It was a blog post that inspired his newly released cookbook, The Pot and How to Use It, a book devoted to the subject of rice cooker cookery. The Pot and How to Use It is a funny kind of cookbook made up of Ebert's philosophies about cooking and health, his blog entries, and recipes generated in the comments section of his blog. It's a slim volume designed to get you acclimated to using your rice cooker for more than just rice, along with plenty of Ebert's prose to keep you thoroughly entertained while you cook in The Pot. Enter here to win a copy. More

Steak 'n Shake is pretty hard to forget. [Flickr: Nick Solares] What if you could never eat again, but could remember, bite by bite, slurp by slurp, meals of the past? Roger Ebert writes a beautiful piece in the Chicago Sun-Times about his inability to eat and drink after multiple surgeries. He stopped feeling hungry or thirsty, but instead of focusing on his loss, started remembering vivid eating memories: Yet I could if I wanted to right now close my eyes and re-experience an entire meal at Steak 'n Shake, bite by bite in proper sequence, because I always ordered the same items and ate them according to the same ritual. It is there for me...Another surprising area for... More