Cookbooks to Get You Started, February 2012

You know when you were little and built clay volcanoes and got to watch them explode when you filled them with baking soda and vinegar? Ina Garten's cooking is sort of like that. Somehow she can take five simple ingredients and cause a chemical reaction that creates a whole that is WAY more than the sum of its parts. These recipes are SO easy and delicious --- the perfect party food ‘cause they are both yummy and stress-free. Ina understands that as a host you already eighteen hundred other things on your mind besides the food--- like how many solo cups to buy or whether streamers are still cool.