Fiesta at Rick's: Fabulous Food for Great Times with Friends by Rick Bayless, with Deann Bayless

Rick Bayless’s seventh cookbook, Fiesta at Rick’s (Norton; $35), is all about celebratory food. “Some dishes are really simple to make and some dishes take days,” says the man behind Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, and Xoco. Whether for pico de gallo or pozole, the recipes are aimed at party cooking, and Bayless covers everything from writing the grocery list and creating a timeline to digging a fire pit for Mexican paella. Never content without a project, he has already started his next cookbook—for Frontera’s 25th anniversary. As for that fire pit, you will need bricks, a shovel, and “lots of energy.” Maybe you can borrow some from Rick.