Life in Mexico
It’s Primavera time!
Every April, Manzanillo is festooned with the blossoms of these gorgeous trees. One moment the streets are lined with immense bare trunks, and seemingly overnight the boulevards are decorated with giant yellow lollipops.
The magic only lasts a week or so and then work crews are left with the mess of cleaning it all up. In the meantime, though, they bring a big smile to the face of everyone who admires them!
Recipe: Ginger Beef
This is a family favorite that is easy to make, yet tastes spicy and exotic!
Ingredients
1 lb of rib eye beef, cut into ½ inch strips
1 cup of mushrooms, quartered
1 Tsp of minced garlic
1 Tsp of minced ginger
1 tsp of black pepper.
¼ cup of soy sauce
¼ cup of brown sugar
¼ cup of brandy or Marsala wine
1 Tsp of oil (sesame or canola).
Chopped green onions
Cooked rice.
Directions
Mix the beef, mushrooms and marinade ingredients in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for one hour.
Fry the mixture in a pan over medium heat for two minutes.
Serve on rice with green onion garnish.
Enjoy!
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TV Review
The Residence
Streaming on Netflix
This is a delightfully daffy detective comedy from producer Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy).
The head usher of the White House is murdered during a gala dinner in honor of Australia. Detective Cecilia Cupp (Uzo Abuda, Orange is the New Black), is called in to figure out whodunit.
The list of suspects include 157 staff and guests. Along the way, we meet the president’s cousin Nan Cox (played way over-the-top by Jane Curtin), as well as Kylie Minogue and a host of Ozzie celebrities.
In addition, there’s a pile of red herrings to throw Cecilia off the scent, but the world’s-greatest-detective will not be prevented from finding out the truth and arresting the guilty.
This is not going to win a lot of Emmys but it’s a great binge show that you’ll either love or hate. In any event, I recommend you check out The Residence.
Book Review
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
By Mario Vargas Llosa
The Peruvian author recently passed away at the age of 89. He was the last of the Latin American literary giants, celebrated along with Gabriel García Márquez for their ground-breaking works in political criticism and magic realism.
My favorite Llosa novel is Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, which he wrote in 1977 at the age of 41. It documents the coming-of-age of Marito, a young radio news journalist in the 1950s, who has a clandestine affair with his aunt. Compounding his life, Marito is put in charge of hand-holding Pedro Comacho, a manic radio scriptwriter whose scandalous soap operas are holding the entire nation in thrall.
Llosa demonstrates his command of character, plot and vivid description in a novel that is both comic and tragic. Although he wrote more than 50 books in his prolific career, the legacy of the Nobel laureate resides as much in this seemingly light-hearted, mischievous romp as in his lauded political novels such as The Feast of the Goat. I highly recommend Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter!