Frozen Pineapple Daiquiris inspired by About A Girl

I know I've mentioned this before, but in case this is your first time here or just weren't paying attention until now, I prefer reading fiction. When I sit down to read, I'm looking for a bit of escape. I want to be pulled in to another world, another time, another place for several hour blocks at a time. (Although I should note that a good memoir, especially one centered around a life in food, music, or celebrity can have the same effect.) About A Girl is exactly the type of book I'm talking about.

First of all, I laughed out loud many, many times while reading the story of Tess Brookes, a girl with a plan—a life plan—that goes belly up. It rivals the best chick flicks and rom-coms out there, but with a book, you get to hold on a bit longer. There's tons of pop culture references throughout the book, from Bridget Jones and Sex and the City to Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling. I don't want to overlook "accidental" identity theft (aka identity crisis), Hawaii, a couple of sexy men (because what would a chick flick be without choices), plenty of cocktails and good food, best girl friends and catty bitches, a fabulous gay friend, and a new outlook on life. Oh, and back to the laughs—plenty of Brit humor. It's escape at its finest.

As far as food goes, it's not necessarily a foodie novel, but it's not lacking for inspiration. First of all, there's fun British food references like Hovis, Dairy Milk, Dairylea Triangles, and Hobnobs (fun for me, being an inquisitive American food-lover and all), and some other food and beverage items like Pop Tarts, Cava, McChicken sandwich, strawberry milkshake, Mars bars, chocolate oranges, spaghetti rings, salad, carrots, moules frites, fried egg butty, sugary pastries, bread, fish, Cheetos, and White Lightning.