I made a very enjoyable visit to Fire Island a couple of years ago, and while I can't be sure whether any of the folks I met there were among the contributors to this cookbook, I like to imagine that they were.

For the most part, the recipes here seem to be good ones, often fairly standard ones too as far as I can tell, with clear, simple instructions. I admit I'd expected a little more color in a recipe collection from Fire Island, but that might have made the book rather less usable than it is! And there are a few more, um, themed items, from a half-dozen or so recipes named after Cherry Grove, the Pines, or Fire Island itself - and a couple of recipes whose text is definitely arch, if not positively racy. "Grilled Eggplant Very Gay-Positive Puree", for example, includes the suggestion of "Charo's Greatest Hits" as music to cook by. And perhaps the spiciest recipe instructions are for the extremely simple "Chicken Roulade", including this bit:

...remove packages from water and unwrap chicken. Careful, they'll be very hot, but once unwrapped, will give you the delightful sensation of holding in your hand the thickest, hottest, and most steaming piece of meat you've had your hands on in quite some time (yes, phallic and delicious!)

I've made note of a few other recipes that I plan to try, including the simple-but-elegant-sounding "Blueberries in Cassis", an artichoke-heart/parmesan dip, and what sounds like a rather fiery jalapeno-laden black-bean salad; will add comments after I've tried them.

Oh, yes. As you may have gathered from the cover illustration, the recipes weren't the only reason I got this book {grin}. Each of the twelve sections of recipes have a full-page black-and-white nude photograph (done by Salvatore Baiano) illustrating the tab page, and they're very nice photos indeed. [I'll give you one guess as to the subject of the illustration on the "Buns/Breads/Pastries" tab!]

Update: the blueberries in cassis were pretty tasty - and it's a quick, simple way to dress up fresh fruit. And the black-bean salad with all the jalapenos was lovely and hot. Like the guy on the cover!

Controlled release: I'm adding this book to KateKintail's LGBT book box. Enjoy!

Oh ~ lovely hot cooking. Can't wait to try out some recipes.

Came to me in my LGBT bookbox. I'm not a cook but I'm certainly enjoying the well-thought-out photos *G* Maybe I shall try out one or two regardless. I might be able to handle brunch or maybe a dessert or two *EG*