Sunday Dinner: Seasonal Menus to Enjoy With Friends and Family [Hardcover]

However, I feel that the real beauty of "Sunday Dinner" lays in its presentation and design. The book's well-conceived layout organizes the menus by season, with each season's recipes providing a showcase for timely and highly-complimentary fruits and vegatables. While we might be accustomed, in this age of supermarket produce, to year-round fruits, berries, and vegetables, the menus in this book prove that nothing fits the spirit of any time of year better than in-season produce. Further, in regards to design, "Sunday Dinner" has no lavish (but somehow generic-feeling) photographs of high-gloss food, but rather takes on a simple, clean air of sophistication with its white pages, ornamented by Robbin Gourley's lovely color illustrations, plus seasonal quotes, gorgeous scripted fonts, and tastefully-done parchment-look menus at each dinner's head. Recipes are presented cleanly and clearly, with italicized ingredient listings and 1-2-3 instructions. Make no mistake, this book is a short but sweet, can't-miss collection of recipes.

Additionally, I would like to point out that I do not feel that the previous Amazon reviewer was fair to this lovely book. While this cookbook is certainly not geared toward the novice cook (for those new to cooking, I recommend something like the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook), its recipes are well-rounded and easy to follow.

Finally, it appears, as this book is now listed in Amazon's Outlet section, that the title will soon no longer be available. This is a shame, and I encourage anyone reading this review to purchase a copy, new or used, anywhere they may find it. And I do hope that the publisher (Chronicle Books) will keep this book in print. It is a job well-done for both authors and the illustrator, and provides a lovely compliment to anyone's recipe collection.