Andrea Nguyen

I love this book and I flew through it on the first day of having it on my pre-read list. I love Pho and getting to delve in the history of its people and where it came from was amazing. The whole feel of the introduction is rich and warm, sinking into your skin and your stomach, readying you for every delicious recipe on the pages that follow it.

I, for one, can not wait to try many of these recipes for the Pho, for fried Pho Noodles, and even the surprise Pho Cocktail at the end.

A gorgeous, in-depth guidebook to the history, traditions and making of Pho.

Included are several recipes for pho, from 'quick and easy' to more 'adventurous' preparations. The 40 minute Quick Vegetarian Pho recipe did not look so 'easy' to me. It also looked as if it might take more than 40 minutes. Of course, the 40 minutes did not include pan searing the tofu or making the requisite sauces. Still looks worth it though...

Recipes for accompanying sauces, sides, and beverages help round out show more the pho meals. There are a handful of vegetarian versions and sides, however the book does not aim for being vegetarian pho cookbook.

The book is beautiful and shows great respect for pho, and certainly has inspired me to make some Quick Vegetarian Pho. I will report back with updates on ease and reliability of the recipes!


**eARC Netgalley** show less

Love, love, love dumplings. This book took me a while to get into, because after reading the first part of the book, making dumplings seemed complicated. But once you figure out that dumpling dough is literally just flour and water, and that you're being given instructions for how to cook dumplings in a myriad of ways (you only need to pick one!) you're off and running. Flavors are authentic - looking forward to trying out many more recipes from this book this year.

So far, so good! I have made homemade gyozas for my man on Valentines day, and they were delicious - the mix of pork, cabbage and shrimps worked really well, and the spare mix and dough were frozen for later. Not every recipe demands that we use rice flour, as a lot of recipes use just plain wheat flour, so it is actually a bonus for the ordinary cook like me! I can't wait to try other dumplings, as they are all very tempting!