smitten with smitten kitchen

I think most people are pretty particular when it comes to the cookbooks they like - I know I am. I like them to have pictures of each completed recipe, easy to follow instructions that really guide you through the process, a spine that encourages the book to stay open, and an index by ingredient at the back. Usually it's hard to get all of these things (especially the spine thing - I should just get one of those things that hold your book open) - still, there are many cookbooks I love and use often: the Joy of Cooking (lack of pictures be damned) and New Food Fast (I think we've made everything in this book now... so good) in particular.

But these days I'm getting the majority of my recipes online. While sites like Epicurious and Cooks.com are good, I prefer food/cooking blogs because they more closely approximate the criteria I look for in cookbooks as well as giving me a little extra. It's wonderful to read about the process of making something not just from an instructional point of view, but from an experiential one. Slight changes in the recipe, warnings about tough spots, recommendations about ingredients, tools, or methods - it's so much more helpful! Kind of like having a tiny chef that tells you what to do. (Heh.)

Anyway, all this to say that I have a new favourite food/cooking blog: Smitten Kitchen. I first discovered it through Not Martha's site when she linked to the homemade Oreos. I made as ice cream sandwiches for a potluck, and man did they go quickly. All of her recipes are accompanied by numerous excellent photos, she provides a conversion chart, there's a recipe archive, and her writing is funny, straightforward, and clear.

So far all I've made is the Oreos and the Ratatouille, but I'm looking forward to going through the archives and trying everything else.

What food/cooking blogs do you like?