By Dustin Cabeal

This story presents itself as a story all about food, but it’s not. It’s about a widowed teacher raising his daughter and coming to the realization that she needs good food to eat. After a chance encounter with a student, he’s invited to her restaurant only to find it closed, but the student, whose mother is a chef, helps her teacher learn how to cook.

It is an emotionally rich journey as father and daughter must learn how to communicate with each other. They each have their own journey as well as the father figures out all the roles that his wife filled and how he’ll do them in her absence. For the daughter, hers is one of appreciation as she tries to please her father with everything she does, possibly out of fear of losing another parent. The story tugs on the heart strings and thankfully never dives into an awkward romance story between teacher and student. Instead, the teacher acts like the father she’s never known and the daughter the sister she never got. Also, the opening song is fantastic and the second best opening I’ve heard all year. If you’re ready to have your heartstrings tugged on, check out Sweetness & Lightning.