nwasianweekly.com
April 12, 2003

Essentials of Asian Cuisine, by Corinne Trang. Published by Simon and Schuster, 2003.

This is quite simply one of the best cookbooks I've ever read, looked at or cooked from. In particular, I enjoyed the in-depth approach to both the cooking of food and its origins. Trang goes into detail about Asian vegetables and utensils, stopping now and then to share personal stories, bringing the reader close to the cooking and the enjoyment of food. A simple description of an afternoon-long barbecue in Paris or a straightforward picture of the wooden troughs used to gather salt can inspire the experienced and novice alike.

The book is beautifully designed and makes thoughtful use of pictures. The author, who teaches culinary arts at Drexel University in Philadelphia, traveled to Asia to shoot most of the photographs herself.

Accessible and tasty recipes from throughout Asia put this cookbook on the same shelf as Joy of Cooking or any other big, solid cookbook that finds daily use. Its elegance, however, may move you to keep it with your art books.

Return to Painting, by Gao Xingjian. Published by Harperperennial Library, 2001.

Before Gao received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000 for Soul Mountain, he primarily made his living as an artist. He is more widely known as a writer, dramatist, actor, translator and director, rather than as an artist, though.

Enjoy this book for its brilliant and loving approaches to ink-wash paintings. Or spend time ruminating over such phrases as "Anyplace where the imagination may wander can be expressed by painting" in a piece entitled "... Painting." The ambitious reader may also explore this book with someone who is practicing Eastern and Western painting and thought.

If Gao seems a bit precious or obtuse at times, I would suggest that it is not for effect. Instead, it is because the artist is surfing so mightily on language, image, time and perception; further, his writing is translated from Chinese to French to English.

Experiencing his paintings in print is a moving experience. I look forward to a day when I might view them up close and personal. It is also a pleasure to see that the publishers have quite fearlessly left the slick pages marked only with the author's small red chop, allowing the reader something close to an original experience of the art.

Japanese Country Style: Putting New Life into Old Houses, by Yoshihiro Takishita. Published by Kodansha International, 2002.

The quote "beauty is its own reward" applies to this lovely big book with abundant color images. Written in Japanese and English, it is a record of the author's lifelong pursuit to restore traditional Japanese farmhouses, which began 35 years ago when he refurbished a home threatened by a pending dam project.

The Wall Street Journal is quoted on the flyleaf as saying, "Mr. Takishita has dominated what is probably the tiniest housing niche in Japan — the buying, selling and moving of the evocative 'minka,' or farmhouse." Though many of us may never see the homes ourselves, the interior and exterior shots of these homes, both in progress and completed, will remind the reader of days gone by.

Takishita's process not only included making the surface of the homes more beautiful, but also making once-drafty spaces more livable.

For the architect, artist, homebuilder and dreamer, these magical dwellings will undoubtedly be a place to return to again and again. It may inspire some to set forth on a lifelong journey similar to Takishita's.