As a longtime home cook with a collection of over 200 cookbooks, I can honestly say this is one of my all time favorites! I have just put it down, after planning the salads I will take to holiday gatherings. I have already made almost 1/2 of the recipes in the book, and not a single one has been disappointing. The combinations of ingredients are inventive and appetizing, and all salads are beautifully presented in the photographs of the book. People rave about the salads at parties, and I always make sure to plug both the book and the restaurant in Woodstock, Cape Town. During a recent visit with my parents from the United States, Karen was warm and welcoming, in spite of the crowds in her small restaurant space, and autographed a note to insert in the cookbook I gave my mother as a gift. I can't wait for Karen to author a second book -- this salad lover will surely be one of the first to purchase it! Karen, I wish you would open a restaurant in Pretoria, South Africa! Sincerely, a U.S. Embassy fan.