Nora Ephron Secretly Published Cookbook, Not For Sale

Two days after the announcement that journalist and screenwriter Nora Ephron passed away, the media mourning has not stopped. While The NY Times' Sam Sifton reminisces about the one time he cooked meatloaf for Nora Ephron and went all Julie & Julia Amy Adams crazy, the LA Times brings us this lovely look into Ephron's cookbook.

Apparently the filmmaker self-published a cookbook for friends and family only, a 174-page white-spiraled book called Nora's Cookbook. Inside? Recipes for chicken salad, monkey bread, pot roast, and some seriously smart tips on party hosting.

There's a recipe for "Joan Didion's Mexican Chicken Thing," as well as "Ben Bradlee's Scrambled Eggs," and also a cherry cola mold ("There is no excuse for serving this, unless you are obsessed with Jell-O," she wrote.).

As for things to buy from the store? Piecrust, fried chicken, and delicious food in general (and passing it off as your own). Even more entertaining is her insightful look at seating charts, especially in California.

"In California, of course, they never break up couples at dinner for fear of what might happen if someone's husband were seated next to someone else's very young girlfriend," she wrote. "But dinners with couples seated next to one another are always deadly dull, which is why there are almost no good dinner parties in the entire state of California."

Head on over to the Los Angeles Times for more. Now if only they got their hands on the recipes.

Jessica Chou is an associate editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @jesschou.