Cooking Adventures

 It has been a while since I have posted anything, and I think it's about time I get back into the blogging mode.  Even though this study abroad experience is for a much different purpose than when I was in Ireland (travel versus actually living), I have had no shortage of new experiences.  Since you all already know that I love food (it's not too hard to figure out), I thought I'd share my experiences making food in Germany.

I very much enjoy cooking, but especially baking.  I love to see how the batter changes with every ingredient and how it becomes closer and closer to the final product.  I have never tried to bake anything extremely complicated at home or here in Germany, so I usually have very few problems.  In Germany, however, even the simplest recipes here can be tricky.  New country, new challenges.

Since arriving, I have baked a birthday cake, chocolate chip cookies, carrot cake (once as a cake, once as cupcakes) and pumpkin bread (twice).  Out of the six times I've baked, only once was the result close to what it would have been in the US.  It was about a year-and-a-half ago when I became interested in baking and cooking and since then I have learned much about the culinary arts; usually what I learn is what to do better.  In the last two-and-a-half months in Germany, everything I've learned has been what not to do.

Cookies, cakes and quick breads are perhaps the easiest desserts to bake, but as I have recently learned, even the easiest of recipes can easily be messed up.  This is how to mess-up a recipe in Germany:

1.  The ingredients:  What is rapeseed oil anyway?  And is it that different than sunflower oil?  They both look the same.  Why can't I just use the age-old standby, vegetable oil?  Oh, that's because they don't have that here, or, at least not to my intermediate-level-German mind's knowledge.  Speaking of ingredients they don't have--Can I have some All-Purpose Flour please?  Flour in German is categorized by numbers from 400 and above and needless to say, these numbers mean absolutely nothing to me.  Grocery shopping usually goes like this:
"Um, excuse me?" I say to a sales-clerk that has no idea what she is getting into by talking to me.
Me: "What do these numbers...uh...mean? "
Sales-clerk: "They are different types of flour."
Me: "OK, well, I am making...I mean, I make a cake [that's correct German grammar translated into English].  Which..um...flour? should I use?"
Sales-clerk: "Uh-huh.  OK.  450 is good."
 Me:  "So, that's, uhh, good for cakes, and cookies...and et cetera?  I don't want to make bread"
SC:  "Exactly."
Me:  "OK, great, thanks.  Now, do you have baking powder?"
SL: "Of course we have baking powder."
Me:  "OK, right.  Well, actually I don't need baking powder.  It's only called that in English, but it's something different--It's American baking powder, but it is called something different here.  Not baking powder.  We use it for...like...cake?  I don't actually know how it's different."
SC: "Well we have baking powder."
Me:  "Is that all?"
SC: "I'm not sure what you mean..."
Me (flustered and red):  "Um, yeah, me either, actually.  OK, no problem.  Thanks for the help.  Oh by the way, do you have brown sugar??"

As you can see, grocery shopping for ingredients here can be an endless cycle of confusion.  I did eventually find American baking powder, but like most things, I usually have to have a very long and confused conversation with someone before we come to a conclusion.  When I made carrot cake a very similar situation happened.  Try looking for creamed cheese in Germany--It will be a scavenger hunt:
First, dairy aisle.
Second, look for cheese.
Third, is it the hard cheese or soft cheese aisle?  If it's soft,  you're in the wrong aisle (I know that does not make any sense).
Four, check to see what the fat content is.
Five, Oh you found Philadelphia Cream Cheese!  Cool!  But sorry, it only comes in flavors, and vegetable cream cheese frosting just won't taste good.  Go back to step four.
Six, you found something like it?  Awesome.  Now how much fat content does it actually have?  Only 60 percent--sorry no good.
And so on.

At the age of 22, I'm fairly used to grocery stores and what they sell.  Moving to another country, though, sets you back by about 15 years.  I am that seven year-old again, who, when her mom sends her to find a food, has to go back to the aisle three or four times before finding the right thing.  Or I am that strange person who spends way too much time in front of the same display, looking much too engrossed by the bags of flour.

2.  The measurements:  As Americans, we know that our measuring system is pretty messed up.  I have asked myself so many times since arriving in Germany why we are the only country who just could not accept the world-standard of measurements.  Did our country's organizers realize what a disservice they were doing to the future of their country's people?  Ask any science major and I'm sure they'll have plenty to say about it.  Included in this measuring system is how we measure ingredients.  I brought along with me from home a liquid measuring cup, but sadly I am lacking dry ingredient cups and spoons.   That leaves me to deal with the European strategy for baking--Measuring with a scale.  To make this more interesting, my host mother's scale is not digital and was probably produced in the 1970s or 80s.  I seriously doubt its accuracy.  To bake something here, I have to convert the recipe to the best of my non-science ability (thank goodness for AllRecipes.com and its conversion scale) and then measure as accurately as possible on a scale, whose most accurate measurement is increments of 20 grams.  The scale is not too much of a problem until I want to measure only 8 grams of the important ingredients--such as baking powder/soda.  The problem with a non-digital scale that only measures in increments of 20 grams is that, when it comes to measuring a very important and exact 8 grams of leavening agent, the scale hardly registers there is anything there at all.  To add to the fun, the little packets of the baking soda/powder aren't always marked with how much the contents weigh.   Being completely not used to the metric system added to my lackluster equipment make for some very questionable guesswork.

4.  The oven  Celsius + Crazy oven settings depicted only in pictures (what, may I ask, do just two lines mean??) + non-American pans = More guesswork.

5.  Not following the recipe.  OK, I'll admit, I can't blame the new grocery stores, measuring system or crazy oven settings for this one.  This is just my age-old problem of not completely reading the directions coming back to haunt me.  It still doesn't help my cooking cause, though.

So, yes, it is true that most of what I have baked here was either too moist, such as the pumpkin bread whose consistency was somewhere between bread and very solid gelatin; too dry, such as the cookies, which were baked with a close relative of bread flour and raw sugar instead of brown sugar; or just completely different, like the cream cheese frosting, which would more probably be called "incredibly-sugary-yogurt."  However, there is also the occasional triumph, such as the carrot cake I made last week: It had the proper amount of ingredients, perfect cake consistency and frosting that was almost as solid as it should be, thanks to the most fat-packed cream cheese I could find.  It is always embarrassing for a cook to make something that does not turn out right.  It can be even more embarrassing when said cook is trying to prove to her host family that she does know how to cook and does know how to properly combine ingredients.  Therefore, the small successes are even better and of course, sweet (get it?).  Cooking in general can always be interesting, but I now know that cooking in a new country is not just interesting, but undoubtedly lands itself in the "adventure" category.

My new tools, specifically the scale on the left and the Kaiser Natron, which is American baking powder.

Measuring pumpkin with the scale

A Success Story:  Birthday Cake

A Success Story: The Sequel--Carrot Cake

All about the Kleinigkeiten

As I have already mentioned many times in this blog, living abroad can be a really different experience or it can feel fairly similar.  Having a routine with classes--that is similar.  Speaking a new language, eating some new foods, living with people that two months ago I had never even heard from...those type of not-so-small things are not the same.  I have discovered in the last two months many little things have occurred, which balance out the big things.  The word "Kleinigkeiten" in German roughly means, the details or little things.  Until you're in a new situation, like college, a new city or studying abroad (or all three rolled in one), you might not notice how the little Kleinigkeiten can make a huge difference.  The following is a list of Kleinigkeiten--some of which make me laugh, some of which make me feel like I'm welcomed in Germany and some just simply random--from the past two months.

1.  German chocolate/food/bread  I have already touched on my German food experience, but I don't think I've adequately expressed my appreciation for the chocolate and bread.  I am 100 percent positive this will not come as a surprise, but German bread and chocolate are amazing and for someone who could live off of both, it's particularly delicious.  Bremen has its own famous chocolate maker, Hachez, which is not difficult to adore.  Fresh bread almost every day is also a bread-lover's dream.  The other day I bought a "monche-baguette" on my way to a movie night at my language school.  I really have no idea how a monche-baguette is different from a normal baguette...Normally at the baker I simply pick a sign in the vicinity of the bread I want and usually I receive the opposite of what I intended--Bread adventures!  Either way, the bread is always good and when I bit into my piece of the monche-baguette I actually involuntarily thought, "Thank you, God, for inventing white bread."  I kid you not--My bread obsession might actually be a fetish now.  I'm definitely in trouble.

2.  When Bus 33 comes instead of 34  When I take 34 I have to walk 7 extra minutes to my house, but with 33, it's almost as close to my house as the school bus was in those sad, school-bus-taking days.  When you're exhausted and are walking roughly as fast as a unstable two-year-old, the 33 bus is really appreciated. 

3.  Charly the Dog  My host family has a dog Charly, and while he's not as awesome as my two puppy-dogs, Charly is a pretty good second for the year.  Charly is a big, red, Irish Setter and he has definitely become my pal.  Charly and I run together, I give him treats and I always pet him when I come home; therefore I am also Charly's pal.  It's nice how easy it is to win the affection of a dog.  Charly is also an impressive dog.  I'm most impressed by how he can open doors with a flat handel instead of a knob.  I discovered this one day when there was I thunder storm and I was alone.  I was in my bathroom and the door was closed and next thing I knew the door was opening and in came Charly, much to my surprise.  At first I thought it was the Japanese student that was living with us at the time, but no, it was poor Charly, afraid of the thunder.  

4.  Talking with my host family  It is a kind of funny thing when the most exciting part of your day is talking with your host family in German, but on so many days it really is.  It is an amazing feeling holding a conversation in another language and realizing halfway through that you're actually doing it.  It's so satisfying and it makes it worth the mass amount of effort.  It also is such a happy feeling being included in conversation and feeling that the family is interested in me.  Living with a host family is a really strange concept, when one really thinks about it, and little moments of conversational victory are really important.  A definite Kleinigkeit.

5.  Rittersport Slogan  Rittersport is easily some of the BEST chocolate I have eaten.   The variety of flavors and unbeatable deliciousness of each one is one of the biggest perks of living in Germany.  To make Rittersport even more lovable, though, is its extremely German and extremely funny slogan, "Practical.  Square.  Good."  For those of you who have never had Rittersport, it comes in a big square and the packaging makes it easy to break the chocolate exactly in half while simultaneously opening the plastic.  This packaging is indeed practical and yes, it is also indeed square.  These are two things one could easily observe and perhaps would not be advertised in the US.   However, we're talking about Germany and in Germany practicality and logic are highly valued.  This would explain why instead of advertising how unbelievably delicious Rittersport is as the first characteristic, the chocolate company has decided instead to advertise just how logical its chocolate is.  Needless to say, the Americans in my group find this extremely amusing, especially after observing other ways Germans promote practicality and logic in most facets of life.

6.  Getting a bike  Most people would probably be indifferent about getting a bicycle, but not me.  No, when I got my bicycle I was definitely as excited as a 16-year-old getting their first car, crappy or not.  My bike arrived and I instantly wanted to ride it.  Waiting for my host dad to oil it and tune it up was like a little kid waiting to open presents on Christmas--in short, I was very inpatient.  My bike is a funny little thing, too.  Until last night, the squeaking of the handle bars negated any need for a bell (which all bikes need here--see post about Amsterdam).  When I rode down the street I always passed people looking directly at me and my squeaky bike.  As I rode past I heard mutterings, which I strongly suspect were about my squeaking, peace-disrupting bike.  It really is a wonderful thing to have a bike in Bremen, considering it is so flat and having a bike makes it much easier to get around.  My house here is relatively far from the middle of the city and normally I have to time my trips carefully around the bus and tram schedules.  Not anymore, though, I've got wheels and I feel the freedom. :)

7.  Peoples' hair colors  In the last two months, I have truly been impressed and also slightly appalled by some of the hair colors I have seen here.  Not only do some of the hair colors defy the laws of nature, but they also only match other unnatural things, such as Crayola markers.  My personal favorite colors have been the dark purple and florescent pink.  I have also see neon orange, but I prefer the pink and purple.  Clearly some people in Bremen have a lot of confidence to choose those hair colors, and for that I suppose I should respect them.  That's not to say, though, I can't laugh behind my book, too. 

8.  Werder Bremen fans  Just like any proud city, the people in Bremen are very proud of their sports teams, more specifically the soccer team Werder Bremen.  I myself am becoming a Werder fan and I even have a scarf, which means I can be a real fan!  Soccer fans are famous for their passion and perhaps more famous for their insanity.  I understand this more and more every time I see a two-year-old wearing a Werder hat or jersey.  A little boy I now babysit for even has a metal Werder bread tin that he carries in his teeny-tiny Werder backpack.  This little boy also likes to dance to the Werder Bremen fan songs.  In short, the little mini-Werder fans are much cuter and lovable than the big, scary, German-screaming fans, but I love the spirit all the same.  

So there you have it, a little taste of what I see from day to day or what makes me smile.  People always say it's the little things in life that are important; I am finding that that is never truer than when living abroad.