The Spice Merchant S Daughter

It was the aroma. The exotic scent of spices: rich, alluring, and almost magical. A scent that would sometimes overpower the freshness in the air and sometimes subtly mingle with it to create a tantalizing bouquet. A scent that would always bring me back to my childhood. Growing up enveloped in the aromas of her mother’s spice stall in Kuala Lumpur, Christina Arokiasamy developed an artist’s sense of how to combine and use spices in traditional and innovative ways. In The Spice Merchant’s Daughter, she shares her family’s spice secrets, expertly guiding and enticing home cooks to enliven their repertoires. Christina weaves evocative stories of cooking at her mother’s side with real-world practical advice gleaned not only from working in professional kitchens but also from tackling the nightly task of getting a home-cooked dinner on the table for her family of four using American ingredients. She shows how easy it is to build layers of complex flavor to create 100 tempting Southeast Asian–inspired recipes, including Lemon Pepper Wings, Spicy Beef Salad, Steamed Snapper with Tamarind-Ginger Sauce, Cardamom Butter Rice with Sultanas, and Coconut Flan Infused with Star Anise. She unlocks the transformative power of homemade spice rubs, curry pastes, and sauces, as well as chutneys and pickles, enabling home cooks to bring new depth and dimension to their favorite dishes. With lush photography and a chapter identifying and defining key pantry ingredients and aromatics, The Spice Merchant’s Daughter both inspires and empowers, awakening the senses and unlocking the alluring world of spices.

In 1685, Jean-Claude, son of a French spice merchant, escapes from the violence against Protestant Huguenots and sails to Prussia. He marries and raises a daughter, Katy. At thirteen, Katy is sent away to be the companion spoiled, aristocratic Charlotte, to tutor her in French, which she must learn before an arranged marriage to French nobility. Charlotte's lecherous brother frightens Katy and King Louis XIV sends the entire family back to Prussia in disgrace. Katy then resumes her relationship with Gilles, the blacksmith's nephew.

In 1685, sixteen-year-old Jean-Claude Dubois and his younger brothers escape from the violent terror against the Huguenots in France, sailing to his uncle, a spice trader in Prussia. On the voyage, Jean-Claude falls in love with Marie and they eventually marry and have a daughter, Katy. At thirteen, fluent in French, Katy is sent away to be the companion of spoiled, aristocratic Charlotte, daughter of the margrave of Königsberg to teach her French for her marriage into French nobility. A frightened Katy must accompany her to France, where she meets the blacksmith’s apprentice, Gilles. Their love appears doomed, when the family takes her to Versailles for the wedding. There, Katy meets her father’s enemy, King Louis IV, who charms her. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s dangerous brother, Franz pursues Katy to become his mistress. Although terrified of him, Katy is powerless. Drunk, Franz disgraces the family and the king banishes them from Versailles. Humiliated they return to the Chateau where Katy pledges her betrothal to Gilles. Franz, enraged at Katy’s stubborn refusal, frames Gilles for an attack on the margrave, sending the young couple fleeing for their lives across the French countryside.

1666. Newly married to a wealthy spice merchant, Kate Finche believes all her dreams of a happy family life are just around the corner until the Great Fire rages through London. She watches in horror as their livelihood goes up in flames, filling the air with the heady scents of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. As the city is devastated, Kate's husband Robert is forced to seek employment to ensure their survival, but when he is found drowned, Kate refuses to believe that he has taken his own life. Widowed and penniless, she seeks refuge in The House of Perfume, the home of blind perfumer Gabriel Harte, who awakens Kate's senses to a whole new world. But as she flees from this forbidden love, her husband's murderer comes looking for her . . . The Spice Merchant's Wife is a stunning novel, bursting with the colour and flavour of Restoration London - perfect for readers of Phillipa Gregory, Joanne Harris and Patrick Suskind's Perfume.

Elara, the daughter of a spice trader, stumbles upon a deadly conspiracy that ensnares her father and threatens the stability of the empire. Thrust into a world of palace intrigue and hidden dangers, she must fight to expose the truth, even if it means risking her life. Aided by a mysterious informant named Rashid, Elara navigates treacherous landscapes, from the scorching Whispering Dunes to the opulent halls of the Emperor's court. Poisoned and pursued by ruthless assassins, she races against time to gather evidence and expose the Grand Chancellor's plot to manipulate trade routes and destabilize the empire for his own gain. Can Elara, a young woman caught in a web of deceit, outwit a powerful and cunning enemy? Will the Emperor see through the Grand Chancellor's lies before it's too late? This heart-pounding fantasy adventure unfolds with themes of betrayal, loyalty, and the desperate fight for truth in the face of overwhelming odds.

The Mystery of Herbs and Spices offers 53 tell-all biographies of celebrated spices and herbs. Tales of war, sex, greed, hedonism, cunning, exploration and adventure reveal how mankind turned the mere need for nourishment into the exaltation of culinary arts. Is it a spice or herb? Where does it come from and what causes its taste? What legends or scandals embellish it? To what curious uses has it been put? How can you use it today? Neither a cookbook nor dry scholarship, the book employs anecdotes and humor to demystify the use and character of every spice or herb. Sample chapters from The Mystery of Herbs and Spices follow. INTRODUCTION “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred.” — Proverbs 15:17 Herbs and spices. They impart glory to food, and variety to life. They are what separate the mere cook from the gourmet. But they can be confusing. What is the difference between a herb and a spice? What foods do they go with? And don’t you feel silly, not knowing if you are supposed to say “herb” or “erb”? You might think a gourmet, who understands such things, is a sort of wizard — that’s what people thought in the Middle Ages, when users of herbal medicines were accused of witchcraft and burnt! But to people who grow up in India or Thailand, exotic spices are common. They use a wealth of seasonings as casually as we scatter ketchup and pepper. Cooking with cardamom or cumin might seem a mystery of subtle kitchens, but did you know that ordinary pepper was once precious and rare? If you lived in Europe seven hundred years ago, you could pay your rent or taxes in peppercorns, counting them out like coins. You could have bought a horse for a pound of saffron; a pound of ginger would get you a cow; and a pound of nutmeg was worth seven fat oxen. If you were an exceptionally lucky bride, your father might give you peppercorns as a dowry. Now consider how casually we dash a bit of pepper over a fried egg today! Like anything else, herbs and spices are easy to use when you are familiar with them. But, like nothing else, the story of spices is laced with adventure. Ferdinand Magellan launched the first voyage around our planet. By the time he reached the Pacific Ocean, he had been out of touch with civilization for a year. Sailing from the west coast of South America, he headed out onto a briny desert of burning glass. He had no maps. He had no radio. He had ridiculously small and leaky ships. He was going where no one had ever gone before. The hissing swells of the Pacific would take him four frightening months to cross, without laying eyes once on land. There would be nothing like this adventure for another five hundred years — not until our exploration of space. Magellan died out there in the unknown. Only eighteen of his 237 sailors straggled back to Spain. What did they have to show for it? Silver? Gold? Scientific discoveries? No...nutmegs and cloves! Twenty-six tons of them — enough to pay for the entire cost of the voyage and make a profit of 500 gold ducats for every shareholder. No one doubted for one second that the whole adventure had been worth it! Spices. They enhance our food. That’s all. But, since the human race began to dream, the story of spices has enchanted our fantasy as well. Where do they come from? Why are they so enticing? In what new ways can we use them? This is a book of discovery. Unfurl your sails, like Magellan, and follow the fragrance of spices and herbs to their source, gather their lore, and let them not only season your cooking, but enrich your enjoyment of life. PETER PIPER If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick? It might seem funny now, but it wasn’t funny at the time. Pierre Poivre of Lyons, France, otherwise known as Peter Pepper or Peter Piper, was a real person. Born in 1719, he started his career as a Christian missionary, and founded a bank in Vietnam. In 1766

“Kill red-hair girl! Scaled creatures of legend circle above the flaming castle, shrieking their hunger for Rhiannon, the red-haired daughter of prophecy. Dark beings tried to kill her at birth, the moment the prophecy was uttered, and now nearly sixteen years later they try again. The winged horrors are massing once more. Their evil masters, the Great Ones, are poised to strike the land and seize the throne. Only this one young woman stands in their way. And so the dragon packs go hunting. In this land, strength of arm and skill with sword are required for survival. But no human blade can penetrate demon skin. Only those who can do battle on the spirit plane can render these creatures vulnerable to sword and arrow. Rhiannon is daughter of lords. Daughter of the sword. Daughter of prophecy.

A dark fantasy adventure set in a world of chaos. Finch Crushluck is going to be rich. Disguised as a Death Priest, he seeks a priceless amulet containing the blood of a dead god. Scams are never easy. And this one may take his life because the Doom Who Waits breathes still, imprisoned in the heart of a nightmare landscape of destruction and madness. Finch is not alone in his quest. Seduced by the whispers of the Doom Who Waits, a holy man betrays his vows to obtain the amulet, a merchant captain delivers a gilded dirigible as ransom for her kidnapped daughter, and a giant risks the fate of the world to avenge the murder of his family. Charlatan. Apostate. Fury. Brute. They can save the world. Or hasten its doom.