Oishinbo: Japanese Cuisine

With this title i'm filing it as a back date as to fill up the gaps of days i've missed.
I've been very sick with brain issues lately and so I keep having to skip reading days.


Title: Oishinbo a la carte: Japanese Cuisine
Author: Tetsu Kariya
Artist: Akira Hanasaki

This is volume 1 of the Oishinbo series by Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki. It follows the story of Yamaoka Shiro, and his co workers as they go through trials and tribulations of finding the best foods for their newspaper column. This was the most boring so far of the Oishinbo series, as it had no real lessons or morals in it. In fact it seemed to mostly be Shiro having fights with his father (who is a master chef or something) and his father being a pompous windbag.  

As the series progresses (and i'm reading them out of order) it improves a great deal. Each volume includes recipes for a meal featured in its pages. This one so happened to be two recipes: Pine-skin seabream  and Kamishio seabream. 

Theres not much substance to this volume as i've said, but it touches on how "real chefs should not smoke" and how some things like strawberries should be enjoyed without toppings to cover their natural flavor.

Pretty sure if I had started with this first volume I would have abandoned the manga series from my reading list.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/OISHINBO-JAPANESE-CUISINE-Tetsu-Kariya/dp/1421521393

ISBN: 978-1-4215-2139-8

Oishinbo: The Joy of Rice

Title: Oishinbo a la carte: The Joy of Rice
Author: Tetsu Kariya
Artist: Akira Hanasaki

This is volume 6 in the Oishinbo series, it seems readable in any order and each appear to have a real recipe from the book IN the book so that you can try your hand at making the cuisine illustrated therein. (The one featured here is Scallop Rice. I don't eat seafood or anything from the water and thus it is lost on me.)

This book once again makes a very good point of bringing the environmental cause to center stage, making people look at cause and effect; showing them aspects about their food that they may never have thought of before. The last volume I read Vegetables, didn't teach me much that I didn't already know of the cooking and the culture. This one however taught me a little bit about rice. Including but not limited to: How brown rice can be nutritionally detrimental due to pesticide residue, how healthy deciduous forests can make oysters taste better, how different areas of Asia eat rice at the table, and what a "matsutake of the sea" was. 

Very informative while keeping with the basic storyline.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Oishinbo-Carte-Vol-Joy-Rice/dp/142152144X

ISBN: 978-1-4215-2144-2

A Thread of Silk

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
YAYYYYYYYY. I am turning 27 officially, and we are practically snowed in. My guy is coming over today and we will be making pizza and my friends and I will be dressed up. We meant to go out dancing in portland tonight but our car will not make it on the roads, so instead, we are staying in.



This is a short story in a compilation by Eugie Foster called "Returning my sister's face, and other far eastern tales of whimsy and malice".

Title: A Thread of Silk
Book: Returning my Sister's Face, and other far eastern tales of whimsy and malice
Author Eugie Foster

As I am stating on each of these, this is a review for one of the short stories in this anthology and thus the image will be the same for each of these. This is not a repeat.

This is a Japanese tale that weaves together the present and past; and is one of the longer stories in the book. A woman seeks revenge in the Heian Era (my favorite era of Japan) against a man of her family who has attempted to slay her brother and has destroyed her lands in the process. She admonishes the God of War to help her in her conquest, and he gives her a sideways gift for not asking the right questions. She also attracts a Goddess who is much more dangerous and whom gives her a gift that is also a downright curse.

I must say. The main male antagonist in this is the most goth japanese character i've come across ever. Tall dark and handsome, swathed in dark colors, emotional. Elegant, poetic, chivalrous. It is hard not to like him. 

Very soon you come to see the workings of the Goddess and why indeed hers was not a blessing.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Returning-My-Sisters-Face-Eastern/dp/1607620111

ISBN: 1-60762-011-1

The Tanuki-Kettle

This is a short story in a compilation by Eugie Foster called "Returning my sister's face, and other far eastern tales of whimsy and malice".

Title: The Tanuki-Kettle
Book: Returning my Sister's Face, and other far eastern tales of whimsy and malice
Author Eugie Foster

As I am stating on each of these, this is a review for one of the short stories in this anthology and thus the image will be the same for each of these. This is not a repeat.

The Tanuki-Kettle is a lighthearted Japanese based tale, very short; about a Tanuki (raccoon-dog) that likes to chase chickens and meddle in the affairs of his savior: a tea girl named Hisa. Usually Tanuki are only tricksters, here he brings her luck and good fortune.

I cannot wait to see what else this book has in store for me. I think I might do illustrations for at least this story, as I would rather like to illustrate a tanuki-kettle. 

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Returning-My-Sisters-Face-Eastern/dp/1607620111

ISBN: 1-60762-011-1