AMELIA GREY'S CAFE - TUCSON, AZ

Well, I've given this place another try; this time eating breakfast. and once again, the food just doesn't go above the line of  "just ok." However, the lunch was better than the breakfast; both in quality and portion size so i would come back for lunch since the restaurant is centrally located and the service good (one of the waiters looked just like the lead singer - Adam Levine - of Maroon 5.) and the decorations and feeling of the place is cute and homey and comfortable.

I had the omelet of the day (bacon maybe 1/2 slice crumbled total; tomato 6 tiny chunks but lots of cheddar cheese), with a 1/3'rd of a plain croissant which was not warmed and didn't even come with butter, and some fruit. I also ordered a cranberry and white chocolate scone for $3. I knew it wasn't going to come close to the scones that Bill and i make (and it didn't) but after seeing the tiny egg envelope of an omelet, i knew i'd still be hungry.

Naturally, i needed butter for the scone in addition to the croissant bit; and it came in typical tea house fashion (this restaurant serves high tea in the afternoon); 2 midget artistically swirled butter pats arrived on a slightly bigger flowered and scalloped ceramic dish; the size you used when you played house as a girl - or boy.

Chris ordered sausage gravy and biscuits which she does a lot and which she is usually always returning because of major  disappointment but she loved how they prepared the dish.

We ate at a great time 10:30; after breakfast and before the lunch crowd because this place gets really crowded for lunch and noisy too.

KILLING THEM SOFTLY

A great mob movie starring Brad Pitt as Jackie, hired to come to the most grittiest and dirtiest and crime-filled city i've ever seen on film (supposed to be Boston; but filmed mostly in New Orleans), to "take care" of the thieves who robbed a very lucrative mob poker game. These games are arranged by Markie (Ray Liotta).

Some of the film reminded me of Pulp Fiction in that the thought processes and planning of the murders makes up a big part of the movie. and i love that juxtaposition; contract killers who look and act scary and emotionless talking about the problems they are having with their wife, for example, (these scenes are played by a fantastic James Gandolfini - Tony from the Sopranos, as an alcoholic murderer who is so sad and beaten down by his obsession with his wife that I couldn't help but feel sorry for him - at the same time as he is talking about violence and torture.) or Brad Pitt asking a middle management financial mob guy (Richard Jenkins) for more money for the killings and Jenkins explaining how the poor economy and Wall Street collapse has affected available funds.

The 2 actors who played the hapless and drug addled and simple-minded poker game killers were excellent.

The photography was very good and there was a scene involving the trajectory of bullets leaving a gun and going through metal and glass before reaching the target which was very innovative. The dialogue was  clever and riveting and reminded me of Mamet's words.

Both of us rated this movie a 9.

SIDE EFFECTS

What a refreshing delightful treat it is to see a movie without gun play, car chases, phony romantic scenes and comic book characters. Though i enjoy those movies too! (with lots of blood and gore.) This movie has a  great story that was tense right from the beginning with delicious Hitchcockian twists and turns and with good solid acting.

I'm not going to be able to give much of a review because the turns in the plot happen pretty early on. Here's the bare bones:
Rooney Mara is Emily the wife of Martin (Channing Tatum who is getting better and better in his movie roles) who has just gotten out of jail for insider trading. She is having a harder time than he adjusting to his release and becomes really depressed and attempts suicide.

Enter Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law in a very unrestrained emotional role), psychiatrist, who begins treating Emily. At this point, its easy to think the film will focus on the cavalier prescription of mood-altering drugs and the demand by people to feel different or better and the greed of the drug companies and doctors being wined and dined by big Pharma and paid big bucks to participate in drug studies which are supposedly going to be neutral evaluations of a new medicine. However, the movie starts shifting focus at this point and the winding story line really takes off.

Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a psychiatrist who has treated Emily in the past and she's great in her role of cool and arrogant and all together professional.

and the film stayed exciting until the very last scene which is unusual in my opinion.

Bill gave it  an 8 and i gave it an 8.75 because of the cleverness of the story and the fact that my assumptions about what the movie was about kept shifting.

NEW CHINA BUFFET - TUCSON, AZ

Every so often we get a taste for some Chinese food. However, since we don't LIKE chinese food, it helps to go to a buffet where we can graze and take little bites of a lot of things; sort of like eating chinese with an attitude. Plus on these buffets they always have stuff that doesn't go with the food theme; like at New China they will have pizza and roast beef.

This place is our favorite because the variety is huge and the price is good ($20 for both of us which includes tax and tip) and its always clean and the food steamingly hot.

bill usually always gets their salmon. And last night, i got my usual - a few pcs. of general tso's chicken, few nuggets of sesame chicken, a potsticker, lots of pickled ginger (i'm fighting an onslaught of either the flu or a monster allergy pollen attack)  and a big mound of their garlic spicy green beans and rice noodles with vegetables and bits of scrambled eggs. Delicious.

The desserts are ok; soft serve ice cream and various small cakes and cream puffs. I like the sliced bananas in liquidy red jello and the warm sugared donut holes.

MAMA

We haven't seen a horror movie in ages and since we weren't that excited about seeing anything else at the theaters we picked this one because of the director, Guillermo del Toro. He directed the first Hellboy (wonderfully inventive and creative) and the fantastical Pan's Labyrinth. However, both of us were disappointed. I gave it a 6 and Bill a 7.

Am i becoming jaded or what? but i wasn't scared; not even edge of my seat tense. the acting was good (Jessica Chastain played Annabelle and her boyfriend was acted by Jamie from Game of Thrones.) and i loved the 2 girls in the movie. and the photography excellently captured creepiness but all these parts just didn't translate into captivatingly spooky.

The story was simple and silly. 2 girls are kidnapped by their dad who has just murdered a couple of people. He drives them to a remote cabin deep in the wilderness. Just as he's about to kill his daughters and then commit suicide; a malevolent black swirly thing takes him away. The girls live by themselves in this cabin for 5 years so are pretty feral when they are finally found.

And the rest of the movie is about the crazy woman  in the 1800's who had her baby taken away from her and this resulted in a decades long search for that child. and for some reason this nut case decides that the 2 girls are hers and they can see her and call her mama. and mama is jealous of Annabelle who is taking care of them (being the girlfriend of the man whose brother is the dad who got spirited away. and this brother is now in a coma because of mama so Annabelle who is in a rock band and doesn't keep a neat house is the sole care-taker of these girls.)

and then there's the psychiatrist who is attempting to find out who mama is and also, the aunt who really wants custody and --- shall i go on? I think NOT.

GUSTO OSTERIA - TUCSON, AZ

We had one of the few good seats in this restaurant; the last one in the row of seats along the wall of windows which looked out onto the outdoor eating patio. There are only 3 or 4 booths and most of the seating is on tables along a banquette. this type of arrangement always gives me the impression of a food trough.

The food was very good though I would have wished for a small salad with the entree. Oh, and also a tighter cork for the herbed olive oil or some other kind of container. I noticed all the herbs at the bottom of the cruet but after i shook it up i was greased up pretty pretty bad. The olive oil mixture had a great taste and it went well with the super fresh bread.

Bill had veal piccata which he loved. I had 2 lightly breaded pork tenderloins stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese and accompanied with linguine with marinara sauce. I was only able to eat maybe a 1/4 of my dish; it was very filling and really tasty. Both of us have food left over for lunch today.

The restaurant is located next to Safeway at the intersection of Tanque Verde and Sabino Canyon.

THE GARLAND BISTRO - TUCSON, AZ

we had a most enjoyable and pleasant lunch here with my sister, Kathie, and her husband, Greg. That being said - i'll move on to the review of the food part of this experience.

The restaurant (at 4th and E. speedway) is in an old house so the setting is really neat. There is a porch and tables inside several separate rooms. this gives a nice feeling of coziness and cuts down on noise from other patrons.

The menu is an eclectic blend of Vietnamese, American, vegetarian, Indian, and Mexican.  Bill and I split a chicken salad sandwich on rye bread. There was lots of chicken with crunchy celery and almonds. The only thing that this sandwich came with was some orange slices. The cost was almost $9.

We also split a grilled cheese with onions on white. This was just OK. Nothing special. This was about $6 and again, just came with orange slices. There was an extra charge for the onions which i've encountered before at other places but Kathie and I were also charged for extra mayo - a dollar. I have never been charged for this. of course, we were each served the mayo in a soup tureen sized bowl. We could have easily shared the serving and still only used about 1/2 of it.

We also shared a green salad which was a tiny pile of spring mix with a cherry tomato and a cucumber. This was about $3.

I quit going here because of the good but not extraordinary food; the small portions and the prices. But its a nice place to bring company and visiting friends because of the pleasant easy-to-talk-in atmosphere.

The bathroom is lovely; large with a couple of fake orchids and lots of windows and a beautiful old dresser/table combo.