Okay, it's officially two weeks until Christmas. If you are still stuck on some gift ideas, looking in the $25 range, and want to do a good deed at the same time, you just have to think of The Hollywood Cookbook.
I've written a lot about it, but the essence is this. 20 different celebrities from film, TV and cooking each contributed an entire meal's worth of recipes to the book in honor of their favorite charity and -- this is the great part -- $5 FROM EACH BOOK GOES TO CHARITY. You can check out the celebs by clicking on the book cover to the left and seeing the larger version. All kinds of people have supported this cause: Bob Saget, Ron Howard, Anne Hathaway, Michael Chiklis, Eric Close, Thora Birch, James Denton, Brendan Fraser, Paige Hemmis, Greg Grunberg, Scott Wolf, Kerry Washington, Mark Dacascos, Treat Williams, Esai Morales, Jane Kaczmarek, Bradley Whitford, etc. and chefs like Wolfgang Puck, Nick Stellino and Mario Batali.
The book is just rolling out for the 2007 sales season, so it's not in every Barnes & Noble (although they just had a successful book signing at The Grove here in Los Angeles), but it is available for order on-line.
If you go to The Hollywood Cookbook web-site, there's an Amazon button that you click on, then search for "The Hollywood Cookbook" and you can buy the book. It is in stock now through Amazon, and they can have it delivered to you in days, plenty of time to make it your Christmas gift.
Let's say you give ten books. You know people will be thinking of you throughout the next year as they read the book and cook the recipes. But you will also know that you made a gift of $50 to charity.
