Around the World in 80 Dinners, by Cheryl & Bill Jamison

First off, how do I get this couple's job? They write cookbooks together at home in New Mexico. Before that, their joint job for over a decade was writing travel guides for the best hotels in Mexico, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. Meaning their job was to stay at nice hotels in Mexico, Hawaii and the Caribbean. For OVER TEN YEARS. (And they gave that up why?) Now they've taken a trip around the world- on air miles, mind you, AIR MILES- and were paid to write a book about that. Hook me up with these contacts please. 

That was a very excitable tangent. But damn, this book made me so hungry for ethnic food and so lusty for travel. The only thing I didn't like, which I will get out of the way right now, was that the dialogue was often very forced and unrealistic. Probably because they chose to put a lot of exposition in it, like the history of the city or a food review. Like, Cheryl did NOT say, "The pepper crab really zings you, but the chile...sauce gives it greater complexity." Besides the sometimes teeth-grinding awkwardness of their speech, the book was great. 

So great, now I need to go eat and visit in Australia, Thailand, China, South Africa, France, and Brazil. They all sound equally delicious. I will totally use this book as a guide when I finally get to go to any of those places.