Solo Suppers: Simple Delicious Meals to Cook for Yourself

Beautifully laid out, easy to follow, simple recipes with fresh ingredients that make even the worst cook (that's me) feel like a star. This book has helped me re-connect with my inner "chef wannabe" and has given me confidence to keep going.

After reading some of the other customer reviews for this book, I had to step up to the plate and defend a really great cook book. This book is for the solo diner not the solo eater. If you don't enjoy cooking, if you don't enjoy using fresh and/or exotic ingredients, then this book is not for you. I find the recipes adapt well if I want to increase the serving portion to share with someone else or if I just won't have time to cook for a few days. I love this book. Many of these recipes are quickly becoming part of my core favorites.

I feel like Joyce Goldstein wrote this book just for me, and many other singles will, too. Finally! A tasteful, savvy, cookbook on cooking for one. "Solo" isn't patronizing or insulting (unlike the names of so many singles-targeted books), so the title attracted me straightaway. The recipes are tempting, they're laid out nicely, and the photos are beautiful and mouthwatering. The dishes are indeed just right for one, and the recipes are timed well. Most recipes in this world are written for 4 to 6, meaning that if you live alone, you're eating the leftovers for a week straight. At which time it's officially *over* between you and that dish--you'll never ever want to have it again. (Consigning extra portions to the freezer doesn't always help, in my opinion.) On the other hand, this book speaks straight to a food-loving, solo person's situation and needs, with an overall message that's extremely important: you, yes you, are worth cooking well for, even if you eat by yourself six nights a week. The book is filled with exuberant flavors--just the kind that can hoist you out of a funk when you've had a bad day and have no one at home to talk about it with. Joyce's variations and serving suggestions are right-on, as is most of the advice about shopping, keeping a reasonable, well-stocked pantry, and making just enough of certain dishes to use the leftovers in a completely different way the next night.This is the most sophisticated, useful book of its kind that I've ever run across. I love that it's for food-smart, single cooks who want to eat well, use great ingredients, and cook beautifully, rather than young hipsters who don't know better yet (and that's with all due respect to young hipsters). At the same time, the book seems right for devoted beginner cooks who want to cook better, as well as advanced-beginners and higher.

This is a lovely & well-presented book with recipes that are upscale and tasty-sounding. I have to figure out where to buy the ingredients for several, though. The well-traveled author apparently loves to shop in gourmet import stores. I shop at the local supermarket so I'm sure I'm disadvantaged from her point of view. I enjoyed her introduction where someone finally put to print the fact that just because you live alone, it doesn't mean that you're not interested in cooking or eating well. Living alone doesn't mean that you don't DESERVE to eat well. There is a large population of people (27% percent of Americans as stated in the book) who live alone - it's time that cookbooks and other types of books addressed this fact (gosh I'm tired of cookbooks full of recipes for huge family portions). This is a lovely cookbook that finally addresses singles. My only problem is that it addresses the wealthy, upscale single. The author comes off sounding snobbish at times. But I'll go ahead and take that over another family cookbook or college dorm singles cookbook anytime.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the stack of Solo Suppers at my localBarnes & Noble. This reaction was provoked by the mere name of the book's author: Joyce Esersky Goldstein. I am a long time admirer (okay - fan) of the works of Ms. Goldstein. My own grease stained, butter spotted copies are atestament to the fact these are truly books to cook by - not just cook books.As a frequent solo cook, her latest publication radiates with the culinary possibilities of eating alone. Leftovers are the lifeline of a solo diner and this book unabashedly endorses the practicalities of using leftovers in a creative and delicious manner. Solo Suppers is worth the price for Ms. Goldstein's recipe for Parmesan Pudding. This is get down, good eatin'. Although not all the selections are this inventive, each has a "spin" which makes you look atold standards with a new palate. All of her accompanying sauces are Must Make. I've had the book only a few days, but I'm working my way (yeah!) through them and they are knockouts.Finally, a deep thank you to Joyce Goldstein for her intelligent and delicious support of the last social group to come out of the closet: The Solo Cook.She has validated our sect in the highest and most honored way imaginable:Great Recipes.