2024 04 09

April 2024 Newsletter

Life in Paris

Sigh. It’s snowing like hell in Calgary so I thought I’d dig through the vault and find a bit of happiness in Paris. This is the El Vecino Mexican Restaurant located near Place de la République. We didn’t eat there, but the sign out front caught my eye and I couldn’t resist a selfie. Fu*K your Diet is the name of their signature German ginger beer.

Life in Mexico

Years ago, the area around Club Santiago was a castor oil plantation. The beans from the plant were used to make plastics, varnishes and paints. When cheaper alternatives were found, the plantations were abandoned. But the plant itself is quite hardy, and descendants can be found growing in ditches along roads throughout the area.

Unfortunately, the beans contain ricin, one of the deadliest poisons known to mankind. Even a speck as small as a grain of sand can kill you. Casual contact with the skin can also lead to burning and blistering.

The reason I’m calling it to your attention is because the plant grows around the Club Santiago golf course; you can see them in profusion along the third and fourth fairways where they border the highway.

If the beans are inadvertently ground up and dispersed by the ground crews mowing the fairways, you can accidentally come in contact with traces of ricin.

Soviet agents have used ricin to poison their foes, so you should avoid them too. (That’s Xenia Onatopp, the deadly spy from Goldeneye, in case you’re wondering.)

Should you break out in a rash or blisters, treat it with over-the-counter cortisone cream or Calamine lotion.

TV Review

The Gentlemen

Streaming on Netflix

I’m not the biggest fan of film producer Guy Ritchie. He loves to do British crime gang movies with lots of Cockney low life and grisly shot-gun duels. So it was with trepidation that I approached The Gentlemen.

On the surface, it’s much like his usual fare. A career officer by the name of Eddie inherits a dukedom from his father Lord Halstead when the latter prefers him over his dissipated eldest son Freddy. Freddy is flamboyantly aghast at this turn of events, mainly because he owes 4 million to a nasty bit of business to whom Theo must cough up lest his brother suffer defenestration

That’s not the worst of Eddie’s problems. It turns out that a gang run by a carbuncle named Bobby Glass has established a grow-op on the estate and isn’t about to up sticks. His daughter, the delicious Susie Glass, must play intermediary as various shenanigans, including heists and murder, complicate matters.

What makes the TV series so much fun is the fast-pace, plot twists and general eccentricity that seems to permeate every character. It’s a lot of fun to watch, and I highly recommend The Gentlemen!

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Movie Review

The Holdovers

Streaming on Amazon Prime

It’s a quirky premise; a cranky professor at a prestigious prep academy is forced to stay on duty over the Christmas holidays along with a stranded student and a grieving school cook.

So, why did this period piece set in 1971 receive 5 Academy award nominations, including Best Picture of the Year?

Paul Giamatti is reason number one. The award-winning actor brings his rumpled everyman persona to the role of Paul Hunhan, a life-long bachelor who has dedicated his career to nurturing the pampered spawn of America’s elites. His efforts at Barton Academy in the face of supreme apathy has completely depleted his passion for teaching, leaving a bitter husk of a man.

Angus, the student (played by Dominic Sessa), has been abandoned at the last minute after his mother and his new step-dad elope to St. Kitts.  He vows to make the holiday as miserable as only an angst-filled teenage boy can do.

Mary, the head cook (brilliantly portrayed by Da’Vine Joy Randolph), has lost her drafted son in the Vietnam War. Her grief and anger toward the deferred boys who attend Barton is palpable.

Together, the three form an unlikely alliance in an effort to survive their odious fortune. Slowly, they forge bridges between their emotional isolation. Each character grows in self-esteem and maturity, achieving the gift of Christmas that no mere present beneath the tree could achieve.

Although the only winning Oscar went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Supporting Actress, all of the nominees, including Giamatti as Leading Actor and David Meningson for Best Original Screenplay, are highly deserving.  This is a gem of a movie; I highly recommend The Holdovers!

Recipe: Roast Pork Belly

Cooking dinner literally doesn’t get any easier than this. You can pick up fresh pork belly at any Chinese butcher (a big shout-out to T&T market in Calgary!) and make this tender, succulent dish in under an hour.

Ingredients

1 kg of pork belly

Instructions

Score the top fat layer in a diamond shape pattern. Place in a shallow tin pan (I line the pan with parchment paper to make the clean-up easier).

Roast for 40 minutes at 400F.

Slice and serve with baked sweet potato and corn. Enjoy!

Book Review

Table for Two

By Amor Towles

Creating a short story is undoubtedly one of the most difficult tasks a writer can face. You have to create the main characters, setting, story and outcome to the satisfaction of the reader, all in a fraction of the space that a novel allows you. In addition, you have to include a twist in the plot, one that is both totally unexpected and, at the same time, totally believable.

I’m not an avid short story reader for that reason. I find that contemporary writers fall short of the mark when compared to O. Henry.

The exception is Amor Towles. We’ve always enjoyed his novels (A Gentleman in Moscow), so I didn’t hesitate when his latest fictional effort, Table for Two, was published. It’s a set of six short stories set in New York, and a novella set in Hollywood. The short stories are crafted like a fine Swiss watch, every word and phrase so exact that each tale captures the frailties and aspirations of the characters with exquisite precision, and each ending comes as both a surprise and a wish for the story to continue.

As an aside, people often ask me where I get my ideas. As any writer will tell you, it’s a combination of observation and inspiration. I’ll give you an example of the former. I was driving down McLeod Trail adjacent to the Stampede Grounds one evening when I glanced over and spotted a woman sitting at a bus shelter clutching a giant stuffed panda and crying her eyes out. Now you know there’s gotta be a story there.

Well I didn’t write about my observation, but Towles did. I will Survive involves a happenstance encounter that the author must have made while walking in Central Park that was so unique that it inspired him to cut a fascinating tale out of imaginary cloth. I won’t tell you and spoil it, but you’ll recognize immediately what I’m talking about when you read it. I highly recommend Table for Two!

2024 03 03

March 2024 Newsletter

Life in Mexico

It’s the little things in life that makes living in Mexico so enjoyable.

Every other week, we go down to the Santiago market where the chicken ladies have a stall under a staircase. Their counters are festooned with broilers and eggs and poultry appendages.

Their free-range produce is classified as Mexi-organic, because Tia Maria who raises them can’t afford hormones or antibiotics, so you get them the same way they’ve been sold for the last 500 years.

Mama Angelica is in charge. When I ask for ‘Milanesa’, she picks up her razor-sharp cleaver and slices a breast so thin it’s the size of a bread board when she’s done.

Whenever I want to make paté, I always buy my livers there; although ‘buy’ is a misnomer as they just give me a bag.

And the price? I can buy enough chicken for twenty servings for around twenty-five bucks. Read it and weep.

Recipe; Mariposa Chicken

Mariposa (or butterfly) chicken is easy to make in less than an hour, and it always comes out moist, tender and delicious!

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

½ cup of butter, soft

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp of salt

½ tsp of black pepper

2 Tsp of parsley, chopped

Directions

Heat the oven to 425F. (You can also cook it on the BBQ).

Split the backbone so that the whole chicken lies flat. You can do it at home if you have a good pair of meat shears, but it’s also sold pre-prepared; if you don’t see one out on the shelf, just ask the butcher to split one for you (butterfly translates as ‘mariposa’ in Spanish – easy to remember).

Lay the chicken skin-side up in an oven tray that has been sprayed with oil or covered with parchment paper and allow it to warm to room temperature.

Mix together the butter, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley into a paste. Place half the paste under the skin of the breast and legs, and spread the rest on top of the skin.

Roast for 45 minutes, then cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Enjoy!

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Book Review

The Appeal

By Janice Hallett

The novel attracted quite a bit of attention when it debuted in 2021 due to the unusual structure; rather than telling the story of a murder using chronological narrative, the majority of the book is told through a series of emails and instant messages sent between the primary suspects.

This is a bit of a spoiler, but it will help you understand the premise right from the first paragraphby rather than having to fumble through several chapters trying to figure out what’s going on. Two independent investigators have been hired by the lawyer representing the imprisoned murderer in an attempt to overthrow the conviction. They are trolling through messages sent between friends and acquaintances prior to, and after, the murder in an attempt to find the real killer.

The story itself points to an intriguing range of motives. A two-year old girl is suffering from a rare brain cancer, one with little chance of survival. Her parents and grandparents are part of an amateur theatre company in an affluent English village, and they decide to launch a Gofundme appeal to raise money for an expensive, experimental treatment developed in the US.

As the investigators work through the correspondence, however, troubling questions emerge. Is someone stealing money from the appeal? Does the experimental cure, in fact, even exist? The reader is drawn through a series of interpersonal disputes that could very well escalate into nasty repercussions.

Even though the author creates a dozen potential suspects, in the end, Hallett wraps it up neatly with a bow, much to the satisfaction of yours truly. This is a unique twist on the Agatha-Christie English village murder mystery. I highly recommend The Appeal!

TV Series Review

Expats

Streaming on Amazon Prime

This six-part mini-series set in Hong Kong is based on the novel by Janice Lee. Normally, I would give the domestic drama a pass, but it stars Nicole Kidman, and I’d be a fool not to give it the sniff test.

I’m sure glad I did. Nicole stars as Margaret, the mother of three children, who is stationed in HK with her husband Clarke (played by Brian Tee). One day, she takes the children with their young nanny Mercy (Ji-Young Yoo), to the night market, where her four year old son Gus suddenly disappears.

The abduction sets off a series of crises in her family, with Margaret searching the city for signs of her son, and Michael retreating to the comfort of religion. The remaining two children are traumatized by fear that they might be next, and there’s nothing their parents can do to protect them.

The series explores a further layer of trauma within the extended community of HK’s domestic service industry. The opportunity for work draws hundreds of thousands of Filipina and Indonesian women to Singapore, HK and the North America seeking to support their families back home. Mercy is wracked by guilt, and Essie, who raised Margaret’s children from infancy, experiences the same nightmare that every mother faces.

The series is brilliantly cast, but it is Nicole who rises a level above with her unrivaled ability to evince her character’s grief through the tiniest of micro-expressions, magnified by the intense close-ups used by the cinematographer. You feel her pain, not through cries of anguish, but the immense, deep distress in her eyes.

This is a feast of Nicole Kidman’s talent that equals her best performances on both the big and small screens; I highly recommend Expats!

Documentary Review

American Symphony

Streaming on Netflix

For years, Jon Baptiste was well-known as the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

He is also an accomplished song writer, singer and performer, teaming up with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Ed Sheeran. He has won 5 Grammy awards, including Album of the Year for We Are, in 2021.

The documentary, directed by Matthew Heineman and executive-produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, follows the artist as he composes American Symphony, an orchestral arrangement featuring black musical styles, and simultaneously deals with his wife Suleika’s relapse into leukemia.

This is a portrayal of their struggles to beat a deadly disease and to finish the biggest musical challenge of his career. The documentary is both intimate and majestic, as they suffer the pains of chemotherapy and celebrate the debut at Carnegie Hall. I highly recommend American Symphony.  

2024-02-09

February 2024 Newsletter

Life in Mexico

There’s a line of coconut vendors at the side of the toll road heading toward Colima. Just past that is a shady cantina consisting of half a dozen picnic tables and a cow.

The cantina serves ‘pajarete’, which is made from milk straight from the cow. The vendor then adds vanilla, chocolate, strawberries and pure cane liquor. Essentially, it’s a milk-shake for alcoholics.

Because cows are milked in the morning only, pajarete is consumed at breakfast, and you can see many a thirsty truck driver at the cantina bracing themselves for the windy mountain roads ahead.

Pajarete tastes best when drunk from a clay mug, but if you’re in a hurry, they have go-cups that fit into the beverage holder on your console. The nice thing is, if you run out of gas, you can probably pour it into the tank and it will work just as well as the stuff you buy at Pemex.

FYI: Pajarete is also known as the ‘drink of death’, due to the fact that unscrupulous vendors swap out the cane liquor with wood alcohol. About two dozen people have been killed in the last year.

Recipe; Fish and Shrimp Curry

This is a great way to enjoy the fresh seafood we have in abundance in Manzanillo. Easy to prepare, and delicious to eat!

Ingredients

1 lb of dorado (or any white fish), cut into 1-in cubes.

12 peeled shrimp

2 Tsp of butter

Half an onion, chopped

Half a red pepper, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp of ginger, minced

1 Tsp of curry powder

1 tsp of cumin

1 tsp of paprika

1 can of peeled tomatoes

Fresh coriander and mint.

Directions

In a Dutch oven or large pan with lid, lightly fry the fish and shrimp in butter. Remove.

Fry the onion, garlic, ginger, pepper, and spices (add a little more butter if it gets dry).

Add the tomatoes, cover and simmer on low for about 20 minutes.

Return the fish and shrimp to the pan and simmer for another two minutes.

Serve on rice with mint and coriander topping.

Enjoy!

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Book Review

The Paradise Trilogy

By Elin Hilderbrand

We’ve always been big fans of Elin Hilderbrand, who has written about a million novels set in the island of Nantucket. As an author, she creates a background ‘bible’ for every major fictional character, in which their life is lovingly detailed with everything from their favorite childhood sundae to the designer jeans they wear.

I know, it sounds a little over the top, but this allows the celebrated ‘Queen of the beach read’ to take the dramatic circumstances of the main characters (death of a child, a cheating spouse), and weave a rich tapestry that literally pulls you into their lives.

The Paradise Trilogy (Winter in Paradise, What Happens in Paradise, and Troubles in Paradise), is an outlier for two reasons. Most of Hilderbrand’s novels are stand-alone, in that they rarely have sequels. The trilogy is also set in the US Virgin Islands, which happens to have an identical tropical environment to what we experience in Manzanillo.

The series revolves around Irene Steele, wife of Robert Steele and mother to two adult sons, Baker and Cash. She lives in Iowa City in a Victorian house; its restoration has been her main occupation while her husband travels the world on business.

Irene’s life is turned upside-down, however, when her husband dies in a helicopter accident in the US Virgin Islands. When she journeys there with her two sons, she learns that Robert owned an immense mansion overlooking the St. John harbor.

She also discovers that he has been living a secret life with a mistress in the mansion. As the plot unfolds, her bewilderment turns to anger as she realizes the depths of duplicity that her husband has descended. One twist follows another as she and her sons try to adapt to the new reality of their lives.

We both found the series very addictive, and read all three books in a matter of days! I highly recommend The Paradise Trilogy.

Documentary Review

The Greatest Night in Pop

Streaming on Netflix

In January 28, 1985, three dozen of the greatest pop stars on the planet got together for a single night to record We Are the World, a pop tune designed to raise money for the relief of starvation in Africa.

The original idea came from Harry Belafonte, who had been inspired by the Christmas Carol, Do They Know It’s Christmas? He asked friends Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson to write the tune and lyrics, and encouraged American and European stars to participate.

The challenge, of course, was to get all the singers in one room for one night. They chose the evening of the American Music Awards, knowing that the majority of participants would be in Los Angeles to celebrate, and then cajoled stars like Bruce Springsteen who were on tour to make a special detour.

The documentary largely relies on taped footage that was recorded during the rehearsal and performance, as well as interviews conducted by director Bao Nguyen with participants such as Richie, Springsteen and Huey Lewis. In the end, the documentary is much more than a stroll down musical memory lane as it is a revealing insight into the real people behind the carefully crafted public personas of the performers.

The song was rewarded a Grammy and ended up raising $100 million in aid. I highly recommend The Greatest Night in Pop.

Mexican Strawberry Champagne Cocktail

We’re celebrating Linda’s birthday this month, and there’s no better way than Champagne on the beach!

Ingredients

Strawberries

1 Tsp of lemon juice

½ tsp of vanilla extract

Champagne (or any dry sparkling wine)

Gently pulse the strawberries, lemon juice, vanilla extract and crushed ice in a blender, then mix with bubbly in a large wine glass. Enjoy!

2024-01-06

January 2024 Newsletter

Life in Mexico

Mexico’s finest.

I saw something today that I have never seen in Manzanillo; a traffic cop stopped a pick-up truck for running a red light.

Sure, there’s lots of towns in Mexico where a police cruiser will pull you over for having noisy brake lights and then offer to sell your driver’s license back for 5000 pesos, but not in Manzanillo.

Heck, you can strap a beer keg on the roof of your car and run a hose through the driver’s window and they won’t bat an eye. I’ve driven on the sidewalk to get around one of those taxi tuk-tuks and never thought twice (note to self; don’t do this in Calgary).

In the truck driver’s defense, he did have 300 live chickens in the back of his truck, and if you’ve ever lived near a poultry farm you know the value of keeping the breeze blowing. Hopefully they settled this amicably with a few dozen eggs.

Recipe; Asian Lemon Chicken

This is so good, and easy to make. The secret is in the lemon sauce, which you can whip up in a few minutes. This is a great meal to make when you’re having special friends over or for when the Chinese take-out delivery guy froze to his scooter.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts

½ cup of flour

1 egg, whisked

¼ cup of butter

Sauce;

1 tsp of corn starch

1 tsp of grated ginger

¼ cup of brown sugar

1 cup of chicken broth

1 tsp of soy sauce

Juice from one lemon

Zest from one lemon

Cooked rice.

Chopped green onions for garnish.

Directions

Split the chicken breasts in two and then flatten them by pounding with a frying pan. (Or, go to the market in Santiago and ask the chicken ladies for ‘Milanesa’ style breast and they’ll cut it for you).

Dip the breasts in egg and flour and fry in butter for a few minutes each side until brown.

Mix the sauce ingredients together in a pan and warm over medium heat until it thickens up.

Place the breasts on a bed of rice, spoon the lemon sauce on top, and garnish with chopped green onion. Enjoy!

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Book Review

Hamnet

By Maggie O’Farrell.


Before I begin this review, I want to give a big shout-out to the Calgary Public Library! One of my first jobs as a boy of 12 was working as a page in the Hamilton Public Library, and I have kept a warm spot in my heart for the public institution.

When we were in Calgary last summer, Linda and I took the opportunity to renew our memberships with the CPL (free!), and to visit the magnificent new Central Library behind City Hall.

More importantly, we signed up for Libby, their online circulation service, which allows us to borrow eBooks when we are in Mexico. This gave me the opportunity to catch up on some amazing books that I had been wanting to read, including Hamnet.

I am a big fan of historical novels in which the momentous events that have occurred are reflected and framed through the eyes of common people (Magnus the Magnificent, Joan the Saint and The Hotel Seamstress).

The novel is about Hamnet, the son of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, who passed away at the tender age of 11. So profound was his father’s grief that it inspired him to write Hamlet, one of the greatest tragedies in the English language.

In O’Farrell’s hands, the tale becomes an immense family saga, with siblings, in-laws and children all expounding their own tales of joy and woe. Her lush descriptions of their world and the lyrical cadence to their words combine to give a rich theatrical tapestry to the book. She beckons us into a world that is simultaneously intimate, magnificent, furious and loving. This is a real book-lover’s treat; I highly recommend Hamnet!  

Movie Review

Maestro

Starring Bradley Cooper

Streaming on Netflix

This is an all-star production, produced by Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, directed by Bradley Cooper and starring Cooper as Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as his wife Felicia. Together, they have about a gazillion Oscar nominations and awards.

The story follows the professional career of Leonard Bernstein, the first American to achieve international stature as a conductor. Bernstein was also an influential composer for the stage and screen, writing the score for West Side Story and On the Waterfront.

The film deals with his personal relationship between his wife Felicia, as well as several protégées whom he encouraged both professionally and personally. It explores his bisexuality throughout his adult life, until his death in 1990.

But the core of the movie centers around his love for music. The scenes in which Cooper portrays Bernstein conducting orchestras captures the raw enthusiasm and almost frenetic devotion of his performances.

When the Oscar nominations are announced later this month, I fully expect that Maestro will be present in all the major categories, including best picture, best actor and actress, and best director. In a year when so many amazing movies were released, it stands alone. I highly recommend Maestro!

Bonus Book Review

The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing

By Melissa Bank

Written over 25 years ago, the novel is a series of vignettes that follow the life of Jane, an aspiring book editor who finds herself caught up in a romantic entanglement with Archie, one of the scions of New York’s publishing sector.

Starting at the age of 14, we follow Jane as she wise-cracks her older brother Henry and his many lusts, comparing them to her own parlous and fraught experiences as she achieves adulthood. Throughout the narrative, she overcomes her insecurities and minor tragedies with a devout faith in her inner strength, and no lack of self-deprecating humor.

Sadly, the author’s award-winning career was hampered by a serious bicycle accident in which she suffered brain damage that impaired her ability to write, and passed away in 2022, at the early age of 61. The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing stands out as a brilliant harbinger of what might have been. I highly recommend you read it!

2023 12 07

December 2023 Newsletter

Life in Mexico

Christmas in Mexico is a month-long affair that beguiles and captivates everyone in the country. Festivities start the first of December, when Catholics venerate the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico.

Everyone agrees; she’s a great saint. One frosty morning in December, 1531, the spectral image of a young, pregnant woman appeared before a humble peasant named Juan Diego near the hill of Guadalupe north of Mexico City and asked him to build a church in her honor on the spot.

Juan Diego obligingly related the request to the Bishop of Mexico City, who told him to piss up a rope. “If she’s the real Mother of God, then show me a sign,” he demanded.

The Virgin promptly produced a dozen Castilian roses in the middle of winter, which Juan Diego wrapped in his cloak and took back to the bishop. When he opened the cloak, the roses fell out to reveal a stunning image of the Virgin.

The chagrined bishop promptly built the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where a motorized sidewalk briskly whisks the faithful past the cloak. Those who can’t be whisked celebrate by staging parades; participants, dressed in native garb, set off explosive rockets to scare the pants off the devil.

Recipe: Thai Beef & Beans

This is a great recipe that is ridiculously easy to make! All your friends will think you’re a kitchen genius.

Ingredients

2 Tsp oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

8 oz ground beef

1cup of green beans or asparagus

1 cup of sweet red pepper, chopped

¼ cup fish sauce

1tsp red curry paste

1Tsp soy sauce

1Tsp brown sugar

1/2 cup of water

Directions

Cook the garlic and beef in oil.

Add the fish sauce, red curry paste, soy sauce, brown sugar and water. Simmer on low for ten minutes.

Add the red pepper and beans/asparagus and cook for two minutes.

Serve on rice. Enjoy!

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TV Series

All the Light We Cannot See

Streaming on Netflix

I am always ambivalent when it comes to watching a screen adaptation of a book that I enjoyed reading. I recall as a teenager being enthralled with Frank Herbert’s science-fiction classic Dune, only to be disappointed by the over-wrought sludge oozing from David Lynch’s 1984 feature film.

The ambivalence arises, not coincidentally, from the fact that they are two different mediums. Books revel in words, each one carefully chosen by the author to convey character, plot and theme. Films rely on images and actors chosen by the director to grab the viewer in a vise-grip of emotional involvement in order to tell the story.

And that’s where things can easily go astray. Ian Fleming, for instance, famously hated the choice of an obscure Scottish body builder by the name of Sean Connery to play James Bond (although his ire didn’t inspire him to donate the $100 million he made from the franchise to charity).

Critics of the recently-released screen version of All the Light We Cannot See argued that taking a sprawling, epic novel and compressing it into a four hours was too daunting a task. “Clumsy,” sniffed the Hollywood Reporter. “Adaptation falls flat,” hissed Variety. Part of the cat-calls, no doubt, were due to the fact that Netflix deigned to make a series from a Pulitzer-prize winning novel, but the detractors did have a point.

The story takes place in World War II and focuses on the experiences of two teenagers, German orphan Werner Pfennig, and Marie-Laure, a blind girl cared for by her father, a museum curator in Paris. When war breaks out, radio-genius Werner is drafted into an elite unit that searches for clandestine Resistance broadcasts. Marie-Laure’s father Daniel takes them to live in the port of Saint Malo with his family, hoping to find refuge for his daughter.

Werner and Marie-Laure are bound together by a children’s radio broadcast that preached love amidst madness and hate. It was ‘all the light we cannot see’, a beacon of humanity and reason in a time of war.

Marie-Laure’s life is interrupted by Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel, a Nazi officer charged with gathering precious jewels for the Reich. Unbeknownst to her, Daniel has absconded with the Sea of Flames, a precious stone with a terrible curse. Von Rumpel has tracked the stone to Saint-Malo—and is willing to kill anyone to get it.

Undaunted, Marie-Laure continues to secretly broadcast coded information to the allies. Werner and his team are brought to the town to track her down, but he thwarts their efforts to silence her voice; their love for humanity shines like a beacon in the darkness of war.

The series is fast-paced and well-acted; we had to force ourselves not to binge it all on the first night. I recommend you watch All the Light We Cannot See, then get a copy of the book and read the original. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Book Review

Guns, Germs and Steel

By Jared Diamond

As a young scientist studying tribes in Papua New Guinea, the author was asked a question that would intrigue him for decades: Why did Europeans conquer North America, and not the other way around?

Montezuma and his Aztec empire certainly had the inclination to subjugate neighboring nations, but never made the effort to journey beyond their shores. Was it because their race was somehow inferior to the white man?

Diamond takes us on a journey through time to a point over 10,000 years ago when mankind was emerging from its hunter-gathering mode into sedentary villages.  He traces what viable plants and animals were available for domestication, and where, in a fascinating discussion of how regional environments gave some nations greater potential over others.

As an example, he notes that the Fertile Crescent in modern Iraq had eight of the twelve wild species that eventually became staples of our modern diet, including wheat, rye, rice and oats. Other continents, including all of Africa, had none.

The difference in barnyard species was even starker; pigs, goats, sheep and cattle emerged as major sources of protein in the Middle East, while North America had the turkey.

The disparity was anything but trivial; easily-domesticated plants and animals meant that a society could feed itself more effectively, allowing some members to pursue non-agricultural professions, including religious, military and scientific occupations. While the Incas extended their empire through the Andes using spears tipped with knapped jade, contemporary Europeans arrived in the Americas with steel swords and cannon.

Today, of course, modern technology is universal; it turns out that all races are equally as inventive (and ruthless), when given the tools and opportunities. Even though the book is over a quarter-century old, it remains as pertinent as ever. I highly recommend Guns, Germs and Steel.

Christmas Bonus Book Review

The Maid

By Nita Prose

This is a quirky, charming murder mystery that makes for a great holiday read.

The title character is a domestic worker at a prestigious boutique hotel in New York. Molly is a young, neuro-divergent woman who values neatness next to Godliness, and nothing pleases her more than arriving at the hotel each day, donning her outfit, and anonymously scrubbing toilets for the rich and famous.

Until, of course, she stumbles across the slain body of Mr. Black, a high-profile property developer who was staying in a top-floor suite. Crude, corrupt and cruel to his wife, few mourned his passing, but the whole town was rampant with speculation over who killed him.

NYPD murder detectives focus their attention on Molly, whose socially-inept behavior makes her a prime suspect. In order to avoid jail, she sets out to prove her innocence by sleuthing her way to the real killer.

Much of the plot doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but the immense charm of this book emanates from its eccentric main character who relies on the people who love her to navigate through a strange, baffling world. I highly recommend The Maid!

2023-11-03

November 2023 Newsletter

Life in Mexico

Life’s a Beach

We live a few blocks from Santiago beach, a beautiful, 6-km stretch of coffee-colored sand situated in a protected bay.

The beach is deserted most of the week, but come Sunday, several thousand people flock for a day of rest and celebration. Here are some of our observations about the unique way that Mexicans enjoy a day in the sun.

Bring Beer. Anyone who thinks Mexicans are lazy has never seen one carrying three flats of warm cerveza on their head.

Bring the family. When it’s time to take the clan to the beach, they rent a bus. Even Grandma, dressed in black and sitting in a wheel chair, comes along.

Bring a life-vest. There are no lifeguards, rip markers or swimming lessons; if you get carried out to sea, you’re crocodile buffet.

Bring a skin tumor. The favorite sunscreen is coconut oil, with a melanoma-rating of +50. Smells great, though.

Bring a bikini. Not so bad when they’re 17, but when you see a Big Momma toting a few decades of tacos only one phrase comes to mind; Lycra torture test.

Book Review

The Exchange

By John Grisham

Linda and I have been reading John Grisham’s legal thrillers for decades now, and we’ve enjoyed them a tremendous amount. Unfortunately, in The Exchange, the author has taken a couple of detours from his usual winning formula that are, to say the least, distracting.

The Exchange is a follow-up to a tremendously enjoyable book, The Firm, which followed the misadventures of a young lawyer. After graduating with distinction from Harvard, Mitch McDeere joined Bendini, a prominent Memphis firm. At first, he and his wife Abby found themselves enjoying the life and sudden wealth that the position promised. Soon, however, they found themselves embroiled in a nefarious world of money laundering. With the FBI closing in, Mitch and Abby fled the country one step ahead of murder, abandoning their lives.

Now, decades later, Mitch has established a career with Scully, the world’s largest law firm. Settled in New York, they are intent on raising their twin sons and putting the nightmare around Bendini far behind.

Their lives are shattered, however, when a mysterious terrorist gang based in Libya kidnaps one of their associates, the sultry Giovanna Sandroni, while inspecting a client’s engineering work in the middle of the desert. Mitch finds himself scrambling to put together the $100 million ransom before she is executed.

So, what’s my problem? I enjoy Grisham because he doesn’t generally wallow in gore. The Exchange, however, features several grim torture/executions of terrorist captives; I can get all of this I want from reality, thanks.

Secondly, this isn’t a legal thriller, with all the court twists-and-turns that normally propel Grisham’s narrative. It’s essentially a ‘will he get the ransom together before the deadline (and presumably icky death) of the beautiful victim’ thriller.

Finally, when you do a sequel, the core of the conflict is associated with some ‘unfinished business’ (one of the guilty parties gets out of prison and comes looking for revenge, say). Except for the fact that it features the two primary protagonists from The Firm, the two books don’t really have anything to do with one another.

My suggestion; if you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend you get a copy of The Firm!

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TV Review

The Crown

Streaming on Netflix

We were living in London in 1997, about one km south of Kensington Palace. The morning of Sunday, August 31, dawned sunny and warm, and we decided to go for a jog in the park.

As we made our way north along Gloucester Rd, however, we noticed several strange occurrences. A cabbie was parked at the curb, weeping as he listened to his radio. People were solemnly exiting the Gloucester Rd tube, each clutching a bouquet of lilies.

When we reached the park, the normally-cheery warden wore a solemn expression and a black armband. It wasn’t until we reached the gilded south gate of the palace, already strewn with a pile of flowers, that we realized what was going on.

“Diana died last night,” a tearful mourner explained.

The sixth, and final season of The Crown focuses on the death of Diana. Even though half a lifetime has passed, the events remain riveting. Although it is a dramatization that pigeonholes many of the participants (the scheming Mohamed al-Fayed, his weak-willed, acquiescent son Dodi), the episodes nonetheless capture the visceral fascination that the world held for one woman and her tragic death.

Days after her demise, we stood in veneration as her gun carriage was drawn through the park, mourning with the millions watching at home.  It is a feeling that I shall remember for the rest of my life. I highly recommend The Crown!

Movie Review

Nyad

Streaming on Netflix

NASA had a goal to reach the moon; it was a massive, coordinated scientific achievement.

Sir Edmund Hillary had a goal to scale Mt. Everest, the tallest peak on earth.

But when does a goal become an obsession?

Diana Nyad, an American marathon swimmer, had achieved notable success early in her career, swimming the circumference of Manhattan, a distance of 28 miles, at the age of 26 in 1975. She went on to achieve a world open-water distance record in 1979, swimming 102 miles from Bimini in the Bahamas to Juno Beach, Florida.

Her ultimate ambition was to complete an open-water swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys, a distance of 110 miles. Although the feat had been previously done by swimmers using shark cages, she wanted to do it unprotected. It took her a total of five attempts, the final one in 2013 at the age of 63.

Each of the attempts were aided by a small army of volunteers, including the captain of the support boat, played by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans (who, as you may recall, did a wonderfully-comic turn as the goofy roommate to Hugh Grant in Notting Hill).

In the end, Nyad succeeds, although her achievement was shrouded in controversy due to a lack of independent verification that ultimately motivated Guinness to revoke her feat from its Book of World Records .

The movie stars Annette Bening, who plays Nyad, and Jodie Foster as her coach Bonnie Stohl; two incredible actresses portraying two strong women working to achieve a near-impossible objective. The movie is both riveting and touching; I highly recommend Nyad!

2023-10-02

October 2023 Newsletter

Life in Calgary

We’ve been residing in Mexico for the last 12 years, so a lot has happened in our old home town in the intervening decade. We’ve had a chance to spend the last two months in town, and here are a few things I never thought I’d live long enough to see.

Co-op Cannabis

For those of you not from Alberta, the Co-op grocery chain was founded by the United Farmers of Alberta in the 1940s and is about the least likely organization in the province to open a chain of pot stores (except for the RCMP).

They have great names for the various weed varieties, including Purple Haze (too bad Buzz Light Year was already taken). But I’m kind of nostalgic for the days when you’d purchase a dime bag behind the high-school from the local JD. Somehow, paying GST on reefer is a bit of a buzz kill.

Calgary Central Library

The City of Calgary began planning this about the same time as the Pyramids of Giza.

The award-winning design was completed in 2018 at the cost of around $250 million. When it finally opened, thousands of citizens waited patiently in line to gaze upon the wood-clad interior and pinch CDs.

When we recently visited, the vast interior echoed with the sound of children’s delight as Librarians performed favorite books.

Best of all, however; they carry copies of Secret Combinations, Magnus the Magnificent and A Paris Moment! If you are a Calgary Library member, be sure to sign in on your card and request Joan the Saint and The Hotel Seamstress.

The Big Head

This sculpture, formally entitled Wonderland, was installed a few years ago in front of the Bow Tower in Calgary. The Spanish artist Jaume Plensa drew inspiration from the head of a young Spanish girl, and the interior the 12-m work of art can be accessed through a door. I recommend a visit to Co-op Cannabis before entering.

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Joan the Saint!

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Book Review

The Last Devil to Die

By Richard Osman

The concept of this mystery novel series is disingenuously simple; a quartet of retirees living in a seniors’ complex near Brighton start a club in which they investigate unsolved murders.

They are led by Elizabeth, a legendary former spy who is ruthless in her pursuit of perfidy. Her best friend Joyce loves to cook pound cake, while retired union leader Ron and former psychiatrist Ibrahim round out the crew. They are, in turn, aided by Bogdan, a mysterious Polish émigré, and Donna, a police inspector for the rural constabulary.

In this fourth installment, a delivery of heroin from Afghanistan goes astray and a friend of the murder club is found, well, murdered. The intrepid gang vows justice and goes in search of both the heroin and the killers.

The series is in the delightful tradition of the English cosy mystery in which amateur sleuths bring their unusual talents to bear on murder most foul. They are invariably a delightful blend of eccentric characters, convoluted plots and dry British wit. If you aren’t familiar with the Thursday Murder Club series, I highly recommend you give it a try!

Recipe: Chamorro de Cerdo

Chamorro de cerdo

Pork shank is a popular Sunday meal in Mexico. It is inexpensive, easy to make and absolutely delicious!

Ingredients

1 pork shank.

¼ cup of flour

1 Tsp of chili powder

1 Tsp of butter

Four carrots

1 cup of baby potatoes

½ a white onion

½ cup of water or broth

1 tsp of salt

Ground pepper

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 400 F.

Mix the flour and chili powder together in a plastic bag. Insert the pork shank and lightly coat the meat. (Save 1 Tsp of the remaining flour and chili powder).

Fry the shank in butter, browning on all four sides.

Cut the carrots, onion and potatoes and place in the bottom of a cast-iron pot. Pour in the water or broth.

Place the shank atop the vegetables and bake in the oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Cover and reduce heat to 350 F. Cook for a further two hours.

When the meat is tender, remove from the oven and separate the meat and vegetables.

Tent the shank and let rest for 10 minutes while preparing the gravy by mixing 1 Tsp of the remnant flour and chili mix with the drippings.

Serve each portion whole, or flake the meat off and serve on a platter. Enjoy!

TV Review

Lupin

Streaming on Netflix

This is a French series following the adventures of Assane Diop, the modern reincarnation of Arsene Lupin. The latter was a fictional gentleman thief popular in the early 20th century, a self-styled Robin Hood of the Paris underworld.

Diop, a master of disguise, uses his abilities and general chicanery to steal from the rich and, (ahem), keep it. In the latest series, his arch nemesis kidnaps his mother and extorts him into stealing some of the world’s most precious jewelry, including the invaluable Black Pearl.

Our anti-hero and his intrepid team pull a host of outrageous heists that bamboozle the police and infuriate the pampered owners of pricey baubles. Although the first installment of the series was delightfully entertaining, the writers and producers have taken the concept to a whole new level in this latest season. I highly recommend Lupin!

2023-09-07

September 2023 Newsletter

Life in Calgary

I am Sleeping in Jon Hamm’s Bed

I am sleeping in Jon Hamm’s bed. Not the one in his Italianate villa overlooking Lake Como, of course, but the one that he used while filming a TV series in Calgary last year. I can’t tell you the name of the series because I’m sworn to secrecy, but the pig-Latin pronunciation is Argo-fay.

How I came to be sleeping in Jon Hamm’s bed is really banal. Our friends were flying to BC and needed someone to baby-sit their tomato plants for the weekend. As they were leaving, they said, “Oh, by the way, we rented our home to Jon Hamm last winter.”

“Not the handsome but morally-compromised ad executive who starred in Mad Men?”

“That’s the one.”

I fluff the bedsheet. It’s one of those micro-fabrics that feel like it’s made of baby seal. I imagine Jon and his girlfriend having breakfast in bed, eating French toast with real Canadian maple syrup, when suddenly Jon reaches beneath his pillow and pulls out a jewelry box with a ring and asks her to marry him! I lean over and peek under the bed for the discarded box; a dust bunny stares forlornly back. Still, I can imagine his Fiancée taking Jon in her arms and giving him a big kiss then spilling the maple syrup as she jumps his bones.

I don’t know why I can’t tell you the name of the TV series. It’s not like nobody knew he was here. When the cleaning ladies showed up at the door, he said; “Hi! I’m Jon Hamm.” They all took selfies and shared them with half of Manila. When I walked in to a local take-out shop to buy lunch the other day, there was a signed-photo of him behind the till with a big sign advertising the day’s special, Hamm Sandwich. Like, subtle.

I am drying my clothes in the dryer. There must be six months-worth of lint in the catcher. It is kind of dusty but I keep it because it just might have some remnant of Jon’s socks tucked in there. I’m thinking of making a beret if I can figure out how to keep from sneezing.

I discover a half-empty jar of Jiff sitting in the rear of the pantry. I envision Jon having a bachelor dinner in the living room by sticking a knife in and licking the peanut butter off. Doesn’t taste too bad, though.

There is a copy of Jon’s script on the book shelf. I know it’s his because someone has helpfully written Jon Hamm’s script on the spine. Jon plays Sheriff Ray Tillman, a rancher with some anger management issues. It contains only the first five episodes, so don’t bother asking me how it ends, although I highly recommend you get a subscription to FX or Hulu and watch it when it drops November 21, 2023.

A big shout-out to Laurie and her book club in Calgary! Their featured book this month is The Hotel Seamstress, and they graciously invited me for a Q&A session. The book is available on Kindle Unlimited, and you can also pick up a copy of the eBook or paperback on Amazon.

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Movie Review

Barbie

Starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling

“You want to go see Barbie? Are you nuts?”

Yes, yes, I know I’m supposed to check out Oppenheimer, but, man, can’t a guy just chill, for once?

And, guess what? Barbie isn’t just for kids, not by a long shot. From the very first scene, an homage to 2001; A Space Odyssey, where the black obelisk is replaced by a blonde in a bathing suit who incites children to destroy their old dolls in apelike brutality, you know this ain’t no Disney flick.

Instead, Greta Gerwig has constructed a highly entertaining movie that explores the dichotomy between male and female-dominated societies.

The story opens in Barbie Land, which is populated by all the versions of Barbie ever created by Mattel, including Astronaut Barbie, Doctor Barbie and Disco Barbie. All of the Supreme Court is occupied by Barbies, as is the Pink House.

All of the Kens, on the other hand, are subservient to Barbie. They hang out at the beach and wait to be noticed.

All is perfect, until Stereotypical Barbie (played by Robbie), suddenly begins to get bad vibes from one of her owners in the Real World. Her feet go flat and she begins to have nightmares about mortality. Weird Barbie (delightfully played by Kate McKinnon), advises her to go to the Real World and set things straight before she gets cellulite.

Barbie and Ken trek to LA, where they promptly get into a series of fish-out-of-water scrapes with the law. Barbie realizes that reality sucks, but Ken discovers patriarchy, where men rule the world. He takes his findings back.

When Barbie finally returns to Barbie Land, she finds that everything has been turned upside down, with all the other Barbies fawning over muscle-bound dudes. Appalled, she seeks out the help of Weird Barbie, who comes up with a solution; “By giving voice to the cognitive dissonance of living under patriarchy, you rob it of its power.”

In other words, show that the Emperor has no clothes.

Now, if you’re wondering how this goes over with an audience of six-year olds wearing tutus, worry not; there’s more than enough dog-poop jokes and dance numbers to keep them screaming in the aisles.

Barbie: it’s nuts, it’s funny and it’s in your face. I highly recommend you go see it while it’s still in theaters and enjoy one of the most original movies made in a long, long time.

Book Review

Cinema Speculation

By Quentin Tarantino

I became a big fan of Quentin Tarantino when I first saw Pulp Fiction. It was violent, scary and in-your-face in a way that I had never seen before. I was so riveted that I could remember, scene-by-scene, exactly what had happened. But one of the biggest questions in my mind was; “Who could create this film?”

Cinema Speculation is a first-hand account of how director Quentin Tarantino’s childhood was shaped by cinema. At the age of six, his single mother would take him with her when she went on dates to double-feature movies. Starting at the age of six, he was exposed to graphically-violent movies such as The Wild Bunch, MASH and Bonnie and Clyde.

And he loved every gory, blood-splattered moment of it.

The memoir is broken down into two dozen essays, each focusing on either a classic action movie such as The Getaway, or on a director or actor who he cherishes for their contributions to film.

As a respected auteur in his own right, Tarantino has gone back to the titans of the industry and interviewed them to determine how each film came together, right from how the script was molded to the choice of actors and the artistic decisions that ultimately made an otherwise pedestrian movie into a masterpiece.

One quibble; the author doesn’t explore the entrails of any of his own films. I can only hope that that’s the subject of his next book. In the meantime, I highly recommend Cinema Speculation to all cinephiles!

2023-08-03

August 2023 Newsletter

Life in London

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.”

Samuel Johnson said that over two hundred years ago, but it still holds true today. Whatever turns your crank, you’ll find it within the shadow of Big Ben.

We spent a week at the end of July in a lovely AirBnB flat located in Earl’s Court. We were in walking distance of Kensington Palace and a thousand curry take-outs. A short ride on the Tube took us everywhere else in town.

Our favorite pastime is always the West End, where you can see some of the best musicals on earth. We went to see two shows, Guys and Dolls and Cabaret; a head-to-head comparison follows below.

We also love to travel around town on the double-decker buses, the fare of which is included when you purchase a week-long Oyster Card. They are far less crowded than the Tube, and you get to see all the attractions, like Buckingham Palace, as you roll by.

If I have one gripe, it’s that the folks in London don’t know how to walk on the sidewalk. They stagger along, heads bent over cell phones, totally oblivious of everyone else. Fortunately our flat had a big umbrella with a pointy end that I could use to goose them into oncoming lorries.

Alas, our time in Europe passed too quickly. We’re back in Calgary for the next little while, so I have to remind myself not to drive like a Mexican or I’ll end up in jail.

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Head-to-Head Theatre Review; Guys and Dolls vs Cabaret

We had the pleasure of seeing two musicals in London this summer; Guys and Dolls and Cabaret. Both have many similarities – they are set in the 1930s, feature hit songs, innovative immersive sets, and the best singers and dancers that the West End can offer.

Cabaret first appeared on Broadway in 1966. It starred Jill Haworth as Sally, a role that was reprised by Liza Minnelli in the 1972 movie.

The show is set in 1930s Berlin, at the end of the jazz age and the rise of Hitler and fascism. American writer Clifford is involved with Sally, a singer at the seedy Kit Kat Club. The debauched world of the Weimar Republic swirls around them as they stagger toward the nightmare that awaits.

The stage is set up in the center of the theater, and audience members sit at tables surrounding the performing area. Waitresses bring Champagne and snacks before the performance. Once the show starts, the cast sings and dances through a dozen songs, including the hit Cabaret.

Guys and Dolls is based on a series of short stories that Damon Runyon wrote about hard-scrabble con artists and gals down on their luck in New York. The stage is also set in the center of the main level, with audience members milling about as risers lift the actors up. The cast of 24 also performs a dozen songs, including the Sinatra standard, Luck be a Lady Tonight.

So, how did the compare?

Keep in mind that we saw matinees, so several of the main characters were played by understudies. That said, the cast of Guys and Dolls had a significant edge when it came to belting out the tunes, soaring above the competition with heart-felt gusto.

I also preferred the story line of Guys and Dolls, which had a more light-hearted theme of pursuing the American dream. Mind you, the sub-plot of Cabaret was focused on the rise of fascism, so one could hardly expect a laugh-riot. The director gamely explored the dark humor of the situation, but the comedic timing was off.

Out of five stars, I give Guys and Dolls a four, and Cabaret a three.

Movie Review

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Back in 1984, I went with my sister Marlene to see the first Indiana Jones movie, and was utterly entranced by this big-screen, throw-back to the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Over the ensuing 40 years, I have faithfully viewed each sequel in a theatre as they came out.

Linda and I went to see Dial of Destiny at a cinema in Paris. I hate it when they dub in the voices, but fortunately it was shown in VO (Version original), so that wasn’t a distraction. True to form, the movie opened with an extended scene in which ruthless bad guys (Nazis!), try to off Indie during a New York parade honoring the crew of Apollo 11.

The premise of the story is that the no-goodniks want to get ahold of the Antikythera mechanism, a time-traveling device built by Archimedes 2000 years ago so that they can use it for nefarious stuff.

Indie sets off to thwart them, aided by his god-daughter Helena. As usual, there are pits full of snakes, chases on horseback, fights on trains and a dangle or two out of a plane. Needless to say, the scoundrels get their comeuppance in the end. My recommendation; go see Dial of Destiny while it’s still playing in the theatres; you won’t be disappointed!

Book Review

The Beach at Summerly

By Beatriz Williams

Beatriz Williams has long been feted as a master of the summer read. Most of her books feature a strong female lead, usually a young, feisty woman making her own way in the turbulent world of the first half of the 20th century.

The Beach at Summerly is set on Winthrop Island, just off the coast of Long Island. Secluded for most of the year, it comes to life in the summer when rich New Yorkers occupy their palatial summer homes.

Emilia is a native Islander, her family having arrived some three centuries ago to settle the rocky isle. She lives with her father and mother in a cottage adjacent to the Summerly Mansion, owned by the Peabody clan. As a child in the 1930s, Emilia grew up with the Peabody children, whiling away the summers swimming, cycling and picnicking in the dunes.

But WWII interrupts their idyllic existence; the young men go off to fight the Nazis. Emilia’s older brother is killed, as is the eldest Peabody son. When the survivors finally return, Emilia finds comfort in the arms of Shep Peabody, a kind and gentle younger brother who has had a crush on Emilia since they were children.

Enter, stage left, Olive Rainsford, a relative of the Peabody’s who has just returned from Europe. A twice-widowed woman of elegance and mystery, she asks Emilia to help care for her three young children.

Suspicions arise when undercover agents arrive on the island and begin to surveil the locals. Is there a spy in their midst? Death soon stalks their cloistered existence.

The author enjoys using split narratives. In this case, the main tale is set in 1946, and the ensuing flash-forward in 1954. I personally enjoy split narratives, as they keep the reader on their toes. Williams wraps it all up in the end; I highly recommend The Beach at Summerly!

2023-07-10-small

July 2023 Newsletter

Life in France

We’ve been in France for over a month now, and if there’s one thing that stands out more than anything else, it’s the fact that the French worship their stomachs. Or, more specifically, all the wonderful things they put in their stomachs.

People ask us; ‘how do you spend your day?’ I’d like to wax lyrical about the endless hours spent contemplating immortal works of art and graceful architecture, but that would be wrong. The vast amount of daylight hours are spent rapturing over the many amazing ingredients on offer.

Every day, we stop at Mary’s cheese shop and buy some scrumptious soft cheese for spreading on baguette, a bit of feta for Greek salads, and a tangy Roquefort to accompany the lovely Burgundy we purchase right next door at Virginie’s Les Caves du Roi.

Monsieur Bardot, the neighborhood butcher, always has a delightful selection of veal, from cordon bleu (breaded veal wrapped around cheese and prosciutto), to tender belly for cooking blanquettes de veau, a beef stew in creamy sauce served on pappardelle pasta.

Not to be forgotten, is the patisserie. The smell of chocolate wafts through their door and down the street, drawing you forcefully in by the nose. Caramel dipped in dark chocolate, delicate strawberry tarts on custard, and an endless array of cake.

The only reason, of course, that I don’t look like the Michelin man is because we walk an average of 150 km per month buying all this stuff.

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Book Review

The Five Star Weekend

By Elin Hilderbrand

Linda and I have been reading Elin Hilderbrand’s novels for several years now. ‘The queen of the beach reads’ has written several dozen novels set in the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, featuring the misadventures of both the full-time islanders and the summer visitors.

Their stories are a mix of the trials and tribulations of the super-rich and those scraping by from paycheck to paycheck. Some of my favorites include The Identicals, a tale of twin sisters raised separately, and 28 Summers, which follows a secret affair between an independent island woman and the husband of a Washington senator.

The Five Star Weekend follows the recovery of a food blogger after the tragic death of her husband. Hollis Shaw has an international following on her Hungry with Hollis blog, in which she videos her recipes and sports wonderful attire. But her glamourous life is turned inside out when Matthew, a respected Boston surgeon, is killed in a car accident.

Hollis retreats to their summer home in Nantucket, where she lives like a hermit, neglecting her blog and her young adult daughter Caroline. She is finally stirred from her depression after reading about a woman who, recently widowed, rebooted her life by holding a five-star weekend where she invites four women friends, each from an important part of her life, and treats them to a fun and rejuvenating time.

Hollis invites Tatum, her closest childhood friend, Dru-Ann, a roommate from college, Brooke, a former neighbor when Hollis was raising her child, and, most intriguingly, Gigi Ling, a follower of her blog whom she has never met. She then hires Caroline to video the entire encounter.

The author excels in crafting fully-fledged characters who have serious issues of their own, and Five Star Weekend is one of her best novels. Each of Hollis’s friends brings significant emotional baggage that needs resolution, promising the potential for a five-alarm fire! This is a great page-turner, and ensures that Hildebrand will be retaining her crown for quite some time to come. I highly recommend The Five Star Weekend!

Book Review

A Visit from the Goon Squad

By Jennifer Egan

Generally, when I see a book cover with the blurb ‘Winner of the So-And-So Award’ I run like hell. I can’t think of the number of winners I’ve purchased that I doubt even the author’s mother has read cover to cover. They’re just awful.

So, it was with trepidation that I approached A Visit from the Goon Squad, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize. Right from the very first chapter, I was drawn into the mesmerizing world of Sasha, a record producer’s assistant based in New York, and the strange and fascinating cadre of friends, family and circumstances that orbit her in a cosmos of weirdness.

Sasha, it seems, is a kleptomaniac who can’t resist stealing objects every week so that she has something new to tell her therapist (this is New York, remember). Her boss, the legendary record producer Bennie Salazar, gets seized by paralyzing bouts of cringe unless he drinks pure gold flakes in his coffee and sprays his arm pits with Raid to ward of cooties.

And these are the normal ones. The author parades her characters through a series of chapters that act as vignettes to pivotal parts of their lives using a spectrum of tones and styles (was that a Power Point presentation?) that impressively displays her prodigious writing talents. I highly recommend A Visit from the Goon Squad!