HUGO

A completely fantastical, magical movie. One mark of an excellent movie for me is a total immersion into the scenes and the land and in this case, a Paris train station; so much so that i become totally unaware of me sitting in a theater watching a film. and this movie transported me.

Its a simple story with great acting about a young boy who is an orphan and goes to live with his uncle who keeps the clocks running in the train station. Hugo is caught stealing by the owner of a toy shop who is played by Ben Kingsley. Through this encounter, Hugo becomes friends with his god-daughter and they have many adventures and accidentally Hugo finds out that she is wearing a key that fits into a robot he has been trying to restore. The discovery of why this girl is wearing a key that Hugo needs to finish his repair is the plot.

Along the way there are many subplots and tiny stories. One of them is the security guard at the station who is trying to establish a friendship with the florist shop owner. Another involves the book store proprietor played by Christopher Lee.

The movie is rich in detail and atmosphere. A 10 from both of us.

EUROPEAN MARKET AND DELI - TUCSON, AZ

The 'restaurant' area is a small curtained off alcove to the right of the front door. Mainly the place is a market; jammed in every corner and on every shelf with Eastern European delicacies and wine and beer and they also have an extensive deli counter with meats and salads and cheeses. its also a hub of socialization among the Russians in the area so its always fun to go in there and hear the language and people watch.

the menu is divided into Mediterranean, Greek and Russian sections. Last night we had a gyros plate which had pita bread, gyro meat, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and great yoghurt sauce. I desperately wanted their pelmeni; wonderful tasting dumplings stuffed with a beef-pork and vegetable mixture and served with Russian sour cream which is a mixture of creme fraiche, whipping cream and sour cream. I could smear that on all my food.

However, it takes 30 minutes to make the pelmeni and we were too hungry to wait. The last time we ate here and ordered them- Debbie was visiting so it wasn't a problem to wait - we just shared an appetizer and talked. So instead we ordered their cabbage rolls; 2 huge rolls stuffed to bursting in their cabbage skins; in a great flavorful tomato sauce. they serve it in a bowl with lots of sauce and lettuce. The lettuce wilts because of the hot sauce and is extraordinarily delicious. I also ordered some Russian sour cream on the side.

The market-deli is owned by a husband and wife. Her name is Olga and she is cautiously friendly; smiles with restraint but her appearance is show-worthy. Last night she had on tight tight black sequined pants, stiletto heels, a leopard form-fitting top and big bright bangle earrings. This outfit was topped by her blonde hair style which is ratted and combed into a towering beehive of Kremlin-ism.

Olga, we will be back.

VERO AMORE - TUCSON, AZ

This italian restaurant is about 2 minutes from our house. Its a really small place; no booths, only tables set fairly close together. We were here with Jean and Tim - braving our way through freezing temps, wind, rain, and no sun - trying to remember we lived in the desert.

We got a table close to the door but by a wall so the noise level was a little dampened.

I was disappointed over-all in the food. Bill and I shared a pizza and ravioli. The ravioli dish (3 colors of pasta pockets so it was very colorful and the ravioli were big and arranged quite artfully on the plate around a big helping of marinara sauce with lots of chunky tomatoes) was wonderful. The entree stated it included 3 ricotta cheese and 3 crab but i only wanted the cheese. Each ravioli was stuffed to the edges with cheese so i was satisfied with that dish.

But it didn't come with any bread. So for $3.50 we ordered some "wood-fired" bread. It was a large round loaf and i think the dough was the same as their pizza dough. It was tasty and came with olive oil and garlic-basil butter.

The pizza was not good at all. It had artichokes, mushrooms, onions and prosciutto but you'd be hard pressed to actually see any of these ingredients. and the ham was tasteless and difficult to chew; it was tough even though it was a razor thin slice. There was not much sauce and the cheese was gluey but the biggest disappointment was the crust. It was thin but not crispy at all. It was chewy and starchy tasting and took away from the whispers of flavors from the lonely pcs. of mushrooms and solitary onions.

This pizza was $12.
And even though our waiter was cute and almost adorable and had a lovely speaking voice; once he took our order and then delivered it; he forgot about us. The restaurant got packed about this time too.

We won't be back. So Pizza Hut still remains Number One on our list and Tony's Italian Deli stays at the top for pasta dishes. Plus Tony's is about 1/2 the price of Vero's with a more genuine Frank Sinatra-Mafia atmosphere.