Sedaris brings saucy sweetness to entertaining book

Amy Sedaris is best known as a comedian and actress with a sense of humor that leans toward the odd and subversive. Who knew that inside this snarky persona lurked a perfectly coiffed and pearl-necklaced hostess eager to welcome her guests to yet another perfect get-together?

In “I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence,” Sedaris brings her own blend of spices to the kitchen. In these pages the reader will learn how to create the ideal ambience for any gathering, including:

“Ladies’ Night: with step-by-step instructions for kitchen-cabinet facials and ironing each others’ hair.

“Rich relatives’ visit: serve silver dollar pancakes and golden potatoes, of course.

“Children’s parties: Try the party game Junior Cat Burglar — “lock the kids out of the house and see if they can break back in.”

“Unexpected guests: Remember, if they won’t leave, “you can always lie”

There’s even a special section on the care, feeding, entertainment and entrepreneurial skills of rabbits, Sedaris’ favorite pet. (Bunnies are the inspiration for both vanilla cupcakes and a gourmet mac-and-cheese recipe, among others, so they are obviously very gifted as muses.)

Although tongue-in-cheek, “I Like You” is not just one long joke. The recipes are serious and in fact quite tasty. The pages are peppered with useful hints on how to remove stains, buy gifts for lumberjacks and fend off attacking wolves. And the crafts really do make things.

Decorated with colorful illustrations and photos that wouldn’t be out of place in a Betty Crocker cookbook circa 1976, “I Like You” is “so visual, a monkey could enjoy it.” But humans who love entertaining will enjoy it even more — at least if they also have an odd and subversive sense of humor.