Desperate Housewife? Not after this course in perfecting the art of lazy lunches and bawdy brunches. What's much more fun than going to work? Not going to work. That's not to say you don't contribute. In fact, your mere presence is your contribution. You can't cook, of course, but you sure look cute in an apron. You can't always hold your dirty martinis (they usually get a good hold on you), but you throw a fabulous cocktail party. Throughout, you'll discover decadent tips to get you what is rightly yours to enjoy: Invest in an air freshener. If you didn't clean today, then why does it smell so damn good in here? Wear lingerie-It will be far more difficult for him to stay mad! Consider tricking a more domestically inclined friend into cooking for you; thank her by sharing martinis. Always carry a fabulous designer handbag: Borrow, rent, or steal as necessary. Jam-packed with ingenious tips and how-tos, this little book makes a great bridal shower gift! Any woman can learn how to live lavishly, pampering herself in every way-while keeping her man wrapped around her finger.

It can be a struggle to fit everything in to one day – you are just one woman after all. Like the art of idleness or the business of party-hopping, cultivating the art of Decadent Housewifery is not for the faint of heart. (Though fainting, you’ll learn, is an excellent tactic.) So to make sure you’re making the most of your high-maintenance lifestyle, spend a day in the life of a real Decadent Housewife. From lazy lunches to retail therapy, The Decadent Housewife is your guide to filling your days with fabulousness, feigning the skills necessary and micromanaging your man. From the moment you send your man off to earn his keep, the housewife’s day should be swamped with beauty, fashion, delicious food and drink, mingling and general fabulousness. From burning pancakes to mid-morning martinis, this is the ultimate guide to finding and nurturing your inner housewife.

Mind-Blowing Cookies for Every Craving Up your cookie game to out-of-this-world incredible with DisplacedHousewife founder Rebecca Firth’s amazing, all-new gourmet recipes. Whether you’re looking for a cookie that can be mixed and baked in under an hour or something a little more complex, these desserts will dazzle your taste buds like never before. Choose from over 75 indulgent recipes, including: • Everything Chocolate Chip Cookies • Red Velvet Madeleines • Stuffed Pretzel Caramel Skillet Cookie • A Sugar Cookie for Every Occasion • Lemony White Chocolate Truffles • Peanut Butter Cup Meringues • The Holy Sh*t S’more Cookie • Ooey Gooey Fudgy Brownies • Cold Brew Cookies • Gavin’s Salted Caramel Blondies With insider tips and tricks to creating the best baked goods around, you’ll be rocking the bake sale, delighting your coworkers and impressing your in-laws in no time. Cookie connoisseurs, rejoice!

The perfect 1950s Housewife: glamorous, motherly, doting, supportive, flirty yet wholesome, endlessly cheerful...To the modern woman this all seems rather terrifying (and frankly a little nauseating). There's nothing like a glamorous, high-heeled mother at the school gates to make the rest of us feel like overweight, ill-tempered, soup-stained slatterns. And yet those marvels of 1950s femininity seemed to manage to be effortlessly lovely at every turn. This book guides you through the crazy golf course of fashion, beauty, home skills, child rearing, lino-laying, husband pleasing and general marital bliss.And if, at the end of this extraordinary journey of enlightenment, you have any questions or nagging doubts, you need only consult 'The Wireless Doctor', who can help with anything from naughty children, stroppy husbands, or 'intimate' neglect. Grab yourself a cocktail and a cheese straw and bury your nose in this glorious guide that will have you apologising to your mother for the rest of your life.

Every Occasion is Better with Cake Rebecca Firth, best-selling author of The Cookie Book, is back with the cake party you’ve been looking for! Fulfill all of your cake needs for any occasion with breakfast cakes, petite cakes, Bundt cakes, snacking cakes and stunning layered cakes. There’s something for everyone, including: • Chocolate-Coconut Candy Bar Cake • Stella’s Strawberry Lemonade Cake with Strawberry Marshmallow Frosting • Raspberry Jam Coffee Cake • Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cake with Cinnamon Spice Frosting • Chocolate Horchata Meringue Cake • Glazed Tangerine Donut Cake • Chocolate Stout Cake with Champagne Buttercream • Petite Caramelized Banana Split Pavlovas • Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Cheesecake Whether you want a delicious midweek treat or something dazzling to end a meal, this collection has you covered with make-ahead tips, substitutions and cake-making magic.

Two people who have been way too strong for way too long, a whole lot of justifiably broken vows, and three hearts who are running out of time to find forgiveness… David Lamont would move mountains for Chris, his best friend and business partner. Now Chris is dying, and he only wants one thing—his estranged wife by his side until the end. David can’t imagine why he’d want that spiteful woman near him, but agrees to talk her into coming back. Joanna McQuaid reached her breaking point a long time ago. Chris is oppressive, manipulative, and downright toxic. But she can’t divorce him. Not without becoming a pariah for abandoning a pillar of the community during his final days. She’s desperately lonely and torn apart by guilt over wanting to leave a dying man. She resents David for dragging her home and defending her husband’s behavior. He thinks she’s spoiled, ungrateful, and callous. But when he learns his friend isn’t the man he knew, David sees a side of Joanna he never imagined. A side he can’t help falling for… This 68,000 word novel was previously published.

Classic Russian Cooking is a book that I highly recommend. Joyce Toomre has done a marvelous job of translating this valuable and fascinating source book. It's the Fanny Farmer and Isabella Beeton of Russia's 19th century." -Julia Child, Food Arts Joyce Toomre... has accomplished an enormous task, fully on a part with the original author's slave labor. Her extensive preface and her detailed and entertaining notes are marvelous." -Tatyana Tolstaya, New York Review of Books ... should become as much of a classic as the Russian original... dazzling and admirable expedition into Russia's kitchens and cuisine." -Slavic Review What a delightful discovery this is!... an astonishing and immensely appealing work that will serve adventurous readers and curious cooks." -Nahum Waxman, Owner, Kitchen Arts & Letters What a joy to be introduced to Russia's Joy of Cooking by way of a scholar as knowledgeable as Joyce Toomre, who tells us what it was like to be a young housewife in the days of Chekhov and Tolstoy, feasting in Butter Week before the Great Fast, making pirogs and kvass, hazel grouse souffle [acute accent over e] and 'Drunken' plums, gathering berries, pickling mushrooms. A rediscovery of pre-Bolshevik times." -Betty H. Fussell, author of I Hear America Cooking First published in 1861, this "bible" of Russian homemakers offered not only a compendium of recipes, but also instructions about such matters as setting up a kitchen, managing servants, shopping, and proper winter storage. Joyce Toomre has superbly translated and annotated over one thousand of the recipes and has written a thorough and fascinating introduction that discusses the history of Russian cuisine and summarizes Elena Molokhovets' advice on household management. A treasure trove for culinary historians, serous cooks and cookbook readers, and scholars of Russian history and culture. Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies Alexander Rabinowitc

'The Nervous Housewife' is a case-study on housewives' psyche as analyzed by Abraham Myerson, a Lithuanian neurologist, psychiatrist, clinician, pathologist, and researcher. In his own words: "What are the causes of the change? Did the housewife of a past generation go through the same stage? Ask any man you meet and he will tell you his mother is or was more enduring than his wife. "She bore three times as many children; she did all her own housework; she baked more, cooked more, sewed more; she got up at five o'clock in the morning and went to bed at ten at night; she never went out, never had a vacation, did not know the meaning of manicure, pedicure, coiffure. She was contented, never extravagant, and rarely sick.""

With tips on everything from decluttering to dry cleaning, storage solutions to spring cleaning, dinner parties to brunches, this is an indispensable guide to obtaining a beautiful, clean and comfortable home to be truly proud of.