June 2021 Newsletter

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!