Tokyo Ever After served with Salmon and cucumbers

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean served with Salmon with Scallions, Cucumber salad , edamame and a red bean dessert!

This book is fun.  This is like movie candy.  You know those superhero movies that it doesn't matter if you know what is happening, it's just fun to sit in the theater and enjoy the show?  That is this book.  It is a delightful quick read. Doesn't matter that is isn't realistic, it is just fun and a great read!    Princess Diary in Japan. 

In a nutshell, Izumi Tanaka, finds out that her father is the Crown Prince of Japan.   Izumi never knew her father and felt out of place in her small Northern CA town.  Once she discovers who her father is, he wants to meet her and she goes to Japan to explore this part of her family.  There is a very handsome body guard and 2 evil step cousins and 1 really fun cousin.   We get to experience all of the new stuff with Izumi and can't help but wonder if this is her new life or if it is too good to be true.  It's just a fun little fairytale but has a totally cool heroine at the center.  This book had a lot of humor in it and a sweet love story along with a sense of belonging.  

 I was interested originally because my niece has been living in Japan for 2 years and i so wanted to go visit her.  That didn't happen, Thanks a lot COVID, but someday we'll go together.    I gobbled this fun little book up in 2 days.  It also has a strong sense of place which is nice!   Book candy!  I gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.  Totally fun read and highly recommended

I really wanted to make Dorayki which is like a red bean pancake.  She mentions it in the book.  But I couldn't find red bean paste anywhere!  I ended up using a couple of recipes from a Japanese cookbook I have and I found some red bean paste dumplings at Whole Foods.   The salmon was great!  The cucumber salad was pretty good but I made so much  that I had salad for days.   Ended up throwing out a bit!   Enjoy!