2024 09 01

September 2024 Newsletter

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Life in Calgary

As many readers know, I started my professional writing career as a reporter for the Calgary Herald. Thanks to the Daily Oil Bulletin, being back in Calgary has given me the opportunity to practice being a newspaper hack once again.

A few weeks ago, I attended an energy conference at the Banff Springs Hotel. The featured speaker was Stephen Harper, former prime minister and current international consultant.

I had never heard him speak before, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he has a very sharp sense of humor. In his opening remarks, he lamented the name change of the Edmonton Eskimos to the Elks due to political correctness.

“What’s next?” he queried. “Are they going to start calling the Oilers the Renewables?”

Crystal Ball Now Available on Amazon!

Read an Excerpt Here!

Movie Review; 50th Anniversary

Blazing Saddles

Streaming on Prime

Half a century ago, Blazing Saddles made its debut. Directed by Mel Brooks, it was a desperate attempt to revitalize his career after a number of flops had pushed him to the edge of bankruptcy.

Undeterred, the comic genius set out to spoof Westerns, a staple of Hollywood. The premise of the movie was standard fare; the town of Rock Ridge hires a sheriff to save them from the clutches of evil politician Hedley Lammar (Harvey Korman), when a railroad is routed through their town.

Brooks then ran the genre completely off the rails. Sheriff Bart, played by black actor Cleavon Little, is almost lynched by the town’s residents but manages to escape their clutches by threatening to shoot himself first.

Bart then enlists the legendary talents of The Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), and Mongo (NFL star Alex Karras), to battle Hedley’s thugs. Along the way, Brooks mixes in Nazis, motorcycle thugs, a Bavarian seductress and a Yiddish Indian Chief. Oh, and the fart scene.

Critics universally panned the movie, but audiences fell out of their seats laughing and the picture took in over $100 million, placing it among the top ten grossing films for that time. It was subsequently nominated for three Academy Awards.

Gross, tasteless and raunchy, Blazing Saddles is considered by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 funniest movies ever made. It has stood the test of time; I highly recommend you watch it!

Book Review

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

By Benjamin Stevenson

You have to admit, that’s a great title. The murder mystery is written by an Australian stand-up comedian, and it’s very funny.

The mystery takes place in a ski lodge on the tallest peak in Australia. The Cunningham family has gathered there to celebrate the release from prison of Michael Cunningham, who was convicted of manslaughter in the death of a lifelong criminal.

The Cunninghams are notorious throughout Australia after the family patriarch killed a policeman during a botched robbery in which he was also gunned down in graphic fashion.

His widow subsequently raises three young boys amid public scorn. Ernest, the middle boy, is the narrator of the novel, frequently cataloguing the victims of his siblings and in-laws in satiric fashion through direct observation and flashbacks.

Obviously, a stand-up comic uses stage communication with the audience as their primary means of story-telling, and Stevenson frequently pauses the narrative to seek out the sensibilities of you. The technique can be quite disruptive in the wrong hands as it deliberately suspends the reader’s sense-of-disbelief, but the author uses it to great effect.

Anyway, the family reunion is thrown into disarray when a stranger is consumed by flames during a raging blizzard. Who is the murderer stalking among them? Is it the anal sister-in-law, or her dweeb husband? Constable Reynolds, trapped by the blizzard, must suss out the guilty before they strike again!

I won’t give too much away but the narrator finally pieces the puzzle together just in time for a fiery finale. I highly recommend Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone!

TV Series

The Perfect Couple

Streaming on Netflix

Yes, I know I reviewed this last month, but that was really about the book, and this is about the series, plus I never pass up an opportunity to post a photo of Nicole Kidman.

As you recall, Greer and Tag Winbury (played by Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber), are hosting the wedding of their son Benji and his bride Celeste at their fabulous beachside mansion on the island of Nantucket. Hundreds have been invited to the lavish affair, which is expected to be the talk of the island.

The eve of the wedding is tragically marred by the death of the maid-of-honor, however. Merritt is found on the beach below the mansion, apparently drowned. But when the Chief of Police begins to investigate, he soon discovers an undercurrent of deceit and chicanery that belies the reputation of ‘the perfect couple’ and their family.

I was greatly impressed by Nicole’s portrayal of the steely matriarch Greer (she can win an Emmy with the wiggle of one eyebrow), but I was unexpectedly pleased by the performances of two secondary characters, the wedding planner (Tim Bagley), and the maid (Irina Dubova). When the police call them in for questioning, they spill the cattiest gossip you can imagine in straight face; the series is worth watching just to see these two veterans perform.

The critics, of course, are calling The Perfect Couple mindless soap-opera trash, but it’s all done in the over-the-top, prime-time tradition of Dallas, and you’re not going to find a better performer of a wily villain than Nicole Kidman!

Join me for a reading of Crystal Ball on Sunday, September 15, 4 pm at Owls Nest Books!

beautificia

August 2024 Newsletter

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Life in Calgary

Back in the summer of ‘67, my pal Bennie bought Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and invited me over to hear it.

I was especially intrigued by one song; Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

“What’s that all about?” I asked.

“LSD,” said Bennie.

“Ooh.”

Before it was banned in the late 1960s, chemistry undergraduates at McMaster University were enthusiastically whipping up batches of a potential stress reliever called lysergic acid diethylamide. While the relief of stress was negligible, a microgram of LSD did have the side effect of glorious hallucinations.

Alas, that era is long past, but the visual effects live on in Beautifica, a highly entertaining music and visual extravaganza created by the musician James Hood.

We caught a showing at the TELUS Spark Science Center in Calgary, and were treated to the wonderful sensation of zooming through the universe in a psychedelic starship. The show is on its last leg in Calgary, but you can catch it at various locations in the US this summer.

Available this Fall!

Click Here to Read Excerpt

FBI AGENT JACK KENYON is back! When a bomb in Myron Buckstar’s software lab kills an innocent woman, Jack and the crew are called in to find out if terrorists are targeting the flamboyant billionaire.

They soon discover that the victim was a member of Scotland Yard working undercover on a mysterious case.

As Jack pursues her murder, he uncovers a race to steal the Crystal Ball, an invention that allows its owner to peer into the future. Follow Jack from San Francisco to London as he pursues a host of murderers, conmen and criminals who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

Recipe: Veal Burgers

This is easy to mix together and creates a delightful summer BBQ meal!

Ingredients

1 lb. of minced veal (if the butcher doesn’t have it, check the frozen food section).

2 oz. of parmesan, grated

1 tsp salt

1 tsp of paprika

Garnishing

Cob’s Bakery buns.

Directions

Mix parmesan, salt and paprika into the veal. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then form in to patties.

Grill on the BBQ, and garnish with onions, pickles, caramelized onions etc., and serve on lightly toasted buns from Cob’s Bakery.

Enjoy!

Book Review

A Death in Cornwall

By Daniel Silva

This is the 24th  book in the Gabriel Allon series, and it’s a peach.

Allon is an Israeli secret agent who served for many years as a Mossad assassin, rising through the ranks to become the boss of ‘The Office’. His legendary exploits took him around the world, hunting Israel’s sworn enemies in Europe, the Middle East and North America.

Now retired, he devotes his life to restoring the Masters, whether it’s an altarpiece by Raphael or a painting by Rothko. He lives the quiet life with his wife Chiara in Venice with their two children, striving to stay out of the limelight.

Until something royally pisses him off, that is. The effrontery in question is the brutal hatchet murder of an Oxford professor. Allon soon discovers she was on the trail of a Picasso painting, looted from a Paris art collector by the Nazis in WWII.

His investigation leads him to the Geneva Freeport, a tax-free haven where billionaires and crooks store their tax-free loot, including gold and valuable paintings.

Naturally, the bad guys hiding trillions would rather not have the light of the law shone on their shenanigans, and the body count starts to climb. Allon relies on his coterie of contacts and faithful sidekicks to stay one jump ahead of the pack as he dashes across Europe, pursuing his goal with laser focus.

You don’t have to read any of the previous series; each book stands on its own. But it you aren’t familiar with Silva’s work, I highly recommend you start at the beginning and peruse through the lot; you won’t be disappointed!

TV Series Review

The Perfect Couple

Streaming on Netflix September 6, 2024

I don’t normally review something I haven’t seen yet, but there’s a first time for everything!

The Perfect Couple is based on the novel of the same name by Elin Hildebrand. She has written several dozen books set on the island of Nantucket; they chronicle the lives of both the rich summer residents as well as the full-time citizens who (literally) cater to them.

Greer and Tag Winbury (played by Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber), are hosting the wedding of their son Benji and his bride Celeste at their fabulous beachside mansion on the island of Nantucket. Hundreds have been invited to the lavish affair, which is expected to be the talk of the island.

The eve of the wedding is tragically marred by the death of the maid of honor, however. Merritt is found on the beach below the mansion, apparently drowned. But when Chief of Police Ed Kapenash begins to investigate, he soon discovers an undercurrent of deceit and chicanery that belies the reputation of ‘the perfect couple’ and their family.

The novel is a very entertaining mix of whodunit and soap opera as the author explores both the backstories and the unraveling of the mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and I look forward to seeing the mini-series!

Upcoming Book Launch in Calgary!

Join me on Sunday, September 15, 2024, 4 pm., at Owl’s Nest Books for the launch of Crystal Ball. I’ll be doing a reading and signing and greeting all our pals from Calgary!

2024-07-05

July 2024 Newsletter

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Life in Calgary

It’s Stampede time! For ten days every July, the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth takes over the city and turns it into a very large punch bowl.

Folks outside town tend to think of The Stampede as an excuse to wear a cowboy hat and get drunk (and they’re generally correct), but there’s also an international cultural aspect that often gets overlooked.

Take, for instance, the Mexifest located across the street from our condo in a downtown parking lot. Mariachi bands and churro vendors compete with Lucha Libre wrestlers for the admiration of thousands of Mexican people who now call Calgary home.

Until you hear La Bamba sung with a country twang, you ain’t heard nothing yet.

Coming this Fall: The Official Launch of my latest FBI Agent Jack Kenyon series takes place at Owls Nest Books in Calgary on Sunday, September 15, 2024, at 4 pm.

I’ll be doing a reading and signing paperbacks. You can also order previous books in the series on Amazon.

Book Review

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

By Holly Jackson

I love reading (and writing) murder mysteries. I enjoy everything from police procedurals (Michael Connelly’s Detective Bosch series), to ‘cozy’ murder mysteries in which an amateur sleuth finds the killer when the authorities are baffled.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder falls into the latter category. The town of Fairview is rocked when high-school sweetheart Andie Bell goes missing. Her body is never discovered, but her boyfriend Sal commits suicide, leaving behind a note confessing to murder.

The police close the file, but enough disturbing questions remain to motivate young Pippi to dig further; as her senior high-school assignment, she chooses to investigate the tragedy. Along with the help of Sal’s older brother Raji, she interviews Andie’s gang, sifting through their recollections and social media postings for inconsistencies.

Her snooping soon attracts scoundrels who threaten her with harm if she doesn’t desist. Like all good sleuths, however, she toils on, placing herself at personal risk in order to uncover the truth.

The author (pictured) has written two sequels, and the series has just been made into a TV series by the BBC. I highly recommend you check out the novel first, however; it’s a great summer read!

Recipe: Ceviche

This is the perfect summer meal, and easy to prepare!

Ingredients

1/2 lb. of raw chopped white fish (basa)

1/2 lb. raw chopped shrimp.

1 cup lime juice

1 Tsp salt

1 tomato, chopped

1 mango, diced

½ red onion, slivered

1 avocado, diced

3 Tsp cilantro, diced

½ chili pepper, diced

Tortilla chips

Directions

Mix fish, lime juice and salt. Seal in a container and marinate in fridge for at least 4 hours (this cures the raw fish).

In a bowl, mix tomato, mango, onion, avocado, cilantro and chili.

Add cured fish. Garnish with cilantro and sliced onion.

Serve with tortilla chips and lots of cold cerveza.

Enjoy!

TV Series

The Sopranos

Created by David Chase

It’s been 25 years since the launch of The Sopranos? Fuggedaboudit!

For a quarter of a century, Tony, Carmela, Christopher, Silvio and the rest of the crew have been robbing, racketeering, whacking and screwing each other with criminal abandon.

This isn’t one of the best TV series every made, it’s the best TV series ever made. The show was so faithful to the mob life that James Gandolfini, who played the patriarch of the family, noted that he was frequently complimented by real ‘wise guys’ on its authenticity.

But most of all, it was tremendously entertaining. The mix of violence, irony and slapstick keeps you constantly riveted, even when you’ve seen each episode time and time again.

Creator David Chase and HBO, of course, had no idea how much the series would change modern American culture. The set, which is available on DVD and download, contains never-before-seen clips, as well as a documentary in which the cast and crew reflect on the show.

You don’t have to be a die-hard fan to enjoy it, but if you are, then no matter how hard you try to get out, they’ll pull you back in!

2024 06 01

June 2024 Newsletter

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Life in Calgary

Maybe too much air in the tires?

Canadian Tire had a sale on mountain bikes last week. I found one I liked but the back tire was flat, so I asked the sports clerk to inflate it. I then bought the bike and threw it in the back of my car.

By the time I got home, however, the tire was again flat. I immediately turned around and went back to the store, receipt in hand.

Unfortunately, CT has a lot of problems with people banging canoes into rocks and trying to get their money back, so they no longer allow most sports equipment to be returned or exchanged.

The customer-service clerk pointed to my bill. “See, it says right here, no returns or exchanges.”

“But you sold me a flat tire,” I responded. “You do see the irony here.”

“What?”

“Your store is called CT. Do you want to change it to CFT?”

The clerk pondered for a moment. “Canadian Flat Tire?”

“I was thinking of another four-letter word.”

She eventually relented and allowed me to exchange my bike for the same model. “Is there anything else you need help with?” She asked

“Yes, I hear you rent car tires, as well. Can you give me your flat rate?”

Coming This Fall!

Reading and Signing at Owls Nest Books, September 15, 4 pm!

An Interview With Author Gordon Cope

Crystal Ball is the sixth book featuring FBI Agent Jack Kenyon. To what do you attribute the longevity of the series?

I’ve been writing the series for several decades now, and the characters – Jack, Jasmine, Marge – are all like old friends. Whenever I start a new book, it’s like a reunion. I also try to create a unique crisis – hackers, genetic terrorists – that reflects what’s happening on the front pages of the real world. And finally, there’s lots of twists and turns that keep readers turning the pages!

A lot of series are episodic, in which the action happens and then everyone switches back to default mode until the next crisis comes along. Do you do that with this series?

Jack and the other characters have evolved through the series, growing older, changing jobs, etc. Crystal Ball is an important installment in their lives, in that Jack and Bee are getting married, and one of the main characters dies. It’s going to be a very traumatic book for fans of the series.

How long does it take you to write a book?

It takes me about twelve months from start to finish. I spend a month or two plotting out the premise, then about six months writing the first draft, then another month editing and getting feedback from my cadre of volunteer readers, and then laying out the book and having it converted to eBook and paperback files for Kindle. I end up wearing a lot of hats! By the time the book reaches the official launch date, a year has passed.

Are you planning another book for Jack Kenyon?

Yes! Without giving away too much from Crystal Ball, Jack and Bee start a new life together, with lots of complications ensuing! Once I launch Crystal Ball, I’ll begin plotting out the premise for the next book.

Recipe: BBQ Cod

This is an easy and delicious summer meal; simply flavor the cod and let it cook! Great with asparagus and rice on the side.

Ingredients

4 cod fillets or cod loins about 8 ounces each

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

1/2 tablespoon Cajun seasoning

½ teaspoon salt

1 clove crushed garlic

Chopped green onion

Chopped fresh parsley

Lemons for garnish and juice

Instructions

Pat the cod fish very dry with paper towels. Brush them with olive oil.

Combine the Cajun seasoning, salt, and crushed garlic. Sprinkle evenly over the filets.

Bake in the BBQ at medium for 10 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork at its thickest point.

Sprinkle with green onion and chopped fresh parsley.  Serve with fresh lemon wedges or spritz with fresh lemon juice.

Book Review

Trunk Music

By Michael Connelly

Connelly is our all-time favorite police-procedural author, and we’ve been reading him for several decades. Trunk Music came out in 1997, and is one of his classic tales revolving around LAPD Detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch.

The book opens with the discovery of a murder victim in the trunk of his Rolls Royce, which is found abandoned in a fire lane above the Hollywood Bowl. Harry and his team are called out to investigate what appears to be a mob hit; the corpse was killed with two execution-style wounds to his skull from a .22 pistol.

Harry soon focuses on a mafia gang that has its tentacles in a number of Vegas casinos, but things aren’t quite what they seem; the evidence pointing to a prominent capo is simply too good to be true.

Harry’s dogged determination to find the real killers makes all kinds of enemies both within the mafia as well as LAPD headquarters, where entrenched interests would just as soon not see the truth revealed. Soon, Harry is dodging more bullets than a marine on D-Day. Justice ultimately wins out, however, and the bad guys are royally punished.

I found reading the book just as enjoyable today as when I first laid eyes on it over a quarter-century ago. I highly recommend Trunk Music!

Movie Review

Queen Bees

Streaming on Netflix

This is a feel-good movie starring some of Hollywood’s most endearing actors. Ellen Burstyn plays Helen, an independent widow living on her own until she gets forgetful and lights her kitchen on fire. Her worried daughter insists she temporarily relocate to a senior’s home during renovation, and Helen reluctantly agrees.

The home is dominated by the Queen Bees, a quartet of bitchy divas led by the seriously uptight Janet Poindexter (played with demonic glee by Jane Curtin), whose purpose in life is to make life unbearable for all the other tenants.

Helen isn’t intimidated by the Queen Bees, and makes it her task to give them their comeuppance. Along the way, she meets handsome widower Dan (played by James Caan), who becomes her love interest.

This is a great movie for cameos; pay close attention and you’ll see French Stewart, who played the delightfully goofy Harry in 3rd Rock from the Sun.

While a few hearts get broken, it all ends well; I especially like the fact that there wasn’t a single car chase scene or shoot-em-up in the entire movie. I highly recommend Queen Bees!

2024 04 09

April 2024 Newsletter

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Life in Paris

Sigh. It’s snowing like hell in Calgary so I thought I’d dig through the vault and find a bit of happiness in Paris. This is the El Vecino Mexican Restaurant located near Place de la République. We didn’t eat there, but the sign out front caught my eye and I couldn’t resist a selfie. Fu*K your Diet is the name of their signature German ginger beer.

Life in Mexico

Years ago, the area around Club Santiago was a castor oil plantation. The beans from the plant were used to make plastics, varnishes and paints. When cheaper alternatives were found, the plantations were abandoned. But the plant itself is quite hardy, and descendants can be found growing in ditches along roads throughout the area.

Unfortunately, the beans contain ricin, one of the deadliest poisons known to mankind. Even a speck as small as a grain of sand can kill you. Casual contact with the skin can also lead to burning and blistering.

The reason I’m calling it to your attention is because the plant grows around the Club Santiago golf course; you can see them in profusion along the third and fourth fairways where they border the highway.

If the beans are inadvertently ground up and dispersed by the ground crews mowing the fairways, you can accidentally come in contact with traces of ricin.

Soviet agents have used ricin to poison their foes, so you should avoid them too. (That’s Xenia Onatopp, the deadly spy from Goldeneye, in case you’re wondering.)

Should you break out in a rash or blisters, treat it with over-the-counter cortisone cream or Calamine lotion.

TV Review

The Gentlemen

Streaming on Netflix

I’m not the biggest fan of film producer Guy Ritchie. He loves to do British crime gang movies with lots of Cockney low life and grisly shot-gun duels. So it was with trepidation that I approached The Gentlemen.

On the surface, it’s much like his usual fare. A career officer by the name of Eddie inherits a dukedom from his father Lord Halstead when the latter prefers him over his dissipated eldest son Freddy. Freddy is flamboyantly aghast at this turn of events, mainly because he owes 4 million to a nasty bit of business to whom Theo must cough up lest his brother suffer defenestration

That’s not the worst of Eddie’s problems. It turns out that a gang run by a carbuncle named Bobby Glass has established a grow-op on the estate and isn’t about to up sticks. His daughter, the delicious Susie Glass, must play intermediary as various shenanigans, including heists and murder, complicate matters.

What makes the TV series so much fun is the fast-pace, plot twists and general eccentricity that seems to permeate every character. It’s a lot of fun to watch, and I highly recommend The Gentlemen!

All my novels are available to Kindle Unlimited subscribers!

You can also buy eBooks and paperbacks on Amazon!

Movie Review

The Holdovers

Streaming on Amazon Prime

It’s a quirky premise; a cranky professor at a prestigious prep academy is forced to stay on duty over the Christmas holidays along with a stranded student and a grieving school cook.

So, why did this period piece set in 1971 receive 5 Academy award nominations, including Best Picture of the Year?

Paul Giamatti is reason number one. The award-winning actor brings his rumpled everyman persona to the role of Paul Hunhan, a life-long bachelor who has dedicated his career to nurturing the pampered spawn of America’s elites. His efforts at Barton Academy in the face of supreme apathy has completely depleted his passion for teaching, leaving a bitter husk of a man.

Angus, the student (played by Dominic Sessa), has been abandoned at the last minute after his mother and his new step-dad elope to St. Kitts.  He vows to make the holiday as miserable as only an angst-filled teenage boy can do.

Mary, the head cook (brilliantly portrayed by Da’Vine Joy Randolph), has lost her drafted son in the Vietnam War. Her grief and anger toward the deferred boys who attend Barton is palpable.

Together, the three form an unlikely alliance in an effort to survive their odious fortune. Slowly, they forge bridges between their emotional isolation. Each character grows in self-esteem and maturity, achieving the gift of Christmas that no mere present beneath the tree could achieve.

Although the only winning Oscar went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Supporting Actress, all of the nominees, including Giamatti as Leading Actor and David Meningson for Best Original Screenplay, are highly deserving.  This is a gem of a movie; I highly recommend The Holdovers!

Recipe: Roast Pork Belly

Cooking dinner literally doesn’t get any easier than this. You can pick up fresh pork belly at any Chinese butcher (a big shout-out to T&T market in Calgary!) and make this tender, succulent dish in under an hour.

Ingredients

1 kg of pork belly

Instructions

Score the top fat layer in a diamond shape pattern. Place in a shallow tin pan (I line the pan with parchment paper to make the clean-up easier).

Roast for 40 minutes at 400F.

Slice and serve with baked sweet potato and corn. Enjoy!

Book Review

Table for Two

By Amor Towles

Creating a short story is undoubtedly one of the most difficult tasks a writer can face. You have to create the main characters, setting, story and outcome to the satisfaction of the reader, all in a fraction of the space that a novel allows you. In addition, you have to include a twist in the plot, one that is both totally unexpected and, at the same time, totally believable.

I’m not an avid short story reader for that reason. I find that contemporary writers fall short of the mark when compared to O. Henry.

The exception is Amor Towles. We’ve always enjoyed his novels (A Gentleman in Moscow), so I didn’t hesitate when his latest fictional effort, Table for Two, was published. It’s a set of six short stories set in New York, and a novella set in Hollywood. The short stories are crafted like a fine Swiss watch, every word and phrase so exact that each tale captures the frailties and aspirations of the characters with exquisite precision, and each ending comes as both a surprise and a wish for the story to continue.

As an aside, people often ask me where I get my ideas. As any writer will tell you, it’s a combination of observation and inspiration. I’ll give you an example of the former. I was driving down McLeod Trail adjacent to the Stampede Grounds one evening when I glanced over and spotted a woman sitting at a bus shelter clutching a giant stuffed panda and crying her eyes out. Now you know there’s gotta be a story there.

Well I didn’t write about my observation, but Towles did. I will Survive involves a happenstance encounter that the author must have made while walking in Central Park that was so unique that it inspired him to cut a fascinating tale out of imaginary cloth. I won’t tell you and spoil it, but you’ll recognize immediately what I’m talking about when you read it. I highly recommend Table for Two!

2024 03 03

March 2024 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in Mexico

It’s the little things in life that makes living in Mexico so enjoyable.

Every other week, we go down to the Santiago market where the chicken ladies have a stall under a staircase. Their counters are festooned with broilers and eggs and poultry appendages.

Their free-range produce is classified as Mexi-organic, because Tia Maria who raises them can’t afford hormones or antibiotics, so you get them the same way they’ve been sold for the last 500 years.

Mama Angelica is in charge. When I ask for ‘Milanesa’, she picks up her razor-sharp cleaver and slices a breast so thin it’s the size of a bread board when she’s done.

Whenever I want to make paté, I always buy my livers there; although ‘buy’ is a misnomer as they just give me a bag.

And the price? I can buy enough chicken for twenty servings for around twenty-five bucks. Read it and weep.

Recipe; Mariposa Chicken

Mariposa (or butterfly) chicken is easy to make in less than an hour, and it always comes out moist, tender and delicious!

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

½ cup of butter, soft

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp of salt

½ tsp of black pepper

2 Tsp of parsley, chopped

Directions

Heat the oven to 425F. (You can also cook it on the BBQ).

Split the backbone so that the whole chicken lies flat. You can do it at home if you have a good pair of meat shears, but it’s also sold pre-prepared; if you don’t see one out on the shelf, just ask the butcher to split one for you (butterfly translates as ‘mariposa’ in Spanish – easy to remember).

Lay the chicken skin-side up in an oven tray that has been sprayed with oil or covered with parchment paper and allow it to warm to room temperature.

Mix together the butter, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley into a paste. Place half the paste under the skin of the breast and legs, and spread the rest on top of the skin.

Roast for 45 minutes, then cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Enjoy!

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You can also purchase eBooks and Paperbacks on Amazon!

Book Review

The Appeal

By Janice Hallett

The novel attracted quite a bit of attention when it debuted in 2021 due to the unusual structure; rather than telling the story of a murder using chronological narrative, the majority of the book is told through a series of emails and instant messages sent between the primary suspects.

This is a bit of a spoiler, but it will help you understand the premise right from the first paragraphby rather than having to fumble through several chapters trying to figure out what’s going on. Two independent investigators have been hired by the lawyer representing the imprisoned murderer in an attempt to overthrow the conviction. They are trolling through messages sent between friends and acquaintances prior to, and after, the murder in an attempt to find the real killer.

The story itself points to an intriguing range of motives. A two-year old girl is suffering from a rare brain cancer, one with little chance of survival. Her parents and grandparents are part of an amateur theatre company in an affluent English village, and they decide to launch a Gofundme appeal to raise money for an expensive, experimental treatment developed in the US.

As the investigators work through the correspondence, however, troubling questions emerge. Is someone stealing money from the appeal? Does the experimental cure, in fact, even exist? The reader is drawn through a series of interpersonal disputes that could very well escalate into nasty repercussions.

Even though the author creates a dozen potential suspects, in the end, Hallett wraps it up neatly with a bow, much to the satisfaction of yours truly. This is a unique twist on the Agatha-Christie English village murder mystery. I highly recommend The Appeal!

TV Series Review

Expats

Streaming on Amazon Prime

This six-part mini-series set in Hong Kong is based on the novel by Janice Lee. Normally, I would give the domestic drama a pass, but it stars Nicole Kidman, and I’d be a fool not to give it the sniff test.

I’m sure glad I did. Nicole stars as Margaret, the mother of three children, who is stationed in HK with her husband Clarke (played by Brian Tee). One day, she takes the children with their young nanny Mercy (Ji-Young Yoo), to the night market, where her four year old son Gus suddenly disappears.

The abduction sets off a series of crises in her family, with Margaret searching the city for signs of her son, and Michael retreating to the comfort of religion. The remaining two children are traumatized by fear that they might be next, and there’s nothing their parents can do to protect them.

The series explores a further layer of trauma within the extended community of HK’s domestic service industry. The opportunity for work draws hundreds of thousands of Filipina and Indonesian women to Singapore, HK and the North America seeking to support their families back home. Mercy is wracked by guilt, and Essie, who raised Margaret’s children from infancy, experiences the same nightmare that every mother faces.

The series is brilliantly cast, but it is Nicole who rises a level above with her unrivaled ability to evince her character’s grief through the tiniest of micro-expressions, magnified by the intense close-ups used by the cinematographer. You feel her pain, not through cries of anguish, but the immense, deep distress in her eyes.

This is a feast of Nicole Kidman’s talent that equals her best performances on both the big and small screens; I highly recommend Expats!

Documentary Review

American Symphony

Streaming on Netflix

For years, Jon Baptiste was well-known as the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

He is also an accomplished song writer, singer and performer, teaming up with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Ed Sheeran. He has won 5 Grammy awards, including Album of the Year for We Are, in 2021.

The documentary, directed by Matthew Heineman and executive-produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, follows the artist as he composes American Symphony, an orchestral arrangement featuring black musical styles, and simultaneously deals with his wife Suleika’s relapse into leukemia.

This is a portrayal of their struggles to beat a deadly disease and to finish the biggest musical challenge of his career. The documentary is both intimate and majestic, as they suffer the pains of chemotherapy and celebrate the debut at Carnegie Hall. I highly recommend American Symphony.  

2024-01-06

January 2024 Newsletter

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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!

2023-11-03

November 2023 Newsletter

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Life in Mexico

Life’s a Beach

We live a few blocks from Santiago beach, a beautiful, 6-km stretch of coffee-colored sand situated in a protected bay.

The beach is deserted most of the week, but come Sunday, several thousand people flock for a day of rest and celebration. Here are some of our observations about the unique way that Mexicans enjoy a day in the sun.

Bring Beer. Anyone who thinks Mexicans are lazy has never seen one carrying three flats of warm cerveza on their head.

Bring the family. When it’s time to take the clan to the beach, they rent a bus. Even Grandma, dressed in black and sitting in a wheel chair, comes along.

Bring a life-vest. There are no lifeguards, rip markers or swimming lessons; if you get carried out to sea, you’re crocodile buffet.

Bring a skin tumor. The favorite sunscreen is coconut oil, with a melanoma-rating of +50. Smells great, though.

Bring a bikini. Not so bad when they’re 17, but when you see a Big Momma toting a few decades of tacos only one phrase comes to mind; Lycra torture test.

Book Review

The Exchange

By John Grisham

Linda and I have been reading John Grisham’s legal thrillers for decades now, and we’ve enjoyed them a tremendous amount. Unfortunately, in The Exchange, the author has taken a couple of detours from his usual winning formula that are, to say the least, distracting.

The Exchange is a follow-up to a tremendously enjoyable book, The Firm, which followed the misadventures of a young lawyer. After graduating with distinction from Harvard, Mitch McDeere joined Bendini, a prominent Memphis firm. At first, he and his wife Abby found themselves enjoying the life and sudden wealth that the position promised. Soon, however, they found themselves embroiled in a nefarious world of money laundering. With the FBI closing in, Mitch and Abby fled the country one step ahead of murder, abandoning their lives.

Now, decades later, Mitch has established a career with Scully, the world’s largest law firm. Settled in New York, they are intent on raising their twin sons and putting the nightmare around Bendini far behind.

Their lives are shattered, however, when a mysterious terrorist gang based in Libya kidnaps one of their associates, the sultry Giovanna Sandroni, while inspecting a client’s engineering work in the middle of the desert. Mitch finds himself scrambling to put together the $100 million ransom before she is executed.

So, what’s my problem? I enjoy Grisham because he doesn’t generally wallow in gore. The Exchange, however, features several grim torture/executions of terrorist captives; I can get all of this I want from reality, thanks.

Secondly, this isn’t a legal thriller, with all the court twists-and-turns that normally propel Grisham’s narrative. It’s essentially a ‘will he get the ransom together before the deadline (and presumably icky death) of the beautiful victim’ thriller.

Finally, when you do a sequel, the core of the conflict is associated with some ‘unfinished business’ (one of the guilty parties gets out of prison and comes looking for revenge, say). Except for the fact that it features the two primary protagonists from The Firm, the two books don’t really have anything to do with one another.

My suggestion; if you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend you get a copy of The Firm!

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TV Review

The Crown

Streaming on Netflix

We were living in London in 1997, about one km south of Kensington Palace. The morning of Sunday, August 31, dawned sunny and warm, and we decided to go for a jog in the park.

As we made our way north along Gloucester Rd, however, we noticed several strange occurrences. A cabbie was parked at the curb, weeping as he listened to his radio. People were solemnly exiting the Gloucester Rd tube, each clutching a bouquet of lilies.

When we reached the park, the normally-cheery warden wore a solemn expression and a black armband. It wasn’t until we reached the gilded south gate of the palace, already strewn with a pile of flowers, that we realized what was going on.

“Diana died last night,” a tearful mourner explained.

The sixth, and final season of The Crown focuses on the death of Diana. Even though half a lifetime has passed, the events remain riveting. Although it is a dramatization that pigeonholes many of the participants (the scheming Mohamed al-Fayed, his weak-willed, acquiescent son Dodi), the episodes nonetheless capture the visceral fascination that the world held for one woman and her tragic death.

Days after her demise, we stood in veneration as her gun carriage was drawn through the park, mourning with the millions watching at home.  It is a feeling that I shall remember for the rest of my life. I highly recommend The Crown!

Movie Review

Nyad

Streaming on Netflix

NASA had a goal to reach the moon; it was a massive, coordinated scientific achievement.

Sir Edmund Hillary had a goal to scale Mt. Everest, the tallest peak on earth.

But when does a goal become an obsession?

Diana Nyad, an American marathon swimmer, had achieved notable success early in her career, swimming the circumference of Manhattan, a distance of 28 miles, at the age of 26 in 1975. She went on to achieve a world open-water distance record in 1979, swimming 102 miles from Bimini in the Bahamas to Juno Beach, Florida.

Her ultimate ambition was to complete an open-water swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys, a distance of 110 miles. Although the feat had been previously done by swimmers using shark cages, she wanted to do it unprotected. It took her a total of five attempts, the final one in 2013 at the age of 63.

Each of the attempts were aided by a small army of volunteers, including the captain of the support boat, played by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans (who, as you may recall, did a wonderfully-comic turn as the goofy roommate to Hugh Grant in Notting Hill).

In the end, Nyad succeeds, although her achievement was shrouded in controversy due to a lack of independent verification that ultimately motivated Guinness to revoke her feat from its Book of World Records .

The movie stars Annette Bening, who plays Nyad, and Jodie Foster as her coach Bonnie Stohl; two incredible actresses portraying two strong women working to achieve a near-impossible objective. The movie is both riveting and touching; I highly recommend Nyad!

2023-07-10-small

July 2023 Newsletter

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Life in France

We’ve been in France for over a month now, and if there’s one thing that stands out more than anything else, it’s the fact that the French worship their stomachs. Or, more specifically, all the wonderful things they put in their stomachs.

People ask us; ‘how do you spend your day?’ I’d like to wax lyrical about the endless hours spent contemplating immortal works of art and graceful architecture, but that would be wrong. The vast amount of daylight hours are spent rapturing over the many amazing ingredients on offer.

Every day, we stop at Mary’s cheese shop and buy some scrumptious soft cheese for spreading on baguette, a bit of feta for Greek salads, and a tangy Roquefort to accompany the lovely Burgundy we purchase right next door at Virginie’s Les Caves du Roi.

Monsieur Bardot, the neighborhood butcher, always has a delightful selection of veal, from cordon bleu (breaded veal wrapped around cheese and prosciutto), to tender belly for cooking blanquettes de veau, a beef stew in creamy sauce served on pappardelle pasta.

Not to be forgotten, is the patisserie. The smell of chocolate wafts through their door and down the street, drawing you forcefully in by the nose. Caramel dipped in dark chocolate, delicate strawberry tarts on custard, and an endless array of cake.

The only reason, of course, that I don’t look like the Michelin man is because we walk an average of 150 km per month buying all this stuff.

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Book Review

The Five Star Weekend

By Elin Hilderbrand

Linda and I have been reading Elin Hilderbrand’s novels for several years now. ‘The queen of the beach reads’ has written several dozen novels set in the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, featuring the misadventures of both the full-time islanders and the summer visitors.

Their stories are a mix of the trials and tribulations of the super-rich and those scraping by from paycheck to paycheck. Some of my favorites include The Identicals, a tale of twin sisters raised separately, and 28 Summers, which follows a secret affair between an independent island woman and the husband of a Washington senator.

The Five Star Weekend follows the recovery of a food blogger after the tragic death of her husband. Hollis Shaw has an international following on her Hungry with Hollis blog, in which she videos her recipes and sports wonderful attire. But her glamourous life is turned inside out when Matthew, a respected Boston surgeon, is killed in a car accident.

Hollis retreats to their summer home in Nantucket, where she lives like a hermit, neglecting her blog and her young adult daughter Caroline. She is finally stirred from her depression after reading about a woman who, recently widowed, rebooted her life by holding a five-star weekend where she invites four women friends, each from an important part of her life, and treats them to a fun and rejuvenating time.

Hollis invites Tatum, her closest childhood friend, Dru-Ann, a roommate from college, Brooke, a former neighbor when Hollis was raising her child, and, most intriguingly, Gigi Ling, a follower of her blog whom she has never met. She then hires Caroline to video the entire encounter.

The author excels in crafting fully-fledged characters who have serious issues of their own, and Five Star Weekend is one of her best novels. Each of Hollis’s friends brings significant emotional baggage that needs resolution, promising the potential for a five-alarm fire! This is a great page-turner, and ensures that Hildebrand will be retaining her crown for quite some time to come. I highly recommend The Five Star Weekend!

Book Review

A Visit from the Goon Squad

By Jennifer Egan

Generally, when I see a book cover with the blurb ‘Winner of the So-And-So Award’ I run like hell. I can’t think of the number of winners I’ve purchased that I doubt even the author’s mother has read cover to cover. They’re just awful.

So, it was with trepidation that I approached A Visit from the Goon Squad, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize. Right from the very first chapter, I was drawn into the mesmerizing world of Sasha, a record producer’s assistant based in New York, and the strange and fascinating cadre of friends, family and circumstances that orbit her in a cosmos of weirdness.

Sasha, it seems, is a kleptomaniac who can’t resist stealing objects every week so that she has something new to tell her therapist (this is New York, remember). Her boss, the legendary record producer Bennie Salazar, gets seized by paralyzing bouts of cringe unless he drinks pure gold flakes in his coffee and sprays his arm pits with Raid to ward of cooties.

And these are the normal ones. The author parades her characters through a series of chapters that act as vignettes to pivotal parts of their lives using a spectrum of tones and styles (was that a Power Point presentation?) that impressively displays her prodigious writing talents. I highly recommend A Visit from the Goon Squad!

2023-04-03

April 2023 Newsletter

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Life in Mexico

It’s Semana Santa! Every year, 40,000 Mexicans descend on Manzanillo during Easter to celebrate their religious devotion with tequila. Here’s a few survival tips;

Go the nearest ATM and empty it before everyone else does.

Stock up at the OXXO with ten loaves of Bimbo bread and a big can of Spam. Both will stay fresh at least until the Second Coming.

Top up two dozen sealable bottles with gasoline in case Pemex runs out. I recommend José Cuervo; you can find about three million empty ones along the Miramar beach.

It’s OK to make noise at Easter. If you can’t find fireworks, pay one of the Marines hanging outside the Burger King to let his AK-47 rip.

Book Review

The White Lady

By Jacqueline Winspear

We’ve been reading Winspear’s Maisy Dobbs mysteries series for several years now. It features a woman private detective who starts her own agency in London after WWI. It runs for several decades and features a fine cast of eccentric British characters. If you’ve never read it, I urge you to give the series a try.

The White Lady is a departure into new territory.  Elinor White is a British woman who grew up in Belgium in the early twentieth century, and returns in WWII to act as a spy behind enemy lines. After the Allied victory, she retires to rural Kent.

But the countryside is too dull for her taste and she soon launches a one-woman crusade against a ruthless gang of London criminals. Her former spy-mate, now a Deputy Commissioner in Scotland Yard, becomes a hapless accomplice as he tries to keep Elinor’s life attached to her limbs.

The author brings her profound insight and knowledge of post-war British culture along with lots of twists and turns to create an exciting and intriguing cops-and-robbers thriller. I highly recommend The White Lady.

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TV Review

Dinner Club, Season 2

Streaming on Amazon Prime

Celebrity Italian chef Carlo Cracco returns for a second season. The series features half a dozen friends who he takes on road trips to his favorite parts of Italy to sample the local cuisine, then returns to his mansion outside of Rome to cook a dinner club meal.

This season features excursions to Sicily, South Tyrol and Romagna, where his actor friends discover fresh herbs, sausages and deep-fried delicacies amid scenic settings. It’s the dinner club that really sparks the series as everyone gets very tipsy and critiques each meal in hilarious fashion. It’s all in Italian, but the subtitles keep you abreast of each insult! If you love food and friendship, I highly recommend Dinner Club.

Recipe: Rack of Lamb

We’ve always been big fans of New Zealand lamb, where they outnumber Kiwis 10 to 1. The delicate flavor is derived from a breed that feeds best on pastureland. Their lamb is coveted all over the world; I recall seeing ships in the South Island port of Nelson that were designed to transport them live to the Middle East for the festival of Ramadan.

For the first few years, we were disappointed to find that New Zealand lamb was rare in Mexico; the country has millions of sheep, but most are raised for wool and dairy. We were delighted when La Comer finally started featuring frozen lamb that had been raised in Mexico especially for meat; the leg, shank and shoulder are just as delicious as the New Zealand variety when roasted over several hours in the oven.

Our favorite, by far, is rack of lamb. When properly marinated and cooked over coals, it is extremely delicious! If you don’t have a BBQ, roasting in the oven is also a great way to go, but it just doesn’t beat that mix of smoke and sizzling fat when done over coals.

Ingredients (feeds 2)

1 rack of lamb with 8 chops (cut in half).

Marinade

¼ cup of olive oil.

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tsp of salt.

1 small chili pepper.

1 sprig of fresh rosemary (or 1 Tsp of dried rosemary)

Directions

Mix the ingredients in a blender and pour over the lamb and let it marinate in the fridge for at least four hours.

Prior to cooking, pull the lamb out and let it warm to room temperature.

Place the lamb bone-side down over the coals* for five minutes. Flip the racks and cook for another five minutes. This should bring them to medium rare. Slice the meat and check for doneness; if it’s still too pink, put it on bone-side down for another few minutes. Cover and let rest for five minutes, then carve into lollipops and serve with baby potatoes, asparagus and mint sauce. Enjoy!

*(If you don’t have a coal BBQ, set your oven at 450 F and cook, bone-side down, in a metal pan, for 15 minutes, then let rest covered for five minutes).