Have you seen the latest reviews (Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Momofuku, Adventures with Chocolate, and more) or my detailed feature Where Are The Good Meat Books? Read them on The Gastronomer's Bookshelf

For lovers of food knowledge, the Larousse Gastronomique is an indispensable book… and I recently slaved over a feature for The Gastronomer's Bookshelf about the new edition and the history of the various versions. Meanwhile, co-editor Mark has prepared a Year-end Countdown with a pile of interesting books you might like to know about, starting with baking and Christmas.

There's a bit of a backlog of things to post about, not helped by 18 days without the internet at home. It wasn't fun. So let's start with a rundown of the reviews that have appeared at The Gastronomer's Bookshelf in the last two or three months! It's been an interesting mix of new books and some serious classics, alongside one book that some of us think never deserved to see the light of day. Read on…

Two months of book reviews on The Gastronomer's Bookshelf you might like, including The Clatter of Forks and Spoons, Anjum's New Indian, Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts, and The Complete Robuchon!

I've never been to a chocolate factory. I've long dreamt of bathing in couverture, taking illicit bites of bonbons on the production line, and other interesting fantasy activities. Even in a chocoland like France it's almost impossible to come close to such an opportunity. The Chocolatrium at Michel Cluizel is a lukewarm towel to the cold shower of chocoholic frustrations.

The latest reviews on The Gastronomer's Bookshelf include Mark Robinson's Izakaya, Michael Ruhlman's Ratio, Pierre Hermé's Macaron, and more.

We've added six more reviews on The Gastronomer's Bookshelf in recent weeks. Venezia, Under Pressure, and more.

A heads-up that The Gastronomer's Bookshelf has two new reviews by Mark and me. A Day at elBulli and, as quite a contrast, Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics. We hope you enjoy them!

Sweet readers, it's time for me to announce the launch of a new website. Book reviews. For you and me. By you and me (and you and you and you). All about food, wine and tummies. I got tired of superficial, uninformative reviews in the papers and decided it was time to fix it! The Gastronomer's Bookshelf has been in development for a number of weeks and has just opened for everyone. If you have books you want to tell others about, or books you've already reviewed on your own site, why not share your helpful perspectives on The Gastronomer's Bookshelf?

The Cocoa Farm brand might be known to some. A product received for review was small barrel-shaped chocolates with pieces of currant 'bathed' in shiraz. Meh.