Lebensmittelladen (The Grocery Store)

So- in America- I love to go out to eat! I love everything about it. I pretty much live to go out to eat!
Yet, here in Germany, things are a bit different. Most of the German restaurants serve sausage, pretzels, weird other meat products, sauerkraut, etc. I can only eat so much of this before my body craves variety. Also- eating out is taking several risks. First of all, you never know if the hostess or server is going to speak any English (very few people speak good English in our area). And then, if the menu is not in English, you have to risk ordering something you do not like!

For example: Nathan and I went out to lunch on Sunday (nothing is open on Sunday- no grocery stores or markets- so finding something is difficult and when they are open these restaurants are expensive). We ended up at a nearby Chinese restaurant that was open- and serving a "brunch" buffet. The man that greeted us did not speak English and spoke to us in German. We felt safe enough eating there because it was a buffet (even though we had no idea what the man was saying to us). We ordered water (wassau) in German and then answered yes (ja) in German to a series of questions (I thought we were saying yes to sparkling or still water). When we came back to the table, we were shocked because the man had left us these weird shot glasses of sweet wine/liquor/brandy (still unknown). We laughed and drank them but it was so strange- what had we ordered? We just agreed this must be a ritual (like Americans drinking mimosas for brunch) either in Asia or here in Germany. hahaha

P.S. We met some Swiss girls in Prague who had never had a mimosa- and they kindly admitted they thought they tasted nasty after they tried some of mine!

So- to avoid this (and to keep busy) I have been cooking a lot! For some reason, I initially thought the German grocery store would be like the American grocery store. Boy- I was shocked when I got there and everything was in German. (Of course it is in German- I just did not think about it!) Since then I have done my research and can translate some of most important words when shopping- chicken (huhn), vegetables (gemuse), etc. The hardest parts are distinguishing what makes all the creams, yogurts, cheeses different from one another. I finally broke down and asked one of the young girls that worked there if she could tell me which cream could was used for cooking. Also- the eggs and milk are not kept refrigerated- which still kind of freaks me out. Anyway- I am getting more comfortable in the store- and in the kitchen! Here are some pics of what I have made the last few weeks with the ingredients I can find.

I hope to find some cheddar cheese or Mexican food ingredients soon- it is pretty hard around here! But when I do, it is going to be so exciting! haha