I Like You, Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris

This is one of my favorite cookbooks of all time, I suppose because it reminds me of my own life back in those hazy days before Dr. Feldman got the prescriptions balanced just so. Reading through it is, for me, like a walk down memory lane, a stroll through the past, a slow backward stumble into the three-day benders, stomach pumps and small town jails of yesteryear. It’s nostalgia with a twist, or perhaps twisted nostalgia would be a better description. Anyways…

In addition to the pleasantly unhinged prose, there are lots of pictures I’d love to be in, but would never attempt in my new, calmer frame of mind, as well as recipes for nearly extinct foods like baked Alaska, cheese balls, meatloaf ring and pineapple upside down cake.

As an added bonus, most recipes have been simplified by the author, which means they’re slattern friendly. I like the recipes for chocolate and vanilla butter cream frosting on page 182 (though I always dissolve a teaspoon of salt into the cream when making frosting and frequently substitute cream cheese for half of the butter). Cousin Kathy’s Cheesecake on page 233 is simple and tasty (no water baths or other such hysteria inducing techniques required), and Michael’s Key Lime Pie (three ingredients plus a pie shell!) is a huge favorite in my house.

It makes a wonderful holiday gift that also serves as a subtle reminder that you, the giver, are considerably less far gone than your mother-in-law would have people believe.