MOLINO'S MIDWAY MEXICAN FOOD

I have a love-hate relationship with this place. sometimes the food is really good and the tortilla chips fresh and other times, the service is slap-dash casual and the food is disappointing in flavor and presentation.

As of last night though, i am back in love. Delicious dinner and the service was personable and our food was served roadrunner fast inspite of the big crowds.

I had albondigas soup to which i added some of the excellent thin crispy tortilla chips. There were lots of meatballs in the soup and it was flavored with a hint of zip. I also had a beef tamale. Stuffed end to end with tender beef. Bill also had a tamale along with a side of rice and we shared guacamole..

I know we will be back and who knows what my review might be then. i'll either still be in love or in the throes of culinary contempt.

SPOTLIGHT

Fantastic film; we both gave it a 10+. Spotlight is the name of the investigative team that works at the Boston Globe. When the paper gets a new editor (Liev Schreiber) he wants the team to work on and follow up on a priest sex abuse story. The investigation and probing into this case leads to  the discovery that  there were several other priests that were put on "sick leave" or transferred to another parish and that a prosecutor (Billy Crudup) had been quietly settling these cases with no documents ever filed in the court and that there was a support group of survivors.

And as the persistent and determined questioning continued, the one priest eventually expanded to almost 90 and it became very clear that this had been going on since at least the 80's with some lone voices clanging the abuse bell and that Cardinal Law knew all about it all this time.

The pressure from the Boston community (where over 50% of the people are catholic) was shown in quiet, subtle but powerful ways. and this pressure came from politicians, the church, college alumni and prosecutors. An especially good scene in the movie was the increase in resistance when 9/11 occurred; the religious line was that at this time, the catholic church and its priests were needed to keep supporting the people during this disaster and it would be very very wrong to undermine the church and its message of faith.

The acting was sterling by Michael Keaton, Billy Crudup, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo. and even though i knew the ending of the story, it was presented in the film with tension and immediacy and suspense.

SPECTRE

This film was the first James Bond 007 movie i did not like. I even sort of enjoyed the early one with the horribly miscast and bad actor George Lazenby. I mean i love James Bond films; from the very first one. I don't even read reviews of them because i know i'll have a good entertaining time. However ---------

Daniel Craig looked like he had just come off of a pub crawl; like he had been shaken and stirred a little too long. His suit jacket never quite fit and he had bags under his eyes and his face was an unhealthy pallor. Some way, some where he has just lost his attractive charismatic charm.

Christoph Waltz was a pathetic villain; not scary or alarming or believably mean or cruel. and Bond's girlfriend was blah.

In the beginning of the movie, there was a way too long (of course, the entire movie was way too long!) segment where you heard Sam Smith warbling and piercingly crooning the theme song while snakes and sinuous golden women writhed around Bond's chest.

My main complaint (need i list another one?) is that it was NOT clever at all. Just a very tired and exhausted replay of prior films.

There were several good characters that i wished had more on screen time; Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw as Q, and a new addition, C, who was the head of the new security and surveillance agency.

POCO & MOM'S CANTINA

First time here and we will be back. Its on Tanque Verde near Sabino Canyon Road and its closed on Mondays.

The entrance is through a long tiled hallway. It felt like we were walking through a friend's foyer in their home and the eating space itself was large but not overly spacious so again, the feeling i had was eating in someone's kitchen. Very comfortable.  They have a patio but it was dark outside and too cold for us.

The service was excellent and the prices extremely reasonable and the portions more than adequate. All of us were happy with our meals. The chips were thin and crisp and fresh and the salsa was slightly zippy. We ordered guacamole which was good but could have been chunkier; a tad too creamy for my taste.

I had 2 tostadas; one chicken and the other ground beef. Very flavorful. Bill had tamales and enjoyed them. Every dish had refried beans and rice. Neither impressed me. The beans didn't even have any cheese on top and was a  sad and  unappealing scoop of brown-ness. The rice was dry.

Nice to find a good Mexican restaurant close to our new location on the east side.  though my heart and stomach still belong to
Frankie's on Pima and Alvernon and their tacos dorados.

SUFFRAGETTE

Excellent movie about the fight in the early 20th century for voting rights for women. It stars Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter. Meryl Streep appears on screen for about 4 minutes only as Pankhurst the head of the movement and the lady who called for civil disobedience since years of peaceful speeches and meetings and the passing out of flyers was having no impact at all.

the movie ends with one of the outspoken feisty suffragettes giving her life in a dramatic fashion during the Derby race as a way for the cause to get global attention. which it did and slowly, very slowly, voting rights were granted. Initially for instance, only "certain" women over the age of 30 were allowed to vote.

 Less than 100 years ago (there are women alive today who remember this!) women were legally subject to their husbands and had NO RIGHTS regarding their children.

All i remember being taught about the suffragette movement (of course, with time, my memory has dulled) is that women did not have the vote and then, they did. la di da!, it was a brutal battle with many many women jailed and beaten and thrown out of their house by a husband who took total control over their children.

A really powerful movie and very well acted.

SHISH KEBAB HOUSE

We finally tried this restaurant that we must have passed about 50 times on Broadway - its across the street from the park place mall. I got a coupon in the mail which was the deciding factor.

and we will be back. Excellent aromatic delicious food.

The atmosphere is ok; sort of a small restaurant and the tables are fairly close together so i would imagine on the weekends (belly dance nights) it could be really crowded and noisy.  Also i was disappointed a bit in the bathroom; plain and sparse. Didn't seem to go with the white table cloths.

The menu is huge so we had trouble deciding what to order. We ended up getting perfectly complementary dishes which we shared; baked squash in this absolutely transforming yoghurt, lemon, garlic and fenugreek and oregano sauce, a rice dish with chicken and pinenuts and veggies and spinach pie. The crust on these 2 small pies was tender and crispy and it was filled to the fluted edges with spinach and feta and bits of green olives.

the pita bread was so-so. I've never tasted pita bread that i really liked; just seems tasteless and too doughy.

and the service was good and personable.

KNEADERS BAKERY AND CAFE

This soup/salad/sandwich place opened this July. Its near the corner of Broadway and Wilmot.  The menu includes sandwiches, soups, salads (given with a slice of bread - your choice of variety), some pastries, some desserts, coffee drinks and a packed to the edge of the shelves gift area with lots of STUFF. So Kneaders is similar to Beyond Bread except BB is a tad better due to their bread quality and the size and filling amount for their sandwiches.

We shared  chicken salad on a croissant which comes with a small salad with balsamic vinaigrette. and we shared an entree salad with bacon and avocado. I asked for a side of the poppyseed dressing but the ranch which normally comes with the salad was extraordinarily good so i switched mid-lettuce chew.