Weekend Cooking: The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki

 

Over the last few years I have read several books translated from Japanese to English, and I have noted that the books I have been choosing seem to have certain similarities. They are usually episodic with a story connected to one particular scenario and then the next story is about someone else. They often are looking at grief and those who are left behind, often they feature food and there are often cats. 

Whilst the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki certainly fits three of these similarities, it is not so much a book about those left behind after a loved one dies, and it has a kind of magical realism running through it! Obviously you can tell from the cover that there are cats, it is episodic in structure (although it does tie together nicely at the end) and the food is out of this world, as you might guess from most of the chapter titles.

The sections of the book include 

Aquarius Trifle
Lunar Chocolate Fondant
Mercury Cream Soda
Moonlight and Venus Champagne Float

The Full Moon Coffee Shop is a very unusual coffee shop. It can randomly pop up and then be gone just as quickly, it's waiters are talking cats, and for those who are lucky enough to visit, there is a side of astrological readings and otherworldly wisdom.

The first visitor is a down on their luck scriptwriter named Mizuki.  In her twenties she was an in demand writer who had written hit TV shows. These days though, her TV scripts are out of fashion so she is writing for games, she lives in a much smaller apartment and she is something of a recluse. She has recently submitted a script that she is working on. 

The second visitor to the cafe is Akari who works in TV and has the horrible job of telling Mizuki that her script isn't going to be picked up, which is difficult because they have a past connection. Akari has a reputation as a driven TV executive who has a mess to clean up when her leading lady gets caught up in a scandal.

Then there is computer guy Takashi who ironically seems to have a lot of technology related issues a lot of the time.

The final visitor is Meguma, a hairdresser who has moved back home to help out in her parents small salon but who is trying to work out what she wants her career to look like in future.

I thought would share a passage from the book to give a bit of a taste of the writing. When I was reading this on the plane, I was amused to see that there was a chapter called Mercury Cream Soda, because I knew I had scheduled a Weekend Cooking post about creaming soda for when I was away. So here is a short passage about Mercury Creaming Soda

At the end of a road, I spotted what looked like a popup cafe.

In front of a truck were several sets of wooden tables and chairs, where the passengers from the train were sitting. I recognised them, somehow, and yet their faces remained a blur.

I took a seat at a free two-seater table. Someone appeared and placed a glass in front of me. "Here you go. A Mercury Creaming Soda."

Unlike the scenery and people around me, the drink was vivid and distinct. It had all the usual components of a cream soda  - ice cream and a cherry on top. What distinguished it from the normal version was that its soda wasn't the usual green, but instead a beautiful sky blue, and the ice cream was a greyish-what colour rather than the usual vanilla.

I pulled the glass toward me and sipped the drink through the straw.

The soda tasted pleasant and refreshing as it trickled down my throat, and the sweetness was just right. The taste was vaguely familiar and yet totally new,

The pale grey ice cream turned out to be a lemon-flavoured sorbet that went perfectly with the soda. As the flavours danced on my palate, I caught the sound of a woman's voice from the neighbouring table. She seemed to be complaining about something.

"Emails getting lost, data corrupting itself and now the train's late...Sheesh!"

The woman could have taken the words right out of my own mouth. It was if she was giving voice to my inner thoughts.

"Typical Mercury retrograde, isn't it?" she continued.

There is quite a lot of astrology in this book. Some of it I kind of skipped through, but some of it was very interesting, and some of it was just plain fun!

Interestingly, Jesse Kirkwood also translated the Kamogawa Food Detective Agency series by Hisashi Kashiwai. I might have to check out what else they have translated. The second book in the Full Moon Coffee Shop series is due to be released later this year. I will be reading it!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Steak Egg and chips
Monday - Normandy pork
Tuesday - Chicken Kebabs and baked potato
Wednesday - Beef Stroganoff
Thursday - Mexican Chicken and Rice
Friday - Leftovers

I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and Translated Fiction challenge hosted at Introverted Reader.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

 

I have been meaning to read Madeline Martin's WWII historical fiction for quite a while now. A few months ago I picked up a book thinking it was by her, but it turned out to be by someone else. However, when my read on a theme book club chose Spy as it's theme, this was my chance!

Ava Harper is happy working as a librarian at the Library of Congress but given that she speaks two languages it probably isn't a surprise when she is recruited for something different during WWII. She is sent to Lisbon in Portugal. Portugal is a neutral country but that doesn't mean that it isn't a hotbed of activity. There are active spies from every country. There are refugees from countries like France who have made it this far but now they need the right documents in order to be able to fully escape to a new life. There are also the notorious Portuguese secret police who don't need much of an excuse to arrest people.

Ava's job is to collect all the different publications from different countries that end up in Lisbon and to photograph them so that they can then be saved to microfilm and sent back to the US to be analysed in the hope of finding any piece of information that might help turn the tide of the war. As soon as she arrives she catches the attention of both a British and a German spy, and so, over the course of her stay in Lisbon, she gets a bit more caught up in the spy game than she otherwise might have done. She also begins to make connections in the refugee community and it is here that she learns of the difficulties that the refugees face.

The other side of the story is set in Lyons in France. Elaine's husband has insisted that she do nothing for the resistance but when he disappears she realises that she is going to have to get involved. She starts working with the Resistance in the printing of illegal newspapers, but also gets involved in other activities. It is in the course of these activities that she meets a young Jewish woman and her child and she decides that she needs to help them escape in any way that she can. 

One day Ava is reading a French Resistance newspaper and she realises there is something unusual about the article. She cracks the puzzle and finds a plea for help. Can two women who have never met, who cannot communicate directly with each other, and who each face different kinds of danger on a regular basis help save a young family. 

I really enjoyed both aspects of this story, and even more so given that both aspects were inspired by true stories. I never really thought about what kind of activities would be happening in neutral countries like Portugal, and how for the refugees getting there was only one step on the journey. There were still more dangers and challenges to face before they could truly feel safe.

Elaine's story was the more dramatic of the two between her missing husband, her work with the Resistance putting her in danger, and the fear of being betrayed. She had many losses but she still decided to take risks for other people when they needed it.

I will now be looking to read Martin's other WWII novels. From what I can see her future books are moving away from the WWII setting so it will interesting to see how they are received.

I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading challenge which I host here.

Rating 4/5

White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton

 

Recently we went on a cruise that visited both Japan and Korea. I already had this book on my TBR list but I decided to move it up the list because it was set both of the countries we were visiting, and I was very glad that I did.

White Mulberry tells the story of Miyoung who is a young girl who lives in a village near Pyongyang in Korea. Both of her sisters have gone abroad to marry leaving Miyoung at home with her ailing mother. Miyoung is very clever and dreams of becoming a teacher, but her mother knows that there are limited opportunities for her in Japanese occupied Korea. She is therefore sent to Japan to live with her sister to continue her education.

It soon becomes clear that Japan is not going to be any easier than Korea was. Koreans live segregated lives, working only the lowest of job and are discriminated against consistently. The only way to get ahead is to pretend to be Japanese, so Miyoung becomes Miyoko and trains to become a nurse. 

Eventually Miyoko starts attending a clandestine Korean Christian church and there meets a young man who is fighting for better rights for Korean immigrants. This makes her life even more complicated. She is a Korean pretending to be Japanese but in love with a Korean man and she is Christian at a time where this is frowned upon by the Japanese authorities. It doesn't help that when she marries her husband's family is difficult as well.

As World War II rages, Miyoungknows that her only hope is to get back to Korea, but also that will be difficult to say the least. What will it cost her in terms of her family and her life? And who will be left in Korea to help support her re-establishing her life there?

It was interesting to read about the differences between these two cultures and how someone who is trying to navigate these different worlds. I enjoyed the food talk, and I really liked the relationship between Miyoung and her sister, Bohbeh, who faced her own challenges and yet supported Miyoung when she needed her the most.

One of the reasons I read historical fiction is that you can learn so much. I had no idea that Korea was occupied by Japan as far back as the 1910s. I did know that they invaded Manchuria in the years leading up to WWII but not Korea! While I was in Japan I learned some things about the post war years that really surprised me. For example, did you know that the US controlled the Japanese island of Okinawa and only gave it back to Japanese control in 1972? They still have a significant say in the decisions of the island because of the military bases on the island. 

This story is made all the more interesting in that it is based on the author's own family history. It seems that there are quite a few WWII stories now that are based on true stories like this. I am sure that there are a lot more interesting stories out there still!

I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading challenge which I host here.

Rating 4/5

Blog Tour: The Best Days of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe

 

When Mallory receives some bad news regarding her health, she is determined to keep it a secret until she is ready to share the news on her own terms. She knows that she needs to get everything organised so that her daughter, Jilly, has all the support that she will need should the worst happen! 

Penny is Mallory's cousin and best friend which is ironic seeing as their mothers, sisters Gigi and Rose, haven't spoken to each other for decades. Penny and Mallory really don't know what caused the estrangement. Now Gigi is a widow and Rosa probably needs to retire from her wedding dress shop in the small village of Saxby Green. 

One day, Jilly comes home and shows Mallory a picture of a famous movie star from the 60s wearing the dress that Gigi wore for her wedding - a dress that the two sisters made together. What could have happened to cause such a rift between two sisters who used to be so close.

Mallory decides to spend some time in the village and Penny comes home from London to try and talk some sense into her mother, and to find out what is going on with Mallory. She knows something is just not quite adding up with her cousin and she is determined to find out the truth. And if a little well intended meddling could help reunite the estranged sisters all the better. 

Gigi and Rose's story is interspersed throughout the book. Both of them have carried around the hurt of what happened for years, and as a reader you get to see both sides of the story. In some ways, some of the issues discussed about the past are very much of their time and yet still relevant in many ways, but the repercussions are felt through the years. 

It did take me quite a while to get into this book, mainly because I had a bit of a book hangover from another book, but once I did immerse myself into it, I was very emotionally affected by it, and cried a couple of times. The way that the friendship between the two cousins, the fears that Mallory had for herself and her daughter were sensitively handled, and then there was a nicely nuanced romance that felt exactly right for the book!

I have read Helen Rolfe before. I really enjoyed her Skylarks series which was set in an air ambulance centre. If I'm honest, I was a bit disappointed that we weren't getting another book with that setting. However, I ended up really enjoying this one.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. 

Rating 4/5

About the book 

The Best Days of Our Lives

When Mallory receives life-shattering news, she decides to use this summer to make sure her family and friends are prepared for whatever might come.

But Mallory has a challenge when it comes to her mother, Gigi. Following the loss of her husband, Gigi is lonely. So when Mallory makes a shocking discovery that shows a new side to Gigi's relationship with her estranged sister Rose, she decides to intervene and make a last attempt to reunite them.

Returning to her mother’s quiet hometown, Mallory and her cousin Penny try to get to the bottom of a dispute that has lasted more than sixty years, involving a lost wedding dress and a heartbreaking secret. But with Rose and Gigi determined to ignore their daughters’ efforts, will Mallory be able to put her affairs in order before it’s too late?

Gorgeous and emotional new novel from Helen Rolfe, perfect for fans of Shari Low, Cathy Bramley and Lucy Diamond.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/bestdaysofourlives

About the Author

Helen Rolfe writes contemporary women's fiction and romantic fiction. She enjoys weaving stories about family, friendship, secrets, and relationships. Characters often face challenges and must fight to overcome them, but above all, Helen's stories always have a happy ending.

Helen loves creating village settings or places with a small-town feel and a big sense of community. Location has always been a big part of the adventure in Helen's books and she enjoys setting stories in different cities and countries around the world. So far, locations have included Melbourne, Sydney, New York, Connecticut, Bath, Paris and the Cotswolds.

Born and raised in the UK, Helen graduated from University with a business degree and began working in I.T. This job took her over to Australia where she eventually turned her attentions back to the career she'd dreamt of since she was fourteen. She studied writing and journalism and wrote articles for women's health and fitness magazines. Helen began writing fiction in 2011 and hasn't missed the I.T. world one little bit... in fact she may just have found her dream job!

Social Media Links –



Facebook: @HelenRolfeAuthor

Instagram: @helen_j_rolfe

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/HelenRolfeNews

Bookbub profile: @helenrolfe

Top Ten Tuesday: Surprise!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books that Surprised Me (in a good or bad way)

I wasn't sure how I was going to go about this topic, but in the end I found ten books which surprised me in different ways

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley - I was recently looking through the reviews that I have written for Susanna Kearsley books, and I came across this review for The Rose Garden where I said that I gasped in surprised when I read the big twist!

My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult - This was a surprise in a bad way. That ending made me want to throw the book against the wall. And I have never read another one of her books in the 20 years since.

White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton - The surprised for me in this one was that I didn't know that Japan had occupied Korea for so long! I knew that they had invaded Manchuria in the years before WWII but not Korea.

The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke - I searched my blog for the word surprise and this is one of the books that came up. I do love this book! (my review)

Undercover Billionaire by Amy Andrews - The surprise for this one was that I forgot to add it to my blog tours list and suddenly realised I had to read and review it in the space of a couple of day! Surprise! (my review)

Return to Virgin River by Robyn Carr - I was surprised that this book was released 8 years after the previous book in the series. Still haven't read it!

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson - I am a bit surprised I haven't read any more of Helen Simonson's books given how much I loved Major Pettrigrew's Last Stand which I reviewed here. I will be reading this one soon!

A Christmas Surprise in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - I was surprised I had so few books with the word surprise in the title! (my review)

Midnight in Paris by Gillian Harvey - I am a bit surprised I have had so many 5 star reads so far this year. Normally I have two or three but so far this year I have had 6! This was the first. (my review)

Pictures of You by Emma Grey - And this was the most recent!

This week

I'm reading

I did a lot of starting books this week! Some finishing but nowhere near as many as I started!

One book that I finished was the audio of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker, the final book in the Seven Sisters series. I have listened to all of these on audiobook. Given that each of these books is more than 20 hours long that's a lot of listening time! I started listening to the first book more than 6.5 years ago, so it has been a bit commitment! This final book was narrated by Richard Armitage for Pa Salt's parts and Tuppence Middleton for the modern story. It feels like this book did what it needed to do in terms of tying all the origin stories together, and telling Pa's story, so I was satisfied with the end of the series. I did have one question about what happened on the luxury super yachts (IFYKYK) but overall it was good. 

I then started listening to Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Kerry Greenwood had passed away recently, so I thought it would be a good time to go back to the next Phryne Fisher book. It did surprise me a little that is 16 years since I read one of the books but I think I have slipped back into the world quickly. After listening to Richard Armitage for so long it did take me a little while to get used to the sound of a new narrator but I think I am there now!

We did a bit of a roadtrip on the Friday and Saturday of the Easter weekend, and I convinced my husband that we could listen to a book while we drove. It needed to be something that he would enjoy too, so I chose The World According to Kaleb by Kaleb Cooper. Kaleb Cooper is a young British farmer who is now a bit of a celebrity thanks to his appearances on Clarkson's Farm, a reality TV show featuring well known British....presenter I guess is the best word....Jeremy Clarkson. It is only a short book at around 2.5 hours and it was amusing. Kaleb is a young man who knows exactly what he likes (farming) and what he doesn't like (sheep among other things!). 

As that book was so short, we then started listening to The Satsuma Complex which is both written and narrated by Bob Mortimer. Bob Mortimer is a British comedian who appears regularly on panel shows such as Would I Lie to You and he makes us laugh a lot every time he is on! He's a great oral storyteller. We will listen to this when we are in the car together for the next little while!

In terms of books I was reading myself, I finished The Best Days of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe. The review for that will be up this week. 

I then read The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer, which is another super interesting book by her! It's a bit of a genre bender but I will say more when I review it next week!

I also started The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson which is going to be my read on a theme book club selection this time around. The theme is 1960s and this book is set in 1966 so it fits the theme beautifully. 

I also started The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer. I picked it up on a whim when I went to the library last week, but I can only borrow it for a week so I needed to get going with that one sooner rather than later!

Finally, I didn't take the physical books I was reading with me when we went away so started The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods. I am a bit torn now as to which book to finish first as I did get sucked into this one pretty much straight away!


I'm watching


We are big fans of the archeological show Time Team here in my house. It is often on the Real History channel at around dinner time so we will watch it if it is on, even if we have seen the episode multiple times before. I was a bit surprised to find that over the last couple of years they have been making Time Team specials that are only on Youtube! This week we watched one called Digging Band of Brothers which was an excavation of the camp where the US 101st Airborne Division was based in Britain. There are a few other specials that we will watch now! If you are interested this is the link.

We also started watching a new series of  the American Baking Show which is the first one I have seen where Paul and Prue are the judges.

I also watched How to Steal a Million as part of the Springtime in  Paris event hosted by  Erin from Still Life, with Cracker Crumb and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings. What a fun movie! It starred the beautiful and ethereal Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, who was very handsome as a young man.  The premise is that Audrey Hepburn's father is a serial art forger. He agrees to hand over a famous statue to display in a museum without realising that he has agreed to have the piece authenticated. If it is tested, then it will be revealed as a fake then he will be found out. Hepburn's character then enlists the help of a man she caught stealing a painting from her own house (or so she thought) and hijinks ensue. The movie had such charm and naivety. I couldn't help but think if the movie was made today how very different it would be! I am planning to watch the next couple of movies for the event this week.


Life

I had to go to the funeral of a friend last week. He was a larger than life character who drew people to him. It was a reminder to live life to the best of your ability as you don't really know how long you have. Also #$%$ cancer.

In Australia, Easter is a four day weekend with public holidays on both Good Friday and Easter Monday. A lot of people choose to go away for the weekend. Originally, we were planning to go away overnight next weekend, but then my son is going interstate that weekend so we decided to go on Friday and come back on Saturday.

You probably recall that we like a good art silo, and this trip we managed to see 4 full size ones, plus a collection of smaller ones. The main reason for heading up the highway was to go to the Lake Boga Flying Boat Museum. During WWII, Lake Boga was a secret base for the repair of flying boats like the Catalina aircraft and saw Australian, American and Dutch planes landing on the lake.  It was also a key point in the communications between the Allies. It was a fascinating place, and I think it might be a place that we go back to should we be up that way again. Recently there has been a new art silo done at Lake Boga, which reflects this history. The other photo is of a silo at a place called Sea Lake, which was cool because in the day you can see the image below, but at night they projects some films onto the silos taking about the farming and the dark sky environs around which means amazing stargazing

One of the highlights of the trip was going to a nearby lake called Lake Tyrrell which is the largest salt water lake in the state of Victoria.  We went at sunset the first night and it was spectacular. I took so many photos. The next morning we went at about 8am and we were pretty much the only ones there. Well...us and the flies. 

We had to come back on Saturday as we had a show from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival featuring another British comic, Tom Allen! He is on various UK show and he was very entertaining. This was the only show we got to go to in this year's festival as we were away for most of it!


Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: What I Read on Holidays
Blog Tour: Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn
Blog Tour: Secrets Under a Riviera Sky by Jennifer Bohnet

Weekend Cooking: What We Ate on Holidays: Japan and South Korea - the Sweet Edition

Spell the Month in Books - April





I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Spell the Month in Books - April

Reviews From the Stacks

Welcome to the April edition of Spell the Month in Books which is hosted at Reviews From the Stacks. The link party opens on the first Saturday of the month, but I won't be posting until after that as I already have other things scheduled every Saturday and for the first two Sundays of the month.

The idea is that you use the title of books to spell the month name. There is also a theme each month, with the theme for April being animals on the cover. 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - I couldn't go past this children's classic which includes talking hares, grinning cats and so much more!

The Restaurant in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - Whilst I might be cheating with this one, this is the first book in a series set in a small Australian coastal town called  in Pelican Crossing, and the word pelican appears in the title of every one of them

Rescue my Heart by Jill Shalvis - It's been many years since I read Jill Shalvis, but I do recall enjoying her trilogy called Animal Magnetism, which is set in and around an animal shelter 

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros - Does a dragon count as an animal?

Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters - This is the fourth book in the excellent Amelia Peabody series set in Victorian Egypt. 

There's no set theme for May. Maybe I will have to come up with my own! Or maybe I will just keep it simple next month. We'll see when we get closer to the time!

I am sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted by Readerbuzz.