January 2021 Newsletter

Life In Mexico

Driving in Mexico is similar to juggling chainsaws; it requires agility, skill and an utter lack of sanity.

Mexican motorists approach driving as a philosophical exercise – in this case, nihilism. Passing on a blind corner at high speed while texting is the norm.

Drinking is also a popular pastime. At Easter, jurisdictions throughout Mexico festoon their roads with smashed cars featuring catsup-smeared mannequins hanging out the windows. Beer sales go up.

Drivers at night consider stop lights akin to Christmas decorations, except when the light is yellow, which compels them to stomp strenuously on the gas pedal.

Road crews dig trenches across lanes then mark them at night with a tree branch or an old tire to warn of the hazard. And forget about pot holes.

Drivers in Mexico adjust accordingly. They use mental telepathy to indicate a lane change and, if a more complex maneuver is required, they hit the emergency flashers. This grants them the right to enact new traffic laws, including the right to pull a U-turn over a highway divider or back up along the shoulder to a missed off-ramp. Their universal usage is a god-send to every other motorist, as it forewarns an act of idiocy.

My major concern is that I have become a Mexican driver through a decade of osmosis. While this greatly enhances my chances of survival, it also predisposes major traffic tickets when I return to Canada. I can only hope they still have Uber.

Recipe: Salmon burgers with Tzatziki sauce.

These are great! Easy to make and very delicious, it’s the perfect lunch meal, either served in a bun or stand alone!

Ingredients

1 lb fresh salmon filet (you can also use two cans of tinned salmon, drained).

1 clove of crushed garlic

½ tsp Black pepper

3 Tsp of olive oil

1 cup onion, finely diced

1/2 red bell pepper diced

3 Tbsp unsalted butter divided

1 cup Panko or bread crumbs

2 large eggs lightly beaten

3 Tbsp mayo

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Directions

If you are using fresh salmon, preheat oven to 425˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place salmon skin-side down, brush with 1 Tsp olive oil. Bake uncovered for 10-15 min or just until cooked through. Remove, discard skin and use a fork to flake the meat.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 Tsp olive oil, 1 Tsp butter, garlic, pepper and finely diced onion and bell pepper. Saute until golden, remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cooled flaked salmon, sautéed onion and pepper, bread crumbs, eggs, mayo, Worcestershire sauce and fresh parsley. Stir to combine. Form into 4-6 patties.

Heat 1 Tsp oil and 2 Tsp butter in a large pan over medium heat and once butter is done sizzling, sauté 3 1/2 to 4 min per side or until golden brown and cooked through. Smear Tzatziki sauce on toasted buns, add lettuce and serve.

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 medium clove garlic, minced

½ tsp 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, 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.

Now available at Amazon!

The latest FBI Agent Jack Kenyon mystery thriller!

“COPE HAS DONE IT AGAIN – DEAD MAN CIPHER IS A REAL PAGE-TURNER!” MC Anderson, founder of the san Miguel de Allende book club  

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

Death to 2020

Streaming on Netflix

This is a hilarious mockumentary highlighting the mad, bad, horrific year that has mercifully finally come to an end. It features interviews with star reporter Dash Bracket, played profanely by Samuel Jackson, as well as dotty history professor Tennyson Foss (Hugh Grant), White House spokesperson Jeanetta Grace Susan (Liza Kudrow), and Queen Elizabeth II (Tracey Ullman).

Interspersed between the faux interviews are clips from the real actors, including Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Rudi Guiliani and a host of debauched maniacs striving to make the planet shoddier than they found it.

The film walks us through the year chronologically, starting with the undisclosed emergence of COVID in China to its inevitable spread throughout the world to the presidential campaign, Brexit, and pretty much every other dumpster fire you might care to forget.

While it sounds depressing, the satirical narration (by Laurence Fishburne), and such over-the-top performances by Kumail Nanjiani (playing an egocentric dot.com billionaire), and Samson Kayo (a crazy scientist), quickly overcome any misgivings of revisiting the most odious year that anyone alive has experienced.

I highly recommend Death to 2020; if you’re like me, you’ll cry ‘til you laugh!

TV Series Review

Bridgerton

Streaming on Netflix

Based on the romance novels of Julia Quinn, Bridgerton is a bodice ripper set in 1813 at the height of social season. Royalty parades itself in fancy ball costumes amid pomp and circumstance befitting the British Empire.

The plot revolves around the Bridgerton family, where mama must find suitable suitors for her four coming-of-age daughters. Top of the list is Daphne, who has been pronounced the ‘jewel of the season’, by none other than Queen Charlotte herself.

Daphne (played by a doe-eyed Phoebe Dynevor), must navigate the debutant minefield as she seeks out her true love. She inveigles Simon, the aloof Duke of Hastings (played by the immensely handsome Regé Jean Page), to act as a fake admirer in order to ward off her most oleaginous suitors.

Even though Simon and Daphne court one another in chaste fashion, there’s plenty of sex going on throughout the series as supporting actors take every opportunity to fornicate in everything from the library to the back of a stage-coach.

Making everything more complicated, an anonymous gossip with the alias of Lady Whistledown publishes weekly pamphlets revealing the marital secrets of all and sundry, creating titillation and panic throughout the capital.

The series is a lavishly staged period rom-com with laughter, heartbreak and a happy ending. Thankfully, Quinn has penned several sagas surrounding the Bridgerton clan, and we can expect many more holiday treats as her work reaches the small screen. I highly recommend Bridgerton!