“Things Every Southern Woman Should Know How to Make”

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Alice clicked on the headline, mildly curious about what yet another stranger thought should be in her kitchen repertoire. Pictures of China plates mounded with crispy fried chicken, greens, cobbler, and a pile of biscuits a mile high flooded the screen, all set off with a pitcher of sweet tea beaded with condensation. The table was set; an apron draped off to the side next to a box labeled “Gramma’s Recipes” in fine calligraphy. She closed the browser and put away her tablet. She was born a Georgia peach, but she couldn’t make a cobbler to save her life. Did that mean she wasn’t southern? Or maybe just not “Southern.” For Alice, there was no recipe box full of family traditions. Her younger years were filled with rental homes in different states and her father’s voice coaxing her toward a text book rather than a cookbook. Metalworking and fabrication held more interest than learning to flambé or sauté. Did it make her less of a woman that her cooking skills consisted of fresh salads...
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Anime Rambles: Forest of Piano

Forest of Piano is an anime presented for your viewing pleasure on Netflix. In the forest rests an abandoned piano, and Kai Ichinose, a poor boy from the nearby red light district, is the only one who can coax music from its keys. When his talent is discovered by his new friend Shuhei and his music teacher/former world-renowned pianist, Sosuke Ajino, Kai ventures out to hone his skills and share his piano with the world at the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition.

Kai is this wonderful, bounce-back kid who doesn't let hardship slow him down. He has a natural talent for the piano, but he meets the challenges that Mr. Ajino sets before him with hard work and tenacity. It's about the love of the music for him, even when he's in a competition, and his enthusiasm lifts up his competitors so that they face their challenges head-on. Unfortunately, not everyone sees it as challenge to themselves. His childhood friend, Shuhei, whose dad is a professional pianist, creates this one-sided rivalry that later leads him to resent Kai.

I liked that each competitor had a backstory and we were shown how they were struggling and what playing in the Chopin Piano Competition meant to them, and how no one was particularly diabolical in their desire to win. There is, of course, some dubious machinations at work, but overall, the story is lighthearted and wraps up with a satisfying ending. So, if you like anime centered around classical music, particularly Chopin, then check out Forest of Piano.


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