Tuscany a Phaidon Book

I bought this book because it is beautiful and oozes quality. The pictures are stunning and give you a real feel for Italy but I have only cooked one recipe from it Peposa, a beef stew on page 134, which was easy to make and quite tasty. My problem with the book is it's too authentic which perhaps sounds a bit strange I know, but some of the ingredients can be more difficult to obtain in the North of England, additionally when discussing meal suggestions with the men in my life there always seems to be an ingredient that someone doesn't like. It is also quite difficult to negotiate as it is split up into regions and so I need to flick through the whole book instead of being able to go straight to a main course section when pressed for time. All of these things seem to be rather lame excuses for not cooking more from this lovely book so I'll try and put these pre-conceptions to one side and give the book another go soon.