Life in Mexico
Sometimes it feels like you’re back in the 1970s here in Mexico.
Folks are especially laid back about driving. Not enough room in the truck cab for all the kids? Just stick ’em in the back with the watermelons!
But, most of all, they don’t get in your face if you’re just weirding out. Many years ago, we finally finished paying off our condo. I called my pal Ross in Manzanillo and asked if anyone would care if we burned our mortgage papers on the beach.
“Hell, no!” he said. “They don’t even care if you burn your car on the beach!
Recipe: Pasta Puttanesca
Tradition has it that this dish was invented in a brothel in Naples where the girls would whip up a meal from whatever was cheap and plentiful. It’s a delicious recipe and super easy to make when you don’t have a lot of time to prepare!
Ingredients
2 Tsp of olive oil
1/4 white onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 cup of cherry tomatoes
3 anchovy fillets
¼ cup of chopped black olives
1 tsp of capers
1 tsp of dried oregano
½ cup of white wine
2 cups of cooked spaghetti
Chopped fresh basil and grated Parmesan.
Directions
Fry the white onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the tomatoes and simmer until they soften.
Add the anchovy, black olives, capers and oregano.
Pour in the white wine and reduce for a few minutes.
Add in the spaghetti and stir the ingredients together.
Serve in a bowl, garnished with fresh basil and Parmesan.
Enjoy!
Members of Kindle Unlimited Can Now Read Crystal Ball for Free!
FBI AGENT JACK KENYON is back! When a bomb in Myron Buckstar’s software lab kills an innocent woman, Jack and the crew are called in to find out if terrorists are targeting the flamboyant billionaire. They soon discover that the victim was a member of Scotland Yard working undercover on a mysterious case. As Jack pursues her murder, he uncovers a race to steal the Crystal Ball, an invention that allows its owner to peer into the future. Follow Jack from San Francisco to London as he pursues a host of murderers, conmen and criminals who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.
Book Review
We Solve Murders
By Richard Osman
We’ve been reading Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series for several years now, and have loved every page. So we were excited to see that he’s branched out to We Solve Murders.
The book features Steve, a retired copper in the UK who lives in a tiny village where he spends his time at quiz night in the local pub and chatting on the phone with his daughter-in-law Amy, a professional bodyguard who works for Maximum Impact Solutions.
Things get hinky when Maximum Impact’s clients suddenly start being offed in spectacular fashion, setting up Amy as the fall gal. Amy, who is guarding Rosie D’Antonio, a famous author of bodice-rippers, has to hightail it with her client when the mysterious Francois Loubet puts out a hit on her.
Amy calls in Steve to help her solve the murders so that they can clear her name and chill. The result is a mayhem-filled romp from South Carolina to Ireland. Throughout the book, Osman’s wit and sense of absurdity keeps the pace at full throttle. I highly recommend We Solve Murders!
Movie Review
The Conclave
Streaming on Netflix
You might tend to think that the process to pick a new Pope would be about as exciting as watching mud dry, but The Conclave, based on the novel by Robert Harris, lifts the experience to the level of a political thriller.
Pope Francis has passed away, and it’s up to Cardinal Lawrence (played by Ralph Fiennes), to convene the Cardinals from around the world to pick a successor from its ranks. Leading candidates include Cardinal Tremblay (played by John Lithgow), and Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci).
Of course, not all is serene. One by one, aspirants reveal their true agendas and skeletons in the closet, making Cardinal Lawrence’s job a living nightmare that no amount of prayer to the All-mighty is going to dissipate.
This is one of the best movies that I’ve seen in 2024, and will no doubt attract a slew of Oscar nominations, including best director for Edward Berger, best actor for Fiennes and supporting nods to Tucci and Lithgow (not surprisingly, there are no female roles in a story about the Catholic Church – Boo!). I highly recommend The Conclave!
Documentary Review
Hallelujah; Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.
Streaming on Prime
Arguably one of Leonard Cohen’s most famous songs, Hallelujah is a secular poem to the divine that, if you ever bother to listen to the lyrics, is just weird.
But that didn’t stop everybody from KD Lang to Shrek from singing it. Now, director Daniel Geller has gone to the effort of creating a 2-hour documentary focused on its creation.
Cohen, who passed away at the age of 82 in 2016, was notorious for his approach to writing. He thought nothing of taking the better part of a decade to grind out a song, going through endless variations of meter and prose. He dragged the lyrics and score of Hallelujah around the world for years, until finally finishing a version.
The song was a flop; his record label refused to release it in the US. But it was a hit with fellow musicians. Dylan thought it was the best song he ever heard. Eventually, Cohen took to the road on an international tour and the world fell in love with it.
Hallelujah faithfully follows Cohen’s career using CBC archive footage, interviews with contemporaries, and performances by Cohen and pals. I highly recommend Hallelujah!