Frog Blog

the kebab here isn't like the meat chunks and veggies on a stick grilled over the bbq like it is in america. here it's shaved meat stuffed into a bread pouch with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and sauce, and quite often french fries. the meat is either a mixture of chicken and turkey or lamb and mutton, all fused together into a meat pod roasting on a giant vertical spit. kebabs always sound like a great idea and they're pretty cheap... but i always regret eating them afterwards. they're rather greasy and oily and it's hard to balance all the ingredients together in each bite; usually i get a bite of just bread or of just meat. i know i shouldn't give into my foodborne illness paranoia over here (otherwise i'd be missing out on a lot of unpasterized but otherwise excellent cheeses), but most of the time when friends recount their problems with food poisoning in europe, the trail is inevitably traced back to a kebab stand.

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when the cops show up for a domestic dispute or some kind of fracture in my neighborhood's usually quiet atmosphere, spectators appear in their doorways to observe what's going on. i think in the states we do this too but usually discreetly from our windows so as "not to get involved" or to "mind our own business." not here. everyone is a snooop, and outwardly so. one time in portland i heard screaming from the street below my apartment. i appeared at the window (three stories up) and witnessed a lover's quarrel (i just LOVE it when guys call their girlfriends stupid bitches!). the guy yelling looked up and saw my silhouette in the window (or the silhouettes of my neighbors) and yelled up "hey! mind your own fucking business!!!" i quickly retreated. not here, man!! i could practically put out a lawn chair and fix myself a long island iced tea and get a front row seat for the show! usually if the police show up it's downtown, not in my upper class 'hood. but today there was a ruckus and i saw the requisite neighbor/spectators as i walked by from the store.