PLEASURES OF THE GOOD EARTH

Another personal and personable collection of mostly Italian (and Italian-American) recipes from the artist-author of Italian Family Cooking. Like his parents and grandparents and theirs, Giobbi grows his own vegetables, raises his own chickens, gathers his own mushrooms, cans his own tuna, and makes his own wine and sausages (but uses dried pasta and scorns the gluey stuff now sold as ``fresh''). His recipes are simple and seasonal but never clichÇd, and his advice is useful, down-to-earth, and informed by his own sensuous appreciation for good-tasting real food. Aptly named, his new book is a genuine pleasure.