Mad Men again!

Mad Men won 4 Emmys last night including Outstanding Drama Series for the third consecutive year!  Very well deserved as usual.  The Emmys were entertaining this year.  Jimmy Fallon was a fun host and I enjoyed seeing George Clooney win the Humanitarian Award.  He always gives a good speech and even got a standing ovation.

I was glad to see Modern Family won for Best Comedy as I really enjoy that show.  I think it's the only network sitcom I watch these days.  I was hoping that Curb your Enthusiasm would win but I guess not enough Emmy voters watched it, the Seinfeld reunion notwithstanding!

I just found out that my friend Karen has started to watch Mad Men this season after hearing me go on and on about how great it is for the past 3 years!  I take that as a personal triumph!

You'll thank me later...

I'd like to say a few words about the USA series Monk starring Tony Shalhoub.  I just finished watching the 8th and final season on DVD.  I started watching this series because Jason Alexander (of Seinfeld fame) was guest starring.  It only took one episode for me to be hooked!  The wonderful Tony Shalhoub plays Adrian Monk, a former San Francisco police detective who had a breakdown when his beloved wife Trudy was killed by a car bomb.  He suffers from OCD and has a lot of quirks but he always solves the mystery by the end of the episode.  The cast is wonderful, the shows are well written and often touching.  Monk is a one of a kind character and it's no wonder that Tony has received all the awards that he has.  I'll be tuning in to the Emmy's on Sunday to see if he wins his 4th Emmy for season 8.  He really deserves it! 

According to the Monk website -

"After eight successful seasons on the air, the series finale of Monk set records as the most-watched basic cable original drama series telecast of all time in total viewers. Hitting series highs for its final episode, the finale brought in 9.4 million total viewers!"

The DVD has some nice special features including cast interviews and a behind the scenes tour.  For the final 2 part episode, Tony (an executive producer), Andy Breckman (the co-creator and head writer) and Randy Zisk (a producer and director) sit together and discuss the episode while it plays on the screen next to them.  I've never seen a commentary done that way and I liked seeing them talk!

You are in for a treat if you haven't seen Monk.  He is such an endearing, lovable, off center character and the final season has some wonderful episodes including Mr. Monk is Someone Else and Mr. Monk and the Dog. 

Here's the thing -  if Tony Shalhoub never does another series, what a huge contribution to television he has made with this show!  Rest assured there is a happy ending for all the characters on the show.  They did a great job tying up all the loose ends and they always had wonderful guest stars.

All 8 seasons are on DVD and it looks like USA will begin airing reruns in Sept.  The website has the schedule.  Enjoy!

New book...

I picked up a new book at the library today.  It's called The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise and the author is Julia Stuart.  She is from England but now lives in Cairo.  I'm interested in this book because the setting is the Tower of London and we went there on our trip.  It was one of the highlights of our stay in London.  We really enjoyed the tour with a Beefeater guide and he was very informative and entertaining.  I didn't know that the Beefeaters all live at the Tower.  There was actually a lot I didn't know!  Here is a picture of me with our Beefeater!

Our Beefeater guide

Their official title is Yeoman Warder of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Member of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary.  You can see why "Beefeater" is so much easier!  Anyway, I'm looking forward to starting this book as it is billed as the next Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society and Chocolat. 

Here is more information on Julia Stuart -

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/33124/Julia_Stuart/index.aspx

I bought an adorable Beefeater bear and a little pin with a Beefeater on it.  I always make a stop at the gift shop! :)

Tower Guard

Jackson at the Tower of London

Random thoughts...

There are few snacks I enjoy more than a molasses cookie and a skinny vanilla latte from Starbucks!  I have yet to find a molasses cookie that can beat the Starbucks version.

There is a coffee shop in Seattle's Westlake Center called Dilettante Mocha Cafe.  Besides coffee and mouth watering chocolates, they sell a sparkling citrus drink I had in Europe called Orangina.  I think the first time I had it was on the train from London to Paris.  We enjoyed taking the train to all of our destinations.  The train stations were beautiful.

http://www.orangina.eu/en

I was pleased to see Orangina again at the Dillettante Cafe, even though it costs $2.75 for a rather small bottle!  It was a nice memory from our trip.

Jersey Boys

We went to see the musical Jersey Boys in London at the Prince Edward Theatre.  Jersey Boys is internationally acclaimed and I had wanted to see it when it was in Seattle.  Guess I had to go to London to see this wonderful musical!  It tells the story of the rise to fame of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  I didn't know the background behind the story of how four guys from New Jersey got together to form one of the most successful bands in pop music.  They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and their songs include Big Girls Don't Cry, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You, Walk Like a Man and My Eyes Adored You to name a few. 

When we got to the theatre some people were in our seats but they moved right away.  We sat next to a nice couple from Scotland and we chatted with them during the intermission.  The Prince Edward Theatre was beautiful and we had good seats.  The story was engaging and touching, the music was wonderful and cast was very good.  Jackson thought one of the guys didn't have a good Jersey accent but I liked them all.  We had dinner at an Italian place called Ristorante Cappuccetto which was very near the theatre.  I had pumpkin ravioli.  Here's the website for the restaurant -

http://www.alcappuccetto.co.uk/index.htm

As the Jersey Boys would sing - Oh, What a Night!  This show was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Just started reading...

The other day when we went to the gym I found a book that someone had left behind.  It's called Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson.  I have read quite of few of Patterson's thrillers before and always enjoy them.  This is one in the series of Alex Cross books, the detective/psychologist who is on the trail of a serial killer in Washington D.C.  Here is Patterson's website with an excerpt from the book:

http://www.jamespatterson.com/books_popGoesTheWeasel.php

This book has short chapters and is a quick read.  I'm about a third of the way through it already.

Lunch in Amsterdam

After we arrived in Amsterdam and checked in at our B&B, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant on the corner.  Later on we had dinner at the same place.  We ate lunch outside and planned the rest of our day.

Me with my giant hambuger

Jackson had a tuna melt on a big bun.  He said he had never had a tuna melt on a bun like that!  The waiters and waitresses spoke English everywhere we went on this trip and were always friendly.

Jackson's lunch