Beat This!

Reading food blogs makes you think a lot about cookbooks. I have many, certainly, and with the exception of those by Mark Bittman and Nigella, most of them just sit on the shelf unless I'm looking for a very specific recipe. Even that happens less and less often, thanks to the internet. I would never have the discipline to cook every recipe in a book, which is why I was so enthralled with the Julie & Julia Project- Julie Powell is my hero! But the two that I find myself reading for fun, chortling over really, are Ann Hodgman's Beat This! and Beat That! Both of them have loads of great comfort food recipes and are great starter cookbooks. How can you not love a cookbook author who thinks recipe would be improved by adding bacon???