February 2025 Newsletter

by with No Comment Newsletter

Life in Mexico

I blame Taco Bell.

Even though the food chain didn’t come to Canada until 1979, their insipid, bland interpretation of Mexican food permeated North American culture like a chili-flavored tsunami.

We would buy a packet containing a half dozen tortilla shells, spice mix and a handy-little cardboard holder to stuff cheese and ground meat into your taco (although the holder tasted better than the shells).

Contrast that insipid experience with the amazing spectrum of food celebrated every day in Mexico. From mole in Oaxaca to birria (lamb stew) in Jalisco, Mexicans eat delicious, inexpensive and wholesome meals using recipes that date back hundreds of years.

Pictured, Joanne and Rick are enjoying a real taco lunch at Don Julio’s, located just across the street from Soriana’s in Manzanillo. The popular restaurant specializes in a wide range of meat and fish tacos, along with ‘volcanoes’, food served in a sizzling-hot rock bowl carved from lava.

Along with the tacos, you get an array of fillings, including onions, cucumber and a sauce made of mayo, chipotle powder and lime juice. We’re drinking micheladas, a mix of beer and clamato juice rimmed with chili powder (although the little cocktail umbrellas are not strictly kosher).

Here’s to the celebration of Mexican cuisine!

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Recipe; Chicken Quesadillas

This is ridiculously easy to make, tastes delicious and is an excellent way to use up left-over roast chicken!

Ingredients

2 cups of diced roast chicken

1 cup of shredded cheese

½ cup of diced red pepper

½ cup of diced white onion

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of chili

1 tsp of cumin

Tortillas

Butter

Sour cream

Directions

Mix chicken, onion, peppers and spices together.

Fill ½ the tortilla and fold over.

Lightly butter the outside of the tortillas. Back on a cookie sheet at 350 F for 8-10 minutes.

Serve with sour cream.

Enjoy!

Book Review

The Women

By Kristin Hannah

Ive been reading Hannah’s novels for several years now; her work is always authentic, insightful and captivating.

The Women is the story of Frances ‘Frankie’ McGrath, a naïve, sheltered girl growing up in the 1960s in an affluent Southern California home. When her older brother enlists in the US Navy and is sent to Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army as a nurse and is posted to Asia as well.

Her naivety is quickly smothered as she experiences the hell of war as an emergency room nurse at an evacuation hospital near the front lines. She is daily confronted by mangled young men, torn apart by landmines and mortars. Amidst the carnage, she forms lasting friendships with her fellow nurses.

When Frankie finally returns to the US, she discovers a vastly changed culture. Soldiers are vilified for their war sacrifices. She finds herself ashamed to admit she served in Vietnam and plunges into depression.

Fortunately, Frankie’s friends are there to support her, and she eventually achieves peace while supporting other women who fought and were forgotten. This is a book that explores the horrific reality of war, and the lasting bonds that it creates. I highly recommend The Women!

Movie Review

Back in Action

Streaming on Netflix

This spy thriller marks Cameron Diaz’s return to the big screen after a decade-long hiatus. She stars as Emily, wife of Mark (played by Jamie Foxx), a pair of middle-class parents raising their teenage kids in American suburbia.

All that goes out the window when their cover is blown and they have to return to the field as CIA agents.

The movie has been criticized as being too formulaic for such talented leads, but it was never meant to be Oscar bait. Diaz and Foxx bring a spark and chemistry as husband and wife, using their skills to dodge the evil intent of the bad guys and save the world.

A special treat is Glenn Close playing Ginny, Emily’s English mother. When she meets her two grandchildren for the first time, she threatens dismemberment if they mar the parquet floors of her mansion.

All in all, it’s an entertaining film with more than its fair share of excitement and laughs. I heartily recommend Back in Action!

Bonus Book Review

Eight Perfect Murders

By Peter Swanson

This is a great mystery novel by murder-master Peter Swanson.

The plot revolves around Malcolm Kershaw, owner of the Old Devil’s bookstore in Boston. Years ago, Malcolm wrote an entry in the bookstore blog, Eight Perfect Murders, where he listed classic murder mysteries, including Agatha Christie’s The A.B.C. Murders. Now, FBI Agent Gwen Mulvey shows up at his shop with the theory that a serial killer is using the plots to get away with murder.

Malcolm, a life-long lover of murder mysteries, is both intrigued and appalled. Malcolm had picked the books because they allowed the killer to go Scot-free; hence, the ‘perfect’ murder. But how do you trace a real serial killer who is using the same modus operandi from each book?

As their investigation progresses, we learn that neither Malcolm or Agent Mulvey are as innocent as they seem. The reader has to discern when Malcolm, as narrator, is telling the truth, or lying. This book will keep you riveted to the very last page. I highly recommend Eight Perfect Murders!

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August 2022 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in France

Every bistro in France has a dog named Hoover. The moment I walk in, they rush right over, eagerly awaiting the next errant meatball.

It’s stinking hot in Paris, which means it’s movie time! We go half an hour before the actual movie starts to watch the commercials. My favorite is the one where a man is walking home and steps in dog poop. He walks up to his apartment floor and angrily wipes his shoe on a doormat. He then turns around and enters his own apartment.

BHV, located across the street from Paris City Hall, is the best department store in the world. Where else can you buy a plastic pond to grow frogs and Coco Chanel?

A Paris Moment available on Amazon!

 “A book that bubbles like a fine champagne and satisfies like a perfect crème brûlée.”

John Gilchrist, CBC Radio

In North America, the day is spliced into predictable, pre-packaged doses, with everyone isolated in their car, their mall, or their suburban box. In Paris, when you walk out the door, you don’t know what you’re going to encounter – cherry blossoms, riot patrols, or Chinese lanterns hanging on the lampposts. 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.

Even if you’ve never been to the City of Light, you’ll enjoy reading about the wonderful year we spent in the Marais. Order A Paris Moment today!

They have the weirdest poster ads here in Paris. I think this one is for golf balls.

Book Review

Vermeer’s Hat

By Timothy Brook

This is a charming book about the 17th century, written by Canadian historian Tim Brook. It tells the story of how the Dutch, English, French and Spanish opened up the world to trade in the 1600s.

While the topic might sound a trifle dry, the author employs an innovative technique that both informs and entertains the reader. Using Officer and Laughing Girl, a painting by artist Johannes Vermeer, he uses details within the composition to illustrate how trading conglomerates like the Dutch East India Company moved silver from Peru, porcelain from China and beaver pelts from Upper Canada in the pursuit of commerce.

The latter commodity is the inspiration for the book’s title. Beaver fur proved far superior to lamb’s wool when it came to making felt. Not only was it water proof, but it held its shape.

Soldiers were soon demanding headgear with huge floppy brims, and adventurers like Samuel Champlain set up extensive trade routes with First Nation tribes throughout what is now Quebec, Ontario and New York State (where the Dutch, famously, purchased the island of Manhattan for beads).

The author goes on to detail how even something as mundane as tobacco moved goods from North America to Europe and as far away as Asia. The Chinese, we learn, were mad for pipe tobacco and would trade its weight in ceramics. When scavengers discovered the wreck of the San José in the Caribbean Sea, in addition to gold bullion, the site was littered with fine Ming dynasty porcelain, a cherished possession in Europe.

Well illustrated with maps and color plates, Brook’s historical treatise is a delightful and informative read. I highly recommend Vermeer’s Hat!

Picasso Museum

The Picasso Museum, located in a 17th century mansion in the Marais, has always been one of our favorite destinations in Paris. The multitude of paintings, sculptures and drawings of the Spanish artist are the legacy of a tax deal between his heirs and the French government that preserved his immense personal collection for public viewing.

This summer, the museum mounted an exhibition dedicated to Maya Ruiz Picasso, the love child born in 1935 between Pablo and his teenage muse, Marie-Thérèse Walter. Because Pablo was already married, her existence was kept secret for many years, but her presence was evident in the many portraits and works in which she appears. Pablo doted on Maya his entire life, and she in turn influenced much of his work until his death in 1973.

In addition, the museum has mounted a virtual tour of Picasso’s home and studio in Cannes, where he lived and worked in the 1960s. It’s an intimate stroll through his life and family that places his late work in perspective.

Picasso’s Mother-in-Law. Must have been happy with this one!

Throughout his life, Picasso was a lightning rod for criticism from the art world establishment, and it is easy to lose sight of the immense impact his opus had on world culture. I have immense respect and admiration for his creations, (although I am relieved he never painted my portrait). I highly recommend the Picasso Museum!