Anatomy of a German Supermarket

Beer: Radeberger, Jever, Kostritzer, Bitburger, Rothaus, Pilsner Urquell, Carlsberg, Zwyciek, Becks, Berliner Kindl, Clausthaler, Warsteiner, Sternburg, Paulaner, Lowebrau, Schofferhofer, Veltins

Pickled Things: carrots, peppers, green beans, cucumbers (of course), asparagi, beets, corn, onions, green beans, mushrooms

Juice: orange, apple, black currant, grapefruit, mango, grape, peach, pear, cherry, mixed fruit, carrot, tomato, pineapple, red beet, sauerkraut

Seasoning packets containing MSG (mostly Knorr brand products): meat boullion, chicken boullion, vegetable boullion, fat boullion, cauliflower cream soup, onion soup, potato soup, tomato soup, cream of mushroom soup, tomato sauce, wiener schnitzel sauce, curry wurst sauce, ali baba sauce, herb and cheese sauce, roast meat sauce, roast meat cream sauce, hunter sauce

Yogurt: apricot, peach, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, bluberry, lemon, banana, vanilla, chocolate

Tomato products: ketchup, curry ketchup, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste in a tube

Haribo: frogs, coke bottles, peaches, sour cherries, sharks, berries, vampires, bears (of course), mice, rings, wine flavor, slugs, soccer balls, licorice

Meat: bockwurst, wieners, bratwurst, beer sausage, onion sausage, red tongue sausage, salami, ham, bacon, liverwurst, veal liverwurst, mortadella, pork filet, steak, head cheese, poultry head cheese, jellied meat

It was my last night at Camalo and Kartsen's house so I wanted to make them something nice. Here is the meal which I created based solely on ingredients procured from the aforementioned Turkish market.

Bulgar Wheat Pilaf with Olives, Dates and Pine Nuts

The inspiration for this dish

was the sweet and savory combination of olives and dates. I was originally thinking couscous but was intrigued by the bulgar wheat as I haven't really experimented with it much. For broth-to-grain ratio, you should consult the instructions on the package.

ingredients:

butter

curry powder

minced shallots

bulgar wheat

broth

chopped dates

olives

pine nuts

Heat the butter and add the curry powder. Stir it around for a minute or so.

Add the shallots and saute until they're soft.

Add the bulgar wheat and toast it for a few minutes before adding the broth.

Cook it for about 20 minutes until the grains are slightly al dente.

Stir in the dates, olives and pine nuts.

Chopped Salad with Mint-Lime Yogurt Dressing

Should I call this Mojito dressing?

Firstly I wanted to utilize the market's abundant selection of fresh herbs in this dressing. And the other main ingredient, yogurt, was just an obvious and unavoidable choice. You can get the creamy Turkish style in every supermarket here. (BTW there is even a chain of Middle Eastern supermarkets here about which I might have to dedicate an entire post.) Ghiselle, the almost 2-year-old with whom I've been cohabitating, is also a huge fan of yogurt. We generally have pretty similar food preferences, as her other favorites are tomatoes and cheese. Actually when she says the word for cheese in German, “käse”, it sounds quite similar to her pronunciation of my name, “Cheesa,” This has been a source of disappointment for me on a number of occasions, as it's always more likely that she's referring to cheese than to me.

salad:

radishes

fennel

cucumber

tomatoes

green onions

feta cheese

dressing:

minced garlic

lime juice

honey

finely chopped mint leaves

yogurt

salt

pepper

So obvious that you probably don't need me to tell you:

Chop all the vegetables into small pieces. Crumble the feta on top.

Combine dressing ingredients.

Toss the salad with the dressing.

Der Türkenmarkt

I've been extremely busy sorting everything out here in Berlin: job, house, school, bike, etc. So not much of a post today but I mostly just wanted to share these photos.

Berlin is immense, yet somehow my favorite thing in the whole city is just two blocks away from my friends' house where I'm staying right now: the Turkish Market. I've already been there 3 times in the 10 days since I arrived.

Here is just a round up of some of the very English activities that I have engaged in during my last week in London:

#1. I have been to several pubs, the best of which was The Albany on Great Portland Street. Mike and I were convinced that the place had to be a reputable establishment when we saw a gentleman whose bag read "Milan Hipster Convention 2006" entering the front door.

#2. I have watched a bit of English telly, including such programs as "Master Chef," "Come Dine with Me" (a dinner party competition), and my all-time favorite "Escape to River Cottage" with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall (this episode was all about strawberries!). Why can't we have quality programs like this in America?

#3. I have pretended that it was summer when the sun finally emerged after a solid week of gloom, although the temperature was still only 60 degrees. The two parks where I have attempted to sunbathe are Parson's Green, where Veronica and I went to recover and read the Guardian after a big night out, and Hyde Park. I have to say that they left me missing Dolores. But two advantages that London parks do have are that drinking in public is legal here, and there is absolutely no risk of sunburn.

#4. I have been to tea at Harrod's. Cucumber sandwiches, check. Scones with clotted cream, check. And also some fantastic rose jam that (quite predictably) I instantly fell in love with. On the way to the tea room you must pass through "Luxury Room I" and "Luxury Room II," after which you make your way up the Egyptian Escalator. Bet you did not know how they got to the tops of those pyramids.

At some point during the tea, either Jana or Veronica mentions baby skinny jeans, of which we then feel compelled to verify the existence. So when we're through we scour the children's section: Burberry, Dior, Armani, Ralph Lauren, etc. We don't exactly find any, but it's quite an enlightening survey of haute couture for the very young.

#5. I have gone to karaoke at an East End pub where some of the regular patrons were not equipped with the requisite number of teeth.

#6. I have eaten fish and chips, beans on toast, curry, meat pie (chicken with bacon and leek, to be exact), and Haribo candy.

#7. I have gone to markets, which is my most favorite thing ever to do in London. Borough, Columbia Flower and Spitalfields Markets.

And here are some very English things that I have not done: I have not used any fake tanning lotion, although the "baked potato" look seems to be very hot right now, or bleached my hair. I swear there are more fake blondes in this town than in LA. Usually these two are sported simultaneously, resulting in an overall appearance that is something like this. I have also not worn a dangerously short skirt, which seems to be a popular English pastime. I actually saw a woman walking down the street who had unwittingly passed beyond the danger zone and entered into the realm of full daylight exposure. Also, perhaps most incredibly, I have consumed neither a late-night kebab not a single pack of crisps.