Life in Mexico

We’ve had a great summer in San Miguel de Allende, but it’s time to head back home to Manzanillo. There are so many wonderful sights to see and places to eat in SMA; here’s a few of our favorites;

Antigua Trattoria Romana.

Located at the north end of Ancha de San Antonio (the main road running north-south through town), this restaurant features some of the best Italian food in the city. Our favorite dishes include Insalata de Funghi (fresh mushrooms with celery, Parmesan cheese and lime juice), and the Pizza Capricciosa (artichoke hearts, black olives, prosciutto and mushrooms).

Fabrica la Aurora.

This 19^th century cotton mill has been converted into an amazing mall filled with art galleries, jewelry shops and restaurants. Take in an exhibition of contemporary art or stroll through the amazing collections – all for free!

Park Juarez.

An oasis of green in the middle of the city that attracts lovers, joggers and nature enthusiasts. Artists sell their works here every Sunday morning, or you can take in the special flower bed that attracts butterflies and hummingbirds year-round.

Recipe: Chicken Phyllo with Tzatziki Sauce

This classic appetizer recalls lazy days spent in the Greek Islands! Easy to make and freeze ahead of time!

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, deboned and cut into finger-sized pieces.

3 sheets of phyllo pastry, layered and cut into 6-in squares.

½ cup of mayo

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 Tsp of lemon juice

1 tsp of tarragon.

¼ cup of butter, melted

¼ cup of parmesan, grated

Directions

Set oven at 400 F.

Mix mayo, garlic, lemon juice and tarragon.

Dip each piece of chicken in mix and wrap it in phyllo. Brush with butter and lay on a baking tray. Sprinkle with parmesan.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Tzatziki Sauce

½ cup grated cucumber

1 cup plain yogurt

1 Tsp of sour cream

1 Tsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsp chopped fresh mint and/or dill

1 Tsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Squeeze the grated cucumber between your palms over the sink to remove excess moisture. Salt the cucumber and place on a paper towel.

Put the cucumber in a medium bowl. Add the yogurt, olive oil, sour cream, herbs, lemon juice, garlic, and salt, and stir to blend. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Serve tzatziki immediately or chill for later.

Enjoy!

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A story of love, and war,

And how one person can change the course of history.

The year is 1944. Paris has been under German occupation for four years, its citizens ground beneath the jackboot of fascism.

The French Resistance knows that an Allied invasion is imminent. They do not know how the Germans will react, however. Will they retreat from Paris, or burn the city to the ground?

Veronique Grenelle is growing up in an impoverished inner-city neighborhood, scrambling to feed herself and her family. The Resistance recruits the vivacious young woman to befriend Lieutenant Gunther von Clause, an aide-de-camp to the German Army’s Military Governor. She gradually gains his affection.

James Gallagher, a lieutenant in the US Army’s Military Intelligence unit, frequently parachutes behind enemy lines to deliver funds and instructions to the Resistance. He meets and befriends Veronique, who falls madly in love with the dashing American officer.

D-Day approaches, and Veronique finds herself in a bind; should she pursue her heart or her duty to the Resistance? In the end, her decision will not only determine the fate of Paris, it will reverberate down through her family for generations to come.

TV Series Review

Sex Education

Streaming on Netflix

Sex Education is a British production filmed in Wales about a typical American high school, only with a lot of hanky-panky.

Creator Laurie Nunn wanted to create an homage to John Hughes teenage angst films, including The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. Of course, three decades of cable TV has led to a contemporary mashup where who-is-taking-who-to-the-prom is replaced by should-I-wear-a-condom-during-anal-intercourse.

The premise of the story revolves around Otis, the teenage son of famous sex therapist Jean Milburn (Gillian Anderson). Otis is smitten with goth-girl Maeve, who has a bit of a cash flow problem. Maeve convinces Otis to offer sex advice to class mates in an abandoned washroom.

Otis turns out to be a hit, and soon everyone is beating a path to his (toilet) door. In the meantime, hormones are raging out of control as adolescents discover the joys of lust.

Sex Education is fun, light-hearted and tremendous entertainment for both teenagers and adults.

Movie Review

Worth

Streaming on Netflix

Worth is a biopic that tells the story of Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who was appointed by the Bush Administration as Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

Based upon his memoir, Worth follows the efforts of Feinberg (played by Michael Keaton), to convince the majority of thousands of claimants to agree to compensation based upon a complex actuarial calculation.

This is not a high-action film bursting with dramatic rescues or falling buildings; rather, it is an intense emotional journey. As Feinberg races against a deadline to complete his work, we learn the devastating impact the tragedy has had upon a score of ordinary people.

Backed by excellent performances by Stanley Tucci and Amy Adams, Worth is a poignant retrospective of the consequences of the most lethal terrorist attack ever to take place on American soil.

Book Review

Apples Never Fall

By Liane Moriarty

I’m a big fan of Liane Moriarty (Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers), and Apples Never Fall is one of the best novels I have read from the Sydney-based writer.

Stan and Joy Delaney have been running a tennis academy in the Sydney suburbs for 50 years, but now it’s time to sell-up and enjoy the good life. Unfortunately, retirement doesn’t go well, and, when Joy suddenly disappears, the police focus their attention on Stan.

The problem for the Delaney siblings – Amy, Brooke, Troy and Logan – is should they cooperate with the police, or not? They know Stan has a short-temper; did he really kill their mother and dispose of the body? Each one has their reasons to both support and condemn their dad, and their ambivalence fuels the story as it whipsaws back and forth between guilt and innocence.

Moriarty has a gift for mining the drama that lurks beneath the shady suburbs of her home town in a manner that is unparalleled! I highly recommend Apples Never Fall!

Life in Mexico

The first thing you notice as you approach Pork Belly is the exquisite aroma of meat cooking slowly over hardwood logs, a seductive siren that pulls you in.

Pork Belly is the creation of Erick and his wife Carmen. Erick trained as a chef in Europe for several decades before returning to his native Mexico with a dream; “I just love the taste of smoked meat.”

The restaurant is located in a converted home on Stirling Dickinson, a few blocks west of the Minas Real hotel. The tiny patio gives way to a series of minimally-decorated salons arranged around the central open kitchen. A black-iron smoker adjacent to the kitchen puffs away, cooking the slabs of brisket, ribs and pork belly for several hours.

Although Pork Belly features a full menu catering to all tastes, I invariably order the brisket, which has been smoked for 8 hours. The moist and tasty meat, served on a fluffy French brioche bun, melts in your mouth. Linda enjoys the signature pork belly, which has been lovingly-prepared over three days for an amazing combination of succulent smoked meat with a crunchy crust.

I highly recommend Pork Belly!

Address: Stirling Dickinson 10

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 10 am – 8 pm

(Also serves cocktails and tacos at it outlet on Cuna Allende 15, adjacent to the Parroquia).

TV Review

This is a wonderful TV Series produced by Masterpiece Theatre (Downton Abbey) for Britain’s ITV network. It tells the real-life story of the Durrell family, who moved from England to live in Corfu in the 1930s. It is based upon The Corfu Trilogy memoirs written by acclaimed naturalist Gerald Durrell.

The series features widowed mother Louisa trying to raise her four children under trying financial difficulties. Her eldest, Lawrence, is an aspiring writer, second eldest Leslie is obsessed with girls, Margo is fighting her way through teenage hormones and Gerald, the youngest, is besotted with anything that flies, crawls or wiggles.

They retreat to a decrepit villa on the shores of Corfu where Lawrence sets out to write the next great novel, Gerald creates a zoo from local creatures and Louisa tries to keep home and hearth together amid penury.

The appeal of the series arises from the idyllic setting amid Ionian seas, the warm and eccentric natives and the compelling interpersonal stories. Scriptwriter Simone Nye leans heavily on Durrell’s memoirs as well as his own gift for narrative to create a chronicle of lust, drama, heart-ache and prat-falls. It is in equal measures heartfelt, witty, reflective and charming. We were enchanted throughout all four seasons, and sorry when it finally ended.

I highly recommend The Durrells!

Check out my latest book on Amazon!

A story of love, and war,

And how one person can change the course of history.

The year is 1944. Paris has been under German occupation for four years, its citizens ground beneath the jackboot of fascism.

The French Resistance knows that an Allied invasion is imminent. They do not know how the Germans will react, however. Will they retreat from Paris, or burn the city to the ground?

Veronique Grenelle is growing up in an impoverished inner-city neighborhood, scrambling to feed herself and her family. The Resistance recruits the vivacious young woman to befriend Lieutenant Gunther von Clause, an aide-de-camp to the German Army’s Military Governor. She gradually gains his affection.

James Gallagher, a lieutenant in the US Army’s Military Intelligence unit, frequently parachutes behind enemy lines to deliver funds and instructions to the Resistance. He meets and befriends Veronique, who falls madly in love with the dashing American officer.

D-Day approaches, and Veronique finds herself in a bind; should she pursue her heart or her duty to the Resistance? In the end, her decision will not only determine the fate of Paris, it will reverberate down through her family for generations to come.

Recipe

Lamb Curry

This is a great comfort meal for those cold fall evenings – easy to make and very delicious!

Ingredients

1 kg of lamb, cut into pieces.

Three carrots, chopped

1 white onion, chopped

8 mushrooms, chopped

1tsp curry

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp dried coriander

1 Tsp garam masala

½ tsp clove

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp of ginger, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of pepper

1 chili pepper, chopped

3 Tsp of olive oil

1 cup of broth.

¼ cup of fresh coriander, chopped

Fry spices in olive oil for one minute. Add lamb and onion and fry until onion is translucent. Add carrots and mushrooms and broth. Cook on low for 2 hours. Add coriander just before serving.

Movie Review

Cinderella

Streaming on Amazon Prime

This campy musical, filled with both original and classic rock songs, is definitely not your childhood fairy tale.

Cinderella (Camila Cabello) may still have two ugly stepsisters and lives in the basement, but she isn’t searching for a prince to rescue her. Her way out of the proverbial ashes is to become a dress designer (albeit with the help of a trio of mice).

The kingdom is in a pickle because the young, handsome Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine) doesn’t want to marry the fiancée arranged for him by his father, King Rowan (Pierce Brosnan). The latter puts his foot down and demands his son pick out a bride at the annual ball.

When word gets out, Cinderella could care less if she is invited; she sees the fete as an opportunity to highlight her couture apparel.

Evil stepmom Vivian (Idina Menzel), is having none of it, of course, and bans Cinderella. Fabulous Godmother (hey, we said it was camp), comes to the rescue and she is off to the ball in a fantastic frock.

You know what happens next. Cinderella and the prince fall hopelessly in love, but she has to flee at the stroke of 12.

After that, everything goes off the rails (SPOILER ALERT!) Cinderella makes plans to head for Paris and tells Prince Robert if he doesn’t like it, tough.

In the meantime, everyone rocks to Queen’s Somebody to Love, Ed Sheeran’s Perfect, and Rhythm Nation by Jane Jackson. This is a wonderfully fun and rollicking movie that the whole family can enjoy. I highly recommend Cinderella!

August 25 marks the 77^th anniversary of the liberation of Paris. For over four years, the German army had subjugated the city to brutal suppression, with civilians being deported to death camps and resistance fighters tortured and killed by the Gestapo.

After the Allies landed in Normandy on D-Day, the French worried that the city might be bypassed, or worse, destroyed by retreating Germans. In fact, Hitler ordered that all the major landmarks of the city, including the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, be destroyed and the city set aflame.

Thankfully, the military governor General Dietrich von Choltitz ignored his orders and, after a week-long uprising and the arrival of the Allies’ 2^nd Armoured Division under General Philippe Leclerc, the city was free.

You can relive the struggle in my latest novel! The Hotel Seamstress tells the story of a beautiful young Parisian woman who risks her life to save her city. It is a story of struggle and passion and the eventual triumph of the heart.

Click here to order The Hotel Seamstress!

A story of love, and war,

And how one person can change the course of history.

The year is 1944. Paris has been under German occupation for four years, its citizens ground beneath the jackboot of fascism.

The French Resistance knows that an Allied invasion is imminent. They do not know how the Germans will react, however. Will they retreat from Paris, or burn the city to the ground?

Veronique Grenelle is growing up in an impoverished inner-city neighborhood, scrambling to feed herself and her family. The Resistance recruits the vivacious young woman to befriend Lieutenant Gunther von Clause, an aide-de-camp to the German Army’s Military Governor. She gradually gains his affection.

James Gallagher, a lieutenant in the US Army’s Military Intelligence unit, frequently parachutes behind enemy lines to deliver funds and instructions to the Resistance. He meets and befriends Veronique, who falls madly in love with the dashing American officer.

D-Day approaches, and Veronique finds herself in a bind; should she pursue her heart or her duty to the Resistance? In the end, her decision will not only determine the fate of Paris, it will reverberate down through her family for generations to come.

The Jewel Thieves who hired a hooker to pose as Marie Antoinette – and almost got away with it!

While researching French history for my memoir, A Paris Moment, I came upon a most bizarre tale. The Comtesse de la Mottle, a saucy woman of high society, concocted a scheme in which she artfully swindled a cardinal out of a diamond necklace designed for the Queen of France.

Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, also known as the ‘Comtesse de la Motte’ was born in 1756 to the illegitimate descendant of King Henry II.

Seeking to escape poverty using her charms, she attempted to establish a social relationship with Marie Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI. Despite rebuffs from the queen, Jeanne persisted, and her machinations eventually led to a delightful swindle that was to become known as ‘The Affair of the Diamonds.’

Her plot was hatched at the Hôtel de Rohan, an immense palace built for Cardinal Rohan, a rather vain man with a crush on Marie Antoinette.  He fancied the queen as a mistress, but she never had the slightest interest in him.  In fact, word has it that she blamed the cardinal for the humiliating incident that occurred as she was traveling to Paris for her betrothal to Louis XVI.  Stopped at the border of France, she was made to strip naked, removing everything that was Austrian. 

The focus of the diamond affair was a necklace crafted by the French jewelers Boehmer, who had unsuccessfully tried to sell it for 1.6 million francs to Louis XVI.  Madame de la Motte, then the mistress to Cardinal Rohan, fancied the necklace for herself, and came up with a plan to acquire it using the gullibility of her lover.  She forged a letter from Marie Antoinette to Rohan saying that she would look favorably on the cardinal if he were to buy this necklace for her.

When Madame de la Motte delivered this letter personally to the cardinal, he was naturally suspicious.  He asked to meet Antoinette in person, so the crafty Madame arranged for a hot midnight assignation in the forest of Versailles with a prostitute disguised to look like the queen. 

Tantalized by this taste of forbidden fruit, the duped cardinal put the first payment down for the necklace and gave it to Madame de la Motte, who immediately broke it up and sold the diamonds. 

The subterfuge was soon discovered when the defrauded jewelers came looking for their second payment.  When the truth emerged, the king had Cardinal Rohan stripped of his offices and sent into exile. 

Madame de la Motte was put in jail and branded with a V, for voleur, but the jewel thief later escaped to London where she had the last laugh, publishing a salty, vengeful memoir about court life in Versailles.

Download A Paris Moment here for Free!

The world’s oldest Oscar recipient was sleeping in bed when he won!

Movie Review

The Father

Streaming on Amazon Prime

The Father explores the mental deterioration of an aging man and its impact on his family and friends.

The dementia sufferer in question is Anthony (played by Anthony Hopkins), a retired engineer and widower living alone in an apartment in London. He is the father to Anne (Olivia Colman); as the sole living relative, she takes on the task of caring for her increasingly confused parent.

Originally written by Florian Zeller as a play, Zeller adapts and directs the exploration of one man’s gradual loss of self-awareness. His delusions are dramatically manifested by removing and replacing furnishings in Antony’s flat, and alternating his perceptions with that of his surrounding family and caretakers. The result is a confusing mélange that communicates to the audience the growing loss of memory and awareness of reality experienced by those suffering dementia.

 This is, on many levels, a disturbing and poignant movie. For anyone who has ever experienced the mental deterioration of an aging loved one, the film highlights the frustration and helplessness that envelopes everyone involved. For those who have not, it offers a frightening insight into what might happen if your own faculties atrophy.

The writing, directing and acting are all superb; it was reported that the entire crew burst into tears while filming the final scene. In addition to Anthony Hopkins winning the Oscar for Best Actor in 2021 for his performance, Florian Zeller won for Adapted Screenplay.

I highly recommend The Father!

The Best Roast Duck You’ll Ever Eat!

Recipe

This is easy to make and so delicious!

Ingredients

1 Whole duck

1 lemon, sliced

2 potatoes, cut into cubes.

Sauce

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup Cointreau (or orange liqueur)

1 Tsp of corn starch.

1 Mango, peeled and sliced

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Place potato cubes into microwave and cook for 4 minutes.

Remove the duck from the fridge, clean and pat dry, then allow to warm for 1 hour.

Prick skin all over with a fork. Rub with salt. Place lemon slices in cavity.

Cut a diamond pattern in the skin above the breast with a sharp knife. Do not cut flesh.

Place the duck in a deep roasting pan. Line pan with potatoes.

Roast duck, breast side up, for two hours.

Tilt duck to drain liquid from cavity into pan.

Transfer duck to a cutting board and let stand 15 minutes before carving.

Remove potatoes.

Sauce

Mix the sugar, lemon juice and orange liqueur in a shallow pan at medium heat. Reduce for 3 minutes.

Mix in corn starch and thicken.

Add mango pieces and turn to low for one minute.

Cut the roasted duck into pieces and serve with potatoes and sauce. Enjoy!

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A story of love, and war,

And how one person can change the course of history.

The year is 1944. Paris has been under German occupation for four years, its citizens ground beneath the jackboot of fascism.

The French Resistance knows that an Allied invasion is imminent. They do not know how the Germans will react, however. Will they retreat from Paris, or burn the city to the ground?

Veronique Grenelle is growing up in an impoverished inner-city neighborhood, scrambling to feed herself and her family. The Resistance recruits the vivacious young woman to befriend Lieutenant Gunther von Clause, an aide-de-camp to the German Army’s Military Governor. She gradually gains his affection.

James Gallagher, a lieutenant in the US Army’s Military Intelligence unit, frequently parachutes behind enemy lines to deliver funds and instructions to the Resistance. He meets and befriends Veronique, who falls madly in love with the dashing American officer.

D-Day approaches, and Veronique finds herself in a bind; should she pursue her heart or her duty to the Resistance? In the end, her decision will not only determine the fate of Paris, it will reverberate down through her family for generations to come.

Life in Mexico

While soccer remains the overwhelming sport of Mexico, golf is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds. The country has hundreds of courses, with new ones being built all the time.

Recently, I went out to a new course east of San Miguel. It’s a nine-hole, par-three layout where duffers inspired by Latino greats like Lee Trevino can learn the game.

The fish in its ponds are definitely not inspired by Latin culture, however. I spotted a gardener feeding bread scraps from the clubhouse restaurant to a school of carp. “They won’t eat tortillas,” he explained. “They prefer bagels.”

Life In Mexico

Here’s how to download your COVID vaccine certificate from the official Mexico website!

We were able to get our second Pfizer doses in San Miguel de Allende. That allowed us to qualify for our official government documents.

First, we went to the following website.

https://cvcovid.salud.gob.mx/

We typed in our CURP (permanent residency) numbers and they automatically emailed us printable copies; we took the files to a print shop where they made us laminated, wallet-sized certificates.

A big thank-you to the medical technicians and government officials of Mexico for a splendid job!

Recipe

The Meal that Napoleon Ate Before Every Battle!

Who knew that Chicken Marengo would be the Emperor’s Lucky Charm?

When Napoleon and his troops defeated the Austrian army in Marengo, Italy, he sent his chef in search of ingredients for a dish worthy to celebrate the victory. He put together a treat so tasty that the superstitious Emperor insisted it be served before every battle. The recipe is easy to make, very delicious, and good luck to anyone who eats it!

Ingredients

1 chicken, cut into large pieces

1 Tsp of butter

1 Tsp of olive oil

½ cup of mushrooms, sliced

½ tsp of nutmeg

Salt and pepper

1 Tsp of flour

1 cup of red wine

1 cup of broth

1 cup of tomatoes, chopped

Parsley, chopped

1 lemon.

Directions

Sauté the chicken parts and mushrooms in butter and olive oil.

Add seasonings and flour. Stir in broth, wine, tomatoes and simmer covered for 30 minutes, until chicken is done.

Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with parsley, and squeeze lemon on top.

Enjoy!

The Paris hotel where a German Army general refused Hitler’s order to burn the city to the ground.

The Hotel Meurice, host to guests ranging from Elizabeth Taylor to Kanye West, was once the HQ for German High Command during the occupation of WWII.

Built in the early 19^th Century, the Hotel Meurice has occupied a premiere spot across from the Louvre Museum for almost 200 years. In 1940, after the Germans occupied Paris, the German Army set up headquarters in the luxury hotel and ruled over the city for four years.

When the Allies burst through the outskirts in August, 1944, General von Choltitz and his staff retreated to the hotel, where Hitler demanded he destroy Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre. Choltitz refused, and the city was saved!

MOVIE REVIEW: THE GRADUATE

How did the scene where Dustin Hoffman grabs Anne Bancroft’s breast stay in the film?

While running through a dress rehearsal for the scene where Mrs. Robinson (played by Anne Bancroft) seduces Ben (Dustin Hoffman) in a hotel room, director Mike Nichols motioned to Dustin to approach Anne from behind and caress her.

Deciding a little improv was in order, Dustin walked forward, reached over Anne’s shoulder, and cupped his hand over her breast like a naughty schoolboy!

Mike fell to the floor laughing. Dustin, fearing that he would lose it on camera, turned and began banging his head against the wall.

Anne, who was preoccupied with a stain on her blouse, turned her head toward Dustin with an expression of bewilderment – what the f**k are you doing?

The scene was so priceless that it stayed in the final cut!

That’s not all that is memorable about this movie, however. Filmed in 1967, the theme – alienation between generations – resonated with audiences throughout North America.

Benjamin’s family lives in a suburban LA McMansion decorated with morose clown portraits. Disillusioned by the shallowness of his prospects, he flails hopelessly for meaning in life.

In a turn on traditional power relations of promiscuous sex, the vulnerable young man is seduced by an experienced older woman. Fearful of following in the footsteps of his parents, Benjamin finds uneasy solace in her arms – until he meets Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine (Katherine Ross), and falls deeply in love.

This doesn’t, of course, go over well with Mrs. Robinson. To the mournful strains of Simon & Garfunkel, the wheels quickly fall off the entire charade, leaving Benjamin in the ditch. The movie ends in a wonderfully dysfunctional climax in which Elaine flees her wedding and escapes with Benjamin on a rusty old municipal bus.

Written by Buck Henry (Get Smart), and directed by Mike Nichols (who won an Oscar), this is a wonderfully scripted, directed and acted film that maniacally races through a kaleidoscope of genres, from romance and comedy to satire and melodrama, with barely a beat in between. It is entertaining, thought-provoking and, after over half a century, still stands the test of time.

Life in Mexico

We have moved to San Miguel de Allende for the summer! SMA, as it is known locally, is a beautiful colonial town located between Guadalajara and Mexico City. It’s full of wonderful colonial buildings, restaurants and cultural events. It’s also at over 5000-ft in altitude, so while summer days are sunny and warm, the weather is cool and refreshing by the time I cook dinner.

On a related note, I get a lot of queries regarding the recipes in my newsletter. “Do you really make them yourself?”

All the recipes are tried and true. People think that my love for food arose from my travels around the world, but the simple truth is it all boils down to self-preservation. My first wife was a vegetarian who loved to make garbanzo casseroles and prune burgers. I had to learn to cook for myself before I starved to death!

Recipe; Chicken Parmesan

Oh, I love this recipe. It takes a little time to prepare, but the results are absolutely amazing! This is a great dinner meal when serving guests, and leftovers can also be frozen for quick lunches.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

2 chicken breasts, deboned

Salt

2 eggs

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tsp fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced

Garlic bread

Cooked spaghetti

1 Can tomato sauce

1 Tsp Italian seasoning spice

1 tsp Salt

½ tsp ground pepper.

DIRECTIONS

1 Preheat oven to 400 F.

2 Mix the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper together. Set aside.

3 Cut each breast into three pieces and pound thin.

4 Mix together the breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, and pinch of salt.

5 Pour the olive oil into an electric skillet and turn to medium.

6 Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl and coat the chicken pieces. Dip the chicken pieces in the breadcrumb mix and place in the skillet. Gently fry the chicken cutlets until they are golden brown on each side, about 3 to 4 minutes per side.

7 Arrange 1/2 the tomato sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Place the cutlets on the sauce then top with the rest of the tomato sauce. Sprinkle the tops with sliced basil, then lay slices of mozzarella over each cutlet and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese.

 8 Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the mozzarella begins to brown.

Serve with pasta and the garlic bread. Enjoy!

Sneak Peek!

Be the First to Read my latest novel,

The Hotel Seamstress

Order eBook on Amazon here – only $2.95!

A story of love, and war,

and how one person can change the course of history.

The year is 1944. Paris has been under German occupation for four years, its citizens ground beneath the jackboot of fascism.

The French Resistance knows that an Allied invasion is imminent. They do not know how the Germans will react, however; will they retreat from Paris, or burn the city to the ground?

Veronique Grenelle is growing up in an impoverished inner-city neighborhood, scrambling to feed herself and her family. The Resistance recruits the vivacious young woman to befriend Lieutenant Gunther von Clause, an aide-de-camp to the German Army’s Military Governor. She gradually gains his affection.

James Gallagher, a lieutenant in the US Army’s Military Intelligence unit, frequently parachutes behind enemy lines to deliver funds and instructions to the Resistance. He meets and befriends Veronique, who falls madly in love with the dashing American officer.

D-Day approaches, and Veronique finds herself in a bind; should she pursue her heart or her duty to the Resistance? In the end, her decision will not only determine the fate of Paris, it will reverberate down through her family for generations to come.

Book Review

Golden Girl

By Elin Hilderbrand

Hilderbrand is widely hailed as ‘Queen of the summer read’, so it’s appropriate that her most recent book is launched this month.

The latest installment of her voluminous Nantucket series features the travails of a successful novelist, Vivi Howe, a 51-year old transplanted Ohio native who is yearning to finally crack the #1 New York Times bestselling list.

As summer unfolds, Vivi spends her time worrying about her three adult children. Her eldest, Willa, is desperately trying to become pregnant again after a string of miscarriages; her middle child, Carson, is going through a series of love affairs, and her youngest son, Leo, is caught up in high school teenage angst.

The plot takes a surreal turn when Vivi is killed by a hit-and-run driver during a morning jog and suddenly finds herself in a mysterious afterlife, literally hovering in the clouds over her children. She is offered the chance to observe the lives of her family unfold, along with the gift of ‘three nudges’ from Martha, her mysterious spirit guide.

If this sound a bit twee, bear with me; the premise of the ‘fly-on-the-wall observer’ is a tried-and-true device that allows the author to explore the subsequent impact of Vivi’s sudden demise on not only her family, but the extended tribe of neighbours, friends and fans that populated her life.

Which, of course, is what Hilderbrand does best. She meticulously plots the interactions of each character, spicing their lives up with the triumphs and tragedies that pothole their personal journies through life as they come to grips with Vivi’s death. All-in-all, an excellent beach read from the master – I highly recommend Golden Girl!

Movie Review

Chinatown

Streaming on Netflix

Can you believe this movie is closing in on half a century? Director Roman Polanski’s gritty noir conspiracy first screened in 1974, going on to win eight Oscars (including the best picture), the following year.

The story follows the investigative work of PI Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson), as he uncovers straying spouses in 1930s Los Angeles. He finds himself in trouble when a woman impersonating the wife of Hollis Mulwray asks him to find out if her husband has a mistress. When Jake’s peek-a-boo photos of a spicy liaison between the husband and a young woman subsequently get splashed in the tabloids, however, Jake is confronted by the real Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), and the PI realizes he’s been played for a fool.

The plot thickens when Mulwray, the LA water commissioner, is found drowned. While his death is ruled accidental, Jake soon uncovers evidence that points to a sinister plot being orchestrated by Mulwray’s former partner, Noah Cross (played with evil sincerity by John Huston). Cross’s henchman put the muscle on Jake (including a cameo by Polanski who slits Jake’s nostril), but the PI perseveres, leading to the inevitable tragic ending.

This is a picture that has stood the test of time thanks to the incredible screenplay, acting and directing that made it one of the most beloved movies of all time. I highly recommend Chinatown!  

Life in Mexico

Mexicans love weird tacos. I passed a stand the other day and the sign said they were offering:

Tongue!

Brains!

Neck!

Tuesday special: two-for-one tripe!

That last one must really pull them in.

I’ve never eaten racoon, but I know for a fact that it must taste like monkey crap because if it was anything like fried chicken they’d be stuffed into tortillas across the country.

Recipe: Shrimp Tortillas

This is a great lunch dish; fast, easy to make, and delicious!

Ingredients

8 large shrimp, peeled.

1Tsp of butter

1/4 cup of flour

4 medium-sized flour tortillas

Sriracha sauce (or any mild hot sauce).

¼ cup of mayonnaise

Juice from ½ a lemon.

1 garlic clove, crushed.

½ tsp of salt.

Chopped cabbage

Chopped cilantro

Directions

Mix together the hot sauce, mayonnaise, lemon juice, crushed garlic and salt.

Lightly coat the shrimp with flour. Melt the butter in a pan and fry the shrimp until they turn pink. Set aside.

Place the tortillas, one at a time, in the pan and heat for 15 seconds a side.

Fill the tortillas with the shrimp, then drizzle on the sauce and garnish with cabbage and chopped cilantro.

Enjoy!

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Enjoy the first novel in the FBI Agent Jack Kenyon series for free! Jack travels from San Francisco to London in order to investigate the mysterious death of his Aunt Lydia. What he finds out will change his life forever.

Book Review

Three Wishes

By Liane Moriarty

I have enjoyed Australian writer Liane Moriarty’s novels for several years. In Addition to Big Little Lies, which was turned into an award winning series by Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, I have been avidly entertained by The Last Anniversary and The Hypnotist’s Love Story.

Three Wishes focuses on triplets Cat, Gemma and Lyn. Now in their thirties, the three women are on different life trajectories: Lyn is the owner of a burgeoning catering business; Cat is a successful marketing executive at a chocolate company, and Gemma is drifting through an endless series of failed romances.

While the story is set in contemporary Sydney, the tale takes frequent flashbacks to their youth, where their young parents struggled to raise three girls all at once. Their mistakes have consequences that reach far beyond the nursery into their adult lives, causing them family calamities as they struggle to find happiness.

As always, Moriarty uses her profound insight and humor to create an engaging novel that compels you to read right to the very end – and then wish for more. I highly recommend Three Wishes!

TV Series Review

Restaurants from the Edge

Streaming on Netflix

I love just about any series focusing on restaurants and food around the world, including anything by the late Anthony Bourdain. But I wasn’t sure whether I would warm to Restaurants on the Edge.

The premise is simple; three experts travel the world saving restaurants that are about to go under. Karin Bohn is an interior designer, Dennis Prescott is an international chef and Nick Liberato is a marketing guru. Together, they figure out how to turn around the ailing restaurants’ fortunes.

But how can they succeed, given that they have to do it in one week?

Despite my reservations, I quickly became addicted. Traveling around the world, the trio take on challenges from Austria to Hong Kong (with a few from Canada thrown in).

The restaurant owners have got themselves in a jam for a variety of reasons, from naively opening a business they know nothing about, to overburdening their budgets with pricey items nobody eats.

Together, they set out to clean up tacky interiors, revitalize menus with local ingredients and tune up owners with hard-won wisdom. Along the way, they explore local culture and farms, giving the viewer a taste of each exotic destination. In the tradition of all makeover shows, there’s a final scene in which the grateful owners walk into their establishments and weep copious tears of joy.

What I enjoy most about the series, however, is the knowledge about the service industry imparted by Dennis, Nick and Karin. They use their expertise to open up the viewers’ eyes to what goes on behind the scenes to make a restaurant a success. As someone who enjoys eating at family-run establishments wherever I travel, it’s fascinating to learn how such decisions as ingredients, marketing and the dining room environment contribute to the overall dining experience.

In the end, I learned a lot about what can go wrong at a restaurant, but far more fascinating, I learned what can go right. I highly recommend Restaurants on the Edge!

Life in Mexico

I always smile when visitors ask if Mexico has organic food. The truth is, most food is pesticide and antibiotic-free for the simple reason that farmers here can’t afford them.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be concerned, though. We went to Jorge’s restaurant in Salagua a few years ago. It’s a classic dirt-floor cantina where Mama cooks over charcoal in the kitchen.

I ordered quesadillas. “The chicken tastes terrific!” I said. “How do you get it so flavorful?”

Jorge pointed to hens pecking away under a nearby banana tree. “They eat the scorpions.”

Recipe: Chicken Quesadillas

This is a delicious recipe that’s easy to make using left-over chicken. We serve it as an appetizer with lots of sour cream and quacamole!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 cup diced red bell pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ cup chopped red onion

1 tablespoon finely minced jalapeño pepper, optional

1 cup chopped cooked chicken (a rotisserie chicken works great for this)

2 Tsp taco chili seasoning

3 Tsp water

2 Tsp softened butter (or oil spray).

4 burrito-size flour tortillas

3/4 cup shredded cheese

Fresh lime wedges, guacamole, sour cream, for serving

Instructions

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the red bell pepper, garlic, red onion, and jalapeño (if using). Sauté until just tender and fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Add in the cooked chicken, taco seasoning, and water. Bring to a simmer, and cook until just thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove the chicken mixture from the skillet and set aside.

Heat oven to 425 F.

Take a large flour tortilla and fill one half side with chicken filling. Add a layer of cheese. Fold and coat outside with butter or oil spray. Place on a baking tray. Bake the quesadillas for 7 minutes on one side, then flip and bake for another 7 minutes.

Remove from the oven and immediately cut into wedges using a pizza cutter or sharp knife.

Serve with fresh lime wedges, guacamole, sour cream.

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“In Paris, when you walk out the door . . . the day springs to life as a full-blown performance, and if you are not part of the audience, you are part of the cast.”

With a wonderful turn of phrase and a wicked sense of humour, Cope provides an intimate account of everyday life in a magical city, most often as “part of the cast.”

Cope and Linda find the Paris of their dreams on the Right Bank of the Seine in Le Marais, a neighbourhood rich in controversy, conspiracy, culture, and madness – in short, their kind of place.

Cope is struck by the immediateness of his surroundings and the subtle rhythms and pulses of the neighbourhood. His observations on life in Le Marais – its delightful residents, fascinating history, and sublime culinary experiences – are crystal clear and create an appealing intimacy.

Some days you might find yourself wandering the narrow lanes of Le Marais as he introduces you to the denizens of the area. On other days, you might find yourself at Cope’s side, delving into the colourful history of Le Marais.

And on in-between days, you will find your mouth watering at Cope’s delectable descriptions of their frequent forays into fine dining.

Book Review

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead

By Sara Gran

The novel is narrated by Claire DeWitt, the world’s greatest private investigator. She is fearless, insightful and pulls no punches.

In City of the Dead, the first in a series of three books, Claire finds herself in New Orleans, searching for Victor Willing, a popular district attorney who disappeared during the flooding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. According to his nephew Leon, Vic’s body was never recovered, and the family would like closure over his fate.

A devotee of the great French detective Jacques Sillette, Claire searches for an answer by identifying the clues that cling to every mystery – if only we can see them. Her investigation soon takes her to the grimy remnants of flooded neighbourhoods where drug dealers, the homeless and the dispossessed cling to life.

This is a compassionate story; Claire works to help redeem the souls who are still haunted by the tragedy of the flood. But it is also a dark comedy, as the detective heartily nourishes her own demons along the way. Although every character in the book insists that there are no happy endings in New Orleans, the author resolves the mystery in satisfying fashion and leaves the reader hungry for the next installment in the trilogy.

I highly recommend Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead!

Movie Review

American Beauty

Streaming on Netflix

Here’s a movie that has stood the test of time. When it was released in 2000, it was nominated for 8 Oscars and won 5, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Kevin Spacey) and Best Actress (Annette Bening).

The story revolves around Lester Burnham (Spacey), a frustrated suburbanite suffering a mid-life crisis. His wife Carol (Annette Bening), is an aspiring real estate agent who views her husband as a loser. Their teenage daughter Jane is a wanna-be Goth who hates them both.

Unbridled passions intrude. Lester develops an infatuation for Jane’s best friend Angela, played Lolita-style by Mena Suvari. Jane, in turn, falls for Ricky, the enigmatic son of the Burnham’s new neighbours. Carol has an affair with Buddy Kane, the King of Real Estate.

Lives go topsy-turvy. Lester loses his job, trades in his Camry for a Pontiac Firebird, and starts scoring weed from Ricky. Carol buys a gun. Jane and Ricky plot their escape from suburbia.

Calamity ensues. Lester is brutally murdered, but who did it? Was it Ricky’s closeted dad Colonel Fitts (played by a delightfully psychopathic Chris Cooper), broody Ricky or adulterous Carol?

While ostensibly a domestic tragedy, American Beauty straddles many genres, including mystery, black comedy and paranormal. While the personal lives of the cast have taken many turns over the years, the acting, directing, writing and cinematography have made this a classic movie that is still a delight to watch.

Life in Mexico

Our doctor has us on that anti-COVID regime where you take mega doses of Vitamins B, C, zinc and an anti-worm medicine for cats. I don’t know if it’s helping the COVID or not, but at least I’ve stopped rubbing my butt on the carpet.

Favorite Recipe; Split Roast Chicken

You can buy split roast chicken cooked in a charcoal pit virtually anywhere in Mexico. But it’s also easy to make at home in less than an hour, and it always comes out moist, tender and delicious!

Split (also called spatchcock, or butterfly), chicken is made by removing 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-cut in La Comer; if you don’t see one out on the shelf, just ask the butcher to prepare one for you (butterfly translates as ‘mariposa’ in Spanish – easy to remember).

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, backbone removed.

½ cup of butter, soft

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp of salt

½ tsp of black pepper

2 Tsp of parsley, chopped

Two carrots, chopped

2 potatoes, chopped

Directions

Heat the oven to 425F.

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. Add in the carrots and potatoes around the chicken.

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

Enjoy!

TV Series Review

Firefly Lane

Streaming on Netflix

The ten-episode series follows the life of two women from their first meeting as teenagers into their forties.

Tully, played by Katherine Heigl, is the daughter of Cloud, a free-spirited hippie with a VW microbus and a penchant for drugs. Kate, played by Sarah Clarke, is growing up in a traditional family setting where her mom bakes apple pies and dad rules the roost.

Predictably, their lives shape their personalities and their relationship. Tully is driven to be the focus of attention wherever she is, while Kate tries her best to blend into the wallpaper. Each sees the other as part of what they aspire to be: loved, yet respected; independent, yet needed.

The narrative flashes back and forth between their childhoods and adulthood, where Tully has gained fame as the host of national talk show, while Kate has raised a family and now seeks to rejoin the working world.

Naturally, nothing goes to plan. Tully careens between lovers while Kate struggles with the divorce from her husband Johnny and blossoming love for single dad Travis.

The fast-paced shifting back and forth in time and space is a little confusing at first, but series creator Maggie Freeman masters the same editing technique used in the widely popular This is Us, creating a captivating narrative.

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The latest Jack Kenyon Mystery!

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FBI AGENT JACK KENYON is squaring off against one of his most intractable foes.

Dev Patek, a renowned nuclear physicist, has been found lifeless in his backyard. All evidence points to suicide, until a letter arrives at Kenyon’s desk, to be delivered only after Patek’s untimely death.

But the dead man letter is in code, a cipher that requires the use of a mysterious manuscript to crack it. The message may reveal who killed Patek, or something far more sinister.

As Jack pursues Dev’s murder, he begins to uncover a comprehensive scheme to steal one of the world’s most valuable secrets, the blueprint to Baron Feargus Morgan’s nuclear engine.

Follow Jack from San Francisco to London as he pursues a host of spies, murderers and kidnappers who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

Movie Review

I Care a Lot

Streaming on Netflix

This black comedy is about an unscrupulous legal guardian who preys upon the elderly by getting them committed under her care.

The guardian, Marla, is played by Rosamund Pike, a shark dressed in designer labels. She connives with doctors and retirement-home executives to dupe an over-loaded legal system into giving her custody of elderly patients. Once under her control, she isolates them from their families and bleeds their estates dry.

Marla’s system seems foolproof until she snares an elderly widow named Jennifer (Dianne Wiest). The latter seems like the perfect victim; rich, childless and easily bossed around. What Marla doesn’t realize is that she has entrapped her worst nightmare.

The nightmare in question is Roman, a local criminal boss played in delightfully evil fashion by Peter Dinklage. Jennifer, it turns out, is in charge of laundering his ill-gotten gains, including a stash of cut diamonds. When Roman discovers Jennifer has been stripped of her freedom and stashed away, the result is a cat-and-mouse game between Roman and Marla as they spar for control.

Written and directed by J Blakeson, the real criminal in this tale is the justice system that allows wide-spread abuse of the elderly under the legal custodial system. Although recently highlighted in the news by Britney Spears’ battle to regain control of her life, scores of the young, elderly and sick find themselves in a similar predicament.

Regardless, you’ll find yourself loving to hate and hating to love I Care a Lot.

Life in Mexico

It’s a sunny morning and I am driving into Santiago. On the shoulder of the road, a man dressed in bright green running shorts is pushing a titanium baby stroller worth more than my car. And he is wearing a mariachi sombrero.

Man, I wish I could blend in like that.

When we were living in Paris, I vowed to learn French. One day, Linda sent me to the department store to buy a new set of shower rod rings. My dictionary explained that the French translation for rod was baguette, and ring was anneau. Unfortunately, they were also slang for penis and asshole. I hustled down to the housewares department where, using helpful sign language, I asked a young clerk where I could sodomize her, at a reasonable price.

Now I’m doing my best to learn Spanish. Although I haven’t managed to issue carnal invitations yet, I do elicit broad grins from grocery clerks as they patiently inquire what language I’m speaking.

There are other ways to embrace my new home, of course. After living here for a few years, I felt comfortable enough to invite Mexican friends over for dinner. In the spirit of assimilation, I decided to serve Kraft macaroni and cheese in tortillas. They were speechless.

I had better luck dancing. Mexicans like to grind their hips when they boogie. My personal form of cutting the carpet is often described as ‘spastic prancing’, which, when combined with hip grinding, tends to generate lots of personal space under the disco ball.

Still, there’s lots more I can do. Mexicans appreciate kind gestures; I could keep a roll of Tums in my car for the street-corner busker who blows flaming gasoline from his mouth.

On second thought, maybe I’ll just ask the jogger where he got that cool hat.

Recipe: Roast lamb

This is super easy to do and a big hit with family and guests, especially when served with baby potatoes.

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb, deboned, about five pounds in weight. (La Comer sells them in the frozen meat section).

1 lb of baby potatoes, boiled.

3 garlic gloves

1 sprig of fresh rosemary.

1 small chili, minced.

¼ cup of olive oil.

¼ cup of wine.

1 tsp of salt.

1 tsp of pepper.

2 Tsp of flour.

Sliced onion.

Chopped parsley

Butter.

Directions

Rinse the lamb and pat dry.

Mix the garlic, chili, rosemary, olive oil, wine, salt and pepper in a blender.

Place the lamb in a Creuset (iron pot) atop a bed of sliced onion and pour the marinade over the meat. Set aside for at least one hour to let the meat warm to room temperature.

Set your oven to 400 F.

Place the meat in the oven, uncovered, and allow to cook for 90 minutes. The outside will crisp up while the inside is medium rare. If you have a meat thermometer, the inside temperature should be around 300 F. Allow to cook for another 30 minutes if you prefer medium or well done.

Remove the roast and tent it on a serving platter, along with the roasted onion bed. Mix the flour with ½ cup of roast drippings. Put the iron pot on a stovetop burner and heat the drippings to a mild boil, then slowly pour in the flour mixture to create gravy. Salt to taste.

Carve the lamb and serve it with the boiled baby potatoes that have been garnished with chopped parsley and butter.

Enjoy!

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“A heart-warming, romantic romp through Paris.”

Book Review

The Guardians

by John Grisham

John Grisham loves to write about the underdog, and this 2019 novel is no exception. Cullen Post is a lawyer and Episcopalian minister and a partner with The Guardian Ministries, a non-profit organization that works to free innocent prisoners from the American penal system. They have saved a  handful of inmates from death row, and are constantly searching for new cases.

In the tiny town of Seabrook, Florida, a lawyer named Keith Russo was brutally murdered in his office late one night. There were no witnesses, but the sheriff quickly focused on Quincy Miller, a young black man who was unhappy with Russo’s handling of his divorce settlement. Using sketchy evidence and testimony from a jailhouse snitch, Quincy is convicted of first-degree murder and sent to prison for life without any hope.

Reviewing the testimony, Post and his cohorts realize that Quincy was railroaded. Even though the trial was over 20 year ago, they begin a new investigation, hunting down witnesses and challenging their testimony. They slowly piece together a cohesive defence to overturn the conviction.

They also uncover evidence of the motive and means of the real killers, a sinister cabal that has run the drug trade in northern Florida for decades. As Post gets closer to the truth, his safety comes under jeopardy. He has to race against time to not only exonerate Quincy, but to save his own life.

I highly recommend The Guardians!

TV Series Review

Lupin

Streaming on Netflix

Based upon a series of mystery novels from the early 20^th century, Lupin is a contemporary update of the gentleman thief and master of disguise who steals from the rich and eludes the police.

Actor Omar Sy plays Assane Diop, the son of Babakar, a Senegalese immigrant who came to France seeking a better life. While working as the driver for Hubert Pelligrini, a powerful businessman, Babakar is convicted of theft when a valuable diamond necklace is stolen from the Pelligrini home. The ashamed man hangs himself in his cell, making Assane an orphan.

Assane grows up vowing revenge. Using the tales of Lupin as a role model, Assane hones his skills of deception in order to steal valuables from gullible rich folk. He builds up a nest egg and a cadre of cohorts to pull off a heist in the Louvre, where a valuable necklace is being auctioned.

When the necklace disappears, the French police launch a massive investigation, but their case runs cold until one detective, a fellow fan of the Lupin novels, focuses his attention on Assane. The two play a game of cat and mouse, with Assane always staying one step ahead, until the series reaches an exciting and satisfying climax.

I highly recommend Lupin!