I feel like a Top Chef.
595976
All my knifes are sharp now. Found a site online that shows a video on how to use the sharpener. It only takes 5 times on each side of the knife.  Love it!!
4536823
I just ate my first creation and I love the directions and the way the food turned out.  Success.
3026398
I feel like an absolute BOSS when I bust this out. I have TONS of room to work and you can even serve from it.
1565777
Got some great classic recipes from renowned chefs. Feels like I hit the jackpot - Can't wait to start cooking them!
4255094
I have never before tried to make sushi as it looked hard. After buying this kit a spending an hour with it I feel like a pro! Everything I've made with this kit has got rave reviews from family and friends. I highly recommend this kit!
1109443
Seriously, if you do anything with rice this will make you feel pretty functional.  I mean yeah it costs more than the sauce pan that you already have but if you want to make your life easier then just get this.  Sometimes, I'm realizing, it's ok to treat yourself to something extra.  This is one of those things, along with their hot water boilers.  Also bought myself some all new spices from Penzy's spices as well as an expensive chef knife from Shun. Suddenly you want to cook and get to have fun doing it.
3448622
I love cooking from scratch and trying new recipes, but I have found it impossible to keep this up on a daily basis with a full work week. This book feels like such a relief as it doesn't rely on freezing or re-heating leftovers to make dinner, even though it requires extremely minimal cooking day-of. The amount of cooking required on the weekend as prep does seem intimidating, but some of the weeks only require 90 minutes, and I'm sure if I withdraw the dessert component it would save time.
This book is very organized and I hope that I can learn this "new way to dinner" enough that I can use the method with my own ideas for recipes. I also like that the meals feel elevated and sophisticated. The authors certainly have modern sensibility for recipes. No casseroles here.

*Review copy courtesy of bloggingforbooks*
1631743
I'm not a good cook but boy, the meal I pulled off using this book impressed my in-laws.  For that alone it gets 5 stars.

Update - STILL my favorite cookbook and now I no longer feel dread when it comes to cooking.
2486350
Very hefty feeling and high quality. I think they really made my kitchen look 100x better.
358881
Gabi and Miranda did not write this book for me, a Gen-X homeowner with kitchen proficiency and an amateur foodie wife. They wrote this book for the hot mess millennial in their first apartment with no clue how to cook.

Yet I found myself drawn into the books semi confessional, madcap empowerment essays. And just when I thought I didn't need them, I found inspiration in the very simple recipes too.

A few weeks after this book came into my life, my wife, our households chief cook and menu strategist, had a health crisis: surgery plus a month of bedrest. Suddenly, I was in charge of all meal planning and execution for the most discriminating cook I know.

I freaked out. How would I do it? Sure, I chop a mean onion and make dinner once in a while, but lets be honest: I lived on a burrito-a-week diet before I got married. I was a hot mess back then--before hot messes were a thing.
So I leafed through the recipes in this book and began to feel like everything was going to be okay. Reading Gabis approach, I remembered how awesome and easy it is to improvise in the kitchen. I started to get excited when I remembered that dinner can be as simple as a Bad Sex Baked Potato. (This recipe holds your hand through baking a potato and topping it with kale and cheddar cheese.) I realized that even the fancy notion of dessert is really just no bigger deal than making a basic Abandonment Issues Apple Pie.

The wife is healed and cooking again, but this cookbook has earned a place beside some of my favorites. A longtime fan of Joy of Cooking, I haul out the big white handbook every time I want to remember the ratio of flour to milk to start a bechamel. (Its pretty much one to one. Why cant I remember that?) And I think this book will have a similar role on my cookbook shelf. Its very-good-idea recipes reminded me what I had forgotten about the basics of cooking and provided a starting point for all kinds of culinary creativity. Ill go to the Im a Fraud French Toast recipe to remind myself the basics of French toast for years to come, Im sure.

Another thing I loved: the essays. Some of my favorite cookbooks have gorgeous essays in them, but few authors are so generous with them. Gabi and Miranda have written one for each and every recipe plus a really entertaining introduction with charming reflections and solid advice.

Its been almost twenty years since Ive been caught Pretending To Be Married in the Fish Department or Flirting in the Beer Aisle, and I know my way around my broiler. But I still had a great time reading Gabis point of view. The broiler is the G spot of the kitchen, she tells us. Hard to find, but once you do things get a lot more fun. This is my kind of food writing.

Both authors write in irresistibly girlfriendy voices: no judgment, no bullshit, no slut-shaming, and a lot of love. For instance, the essay that goes with the Bad Sex Baked Potato recipe reminds you to pee after the bad sex.

You never know when you're going to need a friend like that, somebody who can gently remind you how to take care of your beautiful self without speaking down to you. Gabi and Miranda have shown up as those kinds of friends with their wonderful book, Hot Mess Kitchen. I highly recommend it as a thoughtful gift for a hot mess--or even an ex hot mess--you love.
1101885
Full disclosure: I don't yet have my own copy of this book in hand, so i can't in good faith go all the way to 5 until I really get to use it. But I just raced to my laptop to order it after meeting Chef Saran at a corporate event and sampling dishes from this collection. I'm visiting a client today and the cafeteria hosted a lunch where the chef was on site; the kitchen was serving up a bunch of his recipes.  I flipped through the book, chatted up Chef Saran, looked over the spiced-up menu, and bought myself a pork vindaloo quesadilla with some sides. (After spending a month in India early this year, I admit to raising an eyebrow at the border-bending juxtaposition of vindaloo and quesadillas, but I was intrigued at the chance to sample this level of food, in a cafeteria, from such a warm chef, who helms a Michelin-starred restaurant.)

Lunch was extraordinary. Seriously, authentically, soul-happy delicious. I raced back to the wood-fired oven just as they were closing to snap up another order to take home for my husband's dinner and then back to my desk to order this exciting book from the soft-spoken chef who even offered to email me more recipes. What a fun surprise. Can't wait to try these recipes at home. YUM.
3246091
I seem to astonish everybody with the things that I find that make me feel good!
3793308
I absolutely LOVE my apron! The fabric is a very good quality -- it has a nice "hand";  the red color is beautiful.  I feel like a real chef when wearing it.
1103209
This feels great.  It feels like a high quality product, and has made my butcher block come to life with color and depth.  I'll buy more when I'm out!
1494858
This dinnerware has inspired me to pit myself against the iron chefs.
The simplest ingredients artfully arranged, amazed me and my guests. the finish is spectacular. I have found that the dishes wash beautifully in the dishwasher, and so far are not as prone as other dishes of their type to chipping.
I simply love them.
Also found delivery timely and packaging with maximized safety in mind
1614531
the taste of this praline mixture is unmatched. I feel like eating at IHOP every day.
1664504
Its actually makes me feel good when my daughters are taking their heratige seriously.
There recipies that I have always wanted to make but never knew how. Since my teacher has long since passed. "AHHH GRANDMAMA'S COOKING!" Its wonderful! And it has the time and temps too!