Culinary Adventure

You are about to be taken on a culinary adventure through sea, land, and air.  My three book recommendations will satisfy your appetite for a good read!

One Piece: Pirate Recipes by Sanji is a cookbook based on the manga series One Piece. One Piece’s anime adaptation also airs on Adult Swim. Sanji works as the cook for the Straw Hat Pirates, and his recipes in One Piece: Pirate Recipes will inspire you to set sail on your own culinary journey.

For date night, you can cook Island of Women’s Laughing Mushrooms so that your date finds you hysterical. Your house will turn into a laugh factory. You will be a first-rate cook with second-city humor.

Are your family dinners boring? Is there nothing to talk about? Then make your family Treasure-Splitting Sandwiches. These will cause quite a discussion!  You will treasure these conversations at the dinner table.

For these recipes and more—whimsical effects not guaranteed—check-out One Piece: Pirate Recipes by Sanji. I advise you to follow these recipes closely. Because if you don’t then your crew will abandon ship. They will then join another ship called Uber Eats.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata is a story about Keiko Furukura, a 36-year-old woman who has been working part-time at the Smile Mart convenience store for the past eighteen years. Society sees Keiko as an oddball, and Keiko likes working at a convenience store because of the employee manual’s detailed list of rules such as how to display rice balls.

Keiko’s life revolves around the convenience store. Keiko’s favorite food is the food from the convenience store that she eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Keiko’s favorite music is the sounds of the convenience store. Some of her favorite songs are the tinkle of the door chime and the beeping of the bar code scanner.  Unfortunately, Society doesn’t like Keiko’s lifestyle. She doesn’t follow the pre-packaged way of life in which a person has a career or is married.

You might enjoy Convenience Store Woman if you like slice-of-life entertainment, such as Kevin Smith’s movie Clerks, or if you like realistic fiction, as the novel’s author works part-time at a convenience store. Check out this convenient 163-page read to find out if Keiko checks out of her current situation and finds a job or gets married!

The Most Spectacular Restaurant In The World by Tom Roston will take your understanding of the restaurant industry to new heights. 

Tom’s book is about a restauranteur named Joe Baum who oversaw Windows on the World, an umbrella name for a collection of eateries in the World Trade Center complex. Windows on the World was located at the top of the North Tower on the 106th and 107th floors. It included eateries such as the main restaurant (Windows on the World) and a place called The Greatest Bar on Earth, which had a dance floor.

Many towering celebrities were involved with Windows on the World. Chef James Beard advised Joe Baum on food for the Windows on the World collection, while Food Network Chef Michael Lomonaco was executive chef for the Windows on the World collection. Celebrities such as Muhammad Ali, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Spain’s King Juan Carlos I and his wife Queen Sofia dined atop the North Tower.

Tom’s book also honors immigrants, such as undocumented Ecuadorian immigrant Luis Ann Chimbo, who received massive opportunities by working at Windows on the World. Check out The Most Spectacular Restaurant In The World by Tom Roston to consume the history of the iconic collection of eateries and revisit a New York icon now lost to the past.

I hope my review of these three books has given you some food for thought. Our next stop is your local library. Let me know all about your culinary adventure when you have finished digesting these three recommended titles.