One week ago, I had the best night! Joy the Baker was in Austin at BookPeople to talk about her cookbook and sign books. I was so pumped! Joy is one of my favorite food bloggers. Her podcast that she & Tracy do is hilarious as well!
Jessica & I…picture from FoodFash
So, as typical food bloggers do, I turned to Twitter to make plans. Jessica, Kristin and I decided to meet up for the book signing and go out for drinks afterward. As we were waiting for Joy to arrive, we ventured into fantasy land….
“What if Joy came out to drinks with us afterward?”
“What are you going to say when you meet her?”
“I have to think of something witty.”
“Wait, so what if she actually DID come out with us?”
“Should we ask? Hmmm, how do we ask? Where would be a good place to go so she’ll want to come?”
Joy & I
After Joy’s talk and Q&A, it was go time to line up to have our books signed. Kristin and I both invited her for drinks at Contigo after she was done. We threw in that we were food bloggers, so ya know….she’d know we were good people. :)
We settled in at Contigo and started chatting. I had no real reason to think Joy would come to Contigo. She’s tired! She just had to sign a bunch of books and make small talk with strangers.
But you guys….she came! I was OVER.THE.MOON! i seriously got to chat with Joy for over an hour over gin drinks. She was so gracious and lovely and answered my non-stop questions with patience. Such class that Joy the Baker!
And so, in sharing my glee with you…
I’m giving away a copy of the Joy the Baker Cookbook! You WILL want this cookbook. Hello….Coffee Bacon, Baked Chili Cheese Fries, Carrot Cake Pancakes, Chocolate Malt Bread Pudding, & Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies….just to name a few.
To enter: Leave a comment!! It came be about anything. Have you met food bloggers in person before? Did you act like a star-struck fool like me or did you keep it together??
Contest ends Friday night at 11 pm.
Winner will be drawn on Saturday morning.
***edited: Contest has ended. Congrats to the winner: Maureen!
How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway
“As a young Japanese lady, you have been schooled in all the way of housekeeping. Your high school taught you how to arrange flowers, the fine art of fan dancing, and how to launder and store kimonos.
Now that you have married an American, you might be at a loss as to certain American customs. How to iron a Western shirt. How to make a bed properly. If you were lucky enough to have worked as a maid in a Western-style establishment, you may already know these things. But for those of you who do not, or do not know the details of American culture, this book will provide all the higher education that you need.”
How to Be an American Housewife follows the story of Shoko, a young Japanese woman trying to survive during WWII. Shoko’s father believes that her best opportunity in life would be to marry an American GI and leave Japan. Shoko gets a job at a hotel where many GI’s are staying. She even makes a portfolio of her suitors to get the input from her father on who to “woo”.
With her father’s blessing and her brother’s grave disapproval, Shoko moves to American with her American husband, Charlie. Dilloway’s book follows Shoko as she tries to acclimate to life in America. Her only help is a book to guide her: How to Be an American Housewife.
The book bounces from Shoko’s past to her present. It’s many years later and Shoko wants to return to Japan to try to patch things up with her brother. Shoko’s poor health prevents her from traveling, so she enlists the help of her daughter, Sue, to travel on her behalf.
I enjoyed this book. It was really interesting learning about Shoko’s past in Japan and how she coped with culture shock as a new bride. Each chapter started with a passage from the “guide book” like the one above.
If you enjoy historical fiction wrapped in family bonds, you’ll be a fan of this book as well.
4 out of 5 stars
