A Table for Two : Recipes from Celebrated City Restaurants; Romantic Jazz Ballads by the Kenny Barron Ensemble

Glowing candles, great food, gorgeous music... and the best company in the world. What could be more romantic than a dinner for two?

For special dates, a 30th wedding anniversary, or your first relaxed dinner together in months, Sharon O'Connor's newest cookbook with music CD brings home the magic of a night out at America's most romantic restaurants.

A Table for Two takes readers on a romantic tour of exciting cities, from New Orleans and San Francisco to Kansas City and New York. Each chapter features one restaurant, including photographs, descriptions, and stunning food photography. The fabulous recipes were created by celebrity chefs such as Blue Ginger's Ming Tsai, Daniel Boulud from Café Daniel Boulud, and Floyd Cardoz of Tabla. Each of the more than 100 recipes is carefully tested and formatted for home cooks by Sharon O'Connor, and a glossary and a basics section provide helpful tips.

A Table for Two also includes a fascinating conversation with singer/cook Taj Mahal and poetry, essays, and quotes about love, food, and music. Gorgeous reproductions of Henri Matisse's Jazz papercuts and sensational photos of musical instruments give the book perspective and style.

On the accompanying CD, the Kenny Barron Ensemble performs romantic, sophisticated music that sets the mood for magical evenings. This private concert, recorded by Sharon O'Connor especially for A Table for Two, includes beloved standards such as "I Only Have Eyes for You," "Stolen Moments," and "Say it Over and Over Again." Kenny Barron, who the Los Angeles Times has named "one of the top jazz pianists in the world," Bob Sheppard, Dave Ellis, Peter Barshay, and Lewis Nash create a mood of quiet enchantment with their tender, lyrical playing.

Through the combination of food, art, music, and travel, A Table for Two creates an experience that enriches life at home.

"Sharing a delicious home-cooked dinner is a great pleasure, and dining with music makes it even more enjoyable! Dinnertime is a perfect opportunity for making music part of everyday life——and a daily chance to experience moments that enrich life, elevate sprits, and provide the balance we need in a hectic world." ——Sharon O'Connor

By building a career around her passion for music, food, and writing, Sharon has managed to do what most of us only dream of. She travels the world meeting with chefs and musicians and then brings her experiences home by writing cookbooks and recording music CDs. She has sold over 2 million cookbooks with music CDs and continues to run Menus and Music as an independent, family-owned business.

O'Connor's interest in music and food has intertwined throughout her life. A native Californian, she spent her childhood preparing to be a classical musician, and in between practicing, she enjoyed great meals at the family dinner table.

After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley with degrees in music and sociology, she studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music. At the same time she explored another treasure of European culture…its cuisine. Traveling throughout Europe, she experienced cooking that centuries of culture have elevated to an art form.

In 1975, O'Connor founded the San Francisco String Quartet, and once again was placed at the intersection of world-class food and music. For sixteen years, the string quartet performed in the Garden Court of San Francisco's Palace Hotel ~ "the most beautiful dining room in the world."

In her remarkable career as a musician, Sharon has worked with icons of the music world. Such famed musicians as Frank Sinatra, Van Morrison, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin and Linda Ronstadt, have all called on her to collaborate.

After almost 10 years of performing in concert halls and at elegant dinner parties and gala events, Sharon came up with the idea of pairing a cookbook with music and founded Menus and Music, the first company ever to publish the combination of a cookbook and music CD. Nineteen books and CDs later, and with appearances on Food Network and features in Gourmet and Bon Appétit magazines, Sharon now adds a successful publishing house to her already impressive resume.

Calling upon her friends in the music and culinary industries, she pairs recipes from world-renowned chefs (Daniel Boulud and Ming Tsai) and restaurants (Balthazar and Commander's Palace) with performances by many Grammy-nominated musicians (Kenny Barron and Placido Domingo). O'Connor's books also include stunning food photography and reproductions of art from museums such as The National Gallery, The Metropolitan, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Photos and descriptions of restaurants around the globe allow readers to travel with O'Connor from Parisian bistros to luxurious spas.

Sharon O'Connor is an expert at adapting professional chefs' recipes for the home cook and an accomplished cooking teacher and public speaker. Equal time is devoted to meeting with other musicians, mixing, arranging, editing, and performing the music on the compact discs.

Sharon O'Connor lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her two daughters and husband. Her family enthusiastically helps in the research, travel, and tasting for her series.