Tuesday Megalinks

Bitten: The Best Cookbooks
Mark Bittman is looking to update his master list of the 50 all-time greatest culinary tomes. At last glance, comments numbered 372. Go have your say!

Chief Family Officer: April Fools Ideas for Parents
Muahahahahaha … wonderfully crafty, semi-evil pranks to play on those tiny humans who hang around the kitchen begging for food. Green eggs, blue milk, and mashed potato sundaes abound.

Cooking Light: Greatest Hits – 2008
Staff picks so far this year. Potato Chips with Blue Cheese Dip looks like a delicious, delicious winner, so you'll excuse me while I mop up this drool.

Consumerist: Readers Write in With Examples of More Shrinking Products
Brawny’s not looking so Brawny these days. And Skippy ain’t dang skippy no more, either. And as for Quilted Northern … um, I have no joke here.

Consumerist: Use a Price Book to Save Money on Groceries
Yay! Consumerist caught on! Alas, the comment section is having their way with my beloved price books. Read! And tell the peanut gallery how wrong they are!

Culinate: Chickpea Central
Doesn’t “Chickpea Central” sound like a delightful train station? Like, “Welcome to Chickpea Central, I have your hummus right here Mrs. Clooney.” (How you know it’s a fantasy: not because it’s a railway hub made of garbanzo beans, but because George took me as his beloved. Sigh. We will BE TOGETHER, George. Oh yes … WE WILL BE.)

Culinate: Pasta Parade – Which shape for which sauce?
Oo! Neat little guide to starch/sauce pairings in which farfalle is dubbed “the most fanciful of pasta shapes.” Also: curious and whimsical.

Eater: Bastianich to Serve the Pope
Lidia’s feeding Benedict! Crazy! Apropos of nothing, on New Year’s Eve 2006, my friend M and I came up with a list of what the Pope does on a day-to-day basis: he eats Pope Tarts, watches Pope-rah, and washes with Pope on a Rope. (We were drinking, see.)

Festival of Frugality #118: My Dollar Plan
This week's theme: the alphabet. Specifically, those letters that spell "frugal." Clevah.

Get Fit Slowly: Amazing Rapid Weight Loss Stories
I go back and forth on TBL. Dropping 10 pounds a week isn’t healthy by any measure. On the other hand, they do it through diet and exercise, it’s inspiring for a lot of people, and there is something delightfully wicked about posting contestant names on vending machines.

The Kitchn: Eggs, Eggs, and More Eggs – Best Egg Recipes and Products
Oh WOW that Roasted Asparagus with Poached Egg and Parmesan looks mighty tasty. Also? When you stare at the word “egg” too long, it starts to look like an alien.

Make it From Scratch Festival #57: Applehead
MiFS founder Stephanie’s husband Tim hosts this week’s edition in beautiful black and white. (P.S. Describing Tim’s identity reminded me of the following exchange from Spaceballs, a.k.a. My Favorite Movie in Third Grade:
Dark Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
Lone Starr: What's that make us?
Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing!)

SF Gate: How to be a foodie without breaking the bank
Link of the week! Superb article about a hardcore gourmand who’s dealing with a salary cut through frugality and resourcefulness. My favorite sentence: “Given her budget, she could just subsist on peanut butter sandwiches and ramen, but for her, food goes deeper than merely filling her belly.” Yes! That’s it! Thanks to Slashfood for the link.

Simply Stated: Healthy Eating – What’s it to You?
Wow. Good question. The Real Simple blog asks readers to define their ideas of what constitutes a happy-happy nutritionally sound diet. There’s even a poll!

Wall Street Journal: Cutback Cuisine
This just in: food costs are up, and restaurants have to make do the best they can. Expect a lot of gourmet spaghetti in the near future.

(Photos courtesy of Flickr member Sakurako Kitsa, whyy.org, and manolomen.)