cookbooks

I'm going to start off with a confession: I have absolutely no talent as a baker or cook of any kind. At best I can boil water and at worst... well. Let's just say I have a bad habit of leaving out key ingredients and forgetting that I left food in the oven until the smoke alarm goes off. My completely inedible, rock-hard Rice Krispie treats are still something of a legend among my family.

One of my New Year's resolutions, however, is to get more comfortable in the kitchen. So this week I decided to try something that terrifies me (and my entire family) - baking my very first pie. When I

When I dive, I dive deep! I checked out all the books about dinner parties. Here are 3 that stood out:

How to Host a Dinner Party by Corey Mintz

All the other books seem fluffy next to this one, which is small but densely packed. When it arrived I was filled with dismay; it looked – well, boring. It was not! This man knows his stuff, and writes with a convincing wryness. He covers it all! And he takes a realistic approach. I mean, take this advice: “…whom you invite to dinner is more important than what you cook. It would be more fun to eat microwave popcorn with your best friend than a