In Celebration of our 50th Post and 5000th visitor!

Well, I've been in the business of keeping a positive attitude, whilst saying nice things about people and places for just over a year now. I have also tried to make the most of my paltry photography skills to show some of what I have seen around the the globe to show you that the world is truly a friendly place, and deserves to be enjoyed more. Recently, I have noticed that I have had about 5000 visitors. So to those people, thanks and keep coming back. Interestingly, this will also be my 50th post. So if you're a numbers person, that makes it a tidy 100 people per posting. Not a bad gig.

Regardless in the spirit of hopping the proverbial fence and escaping out into the great mysterious, I have chosen a few of my favorite pictures to share with you of my own experiences over the last year and a piece. I have included people I have met, places I have seen, and food that was consumed in dangerous portions. Thanks for tuning in, Dan

What's Burning?

One of my good pals in Warsaw, Mohamed, who is from Iran, told me that it is forbidden to make outdoor fires in Iran. It's ironic, since he and his other Iranian mates in Warsaw like nothing more than going to various parks in Warsaw and building gargantuan,roasting fires for grilling. Despite the fact that many Poles(Warsawians included,) like to partake in outdoor grilling adventures, I have also heard that it is in fact quite popular to have grilled food with fires in Iran as well. Even though it's 'illegal' in Iran, it's a pastime partook by most law abiding Iranians.

Moreover, even though myself as an American claim to be one of those west coast barbecue savants, I have to regretfully admit that I got nothing on these Iranian grill experts. Where did these guys learn to cook like this? It's a strange notion for me. If somethng's illegal, then in most cases it isn't done. Anyway, it's just a campfire.

So last Wednesday (for some strange reason) I had the day off, and set out with Mohamed to Powsien park in Warsaw for an Iranian grilling adventure. Usually we cook up chicken or lamb concoction, but this time Mohammed managed to procure some minced beef. With the beef he added some curry spice, pepper and egg. When this was finished; he mixed it all up, smashed it together a bit, produced some metal Iranian kebab sticks, then carefully rolled the meat on the sticks. Once on the fire the kebab roasted quite quickly. It was a difficult task to keep the dripping meat on the kebab sticks, since hamburger meat tends to sag a bit when it cooks. Regardless, we managed and to add a little Californian flair we put the meat into tortillas and indulged ourselves in a delicious outdoor feast, while washing it down with strong Polish beer.

Once the food was finished, we built the fire again and enjoyed the warm fire and cold beer while our stomachs digested the meat. After all that was done, we considered it a mission accomplished, threw away our rubbish, hiked down the road a bit and hopped on the 519 bus back to the city. If you're even slightly interested in Iranian/Californian fusion please take a minute to have a look see at my video from Wednesday.