When the Dominique Strauss-Kahn story broke it seemed to embody many of our most potent national narratives: race; class; sex; European degeneracy bested by Puritan virtue.

What if none of that was true? Or what if that narrative was secondary to another that is much more complex and startling?

Edward Jay Epstein suggests that other narrative in the New York Review of Books.

Title: “The Oxford Companion to Beer”

Editor: Garrett Oliver

Rank: 36

Blurb: “The first major reference work to investigate the history and vast scope of beer, The Oxford Companion to Beer features more than 1,100 A-Z entries written by 166 of the world’s most prominent beer experts.”

Review: “Mr. Oliver had given me a copy of this book as a friend and a colleague. I was initially awed at the sheer magnitude of information gathered and presented. My awe was so great that, for a few days, I could only run my hand across the satiny book jacket, as if this volume were a virgin and I was about to violate its purity.”

Customers Also Bought: “Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal” by Jennifer McLagan

Footnote: Remind us never to borrow that reviewer’s books.

The Oxford Companion to Beer [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon Kickback Link]

No, it’s not a debate. That would be coarse. It’s actually a series of speed dates conversations between Mike Huckabee and some of the surviving GOP candidates. And we’re holding a Cartoon Cavalcade/Open Thread because it’s only 5pm in Sandy Eggo, so what the hell.

We can’t just look at embarrassing ‘debates’ conducted by fools for the benefit of scoundrels. Let’s see some embarrassing lip-synching instead. It makes a lot more sense than Cain ever did.

The location is the 42nd Street Studios. Just about the only game in town to rehearse big musicals. Yes, boys and girls, those are indeed the lights of Manhattan.

Herman Cain! will be announcing his intentions in a few minutes. Let’s tune in!

Selected reader reviews for “Microwave for One”, a 1987 cookbook by Sonia Allison.

Michael Pemulis:

It used to be that I got home from work and the only thing I’d want to put in my mouth was the cold barrel of my grandfather’s shotgun. Then I discovered Sonia Allison’s Chicken Tetrazzini, and now there are two things.

Chef in Trainng:

I’ve never been a culinary master, so to speak — Mary was always the chef in our family. Apparently her new husband David also knows his way around the kitchen.

Read more »

“Donald Trump is pairing up with Newsmax, the conservative magazine and news Web site, to moderate a presidential debate in Des Moines on Dec. 27.” [NYT]