Gnoc Gnoc, Who's There?

Gnocci, that's who! Yup, that was dweebish. But I'm so proud... this is the fresh basil gnocci that I made today (recipe here) and on it, a wonderful light lemon olive oil with fresh shaved parmesan cheese, the only way to have it, in my opinion. Doesn't it look lovely? And the other day, I had my friend Esra over and I made American style apple buttermilk pancakes with cinnamon, nutmeg and Maine maple syrup. I put the butter directly into the batter this time, so once off the griddle all I needed to do was sprinkle some extra spices on top and drizzle on the warm maple syrup. I brought some over to my mother-in-law, who is German, and she cooed in delight. See, I'm trying to build a good mother-daughter-in-law relationship -- food usually works. ;)

I thought I'd never post food on my blog and look at me - I move to Germany and all I do is eat! But I can't help it, the food here is delicious and the grocery stores are a little magical to me -- everything is marked "Made in Germany", "Product of France", Denmark, The Netherlands, Italy... in the states it's very different and we'd consider all of this gourmet and it's very normal. Everything is so fresh in the region where I live, all surrounded by farmland, I feel so spoiled. Some grocery stores are really, really strange looking inside though. Like everything is still in boxes and you have to dig through them to get your milk and such. These stores are Penny Markt, Netto, Plus and Aldi. It's strange, but the prices are low. I go to them for quick purchases but honestly, being American with our massive grocers, I opt for stores that are well designed and beautiful inside with products from Germany and the rest of Europe, jams, ice cream, cheeses, you name it. I recently found some delicious Swedish glace, which was so delicious - it was the creamiest raspberry sorbet in the world. The stores I shop are Jibi, Galeria Kaufhof (a Macy's type of department store with a massive grocery store on the lower level), Rewe and Edeka. I go to DM and Reformhaus for my gluten-free foods, or to the local bio (organic) food markets which are easy to find, like the lovely Denns downtown. There is even a British food store that I hit just for fun. They have great tea and candy! And our grocery bill is so cheap, don't get me started. To eat bio food (organic) and to buy fresh delicious things is 1/2 of what we paid back in the states. Our weekly grocery bill is around 60- Euros. And that's if we really pig out. If we don't, it's around 45-. In the states, our grocery bill was at least $200 a week, but in addition to that, another $100-200 on Starbucks runs, restaurants, and quick cocktails with friends. With martinis at $12-15 a pop, it all adds up. Here, we hit Happy Hour or late night cocktail hour with 1/2 price drinks (some places have this between 11-midnight) or we just get wine or beer with our meal -- it's so inexpensive. Cocktails are half the cost as in the states and beer is a 1/3 I believe. And the beer is brewed locally or somewhere in Germany, but it's a small country so it's still pretty much local. Instead of Starbucks (it's way overpriced anyway), I hit either Balzac which is a Starbucks knock-off, or I go to a small cafe and grab a cappuccino or latte maybe once or twice a week -- usually I make all of these things at home because I love being home and since I can purchase so many delicious things at stores to make at home, I cook a lot more. It feels great to not run out to restaurants all of the time. And when we do eat out, we get great meals and usually hit the lunch specials between 12-4 because the meals are fresh and cheap. And food halls and small kiosk style places are super cheap - some have wonderful lunch specials for 2- and 3- Euros. I sometimes listen to expats from the states complain about food in Germany and I don't get it. I never had this quality of food in the states - ever. And I lived down south, in the mid west and in New England. Even when I paid $300 a week to shop at Wholefoods from time to time, the quality was great but still, I paid a lot for that quality. Sure, there are no cheetoes and mini marshmallows and 10,000 different kinds of salad dressings, but as a result I'm cooking more and creating more in the kitchen... I'm finding plenty of delicious things in my grocery stores locally. And at the farmers' markets, which are numerous in my city, nearly every day of the week. I'm not complaining... It's been nearly 3 months and I'm still quite happy in my new country. I'm eating good, feeling good, and enjoying all the fun new products I'm finding at the most mundane places: like the local pharmacy and grocery store. Quick "laugh at me" moment to share: I went into the pharmacy to ask for aspirin. In Germany, you have to ask for it because it's over-the-counter medication. Germans are not drug-crazed and when my relatives saw my massive bottle of Excedrin they nearly passed out. When they saw my other bottle of ibuprofen, they nearly had a heart attack. "That is very dangerous", "Why would you own that?" ,"Are you in great pain?", and other such statements of shock and disbelief came from their lips. I started to wonder myself... Maybe taking all this stuff whenever I had any ache or pain wasn't such a good idea. But it's an American thing, any pain we feel, we pop a few Motrin, right? Anyway, I was experiencing headaches for several days in a row due to a bad pillow I was sleeping on. I decided to buy a new pillow once I figured it out and the pain has since stopped. But in the meantime, when I didn't realize what it was, I decided to go buy some aspirin. Asking for it felt a little strange because of the name, but there is no other way so I asked. The kind that my mother-in-law bought for me once was called ASS + C, it is the only brand I know. So, in broken German, I asked the lady for some ass. I didn't know it was Ah Es Es mit Cee. I thought it was just pronounced ass plus c. So I asked for ass plus c and she nearly died. I could see her entire expression, because she obviously knew some English, change from serious to wanting so badly to laugh but trying to be reserved and professional. I didn't understand, of course, though asking for some ass was a weird feeling. In the end, I got some ass. But it was rather embarrassing when I told my husband when I walked in the door later that day that I was proud of myself, I told the lady at the pharmacy in German that I wanted ass and the color drained from his face. "Schatzie," he said, "it is an abbreviation A S S not the word ass." The moral of the story: Expats learning other languages may at times make a total ass of themselves. (image: holly becker for haus maus)