I'm impatient, I had to buy it. Shoujin cuisine was something I've heard about but never had the opportunity to try. Maki's review is pretty accurate for all the non-winners who are considering parting with their cash -- the first impressions are pretty good. The one thing I find slightly odd is the number of recipes that require corn starch. I may be wrong here, but in the few years I spent in Japan, I don't remember eating Japanese food which used this. It is clear the book has been written for non-Japanese so perhaps it isn't surprising that some dishes have been adapted to suit a foreign palate -- I was just wondering... Is this the Chinese influence Fujii mentions in her introduction; something unique to shoujin dishes; or perhaps just something I completely overlooked while in Japan?