in which I miss Austria (and complain a LOT)
Well, now I've been in Minneapolis for a couple weeks, once again adjusting to living in a new place. I'm all moved in, and my roommates are great, but my walls are still annoyingly bare, so no pics until I make a decision on how to deal with my massive postcard collection and get that sorted out.
I went on my inaugural grocery store trip with one of my roommates, whereupon I learned how annoying I must be whenever I mention Austria. Part of me can't help it though - it's where I WAS for the past two years. It's not like I'm just going to not mention it. But at the grocery store, it got to be a bit much. It was like every aisle we went down, I had some gripe about how things were different here.
Did you know mayonnaise mustard, and most importantly, tomato paste all come in squeeze tubes in Austria? Not such a big deal for the first two, but I was complaining about how stupid it is that I have to buy a 6 oz. can of tomato paste, when I know nothing I'm going to cook for myself will require nearly that much. It's so much more convenient to just be able to squeeze out the amount you need, screw the cap back on, and put it back in the fridge to be well preserved until the next time you need it - like any other condiment.
I went again yesterday and wanted a ball of mozzarella in water. I think this would be like 89 cents at one of the chain stores in Austria, but it was $3.99 at the one here. And certainly no cheaper at the co-op. Obviously it's something that's commonly associated with food originating much closer to Austria than here, but it's not like it has to be imported or that the cost of production would be so vastly different across the ocean. SO STUPID. And no, I don't want a hard block of it from the super processed cheese case. Other things, fine, but not this.
Also, I wanted to make Käsespätzle yesterday, but the store only had one kind of those noodles, and they were really expensive (considering they're noodles). So I guess I might have to actually try to MAKE those myself. *sigh* (One of my roommates is totally in support of us making our own mozzarella, too though, so maybe that will be another problem solved.)
Store bought apple juice tastes sickeningly sweet and processed, and I don't know WHY. It says it's 100% juice, but it just tastes so different and smoother, like it has no character. Maybe I need to buy the cloudy stuff.
Alright, what are the good things? I still haven't made any Mexican food, now that it's widely available - I guess I'm just not craving it like I was when I was away. Mint chocolate chip ice cream is readily available! A big plus. I think the produce stays fresher longer here, probably because it's been treated with all sorts of pesticides or is genetically modified....so ultimately not great things, but good for instant gratification. Oh, and we had an explosion of tomatoes in our pre-planted "garden", so that was great. I don't think anyone's been out to look at them in a while, but we got something like 13 at once. And a massive cucumber. Also, it's great to have a couple huge chain stores AND a local co-op within walking distance - though I still haven't found pumpkin seed oil anywhere. Maybe if I looked harder. Or online.
Oh! One last thing - we have quite the cookbook collection going on here, and it's great. I went through a few of my roommate's Moosewood cookbooks and found some tasty-looking recipes that I'm looking forward to trying out, though just looking at the recipes made me really hungry. One of the cookbooks had a section on Eastern European recipes though, which of course just made me even more nostalgic. But whatever. I'm dealing. It's just weird, since this is the week left for Austria the past 2 years, and I have friends who are going back. But not me.
Good thing there's plenty to do in Minneapolis.
I went on my inaugural grocery store trip with one of my roommates, whereupon I learned how annoying I must be whenever I mention Austria. Part of me can't help it though - it's where I WAS for the past two years. It's not like I'm just going to not mention it. But at the grocery store, it got to be a bit much. It was like every aisle we went down, I had some gripe about how things were different here.
Did you know mayonnaise mustard, and most importantly, tomato paste all come in squeeze tubes in Austria? Not such a big deal for the first two, but I was complaining about how stupid it is that I have to buy a 6 oz. can of tomato paste, when I know nothing I'm going to cook for myself will require nearly that much. It's so much more convenient to just be able to squeeze out the amount you need, screw the cap back on, and put it back in the fridge to be well preserved until the next time you need it - like any other condiment.
I went again yesterday and wanted a ball of mozzarella in water. I think this would be like 89 cents at one of the chain stores in Austria, but it was $3.99 at the one here. And certainly no cheaper at the co-op. Obviously it's something that's commonly associated with food originating much closer to Austria than here, but it's not like it has to be imported or that the cost of production would be so vastly different across the ocean. SO STUPID. And no, I don't want a hard block of it from the super processed cheese case. Other things, fine, but not this.
Also, I wanted to make Käsespätzle yesterday, but the store only had one kind of those noodles, and they were really expensive (considering they're noodles). So I guess I might have to actually try to MAKE those myself. *sigh* (One of my roommates is totally in support of us making our own mozzarella, too though, so maybe that will be another problem solved.)
Store bought apple juice tastes sickeningly sweet and processed, and I don't know WHY. It says it's 100% juice, but it just tastes so different and smoother, like it has no character. Maybe I need to buy the cloudy stuff.
Alright, what are the good things? I still haven't made any Mexican food, now that it's widely available - I guess I'm just not craving it like I was when I was away. Mint chocolate chip ice cream is readily available! A big plus. I think the produce stays fresher longer here, probably because it's been treated with all sorts of pesticides or is genetically modified....so ultimately not great things, but good for instant gratification. Oh, and we had an explosion of tomatoes in our pre-planted "garden", so that was great. I don't think anyone's been out to look at them in a while, but we got something like 13 at once. And a massive cucumber. Also, it's great to have a couple huge chain stores AND a local co-op within walking distance - though I still haven't found pumpkin seed oil anywhere. Maybe if I looked harder. Or online.
Oh! One last thing - we have quite the cookbook collection going on here, and it's great. I went through a few of my roommate's Moosewood cookbooks and found some tasty-looking recipes that I'm looking forward to trying out, though just looking at the recipes made me really hungry. One of the cookbooks had a section on Eastern European recipes though, which of course just made me even more nostalgic. But whatever. I'm dealing. It's just weird, since this is the week left for Austria the past 2 years, and I have friends who are going back. But not me.
Good thing there's plenty to do in Minneapolis.