Bahrain Street Food - The Shawarma

There is so much good food to choose from in the Middle East - skewered meats and the platters of Middle Eastern delicacies are so enticing and delicious.  So much foreign food to choose from, too; Thai, Chinese, French, Italian - you name it and you'll find it  Even many of America's diabetes-causing fast food chains can be found on just about every street corner, although you'll rarely catch me in any of them, if at all.

Click the video link below to take you to the Bahrain Street Food Shawarma video on VFC's Travels!

The King of Middle Eastern food, tho, is the shawarma.  Love it.

So gently wrapped around seasoned meat cooked on a rotating skewer with a blend of fresh spices, sauces and veg.  Very similar to the souvlaki and gyro that have been featured on a lot of my previous food videos, but the shawarma has a personality of its own and a thinner wrap.

In Bahrain, the best shawarmas - or at least the most famous ones - are located in "Shawarma Alley," just around the corner from the Gulf Hotel and the King's Palace in Adliyah.  Many other Middle Eastern traditions are located near the "alley," too, such as carpet shops, carved wooden ornaments, and the Grand Mosque is also not too far away.

But it's the shawarmas that draw one to Shawarma Alley, of course.

If you can't make it out to the alley, luckily one of the moped drivers will bring them right to your door.  Can't beat that!

In the linked video, Lou and I rolled down to shawarma alley to watch them in action carving up the meat and mixing it with all the addings to create heaven.  We also take a little roll around the island and end up down at the Bahrain International Circuit for some drag racing and - you guessed it - shawarma.  Take a look at how delicious those shawarmas are and you even get a bonus of the BAPCO Mustang launching from the starting line on the drag strip.  Nice.

Enjoy!

This video is also a reminder to the hard work put in by those who make up the global food service industry.  In these Covid19 times, it's not the Hollywood stars or the millionaire athletes keeping us going, it's the every day, often underpaid food service professionals keeping the world fed.  Cheers to them, and continued Cheers to our healthcare professionals fighting on the front lines of the Coronavirus.

Always a fan of travel, when the lockdowns are over and it's safe again, let's see and enjoy this beautiful world.  The 'CheapOair' link below will take you to some special travel deals!  Pre-pay or pay later.  Let's appreciate what we have out there to see.

Covid-19 Healthcare Heroes, Nurse Manager Mary Ellen Porter, Staten Island, New York

Mary Ellen Porter was a nurse manager at Richmond University Medical Center on Staten Island, New York.  I was alerted to her passing from an article posted to the Staten Island Advance (link here).  According to the article, she fell ill with reported Coronavirus on 21 March, and she never recovered.

There are still those who do not believe the severity of Covid-19.  The numbers, they say, of people dying from heart disease, cancer, smoking, even the common flu far outweigh those dying from Covid-19.  Maybe so, for right now.  These Coronavirus deaths are happening even while the entire world is staying home.  There are draconian measures in place to keep this thing from spreading, yet it still attacks and kills at alarming rates.

A nurse manager does not treat a patient for heart disease, then catch heart disease and end up on a ventilator days later.  Or cancer.  Even the common flu.  This thing is real.  People are scared.  Heroic healthcare workers keep going back to care for the sick, desperate, and dying.  This is New York City today, it could be your city tomorrow.

Thank you, Nurse Mary Ellen for giving humanity the ultimate sacrifice.  You will not be forgotten.
You made the world a better place and you will not be forgotten.

Keep these healthcare professionals in your thoughts and prayers and stay home.  Stay safe.

Lives could depend on it.

Yerba Cha, Local Colorado Business Going National. "Yerby" is a Fresh and Natural Beverage Option With A Lasting Energy Boost!

Throwing this out there for you guys and gals to try.  @yerba_cha - a healthy and lasting energy boost, minus the crash and a great substitution for the morning coffee or cappuccino.  "Yerba_Cha" is a local start-up in Colorado, my brother and his crew being the entrepreneurs they are came up with a fantastic blend of natural ingredients to create a great "Yerby" product.  I ordered myself some to give it a go (Amazon link below) and I was pleasantly surprised with the results.

Used it as a morning substitute for a Celsius and as a pre-workout boost.  On both occasions Yerby gave me the energy boost I needed, minus any crash when the boost wore off.  It contains natural stress-reducing ingredients, and we can all use a little bit of stress reduction these days, too.

Gluten free and vegan, if you were wondering.

This is not a paid promotion.  I'm fully supportive of my brother and his team getting this thing off the ground and I hope you all give it a try, too!  Big move for them heading to Amazon, after starting out locally in their area.  If you check out their social media pages, you'll see Yerby is supportive of a healthy lifestyle, the team loves the outdoors, nature, adventure, and healthy living.  A great image to create for their brand.

Ah yeah.  Give it a try, and let us know the results!  Amazon link below, and additional information from the official website below the link.



"Every ingredient in Yerba Cha products are sourced ethically and from sustainable sources. Each farm we order from is carefully picked for a reason. Our packaging is 100% biodegradable and we give back 5% of proceeds each year to sustaining ecosystems and educating people on the need for green lifestyles."

Covid-19 Healthcare Heroes, Nurse Tina, Staten Island, New York City

Yesterday we featured Doctor Keith Diaz as a Healthcare Hero battling the global pandemic from the front lines of the USA in New York City.  Today we bring you Nurse Tina.  At the height of the pandemic in NYC - hopefully we are on the downswing, looking at the numbers - the quotes from Nurse Tina were those of the valiant staff at her hospital being "mentally and physically exhausted" from fighting this invisible enemy.  Support from the community meant a lot, and still does.  It's an honor to wholeheartedly support these medical warriors day in and day out and it's an honor to call this one my cousin!  Good job, Tina!

This is my cousin Nurse Tina. She is a hero. She is currently putting in overtime hours working the frontlines of the Covid19 pandemic at a New York City hospital, where approximately 90 percent of new patients are Coronavirus patients. Coronavirus quarantine to us is catching up with old friends and new ones with Facebook games and passing the baton from coffee to wine in our free time. For her, it is extended shifts working long hours in overcrowded conditions while caring for patient after patient, at the same time taking every precaution to protect herself, her family, her own loved ones.

This is New York City today, it could be your city tomorrow.

The staff of our wonderful healthcare heroes are physically and mentally exhausted. But they keep going back day after day, caring for those stricken with the illness, and taking care of those that still need emergency care not related to Covid19.

Nurses are the first line of defense. They are selfless. If you want to help Nurse Tina, stay home. Abide by the quarantine, don’t spread the virus. The support and respect from the community keeps them going.

It’s not easy for these heroes, but Cheers to you, Nurse Tina, Thank you for what you do. We know you are giving your best and we are proud of you and all your peers who are fighting this war with you. You got this. Ah Yeah.

Continue to applaud your healthcare heroes.  This fight would be too easily lost without their perseverance and bravery!

Together, united, we will prevail.

Covid-19 Healthcare Heroes, Doctor Keith Diaz, New York City

These are unprecedented times.  A global pandemic of the Coronavirus, no one really knows who is safe and who is not.  This is not a conventional war, this is a war where humanity must all work together - with empathy and compassion - to defeat this unseen enemy.

Our soldiers fighting this war are not armed with guns and ammunition, they are armed with ventilators, IVs, and a remarkable courage to keep going back, day by day, night by night, patient by patient.

Our healthcare heroes often slip below the radar.  They go about their business largely out of the limelight, caring for the ill, wounded, and dying.  When we are scared and in pain - they are there.

Today, they are the front line against this fight.  Fearlessly, they battle the virus while saving as many lives as they can.  They cannot save them all, this virus seems to have a contagion and a power that we have not seen before.

The healthcare hero I would like to thank today is Doctor Keith Diaz.  From a recent post on my social media accounts (Insta:  vfcs_travels, Facebook:  VFCs Travels), here it goes:

This is my cousin Doctor Keith Diaz. He’s a hero. Currently working overtime at a New York City hospital at war with #Covid19, Coronavirus to us is sitting back bitching about quarantine, drinking wine and playing facebook games. Coronavirus to him is overflowing emergency rooms, a shortage of staff, a shortage of ventilators, and a shortage of time of how to take proper care of all the incoming patients. It’s how to prioritize who gets the most urgent care - the weapons they need to support a crisis at this level are not there - and it’s making phone calls to families who can’t be there when their loved ones pass.

This is NYC today, it could be your city tomorrow. This is serious, it’s not a “let’s go take a spring break selfie during Covid” game. Where there used to be tourists roaming the city there are mobile morgues. Until big pharma comes up with a treatment or a cure, stay home. Stay safe: play Facebook games. But don’t make it harder on the healthcare workers by spreading it. It’s wartime conditions for them and they don’t get hazard pay.

There are refrigerator trucks that should be transporting legs of ham being set up as temporary morgues around the city. Cheers to you Doctor Keith and all of your peers fighting this war. You can’t save everyone at once, but we know you are battling. We know you’re saving lives and giving your country - and humanity - your best.

Cheers, my hero. To Doctor Keith. Ah Yeah.

These are unprecedented times.  Don't let an opportunity to thank these heroes slip by.  If you see them, thank them.  Cheer them, clap them.  They are today's soldiers, fighting an unseen enemy.

They are are healthcare heroes.