Sunday Salon, Nov. 1

Avocado milk shake and beef noodle soup in Toronto, Canada just before Oct. 31 ended. Spent the rest of the night planning to buy four tickets for the Canadian $50million lottery and planning how to split and spend our winnings, among seven of us. This conversation was fueled by glasses of Bailey's Irish Cream and sweet wine.

Before heading for Toronto on All Hallow's Eve, I had finished three book reviews for the week:

Persian Girls by Nahid Rachlin
A Sportscaster's Guide to Watching Football by Mark Oristano
Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin, a new sequel to the Nanny Diaries which will be out Dec. 15.

And also an interview with mystery writer, Susan Arnout Smith, who discussed why she writes mysteries/thrillers such as her latest, Out At Night.

Books have come in from Hachette and other sources, so my TBR pile has been mounting again after I thought I had really whittled it down some.

Am now reading a library book, Breathing Water, a thriller set in Bangkok, Thailand, which is quite good and will be keeping my attention on the long ride back to the States from Canada.

Now, off for dim sum breakfast at a Chinese restaurant. I love to start a new week this way.
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Book Review: Trail of Crumbs, a Memoir by Kim Sunee

Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home by Kim Sunée
Genre: memoir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Trail of Crumbs is the memoir of a young woman haunted by memories of being lost or abandoned by her mother at age three in a Korean markeplace. Persistent nightmares and her longing for "Omma" to come back to claim her in that marketplace suggest an unfulfilling childhood in the U.S. with her adoptive family. Her adoptive mother she describes as distant and disapproving. Her happy memories in the U.S. are of her adoptive grandfather, who taught her about New Orleans food and cooking.

The book is partly about travel - Provence and Paris, France - and partly a memoir of the author's love affair with Europe, European food, and European men - very different from the "narrow" and circumscribed life in New Orleans. Kim Sunee escapes to college in France and stays to live in Europe for many years with her French lover Olivier and his young daughter. When she doesn't find fulfillment in this either, Sunee finally tries psychotherapy in France, where a psychiatrist tells her the problem - she is divided.

A quick trip to Asia, suggested by Olivier, doesn't do anything to heal this divide. Korea is unsatisfactory, and she becomes sick on a trip to China. She finally accepts herself and her life while spending time in French Guiana - a simpler place than any she has ever lived in.

Those interested in memoirs, adoption and adopted children, French food and recipes, and Provence, will enjoy the book - the personal journey of a Korean American woman and food writer seeking to find out where she belongs.

Kim Sunee is "founding food editor for Cottage Living and the host of 'Local Flavor with Kim Sunee' for MyRecipes.com." Her website is www.KimSunee.com

Thanks to the Hachette Book Group for the review copy of this book.