Mr. Kebap Update

Now that I have a job, I don't see Mr. Kebap as often. Occasionally I'll run in and grab a kebap for lunch the next day when I get off work, but that's pretty rare. But Mr. Kebap still knows me and welcomes me whenever I come in.

Today I grabbed a Turkish Pide from another kebap shop on my way home from the city center because I never know if Mr. Kebap will be open on Saturday. The shop was empty and the owner was happy to muddle through a conversation with me as my food cooked, and even offered me a glass of tea. I left the shop with my Pide in hand, feeling kinda like I had just cheated on Mr. Kebap. I missed the bus, and would have to wait 10 minutes for the next one. Well, it only takes 10 minutes to walk to our apartment, so I decided to walk. The thing is, Mr. Kebap's place is on the walk home. And there I was with food from another kebap shop in my hand. During the 5 minute walk to Mr. Kebap's, I contemplated several things: should I cross the street so he won't notice me if he's open?, should I wait at the next tram stop for a tram to avoid seeing him? I chose to do neither and just hoped he wasn't open. Needless to say, he was open. Normally when I see him when I'm walking home, we just wave, but this time he made me come inside and gave me a vodka schnapps and we chatted (as best we could) for a few minutes. I asked if he would be open this evening for dinner, he said yes, and you better believe I'm eating a kebap from Mr. Kebap's as I write this blog. And yes, I got another vodka schnapps while I waited for his son to make it. :)

Great Grub in Germany

I've been complaining about the things I can't get here in the German grocery stores, so I decided to go around a photograph some of the cool stuff that I can get here!

So this is wholemeal rusk. What is rusk you ask? Well, you may know, but I sure didn't. I translated zwieback to rusk and had to go look it up on Wikipedia. Silly me. Of course it's twice baked bread. This wholemeal twice baked bread is less that two inches wide and the best part is? SCHOKO! Bittersweet chocolate at that! It's just a thin layer but it adds a loveliness to the rusk that you wouldn't get otherwise (who wants to eat wholemeal twice baked bread?). Ground zwieback does make excellent breadcrumbs when not covered in chocolate, and Jason appreciated it when he was sick, but I have no interest unless it's got chocolate!

Clarified butter! Ghee! And I didn't have to do any of the work. Schnitzel is frequently cooked in clarified butter, so it's readily available here if you go to the right store. I do have to walk a bit out of my way to find it, but it's much cheaper than the ghee sold at the Turkish grocery store.

You gotta love mustard in a tube! What could be cooler than that?

Oh look, it's mayo in a tube! That's just as fun as mustard in a tube! And you thought it was cool that the US has finally gotten around to putting tomato paste in a tube!

(Thomy is one of the many brands from Nestle)

Curry ketchup! How fun is that? I even have a recipe that call for a whole bottle! I haven't tried it yet b/c Jason's not going to eat that so I'm waiting for him to go out of town and me not to be craving Indian or Thai when I'm by myself. You see the problem...

Anyway, here it is served with currywurst, a dish that I find quite yummy. Sausage + Curry = Yum.

And don't forget the curry sauce! What amuses me most is that these (Heinz and Kraft) are brands you see in the US all the time, but versions you definitely don't see!

Excuse the blurry photo, but I had to show you the baked beans! No Bush's here, but we do have them in Heinz! I haven't tried them yet, but I get a kick out of the teal label every time I see it. And yes, the other side of the can is in German, and I even took a picture of it, but I failed to take it of my iPhone.

See, Americans aren't the only ones who use cake mixes! Dr. Oetker is like the Betty Crocker of Germany except he actually invented baking powder so I'm thinking he's a bit higher up on the cool scale. (And yes, I took the picture of the lemon cake mix for a reason)

And my most favorite thing I can get here easily? Cheap fresh mozzarella. I'm in love. I don't know how I'm going to survive when I live somewhere that this stuff costs an arm and a leg again! I've even learned that it shreds pretty easily if you stick it in the freezer for fifteen minutes. It's delicious!

And, of course, I had to add something that I haven't tried yet b/c I'm not certain I'm going to try. I think you can figure out the translation :)

Happy Easter Everyone! Look what I got with my most recent purchase at Edeka! One from the meat counter and one at checkout. Predecorated hardboiled eggs! Fancy-schmancy!

On Sausage

When we found out we were moving to Germany, I thought I would be able to find sausage readily, and I was right.  But I am unable to find the types of sausage I used in my cooking back in the US.  Specifically, Jason and I used a lot of hot Italian sausage for spaghetti and lasagna, and I also adore breakfast sausage.  But Germany has a rather large variety of cured sausages rather than fresh sausages.  Our state of Thuringia is known for it's bratwurst, and is considered the best in the country by many.  But our grocery store only has two types of fresh sausage.  However, Germany does have a regular supply of hackepeter, which is coarsely ground pork (with fat) seasoned with salt and pepper.  So I've learned to get creative and let me fingers do some searching.  My fingers returned with fantastic results!

I first went looking for Italian sausage.  I shopped more frequently downtown when we first moved here, and they had a slightly wider selection of fresh sausage.  The first time I went to make spaghetti, I picked out Zwiebelwurst (onion sausage), but it just wasn't quite right.  So I ran to Alton and haven't been back!

Italian Sausage (adapted from Alton Brown)
2 lbs high quality ground pork
1.5 t fennel seed
2 t kosher salt
1.5 t black pepper
1 T chopped parsley
1.5 t garlic powder
1.5 t crushed red pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients well.  Cover and refrigerate at least 12 hours before cooking, preferably 24 hours.  If I forget to make the sausage the night before, I generally double the spices.


But it took a while for me to realize that I could make breakfast sausage.  Sitting at work one day this week, I had a sudden craving for Sausage Cheese Squares.  I think they got stuck in my head because I found a Pillsbury product in the grocery store this week... refrigerated Sunday rolls.  I've never seen crescent roll dough here, so I knew I would have to improvise.  I've had croissants on the brain lately, so I got the two confused.  I have a fear of making croissants (I'm sure I'll get over it when I have an oven that behaves and tons of kitchen gadgets at my disposal), so I decided to use biscuit dough instead.  And then I had to find a breakfast sausage recipe.  I was unsure how easy that would be, but I shouldn't have feared, Homesick Texan came to my rescue again.  I wasn't even searching her blog this time!  I just typed breakfast sausage recipe into google and Breakfast sausage to begin the day was the first hit!  No more waiting, I was going to have breakfast sausage!  Woohoo!

The results:

Jason: "I can't believe you got the sausage to taste like this."
Me: "I'm not sure about the biscuit dough, maybe I should find a crescent roll recipe and try that next time."
Jason: "No, I like it this way more..."
Me: "Really?  Okay!"
Jason: "It tastes so American."
(pause)
Jason: "You should blog about this."

Well there you have it.  I can and will make breakfast sausage on a more regular basis now.  I'm also wondering how things will go when we move back to the States.  I'm going to have to find a butcher, that's for sure!

Breakfast sausage Ingredients:
2 lbs of ground pork
1 tablespoon of sage
2 teaspoons of marjoram
2 teaspoons of thyme
2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

Method:
1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Form into patties and fry six minutes on each side.
Keeps in the refrigerator for a week.
Lisa's Note: The spice measurements are not an exact science, and what I tend to do while mixing is pinch off a little bit and fry it up to see if I like the flavor. This is what I start with, but feel free to experiment.

I followed the spice quantities exactly, and it was perfect!  I crumbled it, put it on a layer of biscuit dough, smothered it with about 150grams of shredded white cheddar, topped it with another layer of biscuit dough, and put it in a hot oven.  Oh my yum.

Zürich, Day Two

On day two, I still had sticker shock.  Jason found us a relatively cheap lunch location in the Zürich train station.  We were able to eat at Brasserie Federal (the site is in German, but it has pretty pictures) for 10 CHF each!  The Brasserie Federal is a pretty brew house located within the train station.  The Federal Special consisted of a housemade veal* coiled sausage, roll, and a small "side salad."  Side salads here do not quite equate with a side salad in the US (no iceberg), but I enjoyed it.  Mustard comes in tubes, and three types were delivered to our table: mild, hot, and whole kernel.  I'm a hot mustard kind of girl (I know, I know, I hated mustard as a kid, but I can't get enough of the stuff now!), but it overpowered the delicate flavor of the veal, so I went with the mild.  I piled everything into my roll, but Jason opted to eat his with a knife and fork when his coiled sausage started uncoiling and became a mess.  For the price of the meal, we also got a beverage: water, cola, or beer.  Of course, we opted for beer.  It was a standard pils, but brewed in house, so it was pretty tasty for a pils.  We noticed that the guy at the table next to us was drinking a dark beer... so we asked about it.  He was kind enough to left Jason pour a little bit into his glass, and we both feel in love with it!  

After lunch, we wandered across the street to the Swiss National Museum (German: Landesmuseum).  I had done a little bit of research before coming to Zürich, so when I had arrived the night before, we purchased a 72 hour ZürichCARD for each of us.  This card granted us free access to most museums, free public transportation, and a free drink at over 20 restaurants in town.  

The Landesmuseum was quite extensive.  It definitely had a nationalistic feel to it... it even had an room devoted to the banks.  Here they had on display a large set of safety deposit boxes with a few that were open so you could pull them out and see the contents.  Additionally, the museum had a display of the Swiss currency (they've had a five "dollar" coin for quite some time... it makes the half dollar look tiny) and an electronic display of the value of the Swiss Franc through time.  Apparently it has been one of the most stable currencies ever.  At some parts of the museum, Jason and I looked at each other with faces that clearly said, "why on earth is this in this museum?" (eg. Star Wars Legos).  But overall, the museum was lovely.  I think we went through it backwards... it was maze-like.  But, no cameras allowed inside (we even had to leave our camera in the locker with our coats).  I was looking at a cute purse in the gift shop... Jason jokingly guessed the price at 85 CHF, but no, it was 185 CHF.  Either way, the museum was fine with a widely varied collection of items from clothing to reliquaries to paintings to legos.

From the Landesmuseum, we walked down by the lake to the Grossmünster.  This Romanesque-style church is well known in Zürich and entrance is free.  It is quite beautiful, though tiny compared to the beautiful church in Cologne.  Legend has it that Charlemagne founded this church on a Roman burial ground.  You can go up to the top of the church, but they do charge 4CHF for that.  We opted not to see it. 

Across the lake from Grossmünster is the Fraumünster.  It has beautiful stained glass windows by the artist Marc Chagall.  Entrance is also free, though you are not allowed to wander as freely through this building.  It's still quite pretty (any tiny) and worth a visit if you are in Zürich.  Both churches have small gift shops with postcards and the like.  Information on the churches, specifically the stained glass windows, are available in many languages.  If you want to keep the information, a donation is requested.  

We continued our wander down the lake, then up into the streets away from the lake to find a cafe.  It took a lot more effort than expected to find a cafe.  Jason had recently been in Vienna where cafes are a dime a dozen, so we were quite shocked that we had to wander for over 20 minutes to find one.  While we rested (Zürich is quite hilly), we decided to walk back to the hotel on the other side of the lake.  We found another brewery on the way, so we made a mental note to go back there for dinner.  We wandered down a street doing a little window shopping... except it was more like window-ogling.  (Prada, Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Cartiers, Gucci, and Burberry just to name a few)  Surprisingly, I wasn't at all tempted to enter the store... I guess I'm just not interested in luxury right now.  But, we did find one store that tempted us greatly... so we went into the Swiss chocolate store: Sprüngli! Yummy chocolate.  I'm so lucky to have found a partner who likes chocolate as much as I do!  It makes my cravings so much easier to deal with... mainly because he gets them too!

We read for a while back in the hotel room (Jason was reading Bourne Supremacy, I was reading American Wife).  Part of Jason's book takes place in Zürich, so we made plans to explore that part of the city on Sunday.  We were both tired by the time dinner rolled around, so we decided to go back to Brasserie Federal rather than the other brew house we had found since the train station was closer.  I had fish from the lake, and Jason had pork chops.  We each had a Schwarzer Kristall, and then Jason noticed they also had a sampler... so that was next!

Samplers are always a happy end to the day!

*I still haven't figured out my thoughts on veal (ethics wise).  I know it's not my favorite taste for meat, but it's VERY popular in Switzerland, so I went with the whole "When in Rome" thought while there.

Arriving in Zürich

When Jason was in Vienna, he found out about a workshop that was being held in Zürich in February.  He jumped at the chance to go, and this time he was taking me with him.  :)   However, he left Tuesday, and I was going down on Friday to join him once the conference was over.

Friday started out well for me.  Jason had warned me that the connection to Weimar was running late when he went on Tuesday, so I made sure to catch the earlier train to Weimar.  I arrived 30 minutes before my next connection and had the overwhelming desire to get breakfast at McDonalds in the Weimar train station.  I resisted the urge (I haven't eaten there in several years), and grabbed breakfast from the bakery, then headed back up to the platform (2, not 9 3/4).  It was COLD!  But luckily, my train was running on time, so we arrived in Frankfurt with no delays.  The Frankfurt station is much larger than those in Jena and Weimar, so I had a wide range of lunch options.  Knowing that the food wouldn't be any better than that in Jena, I settled on Asian food.  The tables were large, so I joined another woman sitting at a table for 6.  Another couple sat down next to our table, and as it turned out, we all spoke English.  The woman was from Austria, and was in Germany on business.  For the first time in her life, she had missed her connecting train, and unfortunately that also meant she would not be able to use the tickets she had for the theater that night.  Bummer.  The couple was originally from the US, but had spent the last 10 years living in Africa, most recently Namibia.  The were moving back to Washington, D.C., but having a hard time dealing with the snow in Frankfurt, which was not good since this was the same weekend as the snowpocalypse in DC.  We had a lovely lunch, and then I went to check on my train.  I still had thirty minutes before it arrived, but I wanted to make sure it was running on time.  It wasn't.

My train was listed as delayed 50 minutes.  Since train stations are open, they aren't heated, so I wandered into the book store (which was heated).  Compared to the book stores in Jena, it had a huge English section, but only in paperback, so I was unable to find Barbara Kingsolver's new book.   I couldn't actually spend 80 minutes in a book store only filled with pop fiction, so I ended up finding a nice place to stand until the train arrived.  It was an additional 15 minutes late.  That put our train running 65 minutes behind by the time we pulled out of Frankfurt.  Yuck.  But, that does mean I get 25% of the money back from my ticket to Zürich (you get 50% if your train is more than 2 hours delayed).  Small consolation, I know, but I'll take it.  About an hour into our journey, we stopped... the train just sat there for about 15 minutes.  When the conductor came over the intercom after we started moving again, we were 83 minutes delayed.  About 20 minutes before we arrived in Switzerland, the conductor come over the intercom again: the train was now 90 minutes delayed and the Zürich train station would not be able to accommodate the our train.  Our train would stop in Basel and would not go on to Zürich.  Crap.  They gave us the information for a train that would be going to Zürich, platform 9, leaving at 6:33.  We pulled into Basel around 6:05, but I noticed not everyone was getting off the train... What?  I eventually asked someone if she spoke English, and she was able to help me out.  Apparently there are two Basel train stations, but from the static and accent and mumbling, I was unable to get that from what the conductor had said.  We finally started moving again at 6:20 (how the crap was I going to catch a 6:33 train at another station)!  We pulled into the Basel stop at platform 5, and the train arrived just as I was walking down the stairs to platform 9.  I was on, and the train was off.  Phew.  

I arrived in Zürich at 7:29, which means that catching another train did not slow me down any more, which was nice.  Jason met me (thank goodness for our iPhones), and took me back to the hotel so I could put my stuff down.  By this time my lunch was long gone, so we went searching for food.  We finally found a cute little Italian place that we felt like we could afford (prices started at 20 CHF or 15EUR or $20 instead of 40CHF like many other places we saw).  After paying way too much for decent food, Jason took me to a bar he had found that served a Brooklyn IPA!  My first IPA in 6 months!  Heaven.  Smoky bar heaven, but still delicious!  So delicious, I had to take a picture... with my iPhone... in a dark smoky bar with no flash...

Tabs was kind enough to edit it for me so you can see the bottle a bit better. 

Gadgets!

Trying to get cell phone service in Jena has been an ordeal.  We haven't been 100% convinced we wanted them, and when I didn't have a job, they just seemed way too expensive.  You can purchase a pay as you go phone quite easily here, but it seemed silly for us to burn minutes to each other with that kind of plan.

Recently, Jason was told by his doctor that he needed to have his appendix removed.  Without phone service, he had to go home, go online to see if I had gchat open at work (luckily I did).  But I wasn't at my computer, so he had to wait for me to return to let me know he was going to his office to find someone who would go with him to the hospital (our last experience taught us that we might need a translator).  Luckily, I was able to get to Jason quickly, but I had to leave the southwest side of town to head to the north side of town to meet up with someone who could call the person Jason was with to find out where he was so I could meet them.  And the hospital is on the southeast side of town.  Luckily, the bus schedule was on my side that day and I was able to meet up with Jason and Totally Awesome Friend (TAF) before they got to the hospital.  Once Jason saw the doctor, we learned that he did not have appendicitis, so no surgery!  Yay!  But boo for a totally stressful experience.  Jason's parents and sister all decided we needed a better way to contact each other, and set the ball rolling for our new amazing gadgets.

I have an iPhone.  And Jason does too!

After much nail-biting over contracts (do we sign a two year contract when our visas are only for one year?  will T-Mobile actually approve us for a contract? why can't they approve us on a Saturday?), we finally signed a two year contract (after learning that we can break the contract if we move out of the country) on two iPhones.  (2 contracts since family plans are not available here... never to fear though, they only charge minutes against outgoing calls)  The iPhones themselves were only a Euro each (woot!), though the plans are not cheap.  However, they are all inclusive for internet and 3G browsing, so I'm happy.  And so is Jason.

These apps are great!  I didn't realize I'd be an app addict, but I am.  I made chocolate chip cookies today and was able to use my iPhone to find the recipe and have it on hand without having to waste paper to write it down or drag my laptop into the kitchen (of course, 6 months ago I had this particular recipe memorized, so it's funny that I needed it today).  Epicurious has an app that allows me to look up recipes and create a grocery list from the recipe.  You can even check off the items as you get them!  The public transit system in Germany has an app that allows me to access the tram/bus schedule.  It even finds out where you are to show you the closest tram/bus stops without you having to type anything in!

I've only called one person (Jason), and I think we've used a total of 10 minutes in the last week, but we are able to communicate so much more efficiently these days.  When we were out on Wednesday night, Jason checked his email from his iPhone (we were both playing with them... he wasn't ignoring me) and discovered that some friends of his were going making last minute plans to hang out.  It was lovely to be able to join folks on such short notice!  Communication has given me a sense of freedom.  I know that I can make a last minute decision to go somewhere and not have Jason freak out for me being so late getting home (and vice versa).  Thank you iPhone!  :)

Do you have an iPhone?  What is your favorite app?

Globalization....

can be a good thing.  Because sometimes you just need a slice of home!

After much searching, I am still unable to find "real" brown sugar.  The brown sugar available here has a much lower molasses content, such that "packing" it would be impossible.  The flavor is fine, but it's not up there with the stuff available in the US.  So, I decided to make my own brown sugar.  In order to do that, you need molasses.  Well, I can't find that either.  The regular stores don't carry it, but others had mentioned the organic grocery might carry it.... but no luck.  However, I did happen upon Pepperidge Farm cookies at the grocery yesterday.  I was actually looking for Oreos because I've been catching up on my podcasts of The Eclectic Review and Glory had asked whether Oreos were available everywhere.  I've seen them here before, so I was looking again to buy some and take a picture to send her, but I found these cookies instead!  What's even better about these beauties?  I can't read the nutrition facts so that means they don't have any calories... right?  (Notice that the nutrition facts are a sticker placed over the US nutrition facts)

Oh, and if you are looking for birthday gift ideas for me, check out my wish list on Amazon.co.uk!  ;)