This book, no question: Cooking A to Z, from the California Culinary Academy. It is perfect in it's thorough coverage of everything from ingredients to equipment to technique, and I can almost always find at least the starting place recipe for what I need. For a girl who was raised with no cooking skills at all, this…

Re: the title: Story goes drowning man, won't climb aboard boats and helicopters sent to rescue him, saying instead that he has faith God will save him. When he drowns and finally meets God, and asks why He didn't help, God says, "I sent you two boats and a helicopter."
Moral of the story: God is there if you're…