Dublin

And now here we are. Joe, Kathleen, and myself have just linked up with Hayley at our apartment. Hayley picked out a lovely spot in Inchicore, one of Dublin's eastern suburbs. Even so, it's not very far from the city center (Dublin is not a very big place area-wise) and a tram (known as the Luas) stop is just a couple blocks away.

Right now, a rest and a bite to eat, and then hopefully more to come later on.

Check back for more soon.

Ireland

Good day FC'ers, apologies for the my recent absence....matters have been a bit crazy lately. I just spent the past weekend in my old stomping grounds, Buffalo, seeing some old mates and visiting some old haunts. I will give you more on that later. Before though, I suppose I should let you in that I write this from JFK airport in New York City, as I am en route to Dublin, Ireland.

I will be accompanied by my lovely sister Hayley (back in action after Australia earlier this year), and my travel partner-in-chief, Joe, is finally linking up with me again after our awesome stay in Cape Town, South Africa in December. Joe's sister, Kathleen, is also along for the ride.

I think we have a solid itinerary, and hopefully I will have the means to keep you all informed. As always, where there is internet, there is FC. Should I fail to make a connection (I am not too worried about it), I'll always make up for it.

First stop is Dublin for a couple days, then you'll just have to wait and see what adventures may come. Until then, I gotta hang out in JFK for a bit, but I'll be seeing you on the other side of the pond, very soon.

Cheers.

Movie Review- About Elly (Iran)

Many of you may remember how I was floored by "A Separation", the 2011 Iranian film that took home the Best Foreign Film award from the most recent Academy Awards. "About Elly", made two years earlier in 2009, has many connections with "A Separation", including the director, Asghar Farhadi, and a number of actors. There is also one other very important commonality: they are both fantastic.

"About Elly" is the story of three husband-and-wife teams (males first): Amir and Sepideh, Peyman and Shohreh, and Manoochehr and Naazi, along with three children, two of them belonging to Peyman and his wife, the other to Amir and Sepideh, and their trip to northern Iran for a vacation along the Caspian sea. They are accompanied by another mutual friend, Ahmed, and Elly, who is teacher to Amir and Sepideh's daughter. Elly has been coaxed into joining the trip by Sepideh, as she harbors hopes of setting her up with Ahmed, who is recently divorced. The gang settles into a ramshackle villa right on the beach, seemingly in for a fun-filled time. On the first day, however, Elly disappears, setting the story into motion.

Its an absolutely brilliant piece of film-work. Despite a slow start, as soon as Elly's disappearance takes place, perhaps 20-30 minutes in, you are absolutely captivated by the story line and the acting. Much like "A Separation", Farhadi (the director-I know I have thrown a lot of names around here) takes a fairly mundane backdrop, throws in a twist, and ends up producing absolute magic. I don't want to give much away here, but will say that the director employs a number of different plot elements to keep the story moving. The reason  I say this is because maybe my more cynical readers are thinking (well, she drowned at sea, boom, mystery over, let's watch The Expendables), but, take my word for it: its not so simple. Watch for yourself. The acting is beyond good: thoroughly convincing, and completely authentic. The actor portraying Peyman played the husband in a "A Separation", and I have come to really enjoy watching him work (the actor's real name is, well, Peyman Moadi). Golshifteh Farahani plays Sepideh, and she is so beautiful it almost hurts watching her. Some of you may recognize her from her first foray into Hollywood, "Body of Lies", where she played Leo Dicaprio's love interest (Leo always gets the lookers). All involved put in solid shifts though, no complaints.

There isn't any action, so choreography really wasn't much of an issue, but let it be said that, as a result of good camera-work and top notch acting, you actually feel like you are there, living the whole experience. Very good stuff. I'll also add, like I did when reviewing "A Separation", that "About Elly" also offers a window into life in Iran, something that remains unavailable to many of us. Not only do you get some shots of parts of Iran outside of the teeming Tehran, but "About Elly" also gives an idea on what Iranians do to get away, how they interact with one another, and how they handle adversity.

Verdict: See it, to pass on "About Elly" would be folly.

Grade: A

If you liked this movie you might also like: Can't think of any American equivalents, I'm really beginning to think that maybe Hollywood flicks really are just crap, I should stop watching so many foreign films. Anyway, "A Separation", if you haven't gathered already, is a good bet. 

Restaurant Review: Pho Mekong House of Noodles

Another week, another ethnic restaurant in central New York. It was my turn to treat Mom and Dad, and we opted for Vietnamese again, this time at Pho Mekong House of Noodles.

Pho Mekong is located on John Street in East Utica, just down the street from the last restaurant visited, Thuy Cafe. Pho Mekong is pretty neat in that it is set in a converted gas station, so it has ample parking space outside, and an oddly shaped interior. Tables, maybe 10 in all, run along the windows in an L-shape. The interior isn't quite as bland as some of my previous forays-photos of the menu items adorn the walls, along with some Southeast Asian art.

Despite the restaurant's full name, the menu isn't just all Pho, or noodle soups. Other Vietnamese rice and noodle dishes can be found as well, along with a smattering of Thai and Cambodian fare, meaning that Pho Mekong's menu is a touch longer than the one at Thuy Cafe. Hot tea is brought along with the menus, a nice touch not found so far at any of Utica's other ethnic restaurants. The menu also features a fairly lengthy list of appetizers, all of them $3.00. We tried the pork wontons for starters. It comes in a very small bowl, really only fit for one person, but we still shared. The wontons are little pork spheres wrapped in fat noodles. They were tasty, though a tad on the salty side. Those with high blood pressure should maybe avoid those.

Being my first time at the place, I figured I should go with its namesake, and chose Pho Ga, a chicken noodle dish. The soups can be gotten in regular, large, and extra large, though you can take my word that regular is adequate even for the healthy eater. Regular bowls start at $6.95. Mom was feeling slightly more adventurous than at Thuy Cafe, and picked the house Pad Thai, while Dad went buck-wild crazy and ordered something called the "Rail Road Fried Rice"-which was fried rice, peppers, shrimp, crab meat, and all kinds of other stuff served inside half of a cored pineapple. No idea why they chose that name (the connection isn't immediately apparent) but I don't think its something you'll see on most American dinner tables. Most items on the menu are under $9, save maybe the Chef's Specials.

Well, once again, everyone was impressed with their meals. The Pho Ga is pretty simple, but it was still properly done. The shredded chicken is high quality, all white meat, the broth was delicious, and of course slurping up the noodles with chopsticks is always fun. Onions and basil can also be found in the soup. A little plate with mint leaves and bean sprouts comes with it so you can add at your leisure, but I don't get into either item. You can try the mint leaves in the soup if you are looking for a rather peculiar taste. Mom's Pad Thai was awesome. She let me polish off what was left of her very sizable serving, and I scarfed it right down. The noodles were a bit different then I've experienced elsewhere, thinner and longer, but it had a nice, smooth peanut-buttery taste. I would put it right on par with the Pad Thai at A7 Asian. Dad's Rail Road Fried Rice not only won style points for presentation, but taste points as well. The fried rice wasn't like the fried rice you find at any Chinese take-out place-it had a sticky, moist consistency. There was all kinds of other things thrown in there, but something called Chinese sausage, diced into little slices and put in the rice, especially caught my attention with its sweet taste. Don't worry, the part of the pineapple that is carved out is also chopped up and also tossed in the mix. When everything was polished off, no extra pineapple could be taken out of the "bowl", it had been cored so precisely.

The dessert menu only advertised "fruits in syrup", so we decided to pass on that. Sorry, I'm not a very astute reviewer, but I don't think we missed much. Overall though, another Asian restaurant has left me and my companions smiling. Pho Mekong was a winner, and, once I have covered all the other ethnic restaurants in my sights, I'll go back for seconds. I give this place a thumbs up.

Grade: 4.5/5 (the wonton soup really could have been a little less salty, and the dessert menu didn't seem very interesting, so a full 5 escapes Pho, but everything else was tip top)

Forgotten Countries of the World

Sorry people, no restaurant or foreign film reviews this weekend, no time could be found for either. However, just to keep you satiated, here is an interesting slideshow from BBC travel:

http://www.bbc.com/travel/slideshow/20120809-forgotten-countries-of-the-world

Many of you may be interested to hear though that a good portion of my time is now being taken up planning for the early September trip to Ireland. Be on the look out for that one, it holds a lot of promise.

Cheers. 

Restaurant Review: Thuy Cafe

Thuy Cafe is a small Vietnamese restaurant located on Bleecker Street, one of the main drags in East Utica. There are a number of Vietnamese joints dotting the greater Utica area (which isn't a very big region), but for a Sunday dinner with Mom, Dad, and my brother Luke, I picked out Thuy as my first foray into the area Vietnamese. I called ahead to see when they would close, and the response I got from the woman on the other end was, I quote, "I close 8". No doubts about the authenticity then. We were in business.

Thuy doesn't look like much from the outside, which is a common theme it seems among the area ethnic restaurants. The large glass windows carried a few advertisements completely in Vietnamese...they didn't even bother with the English. I liked that. Anyway, the interior, which holds maybe 12 four-seated tables, is rather plain, not entirely austere like A7, the Asian joint reviewed last week, but isn't an art show either. The white walls dominant the place. In one corner of the room they did have a little shrine to the Buddha, so you can eat and pay your respects in one go. It is VERY clean though, my mother was quick to point out. The tabletops were spotless, and the glasses we were served our waters in were the cleanest my mother has ever seen in a restaurant. The jury is in then. Wait staff at Thuy are pretty limited, a mother and son team seem to run the place, with one or two helpers.

The menu at Thuy can basically be be divided into soups and rice dishes. Any item can come in either a large or a small, but, I'll tell you, go with the smalls, its more than enough. I have had Vietnamese before (in West Lafayette, Indiana...in a place run by Mexicans, as it were), so am somewhat familiar with it, but not that much. The menu here immediately looked more authentic, so I was excited by the options on hand. Beef and pork noodle soups are a mainstay, and I was in the mood for noodles, so I went for the beef stew. Mom ordered a chicken sautee dish, which was chopped chicken breast mixed with vegetables over vermicelli rice. Luke and Dad both ordered the same thing, an interesting egg roll dish, comprised of chopped pork egg-rolls over vermicelli, with a side of sweet sauce for dipping.

Delicious. Absolutely fantastic. The beef stew went down VERY easy. The noodles were a mixture of rice flour noodles and egg noodles. Both were very good, but  I particularly liked the egg noodles. The flavor is hard to describe, not exactly sweet...maybe a bit yeasty? Hard to say, either way, go for it. Carrots were the dominant vegetable and were cooked to perfection, while the beef was also good, albeit some pieces were a bit fatty. I could drink the broth all day. Not watery or overly thick, just right. If you are a battling a cold during one of Utica's brutal winters, Thuy Cafe might not be a bad place to go to feel better. Mom actually finished her entire plate, a rarity. It was simple, but the chicken was high quality and tasty. The dish chosen by Luke and Dad was a hit though. The chopped egg roll (perfect size for picking up with chopsticks by the way-even Luke got in on the action), was far cry from the egg roll you might get in the dime-a-dozen Chinese take-out places. Nobody knew what the accompanying sauce was, but it served as a perfect dipping sauce for the egg-roll chunks. Luke, one of the pickiest eaters you'll meet (he originally just came along for the ride, he expected to get Subway afterwards, but I coaxed him into expanding his palate a bit) was delighted. That has to tell you something right there.

The only disappointment came afterwards, when we were told no desert menu exists yet. Too busy cranking out the main courses I suppose. No bother. Everyone was satisfied with their choices and also made note that the meal, while filling, didn't leave one on the precipice of a food coma, which is common after eating American style food. The service was quick, given the small staff, and the prices completed the meal. Thirty bucks for four dinners (all smalls, but, again, the young Vietnamese dude that took our order said even he can't finish the large) is pretty hard to beat. Most items on the menu won't run you more the $8.

First taste of Vietnamese, Utica style? I'm happy to say it was more "Good Morning, Vietnam!" and not "Apocalypse Now". Thuy Cafe is a keeper, you'll be able to find me there again.

Score: 4.5/5 (no desert menu means I can't give a full 5) 

Movie Review: Ajami (Israel)

With the busy summer schedule, its been difficult to find time for films. Last night though, I snatched the chance to sit down to "Ajami", a 2009 Israeli film, rented from a local museum's library.

The movie derives its title from the Ajami neighborhood of Tel-Aviv, Israel's largest and most cosmopolitan city. Ajami is a run-down area in the southern reaches of the city that is home primarily to Arab Israelis (Muslim and Christian), and Palestinians, along with a smattering of Jews.  A tense environment, to say the least. "Ajami" follows the stories of four characters whose lives are centered upon the neighborhood: Omar, a Muslim restaurant worker trying to find a way to settle a huge debt all while secretly courting the daughter of his Christian boss; Malek, a Palestinian illegally working in the same restaurant as Omar, trying to earn money to pay for his mother's bone marrow transplant; Dando, a Jewish plain-clothes policeman trying to find a younger brother who never returned home from service in the army; and Binj, friend and co-worker to Malek and Omar, who risks ostracism by his Arab friends for dating a Jewish girl, and eventually finds himself in legal trouble after his younger brother kills a Jew in a dispute. Omar's younger brother, Nasri, occasionally lends narration to the film.

It's an absolutely amazing piece of film-work. The stories of each of the above-mentioned characters are riveting in their own way, but eventually they all converge, rather brilliantly, I thought, in the hectic last few moments of the film. The sequence of events are such that the viewer is left a bit confused and cannot see the entire picture, but in the last half-hour all the important plot elements are revealed, producing several "Ahh, so that's it" moments. Some may find this a bit frustrating, it depends on your preferences, but I prefer such presentation, and the air of anticipation in creates. None of the actors in the film are professional or had acted before, so it gives the film a very documentary-like feel. I read, for instance, that the actor playing Dando is actually a real cop on the Tel-Aviv beat. I wouldn't have it any other way. Such casting gives "Ajami" an intense realism that is necessary for the portrayal of a tinder-box like Ajami. The film is also important because it gives one a sense of what life can be like in the seedier underside of Israel's large cities, far from the pristine beaches, glitzy buildings where diamonds are traded, or the packed tourist attractions.

There were one or two plot elements that, even at the end, I still couldn't make sense of, but nothing so important such that I didn't understand the overall story. The narration of Nasri also seemed a bit pointless and even out-of-place, but he still has some good lines. These are minor worries anyway. "Ajami" will take a few minutes to catch your interest, but it will, straight through to the climax, where those four story-lines come crashing together.

Verdict: See it, definitely. Grade: A

If you liked this movie you might also like: Hollywood flicks like "Babel" and "Crash" also have converging story-lines. "Ajami" is better than "Crash" if you ask me, but "Babel" is one of my favorite movies and still has more quality, but "Ajami" is still worth the comparison.