Yum yum drool. As claimed, this is a user friendly guide to preparing your own delicious Chinese meals at home. I would love to own this as a reference or base for many standard recipes that Americans are familiar with. Raise your hand if you have to go digging around on the internet every time you have a hankering for kung pao chicken. But like the majority of Chinese restaurants in America, the popular dishes in this book come from southern provinces. This in itself has an interesting history, and is related to why people in Chinatowns around the US, as well as Chinese families who have been in the US for 3+ generations, speak Cantonese and not Mandarin. Anyways, my experience in China was in northern provinces and some regional favorites are not present in this book. Nevertheless, this one is a goodie!