Winter Sucks

[Stefan Mikes]

Hopeless.

I do not generalise. I clearly say I, Stefan disliked the food I was offered to eat in North America. It is as much personal and as little as general as possible.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I do not generalise. I clearly say I, Stefan disliked the food I was offered to eat in North America. It is as much personal and as little as general as possible.

Hopeless.

 

[PedalUma]

Made the same mistake in Christchurch, New Zealand

For me it was in the North Island's central valley with Chinese food. I was spoiled living in the LA area with huge Asian populations and their version was like grey over boiled canned peas.
The mountains to the north are topped with snow. It is about 60 miles away and I got to see it. That is close enough. It is like high maintenance women. Nice to look at from a distance. Then I had authentic Mexican meatball soup.
Food in the southeast is very different and not representative. It is to my tastes bland and greasy.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Hopeless.

Now, I can fully understand why the American so often say 'I'm not gonna lie'
/Observed by one Ismo of Finland/

 

[PedalUma]

I cant cook eggs, as soon as I break them open I'm like...ooh chicken periods.
Im fine if someone else does it out of sight, but they have to be incinerated, any slimy white and its straight in the bin.

I make omelettes. Fluffy, al dente, fast and full blast, with just a little caramelization of the butter. My friend Fritz from Germany likes slow cooked, low heat eggs that are mushy, chopped, damp, and undercooked slime.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Your opinion of America was clearly shaped by your hosts.

Sorry Stomp, I missed your post! That could be true unless all the three host (serious hi-tech companies -- I have worked with two of them for 34 years) didn't all offer a similar experience. Also, my recent visit to the American restaurant in Frankfurt only confirmed my bias.

What was different was meeting a start-up company in Sunshine Coast BC Canada. The hosts invited us to their home where we got nice food and could enjoy the nature there including a bear outside Also. the small town around was full of the Ukrainian population so perhaps the food there felt better for me.

a) You ate at an all-you-can-eat buffet. That is the low bar for American restaurant food. It is often populated with Americanized ethnic food like "Italian", "Mexican", and "Chinese". You might as well had gas station sushi.

It was a high standard resort hotel in Virginia. The buffet looked impressively, and (as it is normal in the U.S.) you could ask the cook to make something for you (like fried bacon or fried eggs). Nothing could, however, change the fact the salads tasted bland and bacon was tasteless.

b) Plenty of "typical American hotels" offer breakfast, everything from help-yourself buffet to full service. You could have had a wonderful American breakfast, two eggs the way you like them, bacon, toast, and home fries.

I think you are talking either big hotels in big cities or resort hotels. I have already described a resort hotel (which was indeed a high class itself). You don't find such hotels in Sugarland TX or around Beaumont TX. I was on business and could not chose as I pleased. Another interesting fact was there is no way to get to places by just walking (but you know that).

c) Whatever "touring boat" on the Potomac you were on was obviously not equipped to serve good food. I could take you on a boat cruise of the Cape Cod Bay, where they serve one of the best cold lobster rolls anywhere in America.

The restaurant on the boat looked posh.

Your host screwed you. That's not an exclusively "American" thing.

No, I don't think so. IHOP (that we found ourselves for breakfast) was another bad experience. Pappadeaux? Please, nothing for me.

I also could drive through the whole width of Houston from the east to the west outer beltway. Anything from posh protected neighbourhoods, impressive local downtowns to a real countryside with cows on their pastures

 

[RunForTheHills]

Every Homewood Suites and every Hampton Inn offers a free breakfast included. It's not a good breakfast, but these chains are all over the country and in many small towns. Every Embassy Suites offers a free made to order breakfast. My points are with Hilton, but I have stayed at many Marriot properties that offer the same.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Every Homewood Suites and every Hampton Inn offers a free breakfast included. It's not a good breakfast, but these chains are all over the country and in many small towns. Every Embassy Suites offers a free made to order breakfast. My points are with Hilton, but I have stayed at many Marriot properties that offer the same.

Holiday Inn Express, for example?
We also lived in a hotel near Beaumont that was just opened and fresh. There was a big hotel around, too. No restaurant or breakfast in either. The expectation was you jump in a car and go to a proper restaurant or bar.

While it is difficult to find a hotel in Europe to not have at least the breakfast service. Hotel restaurants in the British Isles are known for good food!

 

[RunForTheHills]

Holiday Inn Express, for example?
We also lived in a hotel near Beaumont that was just opened and fresh. There was a big hotel around, too. No restaurant or breakfast in either.

The Homewoods and Hamptons don't actually have a restaurant. Just a breakfast area where they set out coffee, juices, bread for toasting, fruit, cereal, a waffle machine, and some serving trays with eggs, bacon or sausage, etc. It isn't very good. The Embassys have cooks that will make omelets to order and every room is a suite with a separate bedroom and living area. They also have a happy hour in the evening with free drinks. It's the fancier hotels and resorts with restaurants that are less likely to have a free breakfast because they can make money by charging you for breakfast.

 

[RunForTheHills]

Hampton Inn Breakfast:

Embassy Suites Breakfast:

 

[Chargeride]

Winter sucks, one of my French trips.
La Croisière Blanche.
It got so cold all my brakes on the bike froze solid and we had to boil a kettle to get me going.

We asked the French if they had a gas torch, but they said they were banned in case someone used it on the food.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Getting back to winter, I have EBR to thank for feeling like a total weenie on yesterday's dog walk after a cold-core Pacific storm had just passed through.

It was overcast in the upper 50s Fahrenheit with a damp and gusty 25 mph wind coming right off the ocean. I was bundled up by SoCal standards but still caught myself thinking, "Man, it's cold out here today!"

Then I thought of how many of our higher-latitude members would find that totally laughable. What a weenie I've become since leaving Colorado!

Add to that all the times I've felt like a weenie over routes and riding stats and money spent on bicycles, and it's a wonder I hang out here at all.
;^}

Maybe it's partly because I've never been made to feel like a weenie by anyone here but me.

 

[RunForTheHills]

I live in the Southern California mountains. We got a bunch of snow and the power has been out since Tuesday night. They are saying it will be restored tomorrow morning around 1:30AM. I am up at my work apartment in San Jose and my wife is pissed that I am not home suffering with her. This is from the Ring doorbell camera before the power went out on Tuesday:

 

[PedalUma]

San Jose Weather Sucks! That is so bad. Do you know the way to San Jose?
It never goes above 82 or below 60 F.
Did anyone know that Karen Carpenter played drums?

 

[stompandgo]

Sorry Stomp, I missed your post! That could be true unless all the three host (serious hi-tech companies -- I have worked with two of them for 34 years) didn't all offer a similar experience. Also, my recent visit to the American restaurant in Frankfurt only confirmed my bias.

What was different was meeting a start-up company in Sunshine Coast BC Canada. The hosts invited us to their home where we got nice food and could enjoy the nature there including a bear outside Also. the small town around was full of the Ukrainian population so perhaps the food there felt better for me.

It was a high standard resort hotel in Virginia. The buffet looked impressively, and (as it is normal in the U.S.) you could ask the cook to make something for you (like fried bacon or fried eggs). Nothing could, however, change the fact the salads tasted bland and bacon was tasteless.

I think you are talking either big hotels in big cities or resort hotels. I have already described a resort hotel (which was indeed a high class itself). You don't find such hotels in Sugarland TX or around Beaumont TX. I was on business and could not chose as I pleased. Another interesting fact was there is no way to get to places by just walking (but you know that).

The restaurant on the boat looked posh.

No, I don't think so. IHOP (that we found ourselves for breakfast) was another bad experience. Pappadeaux? Please, nothing for me.

I also could drive through the whole width of Houston from the east to the west outer beltway. Anything from posh protected neighbourhoods, impressive local downtowns to a real countryside with cows on their pastures

Hey, if you don't like American food, you don't like American food. But I 100.0% guarantee you, that what you ate in your three visits to America was not representative of American food. They were a sample given to you by others who were paying for it (minus the drinks). These places were their choices, not yours. Yes, you were restricted with mobility and time. It was business first. I get it. But to universally say that American food is "bland" based on these experiences is a joke. I could take you to a half dozen places on Cape Cod that serve bland food. I could also take you to a half dozen places that serve incredible food. This is also a resort area, like where you were. There are resort areas all over this country. There are good restaurants and not so good restaurants at every price level.

I went to one of the best craft beer bars in Florence (Brewdog). Their beer didn't hold a candle to what's made within a 100 mile radius of me. That doesn't mean that European beer sucks, or is bland. I just didn't find the right place.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I went to one of the best craft beer bars in Florence (Brewdog). Their beer didn't hold a candle to what's made within a 100 mile radius of me. That doesn't mean that European beer sucks, or is bland. I just didn't find the right place.

It is Brewdog that sucks Fortunately, they often get excellent guest beer on the tap. And, eventually, you plucked the right string I know the United States is the Home of Craft Beer, and craft beer is probably the best American invention in addition to the computer and rock music I regret I could not enjoy American Craft Beer on my previous stays but perhaps I'd find a proper taproom in Houston TX this June

The North European (including the British and Polish) have learnt a lot from the American Big Brother though Italy is not really a beer country

One of the best craft breweries in England, Buxton (read: books-ton). It is in Peak District.

Germany is non-existent on the craft beer map. Stone Brewery had a brewery in South Berlin but the business folded because of the total lack of appreciation by the Germans. These were the happy times we could enjoy excellent beer in Berlin back in 2018. (The guys are Americans from Stone Brewery).

 

[Chargeride]

Google no lie.

AI Overview
Pizza is widely considered the most popular food in America, with roughly 350 slices eaten every second and over 200 million Americans consuming it regularly. Other top favorites include hamburgers, French fries, ice cream, chicken tenders, and, in the South, barbecue. These foods are staples of American dining culture, reflecting a mix of comfort, tradition, and fast-casual convenience.

 

[DaveMatthews]

I shop and cook for myself. Rarely go out for meals.
Easy to avoid junk or flavourless dishes.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Google no lie.

AI Overview
Pizza is widely considered the most popular food in America, with roughly 350 slices eaten every second and over 200 million Americans consuming it regularly. Other top favorites include hamburgers, French fries, ice cream, chicken tenders, and, in the South, barbecue. These foods are staples of American dining culture, reflecting a mix of comfort, tradition, and fast-casual convenience.

Though hardly staples of my diet, I eat all of those things except chicken tenders and very much enjoy them when done right. Might as well die of things you enjoy!

BTW, the urban crows who share our cities are also HUGE fans of french fries. Nature knows best!
;^}

 

[Gionnirocket]

Google no lie.

AI Overview
Pizza is widely considered the most popular food in America, with roughly 350 slices eaten every second and over 200 million Americans consuming it regularly. Other top favorites include hamburgers, French fries, ice cream, chicken tenders, and, in the South, barbecue. These foods are staples of American dining culture, reflecting a mix of comfort, tradition, and fast-casual convenience.

And that doesn't account for all my homemade pizzas!