Let's celebrate!

The latest addition to the Everyone Can Cook series is on its way. Whether it's a Thanksgiving feast with family, a Super Bowl party with friends, or a romantic Valentine's Day dinner for two, everyone loves a celebration.

But for the host, it's often stressful to plan and execute the meal.

Now, in Everyone Can Cook for Celebrations, food consultant, chef, and food journalist Eric Akis puts the ease and fun back into hosting with over 140 easy-to-follow recipes and 29 menus designed to take the stress out of preparing delicious meals for special occasions.

Broken down by season, Everyone Can Cook for Celebrations consists of varied menus made with ingredients readily available at your local grocery store. Almost all of Eric's tempting recipes can be partially or totally prepared in advance, making a multi-dish meal easier to pull together when it's time to serve.

The book also includes many helpful sidebars with information such as how to roast a turkey (for beginners), tips for hosting large dinner parties, and how to serve sparkling wine.

Everyone Can Cook for Celebrations will leave cooks of all skill levels free to enjoy themselves, without the stress that often comes with preparing festive meals. Celebrate by serving great recipes like:

• Make-Ahead Eggs Benedict for Easter Brunch
• Smoky Glazed Barbecued Ham for a Backyard Father's Day Feast
• Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marzipan Jack-o-Lanterns for Halloween
• Turkey Tourti�re with Yams and Cranberries for Christmas Eve Dinner
• Shrimp Cocktail Canap�s for a Retro New Year's Eve Dinner for Six

Eric Akis has been a food writer for the Times Colonist newspaper, in Victoria, since 1997. His popular bi-weekly food column also appears in newspapers across Canada, including the Calgary Herald, the Vancouver Sun, The Province, the Hamilton Spectator, the Ottawa Citizen and the Edmonton Journal. Before becoming a journalist, Eric trained to become a professional chef and a pastry chef. He worked for 15 years in a variety of operations in Ontario and British Columbia, from fine hotels to restaurants to catering companies. In 2003, his experiences as a chef and food writer inspired him to create the bestselling Everyone Can Cook series of cookbooks, which includes Everyone Can Cook, Everyone Can Cook Seafood, Everyone Can Cook Appetizers, Everyone Can Cook Midweek Meals, Everyone Can Cook for Celebrations, Everyone Can Cook Slow Cooker Meals and the collected edition: Everyone Can Cook Everything. Eric Akis was born into a military family in Chicoutimi, Quebec, and has lived in six provinces. In 1992, he moved to Victoria, BC, and now makes the city his home, living there with his wife, Cheryl Warwick, also a chef, and his son, Tyler.

Eric Akis' profile page