Originally published in hardcover: New York : Little, Brown & Co., 2005

The road to hell is paved with Leeks and potatoes -- Joy of cooking -- You have to break a few eggs ... -- Hacking the marrow out of life -- ... To make an omelette -- Disaster, dinner party, dinner party, disaster -- The law of diminishing returns -- They shoot lobsters, don't they? -- The proof is in the plumbing -- Sweet smell of failure -- Flaming crepes! -- Time to move to Weehawken -- "Only in America" -- Simplicity itself -- ... well, not quite

Recounts how the author escaped the doldrums of an unpromising career and lackluster Queens apartment by mastering every recipe in Julia Child's 1961 classic, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a year-long endeavor of humor and accomplishment that transformed her life. Reader's Guide included