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!