Have you ever wondered why restaurants have nightly specials? There are many reasons, actually, but they all have one thing in common: spontaneity. Nightly specials are a way to cook with seasonal fruits and vegetables, the catch of the day, unexpected leftovers, and spur-of-the-moment market finds. They are also a way for chefs to experiment with exciting new ingredients, develop their own signature dishes, and road-test new ideas that may eventually become regular menu features.

If these reasons sound familiar, that's because they all apply to home cooks as well.

What would you do if someone you were dancing with at a New Year’s Eve party went out for breath of fresh air and never came back? Ever.

Heather Dune Macadam’s first novel is based on just such a personal experience.

Three years after September 11, we are still dangerously unprepared to prevent or respond to anotherattack on American soil. Faced with this threat, the United States should be operating on a wartime footingat home. But despite the many new security precautionsthat have been proposed, our most serious vulnerabilities remain ominously exposed.

This is the story of America's most extraordinary diplomat and master of high-stakes crisis diplomacy, Philip Habib. It reveals for the first time how he worked out a peaceful end to the 1982 Israeli siege of Beirut.

The architect of the siege was Israel's then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. While Sharon raced to conclude the siege violently, Habib raced to conclude it peacefully. Thwarted at every turn and risking his life to fight impossible odds, Habib pulled off what George Shultz calls a miracle.