Alibris.com is carrying my book by Ruth Paget

Thank you Alibris.com for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks.

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Saxo.com in Denmark is carrying my book by Ruth Paget

Thank you Saco.com in Denmark for carrying my first edition of Eating Soup with Chopsticks.

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France 

Bol.com of the Netherlands and Belgium is carrying two of my books posted by Ruth Paget

Thank you Bol.com of the Netherlands and Belgium for carrying two of my chapbooks about Asia - China Hand and Eating Soup with Chopsticks.

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Moai Lifestyle from Okinawa, Japan Explained reposted by Ruth Paget

I like this explanation of the Moai Lifestyle from Okinawa, Japan that is part of the Blue Zones Healthy Lifestyle Program. (Salinas, California where I live is a Blue Zones community.)

Moai Lifestyle from Okinawa, Japan Explained

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Thank you Loot South Africa for carrying my book by Ruth Paget

Thank you Loot Company South Africa (ZA) for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks.  

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Better World Books is carrying Eating Soup with Chopsticks and my chapbooks posted by Ruth Paget

Thank you Better World Books for my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks and several of my chapbooks.

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Abe Books is selling my books China Hand and Eating Soup with Chopsticks by Ruth Paget

Thank you Abe Books for carrying my first edition books - China Hand )Revised book title - Teen in China) and Eating Soup with Chopsticks.about being an exchange student in Japan.

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Thank you Coupang Taiwan for carrying my book - Ruth Paget

Thank you Coupang Taiwan for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks.

Coupang Taiwan

Wo xie xie ni!

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Thank you Desertcart Angola for carrying my book - Ruth Paget

Thank you Desertcart Angola for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks.

Desert Cart Angola

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Thank you Desertcart Seychelles for carrying my book - Ruth Paget

Thank you desertcart.sc Seychelles for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks about living in Japan as an exchange student.

Desertcart.sc Seychelles

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Spicy Crab Salad at Roy's in Pebble Beach by Ruth Paget

Spicy Crab Salad at Roy’s in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget 

The unexpected presentation of ordinary dishes at Roy’s restaurant in Pebble Beach, California make ocean side dining there a pleasant and memorable experience. 

On a recent visit to Roy’s, I ordered spicy crab salad. I like stringy masses of crab with spicy mayonnaise, but Roy’s has a much more elegant way with this salad. 

The chopped crab with a hint of mayonnaise came as a large disc in the bottom of a large flat-bottomed salad bowl. There were about 4 ice cream scoops of crab all together. Spread on top of the crab was a thin layer of spicy, hot wasabi horseradish paste. 

On top of the crab disc, there was a mound of organic Monterey County baby greens with two pink Hawaiian flower petals (plumeria?). I assumed the flowers were edible and ate them along with the salad. 

The dressing was a yuzu-pineapple juice vinaigrette. Yuzus look like prickly lemons and taste like grapefruit. They give the sour tang to the tropical vinaigrette. 

That salad was delicious for light spice lovers and certainly qualified as a spa lunch. 

For dessert, I ordered a chocolate banana cream pie, which arrived as a 3D swirl of bananas and thick whipped cream in a flaky pastry cup topped off with a thick chocolate syrup. 

As I ate this delicious food, I thought of chef Ferran Adrià whose meals at his El Bulli Restaurant in Barcelona, Spain were described as theatre – great food, great beverages, great view, great comfort, and great service. 

Roy’s restaurant at Pebble Beach, California provides all this and offers a varied menu for diners who would like a burger or BBQ après golf. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Thank you Atlantic India for carrying my books by Ruth Paget

Thank you Atlantic India for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks.  

I have loved learning about Indian culture over the years.  Living in Japan encouraged me to study all of Asia.

Atlantic India

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Japanese Home Cooking selling for $1.99 on Kindle today - reposted by Ruth Paget

For a glimpse into Japanese culture happening in Los Angeles, check out Sonoko Sakai’s Japanese Home Cooking.  It is selling for $1.99 today on Kindle. 

Delicious ideas for Japanese food lovers - even a discussion about noodle making at home.

Japanese Home Cooking by Sonoko Sakai

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Ramen Obsession Cookbook is $1.99 on Kindle today reposted by Ruth Paget

Ramen Obsession cookbook by Naomi Imatome-Yun is $1.99 on Kindle today (333 pages).

Once you master noodle preparation, ramen comes together very quickly.

Click below for book information:

Click for Ramen Obsession Details

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Before the Coffee gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi Reviewed by Ruth Paget

Before the Coffee Gets Cold Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is a novel about a dingy, Tokyo café with a chair that can transport you back in time, giving the book its fantasy element that sells a lot of coffee. 

Beverages, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, are moneymakers for restaurants, so readers involved in the restaurant industry might enjoy how this dinky café uses the chair time machine to ring up lots of coffee, curry rice, and yakitori chicken orders. 

The café regulars are a man staving off Alzheimer’s Disease by reading travel literature, the ghost who sits in the chair time machine and who only gets up once a day to use the bathroom, and the waitress who always has curlers in her hair. The waitress is slow yet friendly and makes even first-time customers feel like family. The waitress lets people confide in her or lets them write or work on creative projects “to keep ‘em coming back” as we say in the Western United States. That phrase is the mantra of all successful restaurants. 

This Tokyo café has interested more than 3 million readers worldwide. Other reviewers call the book cute, chatty, and fun. Reflect a bit, though. One of the novel’s characters plays massive, multiplayer, online, role-playing games (MMPORGs). This café might be a mini role-playing game run by the regulars to ensure meals, to stake out a place of repose, and to maintain steady employment.  

The café owners seem to know what will attract enough customers to make a profit. The owners have identified a market niche and their niche’s needs, wants, and desires. Everyone, for example, drinks coffee – time travelers or not. 

People interested in the following careers might consider this book more than a quick read: 

-restaurant owners 

-servers 

-bartenders 

-restaurant publicists 

-writers 

-interior decorators

-artists 

-coffee salesman 

Before the Coffee gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is a book that deserves a second reading just to see why this café survives and thrives in a basement location. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Asian Cultural Experience Salinas - 4/26/25 by Ruth Paget

The 26th Asian Cultural Experience is happening in April 26, 2025 in Salinas.  This event is organized by the Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese communities in Salinas.

For more information click on the press release link below:

Asian Cultural Experience information

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

The Poppy War Reviewed by Ruth Paget

The Poppy War Reviewed by Ruth Paget R.F. Kuang’s 

The Poppy War is a fantasy-historical fiction novel that is loosely based on the period of Chinese (Nikara in the novel) history called The Rape of Nanjing or the Nanjing Massacre by Japan (The Federation of Mugen in the novel) during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 – 1945). 

Rin, the book’s main character, a dark-skinned peasant girl from the South, tests in the military academy at Sinegard, which rigorously prepares its students for a war that has not happened yet, but that will according to daily reminders from professors. 

The entire school becomes mired in war much sooner than the characters think. The horrific atrocities induce many of the soldiers and leaders to use opium to continue fighting, particularly as food supplies dwindle and to invoke warrior deities. 

In the two Opium Wars prior to the Sino-Japanese Wars, the Chinese fought to keep opium out of the country. However, by the time of The Poppy War that Kuang writes about, the Chinese population had begun to widely use opium (derived from poppies like heroin) despite its being illegal. As you read through The Poppy War, you can see its varying effects on soldiers, especially leaders.

One of the great lessons of The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang is that despite efforts to prepare for defensive war, a country can still suffer greatly and be invaded by other countries seeking land and/or wealth. 

The Poppy War illustrates in devastating detail the atrocities of war in Nikara. This makes for difficult yet important reading for readers who are interested in real-life careers as: 

-diplomats -war crimes assessors 

-translators 

-military personnel 

-psychologist, especially for therapists dealing with victims of gang rape by enemy troops 

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang uses the fantasy format to relate a historical incident like The Rape of Nanjing to make it supportable for readers who probably would have trouble reading about it in history books.

In the end, The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang acts as an excellent introduction to 20th century Chinese history. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Hibachi Salmon and Mango Cheesecake at Roy's in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget

Hibachi Salmon and Mango Cheesecake at Roy’s in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget 

Roy’s in Pebble Beach, California is like a little piece of Maui in Monterey County. 

It is a Hawaiian themed restaurant that serves several fish selections worthy of a Japanese steak house. (Descendants of Japanese farm workers make up one of Hawaii’s large ethnic groups.) 

I ordered the hibachi salmon at Roy’s, which is made with wild caught salmon (expect market pricing). 

Hibachi refers to a flat-topped grill used to make this dish and the name for the sauce used to flavor the salmon. The citrusy sauce is made with soy sauce, honey, fresh squeezed lemon juice, sesame oil, minced garlic, ginger, and a little white pepper. (Recipe source: weekdaypescatarian.com). These ingredients are delicious alone and even better when mixed together. 

The salmon is grilled first before adding the sauce. At Roy’s, the skin on the salmon is papery thin and crunchy. I ate it at Roy’s, but usually leave it at other restaurants. 

Roy’s adds some theatrical flourishes to the hibachi salmon. They top it with silky, sweet pieces of preserved ginger. On top of the ginger, they place a swirling mound of shaved strands of daikon radish. 

The hibachi salmon is served over rice with tender, steamed broccolini on the side. All the flavors blend together just like they are supposed to for an optimal dining experience. 

The dessert was tops, too: a mango cheesecake with pink guava sauce and lemon icing made from tart, freshly squeezed lemons. 

We sat at a window seat with a view on the ocean. I thought the terraced desk outside would be a great place to watch the sunset or listen to the bagpiper at 6 pm with an exotic dessert from Roy’s ($18 each) and a coffee. 

Roy’s is a splurge restaurant, but it is much less expensive than eating a comparable meal in Maui. 

If you want to eat a Hawaiian meal stateside, Roy’s restaurant in Pebble Beach, California is a great choice for you. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Thank you Mercado Libre in Argentina for carrying my book by Ruth Paget

Thank you Mercado Libre in Argentina for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks!

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Thriftbooks.com is carrying my books!

Thank you Thriftbooks.com for carrying Eating Soup with Chopsticks!

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chosticks and Marrying France