Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Book, Movie & Podcast Reviews my own book page

On a lighter note - I've just finished, or almost finished, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. by Jennifer 8 Lee.

The book is an exploration of Chinese food - more specifically, of American Chinese food. From the origin of the fortune cookie (Japanese, did you know?) to a quick biography of General Tso (and why does he have a chicken?) to a more serious look at the Chinese restaurant business, from the suppliers to the workes and owners.

I found the book to be maybe two chapters too long, but that's okay as each chapter is self-contained and it's permissible to skip anything that doesn't interest you.

I have no idea what prompted me to pick this up at the library, aside from deep and abiding love of mu shu pork. The book covers a lot of territory, so it doesn't get into a lot of detail at any particular point. Light reading, but enjoyable -- especially if you pick up some take-out on the way home from the library.

Any recipes or cooking tips in it?

No, not really - unless they're in the last chapter or two, which I haven't finished. It's really about the whole cultural phenomenon of restaurant/takeout Chinese, and its huge place in American culture (for example, there's a chapter on Chinese food as an American Jewish tradition.)

I am having a case of reader's block! I read 1/2 of a book this week and realized I didn't know a thing that was happening in the plot. Football season does this to me!!

Any reference to Soy Vay? Their Cha Cha Chinese Salad Dressing makes any excellent chicken salad. The recipe on the dressing bottle called for mai-fun rice sticks. I didn't feel like googling it, so I emailed Soy Vay, asked them what they were, where can I get them, and what's a good substitute if unavailable in this area. They got right back to me and answered some other preparation questions as well. Try Cha Cha Chinese chicken salad sometime.

A number of months ago, The New Yorker had an excellent and very interesting article on olive oil. You wouldn't believe the intrigue and politics surrounding olive oil.

Yes, Soy Vey got a mention - although I'll admit the one bottle of their sauce I ever bought, I ended up throwing out; I just didn't care for it.

The book really is fun; it goes into the white boxes with the "thank you in 'chop suey' font," a discussion of soy sauce... It's just a fun, low-key, but informational book.

By the way -- the book opens with a story about a multi-state lottery that one day had far too many winners in far too many places. Suspecting fraud, the winning numbers were traced back to...yep. Fortunes from a Chinese fortune cookie company. Players in several states had played the numbers they found in their cookies, and it hit!

Sometimes I trip over the most wonderful things...this time it's The Ginseng Hunter by Jeff Talarigo. It's his second book; the first was The Pearl Diver, which I haven't read. Yet.

This is a small book, in a number of ways. It's under 180 pages. There are only a few primary characters, and we don't get to know their names - they are the girl, the man with the truck, the guard. The only two characters who have names, share the same false name - and all the other women in their place of business - are all called Miss Wong.

The narrator is a ginseng hunter who lives on a small farm on the Tumen River. The river is the border between China and Kim Jung Il's North Korea. The story talks about the people who attempt to escape across the river to his side, to China, and about what happens on the Chinese side (do we hide these people? Do we feed them? If we feed them they will never leave. Did you hear, one family fed them, only to be shot in their beds. You can sell them back to the guards...or you can feed them, hide them.)

This is one of those books I want to own. I need to read it again for the writing, and again for the story. The writing is absolutely breathtaking. At times it reminded me of etching on glass, it was so clear and so perfect. One passage I had to read three times before going on.

Here is a selection from a page picked pretty much at random. The ginseng hunter has just bought a puppy, and in the description of the transaction the author tells us all we need to know about the local economy.


I would write more but I have to go to the library for The Pearl Diver. If they don't have it, the bookstore is just a mile in the other direction.

I am just reading a book called "Valley Boy" by Tom Perkins who was/is one of the leading venture capitalists the helped establish Silicon Valley.

It is quite an interesting read.

Here is one tidbit. Perkins said that his partner (Kleiner) was famous for his succinct pearls of wisdom. One of which was

" The more difficult the decision, the less it matters what you choose"

A very counter intuitive thought since many of us spend excessive time tomented by difficult decisions.

Excellent review Mellow Julia. I want to read that book.

Ardy, I love that quote.

Kathy

Ardy, that's a comforting thought, as I have a tendency -- a very bad one, I've always thought - to make major decisions (after much anguished worry) almost on a whim. I think I've always felt I can never know all the details that affect the decision, and if I did know them, could never properly weigh them - so (with more worry than necessary) I tend to close my eyes and jump.

I'm sure I've been burned at some time or another, but not enough to make me really notice.

I'm not sure I'd recommend this as a way to make decisions; in fact I'm fairly sure I wouldn't. But the quote is certainly reassuring!