Spargel
Thursday 19 June 2008 by nalika
Finally, I am posting my first blogpost in Stomachs on Legs after Maytel has invited me more than once in the past several months :-)
Well, I had been puzzled how Blogger is linked to Gmail and how I log into one and how the other is logged out, etc. Very confusing. I am not tech-savvy. So maybe it's just me.
I had a wonderful conference in southern Belgium in May, and I traveled around a bit in the area after the conference. After spending the weekend in Brussels, I headed out to my potter friend's place in Essen, Germany, and had a relaxing week.
I have always visited Europe in a bitter, cold winter, but this time was
different! Germany was filled with seasonal treat of Spargel, or white asparagus. The evening before I left, we indulged in Spargel, simply boiled with a drop of butter, and enjoyed with hams, supposedly one of the simplest preparations. That was at Japanese and Italian couple's house, though these two people have lived in Germany for almost ten years, so I believe them for its authenticity. And it was good!After I came back to Thailand and had a chat with my American/Honduranian friend who has also been to Germany at the same time, she had a dry comment: why are Germans so excited about such boring food?
What's wrong with white asparagus? I am all for seasonal treat!
During my stay, I have gone through Cologne several times taking trains between Essen and Brussels, Koblenz, etc. and even spent a half day hopping around museums. Sorry I missed a chance to see you kinakojam in Cologne! I guess my plans were rather spontaneous. Next time!
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hey Nalika, great post.
I know what you mean about German's and bland food. But the world needs bland food too and who better than the Germans to champion it.
Although I've never been to Germany, I've always imagined it as "man heaven"... wonderoud place full of sausages and beer. A place I imagine would make Hock very very happy
Yah, bland food, that also reminds me of another American friend of mine coining a word "beige food" to refer to brown rice, tofu, and all the healthy treats. No problem, I love my beige food.
Sausages were everywhere, so were beers. Very maccho indeed. I was a little sad to leave Belgium for their food...
oh and the beer in Belgium... is also fabulous.
ha.. I love beige food too.
and sometimes, slimy food has its place too - that's the chief attribute of white spargel to me... it's peeled and generally cooked longer or gratineed so the effect is more juicy/slimy compared to how I would normally eat green aspara....
and that can be good sometimes e.g. the other day I had a crispy crepe with spargel, cheese & ham, and it was yummy...
sorry to have missed you Nalika, maybe it was my fault? I also have had a visitor from overseas (my brother) and we've been in Barcelona & Antwerp this month - a very busy month! And now I have one week to prepare me & Erik's wedding!! cripes...
by the way, German food (traditional food) is definitely very...hearty...but if cakes are girly, the cakes here can be exquisite (perfect level of sweetness and fruit or poppy seed components) if not so daintily presented as the french..
also (about the macho factor)..
there are organic markets on every corner ...many in my neighbourhood are way more likely to be found drinking carbonated organic Holunder-petal drinks, and eating light & springy rye sourdough with bio-dynamic smoked tofu and sprouts......
so although, trad german food might be muscle-building, it's way easier to be healthy and girlish about wholegrains here than in most european countries.....
Hi kinakojam, hope you are having a fun prep time for your wedding!
Right, bio markets and supermarkets were indeed here and there. I liked a bio breakfast cereal which was popped quinoa and unsweetened dried strawberries, very hearty but am sure quinoa may have come from a long distance.
And yes, the hearty German bread is great! But I have to be careful because I cracked my molar not just once but twice with German bread in the past!!! Not necessarily were they hard, but very bouncy...
oh my god, that is crazy that you cracked your tooth.... I have never had an experience like that....next time I hope I can introduce you to the wide range of tasty, chewy-soft, non-harmful breads!!
i am sure, like everywhere, the biomarkts do a lot of not-so-enviro-friendly importing, (I've blogged about this concern on here)
but then again, there is a big industry around organic Spelt (traditionally grown in Germany) which has a much bigger market here than other more 'niche' grains like quinoa, and a lot of organic companies (like Demeter) are exported to other countries. I was quite surprised how much stuff in the organic store in Kaiteriteri, NZ, came all the way from Germany...
bad.
Anyways, selfishly, I am glad to have the biomarkt boom in Germany....
They is actually an organic standards-committee that investigates the production of products that claim to be organic, so it is possible to choose only products that passed the 'öko-test'.
I wish they would have an 'ethics-test' also, for fair treatment of animals/people who produced the commodities.