Customer Reviews

Tax Bites & Tasty Morsels: Who's Been Eating My Pie?

5 star:		(3)
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Our United States Tax Code began in 1913 with 400 pages. As of 2006, it now has over 67,000 pages and growing. If you want to open a sexually explicit business in Utah, you'll pay a 10% tax on gross receipts. The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a "fart" tax on livestock. Kidding aside, the EPA is proposing $175 per head on dairy cattle, $80 per head on beef cattle and $20 per head on pigs because livestock produce methane gas. Believe it or not, this tax information can be found in a new cookbook, "Tax Bites & Tasty Morsels", by Susie Iventosch.

Susie Iventosch (food columnist for two northern California newspapers--the Auburn Journal and the Lamorinda Weekly) is passionate about cooking and passionate about tax reform and has combined her passions into this unique and novel cookbook. With each recipe (over 150) is a "tax bite" (a tax we pay) complete with its explanation and links to research. Some of the "bites" might seem "tongue in cheek", but are actual taxes and definitely an eye opener. In TB & TM you'll get fed a good-sized portion of just how over-taxed we are.

The recipes (some with pictures) are divided into appetizers, soups, salads, pasta, entrees (I've got to try the Mustard and Brown Sugar Crusted Corned Beef), sandwiches, veggies, sauces, breakfasts, breads and a final chapter on some outrageous desserts such as Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice Cake or Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd and Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (or how about Chef Cliff Crawford's Sticky Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce). I was going to list other recipes that caught my interest--but I would have listed practically the entire Table of Contents. Trust me, you'll find a recipe you'll want to try.

These are tested recipes, which Susie has served her family and shared with friends. The recipes, gathered from many sources (some passed down from her family), are upscale but not "nose in the air" gourmet. The ingredients are readily available; the directions easy to follow which even novice cooks should have no problem in preparing. (And besides the recipes, you get Susie's anecdotes and backgrounds to each recipe, making this 248-page cookbook an enjoyable read).

I gladly give 5 stars to "Tax Bites & Tasty Morsels". Who knows, as you learn about the myriad of taxes we pay, while preparing one of the recipes, you too might become passionate and vote for someone fiscally responsible. That would be a good thing!

Here's a great book that's not only extremely entertaining (and shocking in places), but also a great cookbook filled with fun recipes! No matter what your taste, event, time constraints or style is, you'll find something that'll fit your cooking needs in this book.

But be warned - after reading a few of the sidebar tax snippets, you MAY crack the egg a little harder, beat the mix a little stronger, or toss the used pan a little farther into the sink.

I strongly suggest you spend the little dough to get this book that'll help you MAKE AND BAKE the dough, hopefully before someone else TAKES your dough!

Enjoy!

What a wonderful, fun cookbook. The recipes are gourmet yet simple to prepare. What makes this book - is the "tax bites" associated with each recipe. What fun dinner conversation! The writer has a very creative style which makes this book stand alone....and has educated me with the insane taxes we pay and programs that are funded by them. I will buy more copies for friends and family!