Welcome to Litsy!

One of my new favorite books! I found this book touching and beautiful, but I can see where maybe some of the translation didn‘t catch the nuance for people who aren‘t Japanese/very familiar with Japanese culture.
A retired detective runs a restaurant with his daughter. They also run a special agency that will recreate a meal based on people‘s memories.
5/5 read this for lovely descriptions of food and the power it has to change people.

Love the subplot involving the model/ muse for Manet & many other artists.
Victorine Meurent was an artist herself, but her paintings are lost. Another example of women being erased in history.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cz9k68IRjSf/?igsh=dDRhdjdzYjFuemJt

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/9802721/Manets-forgotten-muse-V...

https://www.google.com/search?q=Victorine-Louise%20Meurent&client=safari

I listened to this audiobook recently and loved it. Bourdain left me feeling both disappointed and relieved that I‘ve never worked in professional kitchen. His honesty about his own career to include the mistakes he made was refreshing. I wish I had gotten around to this sooner and now plan to check out his other books.

Starting this novel based in NYC & Paris. Love it when real people make cameos in a novel. Evelyn Shrifte was the longtime president of Vanguard Press, which published the first books of Saul Bellow, Dr. Seuss and Joyce Carol Oates.

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/31/arts/evelyn-shrifte-98-publishing-house-presi...

Found this in search of #Camplitsy nominees. It‘s also this month‘s #bookspin.

Despite the title, this is not a crime story. People go to this restaurant to find that one special meal from their life. It felt very japanese. I liked the pace and found the detuction fascinating. I would have enjoyed it even more if I knew more about japanese food.

Sometimes the universe smiles on me and gives a book that I needed right at that time. Thank you, Universe! Charming, hopeful, and essentially a beautiful French dream come true. It‘s exactly what I needed. Merci 😘

Another Bourdain deep dive - my sixth this year! This one is a collection of photo essays documenting the first two/three seasons of No Res. Looking back, it was a really pivotal time in the direction of his TV career. They still had a lean crew and no special lighting/sound more like Cook‘s Tour, but he was also starting to make the interesting thematic and creative choices that would be a hallmark of Parts Unknown. Plus Beirut is included iykyk.

This board book, made with the Eric Carle estate, is a colourful introduction to shapes and different types of food for very young readers. It‘s solidly put together but I must confess that I did not understand why there is a hole in the middle of each page (I later learned it‘s for the Caterpillar to crawl through) and one of the shapes (a squiggly line) isn‘t what I would immediately think of as a shape.

I ended up listening to the audiobook version of this, and I‘m glad I did. The author reads it herself and you can hear the emotions in her voice in certain parts. I liked what she had to say about being a working mother. I‘ll transfer my notes to the book and get it in the mails this week @TheBookHippie @ElizaMarie @bookandbedandtea #LMPBC

I made this rhubarb upside down cake on the fly last night. It was so good!!!!

I tweaked a few things. Less sugar, more orange, and I used whole wheat flour because that‘s what I had. The crumble bottom did not disappoint; it‘s one of the best parts! I have missed the tang of rhubarb. Harris Teeter has it right now.

Recipe here: http://blueridgebaker.blogspot.com/2010/05/rhubarb-upside-down-cake-for-my-dads....