One thing Americans love is a breakfast sandwich.
I like the ones with biscuit and sausage.
But english muffin is a common bread for the sandwich.
Also a croissant makes a nice breakfast sandwich.
Some are small and dry.
I am always of two minds about the sausage in the sausage sandwich because sausage is sausage…
The prices are bit high these days so I am shopping at Aldi and Lidl. In the DC area, the grocery store chains are Whole Foods, Wegmans, Harris Teeter, Giant, Target, Safeway, Trader Joes, Freshmart, Shoppers, Aldi, Lidl. There are others such as Food Lion and Save a Lot which are really lower cost but they tend not to be where I go. There are international food stores, such as H Mart, Lotte, LaMart, and New Grand Mart which carry many Korean and Latin American foods but also have all the other items that Americans buy.
The large stores tend to have deli counters and food ready to go. But the smaller cheaper stores tend to have whacky and imported finds.
In the United States, grocery stores are chains and they are huge. Some stores in the US are the size of malls in other countries. When I lived in Rome, most of the grocery stores were pretty small, maybe two to four aisles. American grocery stores can be so large that you can get many of your 10,000 steps in just by walking down the aisles. One thing I notice is that most are only one level. This is because America has a lot of space. Or maybe it has to do with people being more willing to shop if they can stay on one level.
There are smaller independent grocery stores but these tend to be more expensive. The US is a car based country so most stores have huge parking lots and people buy large portions of lots of things. Most people do not shop every day. Maybe once per week. It is amazing how long things can last in the fridge. Scary.
The main reason I shop in Aldi and Lidl is because they have European style Greek yogurt which has a higher fat content so it is not runny.
It is often “bizarre foods” that are old traditions that no longer are available. In Italy, people asked me if I had tried “Casu martzu” which is maggot cheese. No, it’s illegal and I do not need to have maggot larvae jumping at my face while trying some cheese. I am not Andrew Zimmern. Like most of us, I was raised to try everything one is offered. But, I think that is different when offered things that are a bit on the special side. Often, I think that people are pulling one’s leg. When the situation is legit, then I will try it. Unless my gag reflex tells me not to. So I have tried moose nose and it was okay, but I was not offered the seal blubber because I was not of high enough rank. I have also tried to eat steamed aloe vera, but could not because it was worse than snot.
Other odd foods I have heard of are “virgin boy piss eggs” in China where eggs are marinated in urine. Apparently this was done with horse urine in Korea in the old days. Speaking of Korea, the Koreans have outlawed eating dog. Apparently there are parts of China that have banned eating cats and dogs. In several places in the world, I have seen unfortunate sign juxtaposition of Korean restaurants and veterinary practices. Was this oblivious, on purpose either from malice or humor? Whatever the reason, this will, with time, disappear as the people slowly realize that the Koreans no longer eat dog.
Because of the connection with Koreans and eating dog, I was a bit surprised when I saw what I thought was an oven for dogs… but it was a specialized dog dryer — a sign of the opposite end of the spectrum for dogs — from meat to pet.
Once in a while I get creative about swag, or “merch” as it’s called these days because everyone is selling t-shirts advertising their YouTube channels. I have done this in the past and made mugs, pens, mouse pads, t-shirts, notebooks, magnets, and whatever I could easily put a logo and design on. But, now, it’s for real. Maybe I will start selling “merch”? If you want to watch the video featuring the the new t-shirt, click here.
The easiest was making a t-shirt.
But I also wanted to make a dining scarf (instead of wearing a bib).
I made all these designs on Canva. I’ve been unleashed on Canva and it is a joy. Compared to the days when one could not afford Photoshop or InDesign, now, it’s free or inexpensive. All these sites (Capcut, Canva, etc.) also make plain old business cards too.
