When I started working on my first cookbook, Cooking Disasters, I didn't realize that the project would grow into a series.  But when you have traveled as much as I have, and your focus is on people and murals rather than resorts and spas, you gather stories along the way.  In Cooking Disasters, I shared some of the spectacular events that required a bit of divine intervention in order for me to survive.  But, in this second cookbook, Cooking Wonders, there are no close brushes with death or violent wrecks, no more rogues with knives or angry witch doctors, and -- thankfully -- no more bouts of malaria.  And, happy to say, I have had as many -- or more -- wonderful events to share as I have had disasters.  You know, when you watch the news, they want to focus on disastrous events?  I can do that, but my wonderful events have just been unusually spectacular as well.  So, I felt that I had to write Cooking Wonders -- Extraordinary Events and the Recipes that Remind Me of My Wanderings.

Yes, I have several stories that don't require any guardian angels.  They're the ones I could write home about.  Honestly, I've had some remarkable moments in my journey.  One of the tales that you'll read about happened in Namibia.  I describe how one unexpected little email changed the course of my life.  My first mural, in Namibia, was the start of what now is 65 murals in 27 countries.  (And, of course, I always want those numbers to change.)  When I told my friend Abdelhadi that I was going to Africa for a mural project, I said, "It's a once in a lifetime event."  He was quick to correct me.  "No, this is another in a series of Phillip Martin occasions that happen to nobody else but you."

I think he was right.  So right, that I dedicated the book to him!