Introducing Janet MacNab's Remarkable Ricecake Recipes

I just returned from spending Christmas with my family in Ontario, and a lot of wonderful times were had, but the most inspiring time - quite surprisingly - was watching the film Julie and Julia with my mom. If you don't know, the film tells the story of Julia Child, the author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, alongside of the story of Julie Powell, a young woman who determined to cook her way through the famous cookbook within one year, and who blogged about this experience as it was happening. I was not inspired to follow her lead and tackle the famous cookbook myself. (As if I'm boiling a live lobster!) Rather, I was inspired to similarly tackle the much less daunting (though much more puzzling) "Remarkable Ricecake Recipes."

Just over a year ago I came across Janet MacNab's "Remarkable Ricecake Recipes" in the second-hand bookstore I work at. Considering the joy I've already gotten out of describing the totally weird recipes to friends and co-workers, it was well worth the five dollars we were selling it for, but I actually didn't pay a cent for it. My boss gave it to me for my birthday.

On the back of the book is a description of how Janet MacNab compiled these recipes in an attempt to help other people who, like her four sons, were allergic to wheat. The answer, of course: Ricecakes!

I am just bursting to tell you more specifically about the contents of this book, but I don't want to give it all away at the beginning. For now I'll just say, in case you're eager to try these recipes yourself: You'll need a microwave. And Vegit. Whatever the heck that is.

Just as Julie Powell set out to do with Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I intend to cook every single recipe in this book within one year. Starting New Year's Day.

If you know what Vegit is, please enlighten me. It's important! For now, I'm assuming it's exactly like Mrs. Dash. We'll see how that goes....