Ryan DeJonghe - The Avid Reader

If you are looking for a serious, step-by-step cookbook: turn around now. If you are looking for light-hearted fun, lots of joking around, and insights on friendship: buy this book now.

For the uninitiated, Hannah Hart began her rise to kitchen stardom with the famously slurred words, “Hello, welcome to my drunk kitchen.” We learned—while things were being dropped, burnt, and forgotten—how to make grilled cheese. But not just grilled cheese: grilled cheese with humor, fun, and entertainment. Here’s that video:

Since then, Hannah has attracted millions of viewers, partnered with drunk celebrities, and raised money for charity. Now she has a book.

The question is, does the same fun cross over into book form? Yes! A thousand times yes. The book has lots of off-shoot narratives written by Hannah about the joys of friendship and having fun, all organized in neat categories around her food creations. There are tons and tons of full-color pictures with it all, plus cute comedic drawings and quotes. Every idea is followed by one of Hannah’s Life Lessons.

For instance, one “recipe” in this book is Hannah’s Pizzadilla. Ingredients are: tortillas, marinara sauce, cheese, and “tissues for everyone who starts to cry tears of joy when you bring this out to serve.” The instructions basically say “cook until edible” in the oven, and there are five pictures of Hannah cooking this stove-top. You’ll get the idea of how it blends together, and maybe you’ll try it, maybe you’ll come up with something different, but ultimately you’ll laugh and enjoy the experience. (Hint: this is a great book to flip through with a friend next to you.)

Sometimes Hannah advocates getting frozen snacks from Trader Joe’s, sometimes you won’t even know what she’s mixing together (such as the one where she’s supposedly ‘high’), and other times it is pretty cut and dry with what you have on hand. Every list of ingredients starts with Words of Wisdom and a suggested opening cocktail.

Here’s a quote from Hannah, “Pro Tip: To learn more about things, read books or use the Internet.” Okay, maybe you had to be there. Okay, maybe I should start a thing where I review books while drunk. Or not. We’ll see.

Here’s a quote she included from someone famous, “Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable.” G.K. Chesterton said that in Heretics.

Bottom line: go into this having fun. You may learn some handy kitchen ideas (I sure did..yum, yum!), but you’ll definitely walk away smiling.

By the way, thanks !t books for sending this to me for review. The book is GORGEOUS: hard bound, lots and lots of colors and pictures. This is something to experience with others. Oh, and this will be the last book printed under the name !t books: they’re now going to be called Dey Street Book.