"Lost In The Supermarket: An Indie Rock Cookbook," edited by Kay Bozich Owens and Lynn Owens, might be one of the best gifts you can give this holiday season. Not only is it a great music-themed present that isn't music, but it's inexpensive ($17.99), has great Sonic Youth homage art accompanying the delectably vivid lists of ingredients and instructions, and is immensely practical in these post-Bush "salad days."

As the economy evolves all of us into aspiring chefs to spite spendy eating out, this attractive guide to home cooking travels everywhere from Animal Collective's "Geologist's Greek Style Shrimp" as appetizers, to Belle & Sebastians' "Sweet Potato Soup" for the first course, then perhaps Quintron and Miss Pussycat's "Black Out Fish" or AIDS Wolf's "Veggie Pakoras" for an entree. Desserts at the end could include Dresden Dolls' "Amanda Palmer's Chocolate Zucchini Cake" but I'm going to pass on the Johnston Mud Cookies. (Fugazi's "Guy's Rhubarb Crumble" sounds irresistible though.) 

Bozich Owens used to write great autobiographical essays for a magazine called Morbid Curiosity, and has been a perfervid foodie-scene follower for a long time. What's amazing is the scope of palette covered here, covering drinks (Country Teaser's "Red Headed Sluts"), salsas (Sorry About Dresden's James Tomatoless' Salsa), potluck items (Elf Power's "Gummi Salad!"), healthy stuff (Mountain Goats' "Phal Ras"), not healthy at all stuff ("The Chocolate Sausage" from stellastar*), and ending bizarrely on the nihilistic jokes of "Recipe for a Melodramatic End" by noir-chanteuse Carla Bozulich and Atony & The Johnsons' "Fly Soup." (The actual recipe for the latter: ("1 can Campbell's soul / 1 can of water / 1 fly.")

From the "Christmas in July!" to the "Cheap Eats, Chill Thrills," I can't think of a timelier or more appropriate book, for people who love music and food and may not even own another cookbook. Highly recommended!