Life in Mexico
Mexico is the most overweight country in the world, with an estimated 40% of the adult population officially obese. Not only are adults hefty; one-in-six pre-school children are so stocky that it impedes their stride.
Although the average Mexican is far more active than North Americans, (walking, for instance, instead of riding in a car), the traditional Mexican diet of beans, corn tortillas and vegetables has been undercut by ‘food colonialism’ a fancy term for imported foods.
Unfortunately, the main imported victuals are deep-fried foods and sugary drinks. Massive advertising campaigns push cheap burgers, chips and soda pop on the population. It’s a common sight to see carpenters and bricklayers heading to work with a two-liter bottle of Coke tucked under one arm – their ‘gasolina’ for the day. One in four children have sugary drinks at breakfast.
Efforts are underway to educate the public. The Ministry of Health recently obliged manufacturers to prominently display warnings alerting consumers to the presence of excess salt, sugar and saturated fats.
Unfortunately, much more will have to be done. Diabetes is rife throughout the country, with as many as 14 million adults suffering from the obesity-related disease. It took many decades of education for North Americans to understand the ramifications of a poor diet; Mexico, driven by the connection between COVID, obesity and diabetes, is just beginning that long journey.
Dead Man Cipher
Launch Date: November 1, 2020
Pre-order Here!
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 – an oldie but goodie!
The Rainmaker
John Grisham’s courtroom drama was originally published in 1995, and was quickly optioned by the legendary director Francis Ford Coppola.
The story revolves around Rudy Baylor (played by Matt Damon), a young lawyer recently graduated from Memphis State. Times are tough, and the only job he can land is with a law firm run by a colorful reprobate by the name of Bruiser Stone (Mickey Rourke). He soon teams up with Stone’s paralegal, Deck Shifflet (Danny de Vito), and the pair set off to chase ambulances.
By chance, Rudy signs up a client by the name of Ronny Ray Black, a victim of leukemia whose insurance company, Great Benefit Life, refused a bone-marrow transplant. Ronny Ray is too far gone now to receive any benefit from the procedure, but his family has vowed to seek vengeance by filing a lawsuit.
Grisham is in fine form when it comes to courtroom drama, but he also livens up the story with a wonderful selection of sub-plots, including Rudy’s boss going on the lam after the FBI charges him with skimming profits from his topless bars and a hopeless romance with a young woman who is abused by her alcoholic husband.
I don’t think I’m spoiling the plot by noting that the good guys eventually win and the bad guys lose, but it’s a wonderful, engaging movie that will effectively transport the viewer far away from their isolation blues.
I highly recommend The Rainmaker!
Gord’s delicious (and nutritious) breakfast egg sandwich
As a kid, I loved to go to the Big Arches and order a breakfast sandwich. The fried egg with a slice of bacon on a toasted bun was scrumptious!
Unfortunately, it was also full of sugar, saturated fats and who-knows-what else. As I got older and wiser, I eschewed its sultry siren call for more wholesome alternatives.
I never forgot that taste, however. Over the years, I devised my own breakfast sandwich that was far less harmful to my health, but just as tasty. This recipe is easy to make and a big hit with everyone – enjoy!
Ingredients (feeds two).
4 eggs
2 Tsp of milk
¼ white onion, chopped
1 Tsp of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste.
2 whole grain buns, cut in half.
1 tsp mayonnaise
2 slices of tomato.
Directions
Beat the eggs and milk together and set aside.
Fry the white onion lightly in olive oil in a pan. Add the egg/milk mixture and cook on low until it sets as an omelette. Divide into two portions and season with salt and pepper.
Place the buns in the pan and toast each side for 15 seconds. Lightly spread mayonnaise on the buns and add the omelette and tomato.
TV Series Review
Sherlock
Streaming on Netflix
There has been a renaissance in all things Sherlock Holmes, from Anthony Horowitz’s The House of Silk (the first mystery novel authorized by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate in over a century), to the engaging Enola Holmes, a movie regaling the adventures of the younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft.
My favorite TV series is Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), as Sherlock, and Martin Freeman (Love, Actually), as Dr. Watson. The series, which began in 2010, is set in contemporary London, but Sherlock’s powers of deduction are still as sharp and acerbic as ever.
Unlike traditional TV series, Sherlock released a small handful of ninety-minute episodes each season, for a total of 14 installments spread over seven years. The long-format gives each episode the feel of a feature film, while maintaining the continuity of a series (with each season pursuing a common theme and supporting cast of evil doers, including Sherlock’s arch enemy Moriarty).
Many UK crime series (like Prime Suspect and The River), revel in the deep psychological torment of their protagonists as much as the nefarious crimes that they seek to solve. Sherlock, of course, is well known for his demons (drugs, depression), but Cumberbatch portrays the world’s arch detective with grace, compassion and wit.
I highly recommend Sherlock!
I couldn’t resist…
(Hint – check behind the drapes)