Happy vegetable season!

A young girl talking to her father, overheard at the checkout aisle of a grocery store.

Daddy, why don't you buy that vegetarian cooking magazine?

It's too expensive.

But the food looks really good.

Honey, I already know how to cook vegetables. After awhile, there's not much more to write about.

But your vegetables don't taste good.

Happy fresh vegetable season. Asparagus now; real tomatoes soon!

A (very) short list of recommended cookbooks (a few vegetarian, a few beery):

• Beer & Food: An American History (Bob Skilnik)
• Real Beer and Good Eats (Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly)
• Sundays at Moosewood
• The BeerBistro Cookbook (Stephen Beaumont, Brian Morin)
• The Beer Cookbook (Susan Nowak)
• Gordon Ramsay's Great British Pub Food
• The Best of American Beer & Food (Lucy Saunders)
• Vegan with a Vengeance (Isa Chandra Moskowitz)
• The Savory Way (Deborah Madison)
• The Vegan Dad Cookbook (Nathan Kozuskanich)
• Cizauskas' Beer & Food page (that's me)
• and The Omivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan) Not a cookbook, but a good examination of the food chain.