Moroccan and Mediterranean main courses, appetizers, salads, soups, side dishes and desserts artfully displayed and with simple directions so that anyone can create these sumptuous dishes.

In Sharing Morocco: Exotic Flavors from My Kitchen to Yours, Ruth Barnes brings to life the rich culinary history of her family's homeland while also making the cuisine accessible to the home cook. She shares her tips and techniques for preparing Moroccan classics like bastilla, lamb with apricots and prunes, and chicken with preserved lemons, as well as more familiar dishes like baba ganoush, baklava, and kebabs.

Like so many home cooks, Barnes is a busy spouse, parent, and professional who cannot spend all day in the kitchen preparing complicated meals. But, like so many, she is committed to serving her family home-cooked meals that are fresh, healthy, and flavorful.

In Sharing Morocco, she has simplified the recipes that she loves by identifying common ingredient substitutes or demystifying the complex spice combinations so often found in Moroccan cuisine. She does not shy away from shortcuts, like utilizing pre=made phyllo doug. And, as an avid hostess,she is an advocate for freezing an extra batch of this or that to serve to unexpected guests!

Sharing Morocco is an ideal cookbook for home cooks who are new to the flavors of the Middle East or who simply enjoy exotic food. Readers will find Barnes to be a warm and welcoming guide to a culinary journey of the colorful spices and vibrant flavors of her homeland.

Ruth Barnes was born on a farm in Israel and learned to cook from her mother and sisters who created meals from scratch every day for over 20 people, and for special events and parties for over 400 people. Ruth's family is from Morocco, and she learned the art of international cooking with spices and home-made ingredients as a little girl and has used these skills her entire life. Ruth speaks several different languages, and she attended Le Cordon Bleu cooking academy for a brief period before embarking on creating her own cookbook, Sharing Morocco. She has done in-person presentations on Good Morning San Diego and in multiple locations in Oregon. She has also done cooking "classes" with her young nieces.