hundreds of ingredients, from avßav? to zucchini blossoms, cross-referenced with the herbs, spices, and other seasonings that best enhance their flavor, resulting in thousands of recommended pairings. The Vegetarian Flavor Bible is the ideal reference for the way millions of people cook and eat today -- vegetarians, vegans, and omnivores alike. This groundbreaking book will empower both home cooks and professional chefs to create more compassionate, healthful, and flavorful cuisine.

This unique culinary history of America offers a fascinating look at our past and uses long-forgotten recipes to explain how eight flavors changed how we eat. The United States boasts a culturally and ethnically diverse population which makes for a continually changing culinary landscape. But a young historical gastronomist named Sarah Lohman discovered that American food is united by eight flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. In Eight Flavors, Lohman sets out to explore how these influential ingredients made their way to the American table. She begins in the archives, searching through economic, scientific, political, religious, and culinary records. She pores over cookbooks and manuscripts, dating back to the eighteenth century, through modern standards like How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Lohman discovers when each of these eight flavors first appear in American kitchens—then she asks why. Eight Flavors introduces the explorers, merchants, botanists, farmers, writers, and chefs whose choices came to define the American palate. Lohman takes you on a journey through the past to tell us something about our present, and our future. We meet John Crowninshield a New England merchant who traveled to Sumatra in the 1790s in search of black pepper. And Edmond Albius, a twelve-year-old slave who lived on an island off the coast of Madagascar, who discovered the technique still used to pollinate vanilla orchids today. Weaving together original research, historical recipes, gorgeous illustrations and Lohman’s own adventures both in the kitchen and in the field, Eight Flavors is a delicious treat—ready to be devoured.

Widely hailed as one of the most influential cookbooks of all time, this is the timeless classic guide to culinary creativity and flavor exploration, based on the wisdom of the world's most innovative chefs Eight years in the making, The Flavor Bible is a landmark book that has inspired the greatest creations of innovative cooks and chefs by serving as an indispensable guide to creativity and flavor affinities in today's kitchen. Cuisine is undergoing a startling historic transformation: With the advent of the global availability of ingredients, dishes are no longer based on geography but on flavor. This radical shift calls for a new approach to cooking -- as well as a new genre of "cookbook" that serves not to document classic dishes via recipes, but to inspire the creation of new ones based on imaginative and harmonious flavor combinations. The Flavor Bible is your guide to hundreds of ingredients along with the herbs, spices, and other seasonings that will allow you to coax the greatest possible flavor and pleasure from them. This astonishing reference distills the combined experience of dozens of America's most innovative culinarians, representing such celebrated and transformative restaurants as A Voce, Blue Hill, Café Atlántico, Chanterelle, Citronelle, Gramercy Tavern, the Herbfarm, Jardinière, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, the Modern, and the Trellis. You'll learn to: explore the roles played by the four basic tastes -- salty, sour, bitter, and sweet -- and how to bring them into harmony; work more intuitively and effectively with ingredients by discovering which flavors have the strongest affinities for one another; brighten flavors through the use of acids -- from vinegars to citrus juices to herbs and spices such as Makrut lime and sumac; deepen or intensify flavors through layering specific ingredients and techniques; and balance the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of cooking and serving an extraordinary meal. Seasoned with tips, anecdotes, and signature dishes from the country's most respected chefs and pastry chefs, The Flavor Bible is an essential book for every kitchen library. For more inspiration in the kitchen, look for The Vegetarian Flavor Bible andKitchen Creativity.

One of Smithsonian Magazine's Ten Best Food Books of the Year A revolutionary new guide to pairing ingredients, based on a famous chef's groundbreaking research into the chemical basis of flavor As an instructor at one of the world's top culinary schools, James Briscione thought he knew how to mix and match ingredients. Then he met IBM Watson. Working with the supercomputer to turn big data into delicious recipes, Briscione realized that he (like most chefs) knew next to nothing about why different foods taste good together. That epiphany launched him on a quest to understand the molecular basis of flavor--and it led, in time, to The Flavor Matrix. A groundbreaking ingredient-pairing guide, The Flavor Matrix shows how science can unlock unheard-of possibilities for combining foods into astonishingly inventive dishes. Briscione distills chemical analyses of different ingredients into easy-to-use infographics, and presents mind-blowing recipes that he's created with them. The result of intensive research and incredible creativity in the kitchen, The Flavor Matrix is a must-have for home cooks and professional chefs alike: the only flavor-pairing manual anyone will ever need.

Simple, dynamic, flavor-packed recipes from the authors of The Flavor Matrix--informed by the science of flavor pairing but accessible enough for every cook Fans were ravenous for more recipes from James Briscione and Brooke Parkhurst, authors of The Flavor Matrix, so the authors are serving up 100 new recipes in Flavor for All, drawing on the principles and flavor-focused approach that informed their previous book. This is, at heart, a practical home-cooking book with delicious and accessible recipes, but with unique and unexpected twists based on scientifically approved flavor pairings. Recipes include Seared Steaks with Almond-Cherry Pesto; Caesar Artichoke Dip; Brown Butter, Maple, and Pear Pork Roast; Spicy Kiwi and Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwiches; "Umami in a Bottle" salad dressing; and Chocolate and Red Wine Bread Pudding. The authors explain why certain flavors taste so good together and provide plenty of practical tips on how to coax the maximum amount of flavor from your ingredients. This new cookbook will appeal to both chemistry aficionados and casual cooks alike, with simple, easy recipes for everyday life.