The creation story

This blog got started for many reasons.

First of all, I love casseroles.

And, not only do I love casseroles, I also love the work of James Lileks. If you have never looked at lileks.com, you should. And you should do it soon.

So part of my blog, in which I examine crappy old casserole recipes, is nothing new. lileks.com has been doing it, and doing it better than I ever will, for more than a decade. I'm not trying to rip him off, I'm just writing in homage to his genius.

It also got started because of a book, a very special and wonderful book, that my best friend Jim bought me in March.

We were in Beckley, WV, on a ski trip planned by our friend Carolyn. After a day of skiing, we had a day in which we went to see the New River Gorge Bridge, then some of us went hiking . . . and the rest of us went shopping.

Jim, Carolyn, Aaron, and I went shopping. We visited a store where Carolyn bought the glorious Bambo (a polyresin statue of a deer, holding and carrying various weapons), I spit Coke all over her, and Aaron bought The Cock.

Then we went to the world's tiniest and saddest pawn shop.

We went to the antique store next door, where I bought some antique pharmaceuticals (as I collect them).

Then we went to the Beckley Goodwill, where, Jim bought some sunglasses. He also bought me, for a whopping ten cents, The Southern Living Casseroles Cookbook.

And we spent a glorious evening reading this book, and talking about it. And laughing. A lot.

I was encouraged to start a blog about this cookbook, but I never quite got around to it.

So I am.

I'll start writing reviews of the recipes at the next post. Today: The Genesis.