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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You can also order eBooks and paperbacks online at Amazon!

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).

2022 05 03

May 2022 Newsletter

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Life in Mexico

It’s watermelon season in Manzanillo!

Every year around May, the town is full of vendors selling big, juicy watermelons from the back of their trucks. While you’re paying $15 in Canada, they’re three bucks on the street.

There’s a saying in Kelowna; the best way to eat a peach is to stand waist deep in Okanagan Lake.

The best way to eat a Mexican watermelon is to stand waist deep in the Pacific Ocean!

Recipe: French Toast Tacos

French toast tacos

I always enjoy reading David Lebovitz’s newsletter. I was admiring the Paris-based chef’s recipe for French toast when I had the brain wave to make it a little Mexican. Thanks for the inspiration, David!

Makes 1 serving

1 large egg

1 Tsp milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ tsp salt

I large flour tortilla

1 Tsp of butter

Cooked bacon and shredded cheese

Or: Sliced fruit; mango, blueberries, strawberries.

Maple syrup.

Beat the egg, milk, vanilla and salt together in a wide bowl. Dip the flour tortilla, turning once. Let it soak up the mix for a minute.

Fry in butter on low in a medium size pan. Brown the tortilla on both sides.

For savory; fill with cooked bacon and cheese, fold and serve.

For sweet; fill with fruit, drizzle on maple syrup, and fold.

Enjoy!

Buy my latest historical fiction on Amazon!

“This book is super!

Amazon 5-star Review

The year is 1944. Paris has been under German occupation for four years. The French Resistance knows that an Allied invasion is imminent.

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 trust and 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? In the end, her decision will not only determine the fate of Paris, it will reverberate down through her family for generations to come.

TV Review

Bosch: Legacy

Streaming on Amazon IMBD (free)

Bosch: Legacy picks up after the seven original seasons, which saw homicide Detective Harry Bosch do battle with the corrupt LAPD hierarchy.

This spin-off captures the magic of the original; it takes place in the gritty realm of LA, it features co-stars Maddie (Madison Lintz), criminal lawyer Honey (Mimi Rogers) even Crate & Barrel (Gregory Cummins and Troy Evans).

What it doesn’t have is Harry the homicide detective. Now retired, Bosch has become a private investigator, but he still lives by the same motto; “either everyone counts, or no one counts.”

Bosch is hired by an aging billionaire who was bullied into abandoning his pregnant Latino bride by his father. Now, childless, he seeks his long-lost lover. But the discovery of an heir would throw the succession of his international business in jeopardy, and skulking minions look to thwart Bosch – at any cost.

I’ve loved Michael Connelly’s Bosch series throughout the 30 years that the LA-based author has been writing, and it’s a pleasure to see the main character (played impeccably by Titus Welliver) bring Harry alive on the screen. I look forward to more seasons!

Book Review

Cocaine Blues

By Kerry Greenwood

I first got turned on to the Miss Fisher mysteries by the excellent Australian TV series starring Essie Davis as Miss Phryne Fisher, an independently wealthy woman living in 1920s Melbourne. Miss Fisher was the ultimate flapper girl, living the high life as a rich, liberated woman with a passion for handsome men and fast cars.

Unfortunately, the TV series ended after a few seasons, and is generally hard to find on streaming services. So it was with great delight that when I began to read the book series, I found that the TV production had faithfully followed the spirit of its main protagonist, as well as the colorful cohort of cast members who rounded her adventures out.

Although one doesn’t have to start with the first book, Cocaine Blues, I recommend doing so as it sets up Miss Fisher’s background and her inspiration for solving crime. Every book features several cases for the amateur detective to solve, from kidnapping to missing kittens, as well as dollops of passionate sex.

While the tone of the series is light-hearted, Greenwood doesn’t shy from controversial subjects, such as spousal abuse, sex slavery and corruption. Regardless, I look forward to a summer of escapist reading, enjoying the many delights of Miss Phryne Fisher.

A Monarch butterfly rests on a flower, Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, in Urbandale, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

February 2022 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in Mexico

We finally made it to the Monarch butterfly sanctuary!

There are five sanctuaries spread across the states of Michoacán and Mexico; Rosario, Chincua, Cerro Pelon, Herradura, and La Mesa.

The butterflies rest in Mexico from November to March, then begin a 10,000 km journey every spring to North America and back. The trek takes several generations, yet they unerringly return to their winter home year after year. (Nobody knows how long they’ve been making the journey, but butterflies date back 200 million years, to the age of dinosaurs).

Visiting the sanctuaries is a day-long trip. Along with our friends Victor and Wilma, we rented an apartment in the historic centre of Morelia for a week, then picked a day to visit the Chincua sanctuary (the butterflies need sun and heat to venture forth).

It took just under three hours to drive to the sanctuary, then another hour to hike through a pine forest. When we reached their enclave just past noon, the air was filled with a swirling carpet of orange and black as they flitted from tree to tree.

I know, driving halfway across Mexico in order to look at bugs for half an hour might sound extreme, but the trip was worth it.

I want to thank the friendly people of Michoacán for their hospitality, as well as the volunteers across North America who care for the welfare of the Monarchs. Visiting the sanctuary was a magical, mystical experience that I cannot recommend highly enough.

TV Series Review

The Dinner Club

Streaming on Amazon Prime

This is a six-part, food-porn series featuring a Michelin-starred chef who accompanies famous actors around Italy as they explore local cuisines and generally crack themselves up with insults and practical jokes.

Carlo Cracco owns Cracco’s in Milan, considered one of the fifty-best restaurants in the world. He is known for his culinary originality as well as wit and charm in several culinary-themed series, including Hell’s Kitchen Italia.

The Dinner Club is his latest foray into television, featuring six friends who are also actors and comedians. Unless you’re Italian, you won’t have any idea who they are (I certainly didn’t’), but they are all tremendously entertaining as Carlo leads them around Sicily, the Po valley and Tuscany. They sample local cuisines, then return to Carlo’s home where each in turn cooks a special meal.

While the fact that the series is totally in Italian (with subtitles) may turn some people off, I urge you to give it a try. I found it delightfully-addictive watching due to the tremendous amount of fun they all have while eating, drinking and enjoying one another’s company.

My latest novel is now available on amazon!

“A great page-turner!”

Amazon 5-star review

The year is 1944. Paris has been under German occupation for four years. The French Resistance knows that an Allied invasion is imminent.

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 trust and 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? 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

Eight Hundred Grapes

By Laura Dave

If you enjoy the work of Elin Hilderbrand, the queen of the summer read, then you’ll love Laura Dave’s writing. Most of her books begin with a spunky young woman who turns her life into a complete dumpster fire, then climbs out of the mess for a happy ending.

Eight Hundred Grapes features bride-to-be Georgia Ford who discovers the week before her wedding that her hunky British fiancé has a secret; a four-year old daughter by a famous actress who he never got around to mentioning. She immediately leaps into her car and races back to Sonoma County where her family owns a vineyard.

She quickly discovers that all is not well in paradise. Dad is seriously depressed, mom has taken up with a new lover and her twin brothers are going bananas. Not only does she have to sort out her own mess, but act as priest, therapist and dominatrix to her own family.

Dave has a great talent for creating quirky, charming characters and a frantic pace of twists and turns that make her books impossible to put down. Several of her works are in the process of being made into movies by Reese Witherspoon, but I highly recommend reading the originals!

Recipe: Keftedes & Tzatziki Sauce

These Greek lamb meatballs are easy to make and taste great! Use them as appetizers or load them into pitas (or flour tortillas) along with chopped tomatoes and lettuce to make a great meal!

MEATBALLS

Ingredients

1 lb ground lamb (you can also use ground beef)

1/2 red onion, grated

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp dried oregano

2 Tsp fresh mint, chopped

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp cardamom,

1/2 a cup breadcrumbs

1 egg

1 Tsp olive oil

¼ cup of chopped feta cheese

1 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper

Add all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Roll the mixture into balls, the size of a walnut.

To fry, use a large, deep skillet and pour in olive oil to a depth of 1/2 an inch. Heat the oil to medium-high. Add the lamb meatballs in batches in a single layer and fry for about 7 minutes, turning occasionally, until browned and crisp on all sides.

To bake, preheat the oven at 400F, place the lamb meatballs on greased baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake for about 20 minutes, turning the meatballs upside down midway through cooking time.

TZATZIKI SAUCE

Ingredients

½ cup finely grated cucumber

1 cup thick whole milk Greek yogurt

1 Tsp lemon juice

½ tsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, grated

¼ tsp sea salt

1 tsp chopped dill

1 tsp chopped mint, optional

Instructions

Place the cucumber on a towel and gently squeeze out a bit of the excess water.

In a medium bowl, combine the cucumber, yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, dill, and mint, if using. Chill until ready to use.

Assembling the meal.

If available, you can use pita breads, but I find flour tortillas work great! Place a layer of tzatziki on the bread and then add meatballs, shredded lettuce and tomatoes. Enjoy (and keep plenty of napkins handy).

Film Review

RESPECT

This is a biopic of Aretha Franklin, singer, civil rights activist and actor, who dominated R&B and soul for much of the 20th century.

The lead role is played by Jennifer Hudson, herself an accomplished actor and singer who not only won an Oscar but performed at President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

Biopics can sometimes drag on a bit, trying to be faithful to the actual life of its subject, but director Liesl Tommy spends a great deal of time following the artistic maturation of Aretha as she evolved from a gospel singer to R&B, soul and pop. The fact that she is portrayed by an incredibly accomplished singer makes the depiction of her life that much more authentic.

Aretha had a troubled life, being raped and bearing a child at the age of 12 and then later struggling with alcohol, but the movie doesn’t shirk in its honest portrayal of her struggles, avoiding the hagiography that often mars biographies. It is an enjoyable, musical movie that I highly recommend you watch!