Roger Ebert authors a book of recipes for a rice cooker

Because... why not, I guess? As bizarre as it might sound, Roger Ebert — movie critic, screenwriter, Renaissance man — has written a cookbook dedicated solely to meals that can be made with a rice cooker. The book, titled The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker (which I am not making up and is totally amazing), will be out this month and was inspired by Ebert's serious devotion to this appliance. Like, he really loves it. This is from a blog post he wrote in 2008 about rice cookers' supreme usefulness:

I am thinking of you, student in your dorm room. You, shut-in. You, recovering campaign worker. You, movie critic at Sundance. You, sex worker waiting for the phone to ring. You, factory worker sick of frozen meals. You, people in Werner Herzog’s documentary about life at the South Pole.

Of course, some people might wonder how a man with no lower jaw, who can no longer eat food (or smell it, sadly), would write a book of recipes. Ebert's answer?

It’s all experience, my visuals and friendly tasters. I’ve used The Pot so very many times I know what everything I make in it MUST taste like.

Just awesome. I am not sure which of the following things make me love Roger Ebert the most:

- His intelligent and considered Twitter feed

- His screenwriting for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

- His commitment to posing with his thumbs up in almost every picture he takes

- The phrase "The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker"

I can't choose, but the point is: this man is a national treasure. Someone please makes sure he has access to all the rice cookers he desires.

Via the NY Times.