Dirty Sugar Cookies - Sweet Treats for Baking & Gifting

When I heard that Ayun Halliday was writing a book on food, I wondered why. While she seems to have a bit of cooking awareness, I didn't picture her as an authority. And what new could she bring to the over-populated world of food books? I feared she had erred in her choice of topics.I was wrong. Dirty Sugar Cookies presents food in new ways and with new attitudes. Moreover, these ways are fun and accessible. Too many of my fellow cooks seem to have lost the concept that food is for the people and not just the people who must have the costliest of everything, even if it means shaving the server's tip. Ayun's outlook reminds us that food is all about the joy. Her recipes are fun and seemingly reliable. Further, she provides down home instructions.The blurbs on the back cover tell you that you will laugh at Ayun's Ms. adventures and this is true. My favorite parts are how she illustrates, through food, her life's development and how four generations of primarily female Ayunians have grown - and show every sign of continuing to do so.But in addition to what Ayun says, please also notice and praise how she says it. Her always unique voicing seems to have reached a new level of consistency, ease and phrasing. When I read a chapter on a segment of her teen years, I felt as if I had attended high school in Indiana during the early 80's. It is this sense of time and place she provides that makes this book so much fun to read.