Monday, May 7, 2012

The things we eat.

My 5 year old was the pickiest eater and if given the choice of eating or not, he usually chose not. His lack of interest in food caused him to fall off the weight charts.
When we first arrived here we bought many different types of deli styled meats, so we could find the ones our kids would eat regularly, it normally ended in bolognas, salamis, hams with paprika seasoning, and many more being shoved to the back of the refrigerator. Gouda cheese, which is the most common and cheapest cheese, was eaten by the block daily, but meat was not consumed with the same flourish. Then one day fish was introduced to Jack and there has been no looking back. It turns out that our picky eater wasn't picky, we were just feeding him the wrong things. He has eaten a raw fish sandwich, fish and chips(hold the chips), caviar, herring filet, and the thing that I could hardly look at, a seafood pizza with 5 different types of seafood, including tentacles, from what we aren't sure. Back home he loved goat cheese and blue cheese so perhaps we should have guessed that the stinkier the food the better, but what kid would rather have fish over grilled cheese?





His desire to eat stinky food was again proven when I accidentally bought liverwurst, instead of the mini weenies I had actually planned on buying. The same company makes both, and there is a fox who says," Meine mini- wurstkind," the kids have fallen prey to this advertising, so without reading the label I picked up a product with this fox smiling up at me practically guaranteeing my children will love whatever he is selling. Once out of the store I show Pete my purchases and upon seeing my fox purchase he leans in to whisper what I have actually bought, but we agree not to tell the boys right now since they can be easily be deterred.  It turns out that the wily fox was correct because my children devoured those mini packets of liverwurst.



We have discovered white brats and the correct way to eat them. They are usually eaten for breakfast or what I would call brunch, and you either just toss them on a grill for a few minutes or you can pre-cook water then toss them on for a few minutes. Two very important things to remember: 1. With white brats you must take the skin off before you eat them 2. You must always serve them with a sweet mustard. You are also supposed to eat it with a large pretzel and white beer. PS. Do not boil them.
We learned, on our own, that you do not cook green and white asparagus the same way. Pete makes great green asaparagus, so we figured just make it the same way- please do not do that. It will not cut, it will sort of shred and it will taste like earth. After our failed attempt I looked it up online, and discovered it is quite a different process. First of all, there is a special asparagus utensil that is used to shred it before you do anything else. Then there is a special slotted pot you use just for asparagus that allows the asparagus to stand up and not touch the other pieces,you do not want it to bend while cooking. Also, the white aspragus here isn't a side dish that you think will taste pretty good with your chicken or just because you need to feed the kids a vegetable. No, it is the meal. Hollandaise Sauce is always advertised with it and so is Riesling. You can add meat and there is a cheese, I forget the name, that is often paired with it. During Spargel season many restaurants have one menu that is just a Spargel Karte. We haven't attempted it again, but but we don't have a kitchen. I hope to try it soon, made the correct way.

2 comments:

Wendy said...

How fun! I love this post! I love hearing all the fun and crazy things you're eating. What an amazing experience. I love trying new things and this is the ultimate adventure. Good for you.

Carrie said...

How interesting!
Wow! Who knew that you had to prepare white asparagus a different way...
Have you tried the sauerkraut?