Getting Lost in Bucharest (A Good Thing)

We spent a few minutes with our hosts at the excellent Hotel Christina talking about where to eat our first dinner in Bucharest. "We want to know your personal favorite restaurants," we said. "Where you eat, any night of the week."

The hotel manager smiled. "These would not be touristic restaurants."

"Then they are perfect for us," we explained.

There was some discussion in rapid Romanian between the manager and an assistant manager. 'On your first night, even though it is a little touristic, we think you should go to have Romanian food."

"Is there a place where you go for Romanian food?"

Again, that wonderful smile. "I cook it at home. When I eat out, it is to get away from it. But this is a place we think you will like, and it is not far from here: Zexe." She circled it on the map. "You see? Not far."

And it didn't look far. But by the time we took the Metro two stops away to stroll through old town (a bit late in the day for that, I think, as the museums were closing and the night clubs weren't yet open) and then took the Metro back to the closest station, we were actually quite far from Zexe. And when I say quite far, I mean we were very, very, very far from Zexe. As in: "We need to be in Atlanta, and we're in Decatur" far.

Not to worry, we said, and we set out walking. We strolled through several lovely neighborhoods. We stumbled on St. Nicholas church, pictured above -- a luminous jewel of a building all but lost in a sea of crumbling concrete and modern office buildings. We talked with many helpful locals. One woman told us we were very close to Zexe, and pointed us to a spot four blocks further south. There, a doorman walked us to a different block and pointed us down an alley. There, the owner of that restaurant -- not Zexe -- sent us five blocks further west. There, a sweet young couple, indicating that they knew exactly where Zexe was, pointed us in the opposite direction.

We never did have dinner at Zexe, which, if it exists, is too well hidden for two well-traveled men with a GPS and much assistance to locate. Instead, we trekked back to the hotel.

We tried to take taxis. The first one we tried said the hotel was too far away for a taxi, so we walked a bit and tried again. This taxi driver shook his head and told us, "No, that is too close for a taxi. You just walk it."

Many hundreds of thousands of years later, we arrived back at the Hotel Christina, where we tucked into the hotel restaurant. There, a wonderful young man named George brought us beverages, a plate of spring rolls, a passable chicken tikka masala, and a chocolate fondant with ice cream.

After this, he brought us each a shot glass of a clear, pungent-smelling liquid he explained was a local drink, made from apples -- tuzika. "It's on the house," George explained. "It will help you sleep."

Perhaps it was exhaustion. Perhaps it was jet lag. Perhaps it was the tuzika. Whatever the cause, we went straight up to the room and fell fast asleep -- the perfect end to our first long day in Bucharest.

When you're with someone you love, you see, even getting lost is a pleasure.

Checked in at the Hotel Christina

After a smooth, comfortable flight in Delta and KLM "Economy Comfort" seats, we're all checked in at the fun, funky Hotel Christina.

We're in a beautiful corner room on the fifth floor, with a curved wall of windows looking out over the city. From here, I can see an exquisite specimen of the old, crumbling Communist era apartment blocks ... a vine-smothered, French-inspired residential building with wrought-iron railings and detailed plaster decoration ... tidy, compact homes ... and an office tower or two in the distance.

In theory, we're walking distance to some of the city's best sights, so, after a shower, we'll set out to see what we can see. For now, though, we're really just happy to be here. Everyone we've met has been friendly and helpful, from the (honest! yes! honest!) taxi driver who made no effort at all to cheat us to the staff here at the hotel, who have set out wine and cheese to greet us.

So you'll know: for less than the price of a pretty standard hotel room in the U.S., this little boutique hotel -- number one in Bucharest according to TripAdvisor.com -- supplies blindingly fast WiFi, in-room expresso, in-room water, in-room tea service, and a refrigerator, all for free. The room itself is decorated in clean, bright white (ceiling, walls, tile floors) and purple (the desktops and countertops in the living area). Light boxes placed cleverly under desks and concealed above the bed give the whole place a gentle, futuristic glow. I love it.

This is going to be a beautiful place to celebrate two decades together. Now ... should be have a late lunch (it's almost 3:00 PM here), or snack a bit and hold out for dinner at the city's number one restaurant? Hmmm ... decisions, decisions.

Off to Romania for the Big 20

Well, dear MadeByMark.com readers, on May 28th, Clyde and I will celebrate our 20th year together. (I am hopeful that, by our 25th, our nation will give our marriage the legal recognition it deserves.)

We have a tradition of traveling for our anniversaries … and this year is no exception. Today, we leave for Romania, where we'll spend a day or two in Bucharest before moving on to Brashov (Land! Of! Castles!) and Birlad (right smack in the heart of Transylvania.) 

This is sure to be a wonderful trip, as we're being joined in Bucharest by Antonio Pisarlu, our Romanian friend from Prague, to see the Romanian countryside as only natives can see it. (He's a not-bad photographer, too … so I might actually be in a photo or two!)

We fly out in just an hour or so … and expect to be in Bucharest around lunch time on Thursday. (That's about 6:00 AM or so here in the ATL.) Keep your eyes peeled for posts, photos, stories, and more. (And don't forget to follow MunchedByMark.com -- or @MunchedByMark on the Twitters -- for detailed coverage of every delicious meal!)

We're excited to have all of you along on this celebration of the two best decades of our lives. 

Wishing you as much happiness as the two of us share every day,

M.

A Car Wash Cafe? Yep.

Over on MunchedByMark.com: We visit the Auto Spa Bistro: the only spot in the ATL where you can feed your need for alcohol, cholesterol, and ArmorAll … all at once. 

Roxx Earns an "Atlanta's Best" Ranking from MunchedByMark.com

Today, over on MunchedByMark.com, a review of Roxx: the best restaurant you've never heard of, cranking out equal portions of comfort food and genuine affection.

Stopping by Einstein's on a Summer Morning

Over at the brand spankin' new MunchedByMark.com site -- where I blog about everyday eats in metro Atlanta -- I've just posted a new review of Einstein's. Have a look!

MadeByMark.com will continue to be my primary home on the web, where I've been blogging about food, faith, technology, and travel since November of 2000. But I've long needed to make finding and following my restaurant-related posts easier for interested (and hungry!) readers … and the best way to do that, I think, is to split them off into a dedicated blog.

So: I'm happy to announce MunchedByMark.com, a blog about great food at good prices, mostly from restaurants in Metro Atlanta. (And when I'm on the road, I'll share the great meals we find along the way, as well.)

What Homophobes, Activists, and Hollywood Have in Common

A MadeByMark.com reader dropped me a link to this article on Patheos.com's Bad Catholic blog. The piece is a bit long and rambling, so if you haven't the time (or the stomach) for it, here's my summary of his argument:

Men with "same sex attraction" issues are more than the labels homophobes, activists, and Hollywood slap on them. We need to step outside the extreme stances taken by all sides in the culture war and, when confronting issues related to these men, argue "for the ultimate good of the human person," not for "the minor good" of one facet of their being.

Yes, human beings are complex. We are more than our sexual orientations. We are more than our genders. We are more than our religion, our race, or our occupation. We are all more than any label can contain.

That said, for someone who rails so loudly against labels, Mr. Barnes, the young blogger in question, loves to employ them.

One label he uses frequently is "men with same sex attraction." It's a clever label, with origins in the widely discredited "orientational healing" industry. In opposition to a substantial body of scientific evidence, these quack practitioners assert there are no homosexuals … just homosexual *behaviors*. There are, they tell us, no gay men … just heterosexual men who are deceived, damaged, confused, and in need of fixing.

This label attempts to reframe a core trait (sexual orientation) as an annoying urge. It's the equivalent of telling a left-handed person "You're not really left-handed, sir. There are no left-handed people. Instead, you have an attraction to using your non-dominant hand." As a political ploy, this kind of reframing may be useful -- but on the more honest level of human and personal experience, it's poisonous. 

But where Mr. Barnes really goes off the tracks -- where his work goes from being sloppy to being shameful -- is where he begins citing "facts:"

[Men with same-sex attraction] -- if they are living an active homosexual lifestyle … have a much more difficult time than straight men, what with higher risk of HIV, depression, and substance abuse, and a generally lower life expectancy." 

If I had time, I'd refute these assertions one by one. For now, though, I'll focus on just one: the claim that gay men have a "generally lower life expectancy."

Mr. Barnes has done a good job of jotting down what his "orientational healers" have told him, but he has done a poor job of checking the facts for himself. To back up his claim, he cites an article in the International Journal of Epidemiology. Had he done just a little homework on his own, though, he might have discovered that:

- the authors of that very study note that it cannot be used to support his conclusion

- the assertion that gay men die younger than their straight counterparts has been broadly debunked.

People who cite "facts" like this one are either too lazy to fact-check … or they are being deliberately deceitful. Neither option bodes well for their cause.

I don't know Mr. Barnes, but I suspect he's involved in a painful struggle, made all the more painful by the machinations of the "orientational healers." My heart goes out to him, and my prayer for him is that he can step up to his call to embrace wholeness by rejecting the fantasy that doing so means squashing a vibrant and beautiful aspect of the Self.

Coming Soon: Government Texts You Can't Block

From USA Today:

Wireless carriers and the federal government are launching a system to automatically warn people of dangerous weather and other emergencies via a special type of text messaging to cellphones. The Wireless Emergency Alerts service, which begins this month, is free, and consumers won't have to sign up … Alerts will be issued for such life-threatening events as tornadoes, flash floods, hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, dust storms, extreme winds, blizzards, and ice storms … WEA can also issue AMBER Alerts for missing children and Presidential Alerts for national emergencies.

This is a great example of a well-intentioned government program being executed by people who have absolutely no clue of what to do or how to do it in the era of personal information technology.

1) My mobile device is my personal space. My iPhone is mine. I paid for it. It's an intensely personal space, programming and organized in ways I like, that suit me. I don't share my mobile number with many people precisely because I don't want text messages and calls from people I don't know. Having a government agency push alerts to it without my permission feels like a violation of my privacy -- and it is.

2) It's an opt-in world. If I want a newsletter, I sign up. If I want to know every time your shop has a sale, let me opt-in. Seth Godin's built an empire teaching people about the power of opt-in marketing.

But this system flies in the face of all that wisdom, signing me up (for free!) without my permission. It's then up to me to find a way to opt-out of the alerts I don't want. (Bad news: the truth is, with the exception of the AMBER Alerts, I can't actually opt out at all.)

The right way to do this: create the service, promote it, and let those who are passionate about weather events or AMBER alerts sign up.

3) Respect my choices. I already have apps that keep me well-informed of weather issues, thanks. I like how they operate. I like them because I can control what they alert me about, and whether or not they will do that in the middle of the night. This Big Brother-ish weather alert system forces me to use a solution that doesn't just duplicate functionality I already possess … it forces me to use a solution that isn't as good as the ones I already use. 

3) Crying wolf will blunt weather awareness, not encourage it. My mom has a weather radio that sets off an ear-splitting alarm when any weather alert is issued: for flash-flood warnings, for heavy rain warnings, for thunderstorm warnings, for tornado warnings. Guess what? After a few weeks, that sucker got unplugged -- because everyone got tired of it going off six times a night to tell us about a flash-flood warning six counties away.

So … now what? I'll get an alert when there's a flash-flood warning in Cobb County at 2 a.m.? Even though I live in another county … and on the 8th floor? It will take about one or two late-night alerts about heavy rain warnings for people to start turning off their devices in order to get some sleep. What good will this system be then?

Making vital information available to people is a good thing. But don't force it on us, or pump it into our most personal spaces without permission. Just offer it. The passionate will subscribe. 

Radial: A Great Way to Start (and End) Your Day

Radial Cafe -- hidden away over in Candler Park, near the Edgewood MARTA station -- serves fresh, environmentally (and, often, vegetarian- and vegan-) friendly dishes for breakfast and lunch (seven days a week) and dinner (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). The entire joint has an urban farmhouse vibe, with everything from the bar to the walls tastefully decorated with reclaimed materials. 

Though there are some persistent signature dishes on the menu (including -- hands down -- Atlanta's best pancakes), each week's specials reflect what's fresh and locally available. These specials are a constant source of delight for me. Weeks after the fact, I'm still going on and on about the Peanut Butter Captain Crunch French Toast I gobbled down more than two months back. Was it last year they had Praline Crunch Pecan Pancakes? Probably -- and I'm still raving about that, too. 

Long story short: there's something on Radial's menu for everyone. When I'm low-carbing it, I get a platter piled high with applewood smoked bacon. When I'm avoiding animal protein, I'm all about the vegan roasted herb potatoes, sweet potato hash, or vegan buckwheat pancakes. When I'm eating light, there's a Radial multi-grain bagel. When I'm feeling decadent, it's French toast time (thick challah bread, baked locally, battered with vanilla and served with organic maple syrup). 

Dinner is just as much an adventure, with my personal favorites being the Brasstown Beef Burger (when you bite into it, angels sing) and the makes-me-run-around-in-circles-and-scream-with-pleasure BBQ Tofu Satay, which is absolutely the best thing anyone has ever done with tofu since it was invented in northern China in 164 BC. And when they ask for your dinner drink order, whatever you would usually drink, just say, "Pom Ginger." (Trust me on this. You can thank me later.)

Clyde and I wind up at Radial at least once a week, and think of Radial as our go-to breakfast joint. Weekend visitors always get taken there -- no exceptions. This is, in part, because of the restaurant's philosophy and, in part, because of the consistently delicious food … but it is mostly because of the consistent hospitality of Frank Bragg (the owner) and his amazing staff. 

One wonders if Frank Bragg ever goes home. We see him there in the mornings -- like today, serving tiny pancakes to an army of delighted soccer-playing little girls. We see him there at lunch, chatting up the regulars. We see him there at night, striking up conversations and making sure things are done right. We see him online: on Twitter, on Facebook. We see him supporting community events and groups, like the Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus. I don't know of another owner who is so involved, so present, and so approachable.

When most owners and managers ask, "Everything good?", they're just spouting the restaurant version of "How's it going?" (That is, they don't really expect an answer.) Frank cares. When we've ordered new items, he's actually taken notes on our feedback. He tweaks recipes. He *listens.* 

His staff -- particularly the folks who have been there forever -- are equally remarkable. I wish I knew more names. For now, suffice it to say that the people who work here really seem to care about the place, and do a great job of taking care of customers. They are also -- how to say this? -- all very easy on the eyes.

Now, as you'll see on Yelp, Radial isn't perfect. Service levels can vary, and, in our experience, the quality of service depends mostly on your server's length of tenure (the old-timers are the best, while the new folks can be embarrassingly green). And, even after eating there almost every week since 2010, I have never successfully ordered the cinnamon roll. (Once, not yet ready. The next time, after forty-five minutes, they said the batter didn't work out. The third -- and last -- time I tried, it arrived after we finished breakfast … and was too dry and floury to eat.) 

But these little gaffes pale in comparison to the long-term vibe, attitude, friendliness, and quality of the joint. Your friends aren't always at their best … but you still love them, don't you?

So: if you haven't been there yet, go try Radial. Like, now. This weekend, they're all about the strawberries: as in strawberry pancakes and strawberry cream cheese cake. So: follow them on the Twitters, like them on the Facebooks, get yourself to Candler Park, and say hi to Frank and crew for me.

Radial Cafe: Fast Facts

Category: Fresh Food Movement, Breakfasts

Rating:

- ReMARKable - Awarded "Best Breakfast in Atlanta" by MadeByMark.com

- Score: 89/100

Vibe: Casual, comfortable, friendly urban farmhouse

Crowd: Broad appeal

Service: Generally very good, but variable based on tenure of server

Atmosphere: Lively

Decibel Level: 85 (Average Automobile/Loud Singing)

Can't Go Wrong Orders:

- Breakfast: Pancakes, Special French Toast, Applewood Bacon, Coffee

- Dinner: BBQ Tofu Satay, Brasstown Beef Burger

 About this Review: Reviews on MadeByMark.com are unbiased and honest. My opinions aren't for sale. I haven't received compensation of any kind for this material, unless you count the notes of thanks I get from MadeByMark.com readers who depend on me for great leads on local, affordable, "eat there anytime" joints in our neck of the woods.

Photo Credit: I stole this photo of Radial Cafe from their Facebook page. I hope they won't mind. 

Gmail Tip: Use Filters to Get SMS or Text Alerts When You Receive Important Email

IN A NUTSHELL

To forward only certain email messages to their text messaging service, Gmail users should use filters to set conditions and define what Gmail should do when those conditions are met. But you won't be able to define those filters unless you enter the forwarding address (and verify it) first. The filtering option for automatically forwarding Gmail to an email address won't work until you add a forwarding address.

THE WHOLE STORY

I get lots of email. Most of it can wait.

But when I get email from certain people, I want to know. In fact, when email arrives from Clyde, or certain friends and family members, I want an alert to prompt me to read the message right away. 

Now, I *do not* want a text message *every* time email *every* email arrives. I just want a text message when email arrives from certain people. 

Setting this up should be easy, right? I mean, I carry the world's most sophisticated smartphone. But on the iPhone, email alerts are an all or nothing proposition. The iPhone can vibrate or chime when *every* message arrives … or it can lie there silently. There's no way to tell the iPhone, "Notify me only when I get an email from Clyde."

So I had another idea: using filters, I would write a Gmail rule that says, "If an incoming message matches "From: Clyde," then forward that email to the email address associated with my text messaging plan.'" That sounded even easier!

So, after consulting this chart of email addresses associated with various mobile phone numbers (for the record, these special email addresses are called 'SMS gateways'), I went to my Gmail account's Settings:

But when I opened Settings, chose the Filters tab, and clicked "Create a New Filter," I could do the first step (tell Gmail "If the message is from Clyde…") but could not do the second step (tell Gmail to forward that email to my SMS gateway), because the option to click 'Forward' was greyed out:

My only option seemed to be to click the "Add forwarding address" link. That took me to the Forward and POP/IMAP tab, where I found a button labeled "Add a forwarding address." 

What caught my eye, though, was the Tip: "You can also forward only some of your mail by creating a filter." To me, it looked like that Tip (to forward only some of your email) was being as an alternative to the "Add a forwarding address" button (which I assumed would, in fact, forward all my mail to my phone).

So: I clicked the "creating a filter!" link … which took me back, of course, to the filter creation option with the greyed-out "Forward it" option. 

At this point, I just about gave up. But then Clyde reminded me I'd help him set up this very thing once before, so he could get text messages whenever certain suppliers send him emails. We sat down together, went through the steps … and found ourselves in the same jam. Finally, Clyde suggested, "Maybe you have to add a forwarding address *before* the forwarding option will be available."

So I clicked "Add a forwarding address," and got this:

Hey! Maybe he was right! So I entered the email address associated with my text messaging account and clicked "Next." The next screen, though, didn't seem promising at all. In fact, it looked as though I was about to start forwarding *all* my mail to my phone!

Good grief. Well, just to see what would happen, I clicked "Proceed." Google promptly sent me a text message that said, "Mark McElroy has just requested to automatically forward mail to this text messaging service," along with instructions for giving myself permission to do just that. Again, I was a bit concerned, because it still seemed like I was about to start forwarding everything to my SMS plan -- especially when I saw this:

As you can see, it still looks like I have two options: to disable forwarding, or forward everything to my SMS plan. But now -- even with forwarding disabled -- when I clicked "creating a filter!" the little checkbox that was greyed out before was clickable … and I could choose the email address associated with my SMS gateway. 

(Note: in this example, I'm using a filter to get a text message whenever email from a certain person arrives … but you could also set up alerts for email that has attachments, that has certain words in the subject line, that has certain words in the body, or even that *fails* to have certain words in the body! It's very flexible.)

So: the good news, I think, is this: if you're finding this difficult to do, it's not you … it's the user interface that requires you to:

1) Add a forwarding address

2) Confirm the forwarding address, but

3) Keep forwarding disabled, then

4) Create a filter that will do your forwarding for you.

Not exactly intuitive, is it?

(A tip of the hat to Clyde, who figured it all out!)