Dining and the Opera in Manhattan (Menus and Music, Vol. 8)

Sharon O'Connor is a San Francisco-based musician and entrepreneur who matches delectable recipes from significant restaurants with music to suit them in one convenient package. The result is a fine gift idea--or a nice treat for anyone who likes to check out menus (or even try whipping up a few recipes) while listening to good music. Most of O'Connor's previous productions featured her own San Francisco String Quartet; this book comes instead with a compact disc of arias (in older recordings by outstanding artists now, for the most part, retired) chosen by members of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. The recipes are from assorted high-profile Manhattan restaurants. And though the disc opens with the "Brindisi," or drinking song, from Verdi's La Traviata, most of the other selections have little or nothing to do with food and beverages--or their consumption. No matter, it's still a lot of fun. One warning: the cookbook itself contains the only guide to the identity of the voices on the CD, and that can be somewhat aggravating for listeners with only the CD in hand trying to figure out just which tenor or soprano is performing. --Sarah Bryan Miller