Food and drink books I really enjoyed in 2006

At first I was going to title this post "2006 food and drink books I really enjoyed," but that would make it seem like I read a helluva lot of cookbooks last year.

The first book I have to mention is Amy Sedaris' I Like You. If you're a fan of cookbooks but you think this is some jokey tome and you don't want to get it, think again. There are a million recipes in here, and all of them are serious (Sedaris has said she hates jokey cookbooks). And if you like Sedaris but you're not into cooking that much, that doesn't matter either, because the book isn't just recipes, there are lots of funny essays in here too. A terrific book.

Alton Brown released an updated, Version 2.0 of I'm Just Here For The Food, and while the updates weren't all that exciting (cow fridge magnets??), it's still a great book to have on your shelf.

Cooking Up A Storm, by Sam Stern. I actually came across this book accidentally, and at first I thought, a cookbook for teens? What can that possible teach me? But it's a fantastic book, with lots of great basic recipes and some original ideas in there too, all presented well and easy to read. Stern is a 15 year-old who aspires to be the next Jamie Oliver, and he's well on his way.

Anthony Bourdain's The Nasty Bits is quite entertaining. It collects many of his columns and essays over the past few years and includes a section in back where he talks about what he's learned since he wrote each one.

The Joy of Cooking. Yeah, there was some controversy about the 75th Anniversary edition, but how can you not own this book?

The Comfort Diner Cookbook and Eat, Drink, & Be Healthy aren't new books (they were released in 2005), but I read them in 2006, and they're both great. The former gives recipes for classic comfort food, and the latter is one of the very few sensible books on diet, health, and exercise books you'll find in the bookstores.