Most healthy cookbooks are written for home chefs by home chefs - or at least by those who specialize in writing for home chefs. Few are written from the perspective of professionals and even fewer are marketed towards them. The Professional Chef's Techniques of Healthy Cooking is an exception, then, as it was prepared by the Culinary Institute of America to give pros a "grounding in nutritional principles" and a base of healthier recipes to work from. That being said, home chefs and pros alike can benefit from this particular volume. The recipes cover a huge range of dishes and come off as being more elegant - and often more flavorful - than your standard low fat fare and the photos that accompany many of the dishes are sure to tempt even the most reluctant healthy eater. Fat does, of course, equal flavor in most restaurant dishes, so there is a lot of detailed discussion about enhancing the flavor of foods by choosing high quality base ingredients and working with spaces and fresh vegetables. For those who aren't just interested in cutting fat, there is plenty of information on using less sugar and salt, as well. The recipes rage from very basic sauces to complex main courses, and include Veal Stock, Pan-Seared Chicken Breast with Artichoke and Mustard Sauce, Broiled Swordfish with Tomatoes, Anchovies, and Garlic, Tropical Fruit Parfait with Honey-Vanilla Yogurt.

Just reading the title of The Professional Chef, 8th Edition tells you exactly who the book is written for and what kind of recipes you're going to find inside. The book was complied by the Culinary Institute of America, based on the techniques that they are teaching now and the ones that were the foundation of modern cooking. It is part cookbook, part reference guide, as it was designed to be a "comprehensive 'bible for all chefs.'" Serious professional chefs will probably already have a copy, but it is a must have for anyone who intends to produce restaurant-quality food at home. And we're not taking the "quality" you'll find at a casual dining chain, either.

In addition to over 600 recipes, plus a number of variations on them, the book covers food safety, cooking tools, ingredients and nutrition. You'll find information on matching and balancing flavors, as well as in-depth instructions on the more than 125 different techniques that are used to create each of the dishes. The book also includes photographs of the components of dishes, the cooking processes and the finished plates, as well as step-by-step diagrams for many of the techniques that warrant it.

Until the book Culinary Boot Camp: Five Days of Basic Training at The Culinary Institute of America came out, I had no idea that there was actually a Culinary Boot Camp program at the Culinary Institute of America. The programs (which you can get 10% off of through Amazon by buying the book!) take place at the CIA's New York campus and offer people the opportunity to experience what it's like to go to culinary school and pick up some new tips and techniques, without having to change careers. While it's not the same as a hands-on kitchen classroom experience, this book aims to guide the reader through the program.

It is written by a professional cookbook author who attended the class and detailed her experience there. She tries to filter through the mass of information and pass on only what the reader, presumably a home/amateur chef, needs to know. The book, while it does have a lot of recipes, is not as good as a reference as some of the CIA's other cookbooks, though it is a good choice for someone interested in going to or learning more about culinary school. Or someone who lives across the country from the CIA's NY campus and can't make it to the real thing.

The CIA combines helpful, step-by-step recipes with beautiful photos in The Culinary Institute of America: Breakfasts & Brunches, the perfect combination to get your brain and your taste buds eager to get to work in the morning. The volume covers the basics that you'll want to have every day, like banana bread or oatmeal, and more elaborate dishes that are worthy of company or spoiling yourself on a lazy Sunday, like cheese blintzes and wild mushroom quiche. All of the more than 175 recipes are up to the high professional standard of the CIA. It's a great, comprehensive book and, because it focuses on breakfast and brunch, it's a great way to fill out your cookbook collection.

No newspaper worth its weight in matzo doesn't have a story related to Passover. The San Francisco Chronicle dishes out some artichokes and fiery horseradish sauce. To change up the sweets filled with matzo, potato starch makes a sponge cake covered with berries.

It started with the Ferry Building Marketplace at Embarcadero, and now gourmet "food malls" are sprouting up all over the Bay Area.

The CIA at Greystone has expanded its program to include a full-fledged culinary program, just like its New York headquarters.

On the dining scene, watch the chefs at Rogue Chefs. John Bentley's gets a re-visit and an updated review, as does Cortez.

Baseball season has kicked off, and at Bay Area stadiums, the food has kicked off, too, with offerings beyond hot dogs and peanuts.

Pan-roasting the last of winter's vegetables gets praise, with a recipe for caramelized vegetables.

Thomas Keller is building a tiny empire over in the Napa Valley

The New York Times Travel section has a list of twenty slightly offbeat, more interesting things to do for Spring Break, when most people pack up a bikini and sunscreen and head off to the beach. One of their suggestions is to learn a new cuisine by enrolling in a weekend cooking course that can go anywhere from spending the weekend in a bed and breakfast to the CIA. Their recommendations (all on the East Coast) are:

• Culinary Institute of America (CIA) offers day-long cooking classes every Saturday this spring in Hyde Park, NY
• New England Culinary Institute takes you to their Inn at Essex, VT, where you spend two hours helping to prepare your own meals
• You can learn to make your own maple syrup at The Manor on Golden Pond in Holderness, NH
• Also in Vermont, Deborah Krasner's Vermont Culinary Vacations offers weekend-long group cooking courses.