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By JEFF HOUCK

jhouck@tampatrib.com

Published: December 7, 2008

"Urban Italian," by Andrew Carmellini (Bloomsbury, $35)

In between New York City cooking gigs, noted young chef Andrew Carmellini took a look at how little he cooked away from the job and rediscovered the simple wonders that could be had in his home kitchen. Instead of plating to impress, Carmellini came up with 100 recipes that any home cook could recreate, from Pasta e Fagioli to Chicken a la Griglia. Along the way he wrote a very engaging and charming book that makes the reader feel like Carmellini is just a friend who knows how to cook very, very well.

"Confetti Cakes for Kids" by Elisa Strauss with Christie Matheson (Hachette Book Group, $29.99)

One of our standards for judging a baking book is this: Does it make me think, "Hey, I could do that." This book by the owner of the New York bakery Confetti Cakes exceeds that standard by making complex techniques look simple. Does it mean we'll be popping off a Willy Wonka-type cake sometime soon? Probably not, but it makes us want to take a stab at seeing what we might be able to do with some fondant and a bowl of royal icing.

Jeff Houck

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