L. Liz Johann, a broken soul, longs for her Valiumone morning.  Liz has had a breakdownculminating in an attempted suicide that was luckily thwarted by Jay Arman, herhusband.  Jay brings her breakfast andasks if she wants to talk about what happened the night before.  Calmly, she recounts to him the heady joysand devastating pain wrought by her first love, Adam Adnan in this bitter sweettale of love lost and found.
Liz first stumbles upon Adam when she's five intheir hometown of Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Their paths collide again one autumn when she's sixteen, a prep studentwho's sitting for SAT and applying to colleges. Adam is a university junior.  Bothare in California, USA on scholarship. Despite her naïve and skeptical view on love, Liz falls madly for Adam.  Her weekends with Adam are narrated with adose of SAT words she learns by heart. Summer comes and the couple return totheir hometown.  On their flight home,the two devise code words such as rice, fish, squid and lamb to facilitatetheir conversation in public.   Malaysia's conservative culture and constant harassmentby Lila, Liz's precocious kid sister who distrusts Adam don't stop the lovebirdsfrom their regular phone calls and occasional dates.  Their summer break culminates with Adampromising Liz she'll be his fiancée before the season ends.  
Twenty one years on, Adam finds Liz through Facebookand tempts her to email him back by reminding her about what he owes her.  In their correspondence, Adam explains why hebroke up with Liz at San Francisco Airport before she flew east to attend MIT posttheir summer break.  Devastated thoughshe was, Liz gradually overcame the heartache. She managed to almost erase Adam from memory and learned to loveagain.  She met Jay who promised her she'dget to see the world and both enjoyed travelling together.  The two got married and eventually settle inSingapore.  Adam meanwhile dropped out ofschool after the breakup.  Street wise,he managed to financially survive and after amassing enough money, completedhis study.  Adam recounts he wassuccessful career wise in USA and Canada. Nonetheless his mother's precarious health forced him to returnhome.  Fearing his mother's days were numbered,he abided by her request.  She arrangedfor him, then a thirty something man, to marry a woman of her choice.  Adam admits to Liz it's a loveless marriage butit results in two kids – reason enough for him to get up in the mornings for therest of his life.  
After the email exchange, Adam and Liz meet in KualaLumpur.  The encounter unsettles Liz whofinds herself falling for him all over again despite his physical changes.  Through their conversation, they discover poignanttwists and coincidences in their lives apart. Adam makes more promises again to Liz – this time to leave theirrespective unhappy or unsatisfying marriages and marry each other.  Before their next meeting, Liz reminiscesabout her travels in which she inadvertently remembered Adam and hinted of her unravellingmarriage with Jay.  On a drive back fromvisiting his mother, Adam recalls events in his life when he's reminded of Lizthrough the SAT words she taught him.  Days later, Adam writes another email toLiz. 
Will there ever be a chance for two people fated todeeply love each other to be together in this lifetime?  Pick up a copy of Rice, Fish, Squid and Lamb from Amazon / Barnes and Noble/ Nook / iBookstore.