¿4 . JUSt.OUt ¡AVirnH L
Buns in the Oven
Informative books offer tips on hospitality, pregnancy
I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence
by Amy Sedaris; Warner Books, 2006;
$27.99 hardcover
Allow me to confess that I’m a little bit biased
before 1 review Amy Sedaris’ new hospitality tome.
David’s little sis has rocked my
world ever since I first watched
Strangers with Candy three years ago
and saw her ingenious, ass-slappingly
hilarious portrayal of Jerri Blank.
(If you’ve never seen the show or the
movie version, Jerri is a 46-year-old
high school freshman with a debili­
tating overbite and a history of drug
abuse and streetwalking).
Since then I’ve taped all of Amy’s
talk show appearances, printed a
snapshot of Jerri on my personal
checks and slutted myself up with
cheap makeup and a gold lamé
turtleneck so 1 could be Jerri on Halloween.
Thanks to I Like You: Hospitality Under the
Influence, Amy is now a permanent resident in my
kitchen. A psychedelic sendup of 1960s cookbooks
and Martha Stewart, I Like You is a colorful and
deliberately tacky explosion of recipes, kitschy arts­
and-crafts projects, parry-hosting tips and musings
on personal hygiene. Need the recipe for the scrump­
tious Lady Baltimore Cake? Just turn to Page 138,
and while you’re at it eyeball the next page for illus­
trated instructions on how to give your vagina a
“spirited scrubbing.”
Gay fashion designer Todd Oldham captures
Amy in a multitude of hilarious guises, from a
raven-haired Greek vixen to bong smoker in a vin­
tage floral print dress.
Remove the book cover
and on the flip side
you’ll discover a giant
pinup photo of Amy
slathered with whipped
cream and rainbow
sprinkles, joyously kick­
ing her legs up in the
air.
In the “Hospitality
in Action” section,
Amy teaches us how to
handle every conceiv­
able kind of guest, from
out-of-towners to lumberjacks to gypsies. She prints
the “Entertaining the Elderly” chapter in a gigantic
font, spiking the text with politically incorrect digs:
“1 don’t mind pointing out some of the failings of
old age, because we are all headed in that direction,
unless of course we take our own lives.”
So far all of the recipes I’ve tried have turned
out great, although 1 must say that Amy’s minimal­
ist instructions keep me guessing a little more than
eduardo mulero dds pc
general and esthetic dentistry
It’s a While Out!
- -Whether for that special
someone or yourself, the Zoom’ f
Whitening System makes teeth dramatically
whiter 'n a little over an
hour - just in time for /
£
C photos!
I’d like. I paired a vegetarian version of the
meatloaf with the tomatoey Greek Beans. Both
were delicious, albeit a tad overseasoned
thanks to the ambiguous directions.
1 also recommend Captain’s Mouthwatering
Bite-Size Blue Ball Cheese Balls, a surefire hit
at any holiday soiree. Just don’t forget the Ritz.
—Stephen Blair
Ihe Ultimate Guide to Pregnancq for Lesbians
by Rachel Pepper; Cleis Press, 2005; $16.95 softcover
As more and more American women decide to
raise families without a husband, more and more
American women are deciding to raise families in
partnered relationships that don’t involve a man.
The second edition of Rachel Pepper’s ground­
breaking Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians is
perfectly designed to make the increasingly
common lesbian pregnancy process less solitary and
more celebratory than ever before. Already packed
with an impressive amount of common-sense and
not-so-common insights, the latest update truly
brings the book into the early 21st century.
Pepper says she’s added information throughout
the book, even to chapters that served readers well in
the book’s previous incarnation. Now, in addition to
practical advice about improving the chance of
conception and selecting a sperm bank or proper
personal donor, several particularly tricky elements of
daily living and loving
are addressed, as well.
For instance, Pepper
intelligently and sensi­
tively explores the
complex emotional
and societal landscapes that both single and part­
nered lesbians will need to consider before making
the final decision to conceive. Age, education, over­
all health and the ability to lovingly raise a special­
needs child are among the less-than-warm-and-fuzzy
but unquestionably essential issues that she presents
for consideration by her Sapphic momma hopefuls.
Once an affirmative decision has been made,
readers of the second edition will have a greater
understanding of the changes their bodies can
expect and what the process of pregnancy and
childbirth feels like—and what it means to the rest
of their life—than did their first-edition sisters.
Because much has changed legally for lesbians and
lesbian parents during the past seven years, Pepper
includes information about what rights, responsibil­
ities and challenges new mothers should anticipate,
as well as how to determine the most appropriate
distribution of parenting activities and make sure
everyone is getting the support needed. The
resource guide has been expanded and includes a
number of recommended clinics, on and offline
publications and childbirth practitioners.
—Theresa “Darklady" Reed ®