Recipes are adapted for single cooks. Entire books are written to inspire solo chefs to get into the kitchen. Heck, blogs are even devoted to maintaining a full culinary life while living alone. Despite how many of these recipes you've clipped or how many inspiring books you may own, at the end of the day -- you're still dining alone. And in my experience, you can take the 'ho hum' approach or you can chuckle at it all. This post is much more about chuckles than sighs. Because hey, life is short.

Spilled Milk Podcast:
Writer and food blogger Molly Wizenburg pairs with food writer Matthew Amster-Burton in a podcast they created last year called Spilled Milk. The gist of the podcast? The charming duo takes on heady topics such as Hot Dogs or Fudge with witty conversation and banter. Last week, they discussed Spouseless Eating and their revelations will make you smile. Both Wizenburg and Amster-Burton have partners at home, but they dish about what their partners think that they're eating and what they actually eat when at home alone for a chunk of time. No area is left untouched: from peanut butter to Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, you'll feel a little better about the odd meals we all piece together on occasion while standing over the sink.

Cooking For One: Web Series
Writer Jiji Lee has just put out Cooking For One, a new web series that pokes fun at cooking shows in general and the single life in particular. Host Ada Gordon (played by Jenn Schatz) was supposed to be starring in a newlywed cooking show with her fiance, Neil. Well Neil broke it off. So Ada's left to bat solo. And it's pretty darn funny. In the most recent Valentine's Day episode, Ada begins with, "Hey, solo chefs! Turn off that Fiona Apple and put down your copy of the Bell Jar..." as she prepares baked brie in athletic pants and a yellow cardigan. It's likeable and laughable and brings a little levity to a topic that's so often treated as more serious than it needs to be.

Table For One
Table for One is a website that collects photos of people eating out alone. Some are reading, some day-dreaming, some appear to be downright nodding off. But the website captures something we all must do throughout the day and something so many of us enjoy. You can't eat with a rousing crowd at every meal. Table for One celebrates that.

A Week of Cooking and Eating Solo
Mark Bittman's piece, A Week of Cooking and Eating Solo didn't set out to be blatantly funny. Bittman was exploring what he prepared and enjoyed eating while alone at his place on Cape Cod. But his blatant honesty and detailed explanations of what he ate throughout the day make for an enjoyable, light-hearted read. After a particularly large meal out that included steak, fresh tomatoes, potato and quinoa salad, Bittman proclaims: "Well it was practically Rosh Hashana." Later he discusses a morning meal with admirable brevity: "Breakfast: Watermelon. A lot of it." At the end of the week, Bittman does draw a few conclusions which I find to be true of myself. Single cooks often over shop, and they really must be comfortable with leftovers or reincarnations of meals. If you're a Bittman fan or are curious how others are navigating the solo dining realm in great detail, this one's worth revisiting.

Oh, Golly. Where to start this morning?

I think I’ll just begin as I do every morning-- with fashion, diet, and exercise advice from Brenda Dickson.

There are some people in this world who spend entirely too much time on YouTube. I count myself as one of them. One of my favorite discoveries has been Miss Dickson. She’s been somewhat of a sensation on the website over the past several months, elevating an otherwise forgettable actress to cult star status.

She’s been parodied dozens of times, but her original, self-produced self-help video "Welcome to My Home" (1987) needs no added commentary to be both horrifying and hilarious-- it's so vain, yet so well intentioned that it’s impossible not to love. It is gorgeous, wonderful Camp. If you don't know what I’m talking about, I shall refer you to the late Susan Sontag-- she can explain it all to you.

And then I shall cry.

Here is part two of Miss Dickson’s video. Her diet advice begins at 4:14, but warm up a little with her exercise routine (with her dog, Charles). There is nothing more to be said, there is only to watch.

Enjoy. Just remember: Salt can make your face puffy, and sugar causes wrinkles.

Chef Sanjay Thumma is my current favorite time suck.

It's refreshing to watch someone demonstrate mouth-watering dishes with uninhibited joy, a matter-of-fact globalism and minimal make-up. It helps that I love so many cuisines in India, but what immediately appealed to me is his stance as a teacher. It's a very different experience to learn about traditional foods from someone who assumes, from the beginning, that his audience is not comprised of outsiders. Like a student whose teacher sets high expectations, viewers and home cooks rise to the challenge.

His balance of expert advice with friendly reassurance is neither oversimplified nor condescending. He's a professional who knows his stuff, yet he doesn't gleam with that over-polished, over-packaged look of television. Each video, from 2 to 10 minutes, covers one specific dish -- just enough for a mouth-watering work break if not dinner inspiration.

Don't expect super-high production value. Two still cameras and a complete lack of location shots does not a sexy food show make. But what Thumma's demos lack in glamour, he more than makes up with passionate enthusiasm (a taste of Hydrabadi mutton biryani literally brings him to tears), humor and generosity. Both veg and non-veg recipes appear in his demos, and he discusses the food of diverse communities across India.

Thumma seamlessly blends traditional techniques and modern adaptations. His simple yet brilliant two-step rice cooking for biryani ensures perfectly cooked basmati throughout the pot. His secret ingredient for butter chicken reveals the wonderful ways that food crisscrosses the oceans. Mentioning Indian restaurant cooks in the U.S. and England, Thumma holds up a bottle of "tomato ketchup" and squirts some into his sauce to finish it with just the right texture and tangy flavor.

While cooks already familiar with basic Indian spices will have a headstart, the demonstrations are geared to beginners, whether you're mixing your first raita, simmering a batch of comforting chana masala, making your own herb-infused paneer or--for the ambitious--rolling and stretching roomali roti to serve with kebabs.

There are many, many cooks demonstrating recipes on YouTube. I'm looking forward to watching the better ones emerge as new stars of the wide, wild culinary world.