Edible Alchemy: Making Life Magic

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0595322840 ISBN 13: 9780595322848

Publisher: iUniverse, Inc., 2004

Ideas for living the good life on a shoestring budget run throughout Edible Alchemy: Making Life Magic, a book of restaurant reviews, holiday celebrations, and travel memoirs. Ruth Pennington Paget delves into the culinary culture of the ethnic restaurants she takes her family and friends to as a way to enrich life. She explores the universal aspirations that render life sacred in her food stories about Greek Orthodoxy's Epiphany and New Year's, Islam's Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, Judaism's Rosh Hashanah, and Hispanic Day of the Dead.

The travel memoirs from the time she lived in Europe and Wisconsin recount her foibles as an innocent abroad and new mother. Ultimately, Edible Alchemy will inspire one to write one's own life story.

Praise for Ruth Pennington Paget's previous work:
"Eating Soup with Chopsticks is written in Ruth's breezy, dialogue-rich style--a fun read."
--Sue Fishkoff, Monterey County Weekly

"Since her youth, Paget has always been fascinated with ethnic cuisine and she shares that enthusiasm in these captivating essays."
--Bob Walch, Monterey County Herald

From the Author:

Book club members may want to use the following questions to discuss Edible Alchemy:

1. Would you want to eat at the kinds of restaurants Pennington Paget reviews? Why or why not?

2. What do you think of Pennington Paget's restaurant reviewing style? Food descriptions, history of dishes, culinary trends and so on.

3. What did you learn about the ethnic holidays described? How are they the same and different from your traditions?

4. What does Pennington Paget learn about herself as she travels throughout Europe and the United States? Have you had similar experiences when traveling in the U.S. or abroad? How have your experiences differed from the author's?

5. How does Pennington Paget make life special for her family when they are living on shoestring budget in the Upper Midwest? Has your family done similar things? What are they?

About the Author:

Restaurant critic and travel writer Ruth Pennington Paget has written two books of humorous memoirs?The Edible Tao: Munching My Way Toward Enlightenment and Eating Soup with Chopsticks: Sweet Sixteen in Japan. Her art criticism has appeared in Art and Antiques magazine. She lives in Monterey, California.