This week: Japanese cuisine, recipes, cookbook giveaways, EYBD previews and more!

As I have mentioned before, I have been finding joy in watching YouTube videos that involve cooking. One channel that I love is Nami, a single female Japanese office worker documenting her lifestyle via vlog.

A majority of her videos demonstrate what she cooks in her small Tokyo apartment. She creates multi-coursed meals that look incredible. I would kill for her knife skills (even though Darcie reminds us this week to not sweat our lack of knife skills). We are not contestants on Worst Cooks of America with Anne Burrell pulling out our uneven julienned carrots to shame us or painting our fingers with a red sharpie for not holding the knife perfectly. To be fair to Anne holding the knife properly is a safety issue.

I’ve always loved Japanese food and Nami’s videos and cooking has me even more interested in Japanese cuisine and the wabi-sabi way. Wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection; appreciating beauty in all things.

In the next few weeks, we will have a great giveaway featuring a Zojirushi Gourmet Sizzler Electric Griddle and Takoyaki Plate along with a selection of cookbooks including The Japanese Art of the Cocktail and Otaku Food!: Japanese Soul Food Inspired by Anime and Pop Culture which are being provided by the publishers. I have also ordered a few other titles for this promotion – one for me and one to giveaway: Wabi Sabi: Finding Beauty in Imperfection, Asian Ingredients: A Guide to the Foodstuffs of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam and Ramen Otaku: Mastering Ramen at Home.

In the EYB Library, we have 985 books on Japanese cooking and over 3,300 online recipes featuring this cuisine. I am a huge fan of Tim Anderson who has another cookbook Your Home Izakaya being released in October and Nancy Singleton Hachisu‘s books are incredible.

Takoyaki or “octopus balls” are ball-shaped snacks made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special molded pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger, and green onion. (Note: an aebleskiver pan will work for takoyaki). I have found a few ideas for using the takoyaki pan without octopus being involved – my husband is not a fan – as well as sweet treats. I am planning a Japanese inspired dinner for our family (Nami has a video on her own takoyaki party) and I will share my experiments when the promotion goes up. Meanwhile, take care and be kind to yourself and each other.

The last week on the blog

Since our last roundup, Darcie has written these articles:

• Learn what Alice Waters eats in a week
• Chefs share their family kitchen secrets
• Don’t sweat your lack of knife skills
• A man on a mission to save apples

Darcie’s weekly food news antipasto is shared every Sunday and the tag #foodnews brings up these information-packed posts from the most current to the first one. Darcie can be followed on Instagram at darcie_bakes.

Since our last roundup, I have posted the following:

• Cooking with Marilyn Monroe (or at least her cookbooks)
• Sumac – Cookbook Giveaway
• Australia Cookbook Giveaway
• Home Farm Cooking – Cookbook Giveaway

Please be sure to check our Calendar for author and bookstore events including Rick Rodgers baking classes which I’ve been told are great fun!

And as always I continue to update our Kindle deals post so check the blog for new sales – the ICYMI post explains the Kindle post in detail. I will have loads of giveaways for you over the next month so keep checking the blog and our social media feeds. My Instagram is thecookbookjunkies.

Prime Day is coming up – and we will appreciate your thinking of EYB when doing your Amazon deals shopping. If you are a prime member and have bought from a small business on Amazon look for an email offering you a $10 credit to use on Prime day (you must claim the $10 credit). The commissions earned help us to index more books, please remember to click here before shopping Amazon USA * Amazon Canada * Amazon UK anytime.

Jenny and the EYB Team

---

Recently Indexed Titles

Our indexers and member indexers have been busy again this week. Over twenty titles have been indexed and a few are highlighted below:

• Chetna’s 30 Minute Indian: Quick and Easy Everyday Meals by Chetna Makan
• La Grotta Ices by Kitty Travers
• Gino’s Italian Escape: A Taste of the Sun: 100 Easy Italian Recipes to Enjoy at Home by Gino D’Acampo
• BOSH! The Healthy Vegan Diet by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby
• Gennaro’s Italian Bakery / Panetteria by Gennaro Contaldo
• Slow Victories: A Food Lover’s Guide to Slow Cooker Glory by Katrina Meynink
• The Pasta Man: The Art of Making Spectacular Pasta with 40 Recipes by Mateo Zielonka
• Ainsley’s Big Cook Out by Ainsley Harriott
• Simply Keto: A Practical Approach to Health & Weight Loss, with 100+ Easy Low-Carb Recipes by Suzanne Ryan
• The Peach Truck Cookbook: 100 Delicious Recipes for All Things Peach by Stephen K. and Jessica N. Rose

---

Member Photo of the Week

Toasted marshmallow and rhubarb cake from Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes and Stories (page 144) by Nigella Lawson submitted by member ALawson25

Have you uploaded any of your own photos yet? Learn more! Please remember to update your profile with your Instagram name if you would like to be tagged in any photos that we share!

---

Featured Online Recipe

Pistachio pesto with basil and spinach (page 61) from Sweet Paul Magazine, Spring 2021 (#44)

---

EYBDigital Previews

Recently we uploaded our 1,019th EYBDigital Preview where a selection of full sample pages is available for the following cookbooks.

Learn more about EYBDigital Previews.

Note: To learn why you cannot add all EYBDigital Preview recipes to your Bookshelf, please read this Help page.

• A selection of pages and 8 recipes from Foolproof BBQ: Create a Sizzle with the Perfect Barbecue, with 60 Recipes by Genevieve Taylor
• 3 recipes from No-Waste Save-the-Planet Vegan Cookbook: 100 Plant-Based Recipes and 100 Kitchen-Tested Methods for Waste-Free Meatless Cooking by Celine Steen Pub date July 6, 2021
• A selection of pages and 4 recipes from Portuguese Home Cooking by Ana Patuleia Ortins Pub date July 9, 2021 – a reissue of Authentic Portuguese Cooking
• A selection of pages and 3 recipes from Sheet Cake: Easy One-Pan Recipes for Every Day and Every Occasion by Abigail Johnson Dodge Pub date August 10, 2021

---

Cookbook Giveaways
Click on the Bold Blue Link Below to Enter

• Enter our US/UK/AU/NZ giveaway to win one of three copies of How to Make Anything Gluten Free by Becky Excell – Contest expires June 18th, 2021
• Enter our US giveaway to win one of two copies of My Shanghai: Recipes and Stories from a City on the Water by Betty Liu – Contest expires June 18th, 2021
• Enter our US/worldwide giveaway to win a copy of Zoë Bakes Cakes: Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Favorite Layers, Bundts, Loaves, and More. The publisher is providing one copy to US members and EYB is offering one copy worldwide – Contest expires June 20th, 2021
• Enter our US giveaway to win one of two copies of Baked to Order: 60 Sweet and Savory Recipes with Variations for Every Craving by Ruth Tam – Contest expires June 24th, 2021
• Enter our worldwide giveaway to win a copy of Food Between Friends by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Julie Tanous along with a Jesse Tyler Ferguson spatula from the No Kid Hungry line at Williams Sonoma – Contest expires June 25th, 2021

The cookbook giveaway roundup shares all current giveaways.

View Past Weekly Roundups