November 2025 Newsletter

Life in Mexico

I had a harbinger of the future when I checked in to the Casa Q, a cloud hotel in Guadalajara.

 There were no human staff. I pressed a button on the front door frame and a friendly computer-generated voice said “Zmmph!”

The door-unlocked and I was greeted by a Zen Garden that calmly declined to carry my bags up the stairs.

My room had no chairs, drinking glasses or bathroom sink plug. It did have a Raid room freshener, which I did not take to be a good sign.

I received a welcome PDF via WhatsApp explaining how to lock the room door, but it self-destructed 30 seconds after I opened it.

There was a discount coupon for a nearby restaurant but I was reluctant to use it in case they had no cutlery.

When I did return from dinner the smart knob on my room refused to disable the door lock. I spent the night sleeping in the hall, which wasn’t too bad because the other guests left pillow mints.

Expedia asked me if I would recommend the hotel. Absolutely – to my worst enemies!

Hotel employee of the month.

Audio Books now Available!

You can now listen to A Paris Moment, Magnus the Magnificent and Joan the Saint!

All three Audio books are available on Amazon (and should be on Kindle Unlimited).

Check them out and let me know what you think!

Recipe: Homemade Thin Crust Pizza

I get a lot of requests for this recipe from dinner guests, so I’m happy to repost the recipe!

Making your own pizza is quite easy and the result is both healthy and delicious. All it takes is a little preparation and you will be the toast of your family and friends!

DOUGH (makes 4 pizza crusts)

5 ¼ cups of OO (fine) flour.

1 tsp of salt.

1 tsp of dry yeast.

1 tsp of brown sugar

400 ml of warm water.

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl.

Mix the yeast and brown sugar in the warm water and let stand for 15 minutes.

Pour the liquid into the flour and knead until the consistency of soft Play-Doh. (You may have to sprinkle some flour on if it’s too sticky).

SAUCE

1 jar of tomato sauce (I like to use an Italian brand with Pomodoro tomatoes)

3 Tsp of Italian seasoning mix.

1 tsp of salt.

1 Tsp of olive oil.

Mix the first three ingredients together in a bowl. Pour the olive oil into the jar of tomato sauce and swish around then add that to the mix. Let rest for at least half an hour.

TOPPINGS

Pepperoni, ham

Chopped onion, peppers, olives, etc.

Shredded cheese

PREPARATION

Heat the oven to 450F. Divide the dough into four balls (any you don’t need can be frozen for later use). Roll out the ball flat with a rolling pin (hint; I cut a piece of parchment paper into a 12” circle as a rolling surface). You will have to sprinkle some flour on the dough to keep the rolling pin from sticking.

Place the rolled dough into a pizza pan and bake it in the oven for 5 minutes. (You can do this in advance and keep the crusts in the freezer indefinitely).

Spread 5 Tsp of sauce on the pizza crust and add desired toppings. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake in the oven for up to 15 minutes (check after 10 minutes to make sure the crust isn’t burning). Serve hot!

Book Review

The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant

By Liza Tully

You gotta love that title!

Aubrey Merritt rose to the top of her profession by solving mysteries that had everyone else stumped. She now lives in a fantastic apartment in New York, picking and choosing only the most perplexing cases.

When Aubrey fires her old assistant, Olivia Blunt applies for the job. A young, impoverished writer who happens to be a wiz at research, Merritt reluctantly agrees to put her on probation.

The agency gets a call from Haley Summersworth, whose mother Victoria recently committed suicide by jumping off a seaside cliff; Hazel thinks it was murder!

Aubrey and Olivia promptly decamp for the exclusive family resort in Vermont where Victoria met her doom. Potential suspects abound, including the drug-addled son, the Vegas gigolo courting her and a daughter-in-law from hell.

The novel is fast-paced and light-hearted. Tully is a pen name for Elisabeth Brink, who is best known for dark thrillers; she decided to take a break from her more gruesome works and pen a comedy mystery.

And I’m glad she did. A sequel is already in the works, and I can hardly wait to read it. I highly recommend The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant.

Documentary Review

John Candy: I Like Me

Streaming on Amazon Prime

This doesn’t often happened to me, but I remember exactly where I was the day John Candy passed away at the age of 43, in 1994. I was shocked and saddened that a great comedic talent had died so young.

The documentary features interviews with his family and many of the stars who acted beside him in so many memorable films – Tom Hanks in Splash, Steve Martin in Trains, Planes and Automobiles – as well as colleagues from his years at SCTV, like Martin Short and Andrea Martin.

Director Colin Hanks, the son of Tom Hanks, had met Candy as a child on the set of Splash, and was reluctant at first to direct the documentary, but friend Ryan Reynolds convinced him to take on the project in order to honor the memory of the great Canadian comedian.

A compilation of TV, film, personal home movies and interviews, the documentary catalogs Candy’s rise to stardom, as well as the dichotomy between his quiet family life and the bombastic characters he portrayed in public.

Warning; this one’s a tear-jerker, but I highly recommend John Candy: I Like Me.