Candy Bunny Reader

   I finally picked up the first volume of this popular manga series! Did I like it? Well.. Delicious in Dungeon by Ryoko Kui is set in a fantasy world where a member of a group of travelers gets eaten by a dragon while venturing near a dungeon. The member's name is Falin, and she is the sister of the leader of the group. His name is Laios. To rescue Laios's sister Falin, they have to venture through the underground dungeon and deal with its monsters. But they can't do any of it on an empty stomach! So with the help of their new friend Senshi, they learn what animals and plants in the dungeon are safe to eat and how to prepare them. The gang gets to try so many new, delicious foods. I really liked the character dynamics, and the mythical creatures and plants in the world of the story were really cool! Seeing them being cooked and eaten by the characters felt really cozy. It kind of reminded me of Witch Hat Kitchen , the chill spin off of Witch Hat Atelier . But I did give i...

Another book I picked up on a whim and ended up loving! Basil and Oregano by Melissa Caprigione is an urban fantasy story set mostly in a really expensive magical school called Porta Bella Academy, where student learn cooking magic. The main character, Basil, and all of her friends were lucky to get into the school on scholarships, and Basil's dream is to be top student. It will be a ticket to better support her and her two dads. Attending the school at the same time is Arabella Oregano, the daughter of a famed magical chef Ametrine Oregano. Basil falls in love with her at first sight, and before they knew it they become friends.   But being in this magical cooking school isn't easy. The students are constantly having to come up with new recipes to impress teachers, and Basil sometimes has to deal with mean girl Xynthia and her cronies. Meanwhile, Arabella has a secret of her own that might sour her and her mother's reputation. The girls have to come up with solutions to t...

My third favorite Sharon Creech book, after Bloomability and Ruby Holler ! Granny Torrelli Makes Soup is about Rosie, who recently had a misunderstanding with her best friend, Bailey (a boy). Rosie's grandmother, whom she calls Granny Torrelli, helps Rosie with her problem by having Rosie help her cook some soup, while she tells her a story of a similar situation that happened to her back when she lived in Italy. The second half of the book, after  Rosie and Bailey make up,  follows another dilemma, with  Rosie and Bailey meeting a new girl name Janine and thinking their friendship will fall apart. This time, Granny Torrelli has them help her make spaghetti and meatballs. She tells them another similar story from her youth, and then a pasta party happens.  It's a short book, but it really packs an emotional punch. What else did you expect from Sharon Creech? The food descriptions really had me thinking the food was delicious. I'm in the mood for soup and pasta, to...

  You have no idea how long I've wanted to read this memoir. I finally got to read it this past month! My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme is Julia Child's memoir. It is her story on how she got into cooking after she and her husband Paul Child moved to Paris, France. They moved there because of Paul's job at the US Embassy there. In her first few years in France, Julia learned to cook all sorts of French dishes and desserts at a world famous cooking school, and she met two of her long-time collaborators there: Simone Beck (nicknamed Simca) and Louisette Betholle. Julia then got the idea of making a cookbook with French recipes, but for an American audience. Aside from talking about her everyday life in France, she also gets into details on how she, Simca, and Louisette wrote there first and most famous cookbook: Mastering the Art of French Cooking . It was not an easy process! But their book became super-successful overseas (in the United States), to ...

OMG.  This is a new all-time favorite! Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa is about Sentaro, an ex-convict who is paying off debt he owes by working at a small dorayaki shop. One day an elderly woman named Tokue comes in and notices the "now hiring" sign, and she asks Sentaro if she could work there. Sentaro notices that her fingers are all crooked, too, and he wonders if it's a good idea to hire her. After Tokue has him her try her own sweet bean paste recipe for the dorayaki, Sentaro loves it and hires her. More and more people start to drop by the shop and business is booming. One customer who visits frequently is a teenager named Wakana, who doesn't have a good relationship with her parents but eventually becomes friends with Sentaro and Tokue. Sentaro is happy that the shop is doing well thanks to Tokue, but the owner (his boss) finds out about Tokue and her crooked fingers, and she tells Sentaro she found out that Tokue came from a sanatorium that housed people...

  Another great book by Anne-Sophie Johanneau ! French Kissing in New York is a YA contemporary romance book about 18-year-old Margot who is a beginner chef and moves to New York City from a small village in France to fulfill her dream of working at the restaurant of a celebrity chef that her mother personally knew. She begins living in a tiny apartment with her father and his fiancé Miguel and her step-cousin Luz. Margot's father and stepfather are also planning to get married.  Margot also moves to New York City for another reason: to find Zach, an American boy she met one summer day while taking a cooking course at Le Tablier, a famous cooking school in France. However, even though they planned a date and everything ahead of time, Margot does not find Zach at where and when they promised to meet, and while working at Nutrio (the restaurant owned by her celebrity chef family friend), she meets and becomes fast friends with another chef there named Ben, and realize...

  I finally got around to reading Chef's Kiss By Jarrett Melendez  ! And it was awesome! This book came at the right time in my life. Not to mention I am in the same area of my life as the characters in this book (a twentysomething trying to find her dream job), so it was beyond relatable. Chef's Kiss is about Ben, who majored in English in college due to his parent's wishes, but has trouble finding a full time job that involves writing. He starts to look for part time jobs that supposedly require less skills but doesn't do so well initially until he stumbles upon a small restaurant run by a hotheaded owner named Chef Davis. Ben is already somewhat good at cooking since he cooks for himself and for his three roommates/friends all the time at home. Either way, his new friend/co-chef and crush, Liam, and two other chefs named Emilia and Mel train him in some of the restaurants' menu items to prove to Chef Davis that he can work there in the kitchen. Ben gets ideas on ...