Food in America: George style

Hey everyone,

It's been a busy summer, full of fun, slothfulness, and visiting lots of people.  For those wondering, George and I had a great time visiting the United States.  In addition to seeing family and friends, I got to introduce George to America, the home of the brave and free.

For those who know George, he is just a 'little bit' judgmental.  Alright, he is so judgmental that two people who know him spit out food laughing hysterically when George mentioned he isn't that judgmental.  Pretty much, George is the Donald Trump of the liberals for Bulgaria, except he had a hard time voting for a lesbian organic mussel farmer near Pleven a few years back.  He wanted to vote for her, but knew she had absolutely no chance of winning.

For the 'George in America' blogs, I have decided to try and organize these into a few issues, because there is a lot of material.  This one is the food and restaurant guide.  This is a first, but I maintained weight in the U.S. and didn't become more fat and fabulous this summer, thanks to George giving glaring stares at anything that didn't look like real food.

This are actually quotes from George, with commentary from me to try to explain the situation.  There are hits and misses, so enjoy what George had to say about American food.  Yes, he loved America, and what until you find out what he had to say about Buffalo.

"They try to be all fancy with salad forks and give us water in a plastic cup. "- at The Cheesecake Factory

George's fish tacos with his vegetables were not a big hit.  The fact there was a waiting list, suburban women trying to act fancy wearing 'clothes found out of a dumpster', and the fact there were plastic cups and knives didn't make the Cheesecake factory a favorite.  

To be honest, my chicken salad sandwich wasn't that great either.  They buttered the bread too much, so I just ate the chicken salad with a fork.  Adding insult to injury, the Cheesecake Factory's cheesecake wasn't good, and they're adding something to the cheesecake which distorts the true taste of cheesecake (from a cheesecake baking expert).  There is too much sugar, or even possibly corn syrup added to it, which takes away from a true cheesecake taste. 

"You know what would be funny? Me being a restaurant critic and giving the fancy restaurants one star" - at the Cheesecake Factory 

That would be really funny, and brutal as well.  George as an American restaurant critic would be an internet sensation.  At the Cheesecake factory, the one star rating wasn't helped by the fact we had a disinterested waitress who was training a new gay guy, who was about 30, was nervous, terrible at the remembering things, and had a total crush on George.  Adding insult to injury, it didn't help that the training waiter forgot George's cheesecake for home.  After this experience and eating the food, I must admit I will probably never set foot in a Cheesecake Factory ever again.  

"Are we going to get industrial sized milk?" - on the way to the grocery store for my aunt

The sizes of the milk is indeed pretty overwhelming for Europeans, whose largest container of milk is a liter, and doesn't get used much.  

"Wegman's is awesome!" - to anyone he can talk to, including Richard and Ivo.

"A Wegman's needs to come to Sofia." - me

Yes, Wegman's, a grocery store founded in Rochester, NY, was a gigantic hit, which I knew it would be.  When I showed him Alec's Baldwin talking about how his mother didn't want to leave Wegman's and move to LA in the spring, George thought I was crazy, but he got converted.  

Why?  There is no other supermarket like Wegman's anywhere in the U.S. or the world for that matter.  There is a reason why people in NYC were ecstatic when Wegman's decided to build in Brooklyn and open in 2017.  Wegman's is a unique grocery store, with a large prepared food section best seen in the video below.  They have a produce section the size of a regular grocery store, and a turnover of 2-3 days.  Not only that, but they usually are the cheapest prices for regular groceries and pay their staff a decent wage, which makes the staff actually want to work there.  In Virginia, they have a huge wine shop with aisles of wine from all over the world. 

For those in the U.S. who don't know about Wegman's, here is why you should go there sometime.  It's totally worth it, and makes any other grocery store seem lame by comparison.  We ate a few times from the prepared food section, and George wasn't disappointed once.  George appreciated real food, and any artificial food was pounced upon with an

"I don't get the free refills thing but I find it fascinating."- at Anchor Bar

Anchor Bar was a big hit, and George loved the chicken wings, and he just LOVED me taking photos of him and the food.  For those people not from Buffalo, I would get disowned from the city if I dared called them Buffalo wings, as no person from the area would dare call them that.  We got two types, and it also helped we had a great server in Carm, who made sure we got lots of free refills.  

"How is everything?" - Hipster waiter in Boston ( or any server who asked us this countless times)

George - Silent (but his eyes say "Leave me the fuck alone")

Me - "Good, thanks" (but not daring to tell the waiter that George hates the super thick French toast that he thinks is bad because the syrup will not go through the bread) - at some fancy breakfast place in Boston

My good friend Todd recommended this place in Cambridge, and it was one of his few misses in food.  The servers are overly friendly in the U.S, and sometimes we'd rather be left alone, as this is what we're used to all throughout Europe.  While the decor was good of this diner rated at the fourth best breakfast in the United States, the food pretty much sucked.  I have to admit I tried a piece of the french toast, and it felt like eating a rubber tire.  My omelet wasn't much better, as it had too much stuff, especially pecans), and no egg.  Luckily, Todd's other food choice recommendations were great, including a Brazilian diner.

The Thai restaurant was indeed a great choice in Boston.  Thanks Todd!

"How in hell is this a panini?"   - at Panera Bread 

While it didn't quite match the definition of a panini, this became our 'safe' place to go to when traveling on the road.  First, the food was acceptable, although these were more like sandwiches and not panini.  More importantly, it was one of the few places we knew for sure had free wifii when traveling to update maps when meeting people.  

Pizza was not a big hit for George, who prefers the Italian style pizza better.  We went to Mazia's in Clarence, which used to be the best place in Buffalo to get pizza and wings.  I took Rossi a few years back and had some great stuff.  This time was a disaster, and I should have known we were in trouble when they said the olives on the Around the World Pizza came from Ireland.  Yes, Ireland, a great climate to grow olives.  Well, maybe it was the Irish olives, but the two specialty pizzas were pretty just overdone with too much toppings, and created a pretty bad pizza.  Luckily, the kids ate the supreme pizza, but the white pizza was pretty hard to give away.

Orazio's in Clarence is the 'fancy restaurant', an is a nice place for Italian.  It was also a safety place, since no one eats Thai or Mexican food.  We must say the food was great, but the portion sizes were of gargantuan proportions.  Jimmy's mozzarella sticks were like they used half a kilo of cheese to make them, while our garlic bread with cheese was an entire loaf of bread.  

Below, George's Chicken Parmesan had me burst out laughing, and I had to take this picture as proof.  The chicken is at least two chicken's worth of breast meat, and came with a side of pasta.  The look on his face is priceless, as he's trying to figure out how 1.5 kilos worth of food is a portion side for one person.  While the chicken parm and lasagna were fantastic, we obviously took these portions home to be for future meals.  

"Everything was good and fresh except for the cheese.  I liked it."  - at Five Guys

Five Guys was a huge hit, which was nice because Mighty Taco's food tasted like plastic to him.  George loved everything about his burger, except for the American cheese.  American cheese was not a favorite for George, who pretty much said this type of cheese sucks.  To be honest, I only like it on a burger, and even prefer Swiss or cheddar in my grilled cheese.  With the leftover french fries, we gave them to the chickens at the farm, who devoured them.  

George's dinner of loaded fries with pulled pork and barbeque sauce in Corfu, NY.  This was dinner at 5pm, which is cray cray to do in Bulgaria.  As a result, he later got hungry at 10pm.  

George did not quite get the fascination Americans have with bacon, but he participated and enjoyed taste testing bacon chocolate.  

"This is actually a pretty good breakfast." - at Silver Diner in Arlington, VA

It was an awesome breakfast to be honest.  Breakfast is a type of food Americans do well, but also explains while most of us are a little 'husky'.  Richard took us here for breakfast, and it delivered like Domino's.  It has lots of free range, organic, you insert whatever the buzz word is for food right now in America.  Great food all around, as George has caramel french toast which was fantastic, while I had a simple bacon and cheddar omelet which was perfectly made.  Hmm, hmm, good.  

Our last night at Denny's traveling back to Buffalo

The crazy part of our trip, where we drove 7.5 hours from D.C. to Buffalo to save $600 USD in car rental, plus somehow have flying from Buffalo to Sofia be cheaper than D.C. to Sofia.  This Denny's in Horseheads, NY was pretty tame, and had a few divas serving us who were kind, but nothing that was too 'over the top' like you could find at Denny's.  George had a Grand Slam breakfast for dinner, and he found the food acceptable.  Plus, it helped there was free wifii there.  Denny's rating could also be helped by the fact we were both exhausted from traveling around the U.S. for a month, and we were totally ready to come home to our own place.  Applebee's also got a free pass, which was meant George had acclimated to what American food was like.  Bravo America!  You converted George into liking some of your restaurants!

Northern Greece and the EU Bailouts: Still working, still beautiful, but needs to suck it up Buttercup

Hey everyone, I am glad to hear the prom edition had so many good reviews.  July means summer vacation, and this year has been a relaxing start, which is about to get crazy serious with George and I going to the United States.  This upcoming trip will probably result lots of great blog issues, as George's encounters with America could easily be a reality show when a city boy encounters the farm.

Before I go to the United States, I had to write about Northern Greece and our travels there this past week.  For those who only watch the news, you would think the entire country is falling apart, and that all Greeks are suffering horribly.  While the situation isn't rosy by any means, it is no where near as dire as what you see on the news.  Based on what you see on the news, Greece is falling apart at any minute, people are crying in the streets, there is nothing to do, and at any moment there country could fall apart.

Yes, Greece does need to get its shit together.  The best explanation of the crisis in Greece was written by Michael Lewis in his book Boomerang, as it explains the Greek and German mentality before and during the crisis.  Fantastic book worth reading, and there are some big cultural things people miss out on.  For example, it is still cheaper today to transport every Greek citizen by taxi, then to keep paying for the railroad system to work.

The other issues are you cannot have every citizen be self-employed and not paying taxes, you cannot have people retiring at 55 getting gigantic pensions, they need to pay taxes, they cannot expect massive bailouts for nothing, they need to make reforms they should have done 30 years ago when they originally joined the European Union, and they need to live within their means.  You cannot have a pensioner supporting 3-5 people on his/her pension.  It is meant for one person, not to pay for grandchild to go to the beach and smoke cigarettes.  There needs to be real investment, as Greece seems to make nothing but olive oil and ouzo for export.  They need to have industries besides tourism.

The agreement made this week by the European leaders seemed to take a page out of what the European Union does with Romania and Bulgaria. The weird part is this deal is worse than what the Greek government was offered two weeks ago.  In hindsight, I bet the Greek people did not anticipate Eastern Europe telling them we love you, but you need to suck it up Buttercup, because we do more with less money.  The only way Eastern Europeans would agree to another bailout is if Greece was monitored like they have been.  The Greek governments have lied many times before about their finances, and it's why they've been in recession since 2009.

The current package is a nanny type supervision which Erie County had to go through.  I felt horrible when all the corrupt New York leaders and Hillary Clinton said Buffalo's county government needed 'adult supervision' almost 10 years back, but it was true.  Republicans and Democrats worked in tandem to steal millions from the county government, leaving it bankrupt and not much choice but for towns to raise taxes to keep police forces and libraries.  This is what Greece needs now.  However, I wonder if the Greek people will go for it.  Maybe George and I need Drachmas when we go to Greece next month for Elana's wedding.

That being said, Northern Greece is a heck of a place to visit.  Thasos is a cute island about 5 hours  plus 60-90 minutes on a ferry boat from Sofia.  Few may know this, but this area of Greece was part of Bulgaria until the end of WWI, when Bulgaria was forced to give it to Greece, and then a few million Greeks were transplanted to the area after they were forced to leave Turkey in the 1920s.

While Halkidiki is probably more beautiful, Thasos is no slouch, and offered some beautiful views which reminded me of the Albanian coastline.  There are some great places to hang at the beach and eat, although all the food is Greek.  George joked that Thasos is little Bulgaria as all the food is like Bulgaria, the prices are the same, and the only difference is the Greek flag is flying.

Businesses in Thasos seemed prepared for the event, and they are helped by the fact that everyone seemed prepared for this economic collapse to happen.  My hope is that you enjoy the pictures and commentary, and go visit Northern Greece.  It's a cool place with beautiful beaches at affordable prices.  American peeps and gays, it may not be on your radar, but it should be.  Enjoy the pictures, and be ready for George in the U.S.A. blogs when we get back from the States.

Seagulls following the ferry from Kavala to Thasos.  The ferry ride lasted about 90 minutes, and they followed the boat the entire time.  They loved eating bake rolls, Cheetos, Doritos, and anything else the peeps would give them.

View from the hotel in Thasos.  Great view on a hazy day near sunset.  

Lots of people out for dinner on Paradise Beach in Thasos Island.  This restaurant was full of Serbian, Romanian, and Bulgarian tourists.  Good for the economy, but I hope Northern Greece isn't the only part of the country still working.  

This salad menu includes a Beetroof salad, Grab salad, and my personal favorite, a Variety of Creams salad.  I can only imagine what that salad could be and what 'creams' are used.  

I asked for a lemonade at Captain's restaurant.  They said they had lemonade, and brought me a Sprite (a lemon-lime soda) telling me this was indeed the fresh lemonade I had.  Not what I was expecting, but hey, you cannot win them all.  

This one is just for my mom.  Despite the crisis, they had bread and butter at most restaurants we went to.  Yes mom, this is something Bulgaria could learn from.  

George was not very excited about going to the beach in Greece of all places.  However, this rabbit got his attention and he loved how it got to hang out in this person's yard.  There's hope we'll make him a farm boy yet family when he goes to Clarence Center.  

The pottery shop in Thasos with an amazing view.  

Buying pottery in the shop.  

Sunset in Thasos.  On a hot day, this was just what was needed.  

Salmon was also a nice treat, and perfectly cooked.  Hmm, hmm, good.  Great seafood in Greece at affordable prices.

Probably not the safest way to have electricity run through Thasos.  This was in the exact center of town on the main touristy walkway.  But with the government in crisis and no money, it is going to stay this way for awhile as I doubt they're going to have the money to fix this.  

A beautiful watering hole overrun by Eastern European tourists.  Rebecca mentioned there were few people last year, and how cool, relaxed, and awesome it was to spend the day there.  Not this year.  It was insane this year, and it was like a typical Eastern European traffic jam at the lagoon, in the people did whatever the hell they wanted to.  If someone got hurt, oh well, as long as it wasn't me.  There were babas bathing by the side refusing to let people out.  There were small children in rafts while people were diving in.  There were people diving in from opposite sides and hitting each other every once in awhile.  And yet, no one got hurt by some miracle in pure Eastern European fashion.

Men showing off for the ladies by jumping from the top.  I did not jump from that high, as one of our mates jumped from there and said he touched the bottom of the lagoon.

This is one of my tests of putting me in the picture on the seaside.  As you can see, I'm highly skeptical I will pull this off, as I am 'Detroit Lion 0-16' horrible at taking selfies.  This is definitely another loss, as this was the best of the selfie pics. 

Great cliff side views that reminded me of Albania.  Thasos reminded me of Albania and what the Albanian Riveria could look like in 10-15 years.  Luckily, I got the chance to be a passenger most of the time on the island, rather than driving in Albania.

Rebecca honking at Rachel and I to get our butts back in the tank while we were taking pictures.

This cat is watching his garbage cans near the hotel, hoping for egg mixed with hot dog scraps.  He is definitely saying, "Touch my garbage, and I will kill you in your sleep!"

George's Tavern near the beach.  George did not find this so funny.

The 56 stair workout to get to our hotel room, as this was built on a hill.  Had some great views from the room as a result.  Definitely a mini workout when you're walking up this 5-6 times a day.

Prom 2015: Go Big or Go Home

Good evening peeps.   Summer vacation is underway, and I have spent the first week of vacation spending time with great friends visiting, cleaning out and rearranging stuff in the soon the be fabulous classroom, and spending four days with a sore throat and minor stomach flu.  That's right, Mr. Joseph got sick either from students, staff, or part of some X-file plan to pay me back for writing about driving in Bulgaria.   Since I am feeling a tad better after feeling like leftover rubbish even the gypsy horse carts pass by, I am finally writing the issue I've been meaning to write about:  Prom.

A high school prom may be quite the event in the United States, so of course Bulgarians have decided to taking celebrating prom to cray cray levels.  As I was speaking with one Bulgarian friend, she said there were things we'd do at 18-19 that we'd never do when we're 21 or older.  In Bulgaria, that is definitely the case.  There is the strong belief (especially outside of Sofia) that the end of high school is the high point of your life, and afterward your life will pretty much amount to nothing.  While it could be watching too much My Sweet 16 on MTV, Bulgarians really 'go big or go home' when it comes to prom season.

Prom in Bulgaria:

For a prom, it is not unusual for some families to take out a $3,000 - 6,000 Euro loan to pay for prom expenses for their son or daughter.  This is what 3,000 - 6,000 Euros could get you for a prom dress.   In the past few years, prom has been about showing your friends that you family has the funds to purchase the most fabulous dress you could ever want to wear, even if this dress is never easy to wear.

If you think the dresses are extreme, so are the cars.  In the U.S., you get a limo, but here it is you must get the fanciest car possible, and limos aren't the thing to drive around town hanging out the windows.  ,It is quite common for people to pay lots of money to rent out an expensive car for the evening.  This girl arriving to prom in a Lamborgini is very normal.  So are people counting to 12 and dancing away in the streets.

Prom season during the Peace Corps was nowhere near as pricey, as people didn't have the ability to take out large loans to do such things.  In the past 7-8 years, people want to show off and do, even if it puts them in debt forever.  In small towns, the prom is one of the big events of the year, and people will line up to take pictures of the outrageous dresses, cars, and drunken debachary.  Three years ago, George and I observed prom weekend in Plovdiv, and there were about a thousand people milling about the Princess hotel to see how cray cray people were willing to do, and they delivered like Dominos Pizza.

Sadly, I cannot find the pictures, but the videos below give you an idea out of some of the outrageously funny things we saw that weekend.  I strongly suggest we do a May 2016 prom trip to Pazardjik or Pernik next year.  Sure there is the Rose Festival and Kukeri, but how can we miss out on ALL THIS:

Arriving to Prom in a Tractor

Arrive to Prom in Style

Prom on Journalist Square May 25th, 2015:

This year, I was fortunate to have a high school class or two from Pernik has one of their stops actually be on Journalist's Square.  It's an unusual stop for a group out of town, as usually we're just a stop at 1am or 2am for drunken high school students to get alcohol for their after party.  New in 2015, people actually need to stay in cars, and cannot hang out like mad fools driving 180 kph driving around town.

While I was woken up from a nap and thrilled, it was not as funny the call I got from Rebecca, our librarian at school.  There was a 70s/birthday party that some people got quite 'happy'.  Rebecca was having a peaceful Sunday hibernation, only to be disturbed by serious honking and expensive cars.

Last year we were the drunken pit stop, so I was thrilled to grab shots of these Pernik kiddos celebrating their graduation.  Enjoy the picture show and the commentary, and notice how the prom dresses are much classier than they were a few years ago (I guess no one wants to be an internet sensation anymore).

The first signs something was going to happen on the square when a Corvette honks and parks on the street with three ladies wearing classy dresses.  

This son was driven by mom in the family Audi.  Kudos for not spending money on an outrageous car and for driving the family car.  Sadly, mom wasn't the best at parking, and I thought her car was going to be taken out by the 12 tram.  

10 tram driver in the back easily got behind schedule due to the entourage from Pernik.  The bell ringing on that tram lasted a good bit of time, all to no avail.   

The lead girls (the girl in the turquoise dress was riding in the Corvette, so her family had money, or took out quite the loan) heading their class up the hill to either Forno Cippolini or to play board games with Boris and Marinella.  I am going with board games.

The photographer recording events of the evening.  I was quite impressed that all the girls were in somewhat classy dresses, and there were no hoochie mama dresses to be found.  

The ceremony of counting to `12 on the walk up to play board games with Boris and Marinella.  I sure hope they had enough wine and whiskey for them.

The still sober crowd walking up the hill.  

The Pernik peeps even had a camera man to record the night's festivities.  That way, when they're 40, they can relive the memories with their families, or be shamed for what they were doing on the internet in future years.  

The traffic jam caused by the entourage of cars were not pleasing the tram 12 or 18 drivers.  There were lots of tram bells ringing to no avail.  For these Pernik kids, this was their moment and that tram is going to have to wait, no matter what.  

This guy was the 'I'm too cool to be with the rest of the group' from Pernik.  While he wanted to be participate in prom, he obviously did not want to walk with the others.  

The 10 tram has moved about 100 meters in 15 minutes, and is ticked off by the Mercedes driver parking in front of the tracks.  

The owner of the Corvette was proud to show off his engine to the other luxury car drivers.  

Allegedly, a 28 year old man in the blue shirt escorting his 19 year old girlfriend to the prom.  

These two were my favorite, because it's 6pm on Sunday, and they've done a half a bottle of Jack Daniel's each.  But, it isn't enough for one of them, as he has to take the bottle to play board games with Boris and Marinella.  Please note these two weren't rude, just funny.  

The boys realizing they've lost the rest of the group, and cannot share in the festivities at Boris and Marinella's.  Allegedly, they're calling their friends, but like Owen, appear lost even though their friends are about 100 meters away. 

Since the phone didn't work, they managed to get it together and politely asked a guy for directions.  He showed them the correct way to get to Marinella's to play board games.  

Board games are over, and now it's time for the next stop, which is probably to take pictures in front of Parliament and Nevski before the sun goes down, then to a club to dance the night away. 

The first to enter, and the last to leave.  These ladies are showing their peeps they're going to take care of their tribe for the night, but forgot to stop at Avanti for discounted spirits and wine.

Leaving Journalist Square

This BMW made up for itself by some great balloon coverage.  

The red car could have racing stripes, but no balloons sadly.  

I wonder how much it is to rent a Corvette for the night with a driver.  

The entourage leaves Journalist Square around 7:30pm, and luckily didn't come back for alcohol around 1am to wake me up.  Asante Sanaa prom, and until next May 2016.