Some are born cooks, and some have cooking thrust upon ‘em. My father falls into the latter category; recently widowed, he's fending for himself in the kitchen for the first time in, oh, about 80 years.

So I've been searching for a cookbook that covers the basics and offers simple, satisfying recipes for the novice cook. I nearly gave up after looking at a number of cookbooks supposedly aimed at beginners; either the book assumed the user knew more than a true newbie like my dad, or the recipes were too elaborate and exotic for my father's plain palate.

Today we're celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy of civil rights; in two weeks, we'll be commemorating the Greensboro Four, the four young black men who launched a sit-in at a “whites only” lunch counter in a Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1st, 1960.

Breaking news: men and women desire different things. Who knew?

Researchers from McGill University in Canada have published a study showing that when it comes to comfort food, women seek sweet and fatty consolation while men reward themselves with steaks, pastas, and pizzas.