The bestselling author of Lost in Translation “unlocks the deepest mysteries of legendary Chinese culinary arts to produce a feast for the human heart” (David Henry Hwang, author of M. Butterfly).
 
This alluring novel of friendship, love, and cuisine brings the bestselling author of Lost in Translation and A Cup of Light to one of the great Chinese subjects: food. As in her previous...

Sidney Strauss is writing for the local food market's weekly newsletter when she gets the opportunity at a story that could make her career as a food journalist or permanently end it.

"In downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chef Lou Johnson works tirelessly to build her beloved yet struggling restaurant, Luella's, into a success. She cheerfully balances business, friends, and fiancé ... until fate intervenes. She's just baked her fiancé a rich, delectable coconut cake, but when she drops by his apartment with the birthday surprise, she discovers him in the buff--with an intern. Sardonic British transplant Al writes pseudonymous, scathing...

"This novel, written in the form of a memoir, follows the members of a search committee as they seek a new pastor for their church congregation. The narrator is a restaurant-review writer; meals at local restaurants and in committee members' homes occur in the course of the story. Recipes for twenty-five of the dishes are included"-- Dana Potowski is a restaurant critic and food writer and a longtime member of a progressive Unitarian Universalist...