Hi all This is my first post on this board. On Christine Manfield, she's also released three other cookbooks...."Paramount Cooking", "Spice", and "Stir". I haven't got "Paramount Cooking", but I can say that it's the companion piece to "Paramount Desserts". I do have "Stir" and "Spice". "Stir" is split up into several sections where she has a recipe for a basic paste (eg., coridaner peanut pesto, garam masala, laksa paste, chili jam etc.) and a series of recipes that use those basic pastes. Her recipes do take some time, but are worthwhile for that special dinner party. "Spice" is one of those dual coffee table and cooking books. In the book, she discusses spices and spice mixes before several sections of recipes (divided into salads, soups, seafood, poultry, meat, vegetables, noodles/rice, pastry, bread, and dessert. Near the end of the book, she has an essay discussing spices and wine. As yet, I haven't cooked from this book. All in all, if you have "Stir" and "Spice", you probably won't need "Paramount Cooking" as many of the recipes overlap. Also, "Paramount Desserts" has recently been re-released in paperback. Everyone else has already mentioned the really good Australian cookbooks. Bill Granger, Kylie Kwong, and Stephanie Alexander all have great books on the bookshop shelves. I've also found Campion and Curtis's "Campion And Curtis In the Kitchen" to be good, and Anthony Telford's "The Kitchen Hand - A Miscellany of Kitchen Wisdom" is fantastic for the times when you want to quickly check on a cooking technique or finding alternate names for foodstuffs. Also, Greg and Lucy Malouf's "Moorish" is quite good and friends have raved about their other book, "Arabesque". I've also had good recommendations from friends for Ian Hempills (spelling?) books on spices. A couple of last things, the Ezards cookbook has been re-released in paperback and Shannon Bennett (of Vue De Monde) will be releasing a cookbook later this year. Cheers