Parts Of Texas You Can’t Capture With A Camera

Those of you who subscribe to my bi-monthly newsletter know that I was recently in Dallas, Texas. I had a set of decent travel photos to share from Dallas and the surrounding areas but my camera malfunctioned. It wasn’t a dead camera battery as happened to me in Kansas this past spring but I was disappointed to lose these pictures.

Fortunately I was able to witness many things in Dallas and other parts of Texas that I probably couldn’t completely capture in a digital picture. Texas is a fascinating place culturally and can easily overload your senses and stomach.

Texans Love Texas

One of the first things that’s evident when you speak with most anyone from Texas is their love and knowledge of the lone star state. It’s a different tone of nationalism than you’ll find in other parts of the US and it’s more about Texas than the nation as a whole. Mention to anyone that you’re from out of town and you’ll learn a lot about Texas from some enthusiastic Texans.

Variety

Although I was in Dallas, I’ve been to other parts of Texas including Austin. You’ll hear that Austin isn’t “real Texas” in Dallas but the variety between the two is part of what makes Texas such a unique place to visit. Love it or hate it each city is diverse in its own right.

Wild West Feel

Perhaps it’s a result of television, the cowboy hats, or Clint Eastwood, but once you’re in Texas things change. There’s an air of capriciousness as if you’re on the edge of the frontier. The “no guns allowed” signs help to add to that effect.

The Microscope

When you’re in Texas you begin to see it’s a little like a microcosm of the entire United States. There’s a little of New York City, Kansas, and California as well as all of the other cultures you can find in the US (which is a very wide range) in Texas.

Everything Really Is Bigger In Texas

The cars, the food portions, and the personalities are all bigger in Texas. It’s hard to get a feel for this effect in pictures but it’s immediately noticeable as soon as you leave the airport or drive into a Texan city. There’s a lot to overload your all of your senses.

Granted a good photographer could probably capture these things on film. Like many aspects of different places, you won’t get the full effect without going yourself. Had my camera been working I would have tried to capture these things I experienced and felt in digital pictures but I hope my words helped to show what parts of Texas you can’t (easily) capture with a camera.

[photos by: atmtx, wootam!, Gadget Virtuoso, stevesheriw, jeremy.wilburn, J.McPherson]

4 Things Travelers Can Use Vodka For (Other Than Getting Drunk)

This post is written as part of Lifecruiser and Travel Experta’s drinks around the world series. You can see my first post earlier this summer on How to Drink Raki Like a Turk.

Vodka is a versatile drink that has several good uses for travelers aside from getting you tipsy. Vodka is one of the most widely consumed alcohols in the world and you’re likely to find it many places you travel. It’s probably best to use the cheap stuff for freshening up your stinky feet or as bug repellent and save the good stuff for drinking.

Keep Your Travel Gear Smelling Fresh

While it doesn’t really clean your clothes, filling up a spray bottle with vodka and spritzing the shirt or pants you wore on a long day of sightseeing will eliminate odor. Vodka kills all sorts of bacteria that enjoy warm and moist places to grow (like sweaty socks) and give off stinky gases. The odor of the vodka itself disappears once dry.

Bug Repellent

Vodka can be used one of two ways to get rid of bugs – by squirting it directly on them or by spraying your now not-so-stinky clothes to use as a repellent. You can also try spraying your bed sheets in case you’re in a hotel on the bed bug list.

Reduce Your Toothache

Truthfully if you drink enough vodka you’ll cure most aches but if you just want your tooth to stop hurting gargle some vodka with warm water to relieve the pain. This trick will also work for sore or scratchy throats.

Wash Stinky Feet

Cleaning your feet with vodka can get rid of even the most stubborn odors thanks to vodka’s bacteria killing alcohol. Vodka can also help speed your recovery from blisters by destroying bacteria that prolongs the healing process.

Some Other Uses Vodka Can Have For Travelers

• Relieve poison ivy irritation, pain, and itching. Pour some over the rash and vodka will wash away the offending oils giving you temporary relief.
• Reduce a fever by rubbing a little on your chest while lying down.

There are a number of creative uses for vodka, like cleaning out your ears, you can find with some Google hacking. Travel often enough and you’ll find multiple uses for many things like hand sanitizer to stop bug bites from itching or using peanut butter to make your meals last on the road.

Finally if you’re planning on traveling to a predominantly Muslim country over the next 3 weeks you might not be able to find vodka easily. Here’s what to expect if you’re traveling during Ramadan.

[photos by: Saquan Stimpson/monstershaq200 0, sveeta, P Hansen, assbach, Jeezny]

Cook Peasant Foods To Save Money and Time For Traveling

One of 5 ways to increase your travel fund is to spend fewer nights out. As I mentioned on Dan’s post, knowing how to throw together a meal can help you do just that. In my travels I’ve noticed some common themes among the peasant foods (many of which I grew up on) around the world – they are cheap, hearty, and easy to cook and expand upon.

Cooking your own meals is one of the best ways to save money whether you’re at home saving for your next trip or on the road already. You can learn a lot from the locals in any country by taking notice of the staple foods and how they’re prepared, while at the same time learning about the culture around you.

1. Grains: Quinoa

This South American grain was known to the Incas as “the mother of all grains” and has a high complete protein content (~15%). Quinoa can be prepared much like rice (1 part water to 1 part quinoa), mixed with an assortment of spices, and goes great with chopped onions, tomatoes, next to a plate of beans.

Using whole grains you can even make no-knead bread or go with the always-easy grain to cook, rice.

2. Beans: Chickpeas

Hummus, falafel, chana masala, the list goes on and on. Also known as garbanzo beans, chickpeas are high in protein and fiber, like quinoa. Chickpeas are cheap and can be cooked and mashed in almost an endless number of ways.

Chickpeas are legumes like beans, lentils, and peanuts – all of which have a high protein content and are very easy to prepare (boil and and add to it).

3. Fruit: Guacamole

The basic ingredient of guacamole, the avocado, is high in fiber and unsaturated fats making it a filling and healthy meal. The nice thing about guacamole is that it doesn’t require cooking and all you need other than avocados are onions, tomatoes, chilies, and cilantro. You can try adding lemon or lime based on your tastes and get creative with your own recipe.

Grab some chips or bread and you’ve just gotten your grains and 3 fruits in one sitting.

Add Some Spice

I once heard a world-famous chef (don’t recall which one) say the only difference between him and everyone else was he knew what spices to use and how much to add to a given dish. There is one common feature you’ll find to many international staples – spices, and lots of them. Most spices are cheap and can pack a punch of flavor to many of these peasant dishes which tend to be bland on their own (especially grains and beans).

Start from the bottom up and build your meals on the foundation of most peasant meals around the world – grains, legumes, and spices. (I could also add soups based on staples to the list as well.) Eating out all the time is one of the worst things to do on your staycation and a fast way to go through your money when traveling. It turns out that these and the other 5 easiest foods to cook are also some of the cheapest and can generally be bought in bulk.

You can combine these foods with countless spices to create unique flavors and save a substantial amount of money so can save money for traveling and show off your cooking skills on your next trip.

[photos by: massdistraction, bricolage.108, Seitti, Oberazzi]

How To Drink Raki Like A Turk

”The best accompaniment to Raki is good conversation.”

-Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Raki, the unofficial national drink of Turkey is more than a glass of alcohol, it’s an experience in itself. There is an entire culture around this strong, anise-flavored liqueur that is very popular throughout Turkey. Visitors to Turkey often wonder what that milky stuff in narrow glasses is and leave without a taste.

If you’re heading to Turkey any time soon, savor the food, conversation, and drink raki like a Turk.

Ordering a ‘Kadeh’

Raki is served in a small narrow glass that is specifically used for the drink. The glass is half filled with raki and ice or water completes the rest. At restaurants you can let the waiter know how much for a stronger or weaker drink. The addition of water turns the drink a cloudy white, which is where the nickname “lion’s milk” comes from.

Melon and Feta Cheese

Raki is traditionally served as an aperitif, to be slowly enjoyed with several appetizers. The traditional raki meal varies and can include anything from kebabs to salads. The two essentials however are yellow melon and feta cheese.

Ice and Water

Don’t be surprised to see a bowl of ice on the table. You can plop a fresh one into your drink as needed and the water will help take the edge off of your stomach. It’s also common to see a raki glass filled with water sitting next to everyone’s raki – also to be sipped on.

Sip, Don’t Chug

Raki is a drink that is best savored and you want to sip and drink it slowly. Be prepared to eat for hours, if you’re eating out you’ll be served food and drink all night until you’re done. Don’t worry, you’ll still get drunk in time (it’s 90 proof) but you won’t get the most important thing out of the drink.

A Good Conversation

That’s what drinking raki is all about -  not so much the drink but the ambiance that is created around it. Have some raki with friends and spend hours of talking, laughing, reminiscing, and of course eating.

Raki is a has a strong anise flavor (much like Greek ouzo or French pastis) and you might be put off on your first taste, which will be easily forgotten as you finish up your first glass and get to a second.

Turkey Travel Planner has a good guide to ordering raki and more about the traditional ‘raki sofrasi‘. So, if you’ve got 48 hours in Istanbul spend an evening out and have a kadeh, some melon, more food, and of course, good conversation.

Written as part of Lifecruiser and Travel Experta’s drinks around the world series.

[photos by: colm.mcmullen, arteunporro, karstenkneese, stevendepolo, meg and rahul, Shutter Pea]

How To Make Your Meals Last On The Road

We often associate traveling with high calorie airplane food, but when it comes down to it, traveling makes it harder to come by a meal. Instead of stuffing yourself after starving yourself for hours while touring around a city, make your meals last longer by adding a few small ingredients to them.

Peanut Butter

Include a teaspoon of peanut butter with your breakfast to slow down the digestion of carbohydrates by an average of two hours. Most sugars, like bread and orange juice, break down in around 20 minutes and give you a short energy boost. The oils in peanut butter slow down this process so these foods will slowly power you until your next meal.

Additional Tips:

• Select commercial, non-organic brands of peanut butter to carry with you, since they don’t require refrigeration and will last up to 6 months.
• Peanut butter can be used to shift your body clock to avoid jet lag.
• Almond, cashew, and hazelnut butter also have a similar effect but are runnier and generally require refrigeration after opening.

Water

Dieters know the benefits (outside of hydration) that come with drinking lots of water. When you find a source of clean water (in many countries bottled is the only way) drink twice as much as you think you’ll need to quench your thirst. Water not only acts as a digestion buffer, causing other foods in your stomach to break down slower and last longer, but staying hydrated dilutes your blood sending less signals to the region of your brain (hypothalamus) that controls hunger.

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Wine Tasting At J. Lohr – San Jose, California

Located in downtown San Jose in a quiet residential area is the J.Lohr tasting room. Approximately the 15th largest wine seller in the United States they offer free weekday tastings. The daily event, from 10am to 5pm, is a great quick stop for any trip in the San Jose area. Up on my way from the beaches of Santa Cruz recently, I decided to pay J. Lohr for my first ever wine tasting.

Despite the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, there were only about 15 people in the tasting room, a nice sized crowd for the space. I walked right in to a small shop at the entrance of the tasting room and made my way up to the bar. One of the J. Lohr employees came up to me promptly with a wine list and explained to me that anyone who visits during a regular weekday tasting is entitled to 6 complimentary tastes of either red or white wine, or a combination of the two.

The glasses are filled generously, a little less than half full, and I drank 6 of them – an assortment of their red wine selection. Most of the J. Lohr wines are grown in Paso Robles, although there is a small vineyard right behind the tasting room in San Jose. The best red wine I had at J. Lohr, the Cypress Hills Shiraz, is also their best value. ($4 a bottle but you have to get a minimum of 6. They can wrap it in an airline approved packaging or ship it within the US.)

You are not obligated to buy a bottle once you’re done tasting so once you’re done you can simply walk out the door. This felt weird to me personally so I picked up a bottle of the Cypress Hills Merlot, my second favorite (that I could afford.) In all, the entire experience will take you at most an hour, cost you nothing, and keep you close to public transportation and the rest of San Jose.

You can find more about J. Lohr and their daily tastings at their website, JLohr.com. I’ve also posted some of my pictures from inside below.

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Pazzo Ristorante in Springfield, Massachussets

Although I missed the Basketball Hall of Fame, I was able to eat at Pazzo’s Ristorante, right outside. This photo is about as fuzzy as my quick tour through Massachusetts.

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The Price of A Pint Around The World

Find the price of a pint of beer in bars around the world with Pint Price. The free website lists the average price of the (almost) half-liter glass of beer in over 207 countries, determining the cost by averaging reports from local users.

Travelers and residents in various countries add the currency, pint price, and specific city Pint Price uses to compile the results . The simple drop down menu on the Pint Price homepage lets you find out that an average pint is $2.18 in Nigeria and convert the results into British Pounds and Euros as well.

Pint Price does lack differentiation for different brands, like Guinness or Heineken, and you can’t search for the cost of your favorite brew. Also, the prices reported in many countries are based on a small number of users (only 44 from Denmark, for example) so the accuracy is varied.

Pint Price is a nice start to your beer travel plans but keep in mind that beer costs vary widely especially in tourist hot spots.

[via Jaunted]

Flakowitz Bagel Inn – Boca Raton, Florida

I took a short trip to Boca Raton, Florida last week and stopped by the Flakowitz Bagel Inn. The service is excellent and you’ll get a lot of food for a fairly low price.

I began with the obvious, a multi-grain bagel with a side of cream cheese.

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How Airline Meals are Made

A short but interesting summary of the process behind creating airline meals. I’m can’t imagine this being such a manual process.

The video also claims that the low humidity and pressurized environment of an airplane cabin may dull taste buds, but not mine. I enjoy and tolerate airplane food from first to economy class – it’s a luxury just to get it anymore these days.

To liven up your weakened taste buds, bring your own spices, see what your next meal will look like, or find out the Zagat rating for your airline.

[via: Upgrade: Travel Better]

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