Incoherent Scribblings

One of the items on my 101 Things in 1001 Days list is to “eat a vegetarian diet for a week.” This is an item that I have been pondering off and on quite a bit over the past few weeks because once again, I have fallen into one of my I-hate-cooking-and-food-in-general moods.

This anti-cooking sentiment reached its peak last weekend when I thought I was in the mood for one of my favorite dishes. I bought all the ingredients and made it, but once it was ready and I sat down to eat I wanted to throw it out after two bites. It wasn’t that it wasn’t good. It was. It just didn’t appeal to me. So I put the left-overs in the fridge and the next day I tried to eat it again (usually it is even better the second day), but even then I didn’t find it appetizing. I gave up and threw it out.

As a result, last week I began to think that perhaps a temporary change in eating habits might lift me out of my mood. Therefore I began to wonder if I was ready to implement the challenge of eating a vegetarian diet for a week.

So I started doing a little research on vegetarianism. I found this somewhat difficult because a lot of information out there is little more than militant propaganda (PETA anyone?), but eventually I found some advice for people who are considering vegetarianism. One of the things most often suggested is to try vegetarianism for thirty days and eat meatless meals that appeal to you. You don’t have to eat asparagus and tofu right off the bat. It is OK to eat spaghetti with meatless sauce and baked potatoes. You also don’t have to wake up one morning and completely give up meat. You can gradually wean yourself off of it. This type of advice was what I was looking for and was all I needed to decide that I am ready to begin my vegetarian experiment.

When I wrote this challenge for my 101 Things list I wrote it fairly simple because I thought if I left it as merely “a vegetarian diet for a week” I might accomplish it. However, I had hoped to not just eat a vegetarian diet for a week, but actually sit down and do a vegetarian meal plan as well. I wanted to find vegetarian recipes that sounded good and give them a try.

However, I have not yet seriously looked for any such recipes and given my current mood concerning food, I am not sure that a week is enough to get me out of this funk. Therefore, as most places suggest, I have decided to try vegetarianism for thirty days as opposed to one week.

Nevertheless I have also decided that I will not completely forbid myself from eating meat. In other words, I will allow myself to eat meat only if I go out to eat. This does not mean that I will circumvent my experiment by eating out every night or require myself to eat meat if I go out, rather I will not deny myself a steak if I am at a restaurant and I want it.

As a general rule though, for the next month I resolve to no longer buy or cook meat and will actively search for and try one vegetarian recipe a week. In a month I will evaluate the state of affairs and at that point determine if I am really the carnivore I always thought I was.

Potluck Quiche
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

I made these quiches for the potluck that we are having at the library tomorrow. I never actually signed the sheet we had in the office because I couldn’t decide what to make, but about 4:30 this afternoon I started browsing through the recipes that I have archived from the daily recipe email that I get to see if I could find some inspiration.

Though neither of the recipes I ended up making were in my personal archive, I was inspired by one for a quiche. Since it wasn’t quite what I was looking for, I browsed through Allrecipes.com until I found three candidates. The first was a traditional Quiche Lorraine, the second a broccoli quiche, and the third was a zucchini quiche. Though the zucchini quiche sounded very tasty, in the end I decided to make the Quiche Lorraine (pictured on the left) and the Easy Broccoli Quiche (pictured on the right).

I chose the Quiche Lorraine because it is what most people think of when they think of quiche. I chose the broccoli quiche because I like broccoli and I always make things for potlucks that I like, but also because I know we have some vegetarians at the library and I wanted to make sure they had something to eat too.

After a quick trip to the store to buy some pie tins, a cheese grater, and the ingredients for both quiches, I began to cook. According to the recipes the prep time for each quiche should have been somewhere in the vicinity of 20 minutes, but it took me closer to 45 to prepare them simultaneously. I am not sure if I am badly organized or what, but the estimated prep time on a recipe is never how long it takes me! The cook time on the recipe indicated that each quiche should have been done in about 30 minutes, but the broccoli quiche didn’t firm up until it had been in the oven for about 45 minutes and the Quiche Lorraine took nearly an hour.

I watched them closely to prevent the pie crust from burning and thus far I am pleased with how they turned out. The real test, however, will be tomorrow at the potluck. Hopefully they will taste as good as they look and smell right now.

This blog entry is dedicated to my stitching friend Vash, who emailed me to tell me how much she was missing my “Culture Shock” entries.

It just so happens that while I have been over here I got an email from someone asking me if “[I] could provide some advice about food or products that are common in the U.S., but rare or nonexistent in Germany.” The person apparently wanted to put together a package of “typical” American goodies for her German relatives.

I am sure the person knew that right now I am visiting the U.S., but it still struck me as ironic that it was at this moment in my life that someone was asking my advice about American food. Because as I told her,

[Y]ou wouldn’t believe the crap (like Cheetos) that I have been eating because you just don’t find it in Germany! What I have noticed on my trip back home is that the American products I have missed most is “junk food” like Kraft Mac and Cheese, instant pudding, Fruity Pebbles, Club Crackers, ranch dressing, Red Vines Licorice, and of course the aforementioned Cheetos.

And you know, I gotta tell you… when I reread my little list of all those pitiful American “delicacies” that I had been craving, it sure does make me feel awfully white-trashy!

1. What are you thankful for this year?

I am thankful that in a little over a month I am going home to see my family for the first time in three and a half years.

2. Does your family eat turkey or ham for the Thanksgiving meal? Or do you do both? Or do you do something completely different?

Traditionally, my dad’s family eats fried bread dough for Thanksgiving. (I wrote about this last year. You can read more about our fried bread tradition here.) My mom’s side of the family is more traditional and serves a good old turkey.

3. What’s your favorite Thanksgiving side dish?

No question about it… stuffing! (I also wrote about this last year and even included a recipe!)

4. What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dessert?

My favorite dessert is one that is always served on Mom’s side of the family and is a Norwegian dessert called lefsa/lefse. It is essentially a fried potato pancake with a butter and brown sugar mixture stuffed inside. When my great-grandma and grandma were still alive they made it for all our holidays. Now that they are both gone my mom makes it… I really need to have her show me how to make it when I am home in January.

5. Are you going out shopping on Black Friday? If not, what are you going to do on the day after Thanksgiving?

Since A. and I don’t celebrate Christmas I don’t have to do any shopping tomorrow (Thank God!) and because it is not a holiday weekend here in Germany, I will just be doing the same things that I do every day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Over the weekend while I stayed home and took care of the cats, A. traveled to his parents’ house to get the winter tires put on the car. (We don’t have the room to store an extra set of tires here, so they are kept at the in-laws.)

Now as luck would have it, today is A.’s birthday. We won’t say exactly how old he is, but I think it is sufficient to say that he is pushing his mid-30s. Anyway, while he was at his parents’ his family apparently had a little birthday celebration for him. In addition to the traditional adult birthday present of money from his parents, he also received a birthday present from his brother and sister: A rather odd assortment of food-stuffs in a little wicker basket.

The first thing that struck me as odd about the birthday basket when A. showed it to me was the fact that it contained almost exclusively items that one could use while cooking. I found this funny because not only does his family know that I do all of the cooking, they also know that he can’t so much as boil water! Both his brother and sister cook as a hobby, so perhaps they were trying to drop him a hint, but the only thing it accomplished was that the birthday basket was re-gifted to me.

The other peculiar thing about the birthday basket was the variety of things it contained. Like most Germans, A.’s family does a lot of shopping at Lidl, Aldi, or some of the other discount markets here. However, unlike most Germans, A.’s family has the weird habit of buying the least useful things that are available at said markets. (This, in my opinion, is saying a lot because those markets are CRAP pure and simple.) I am not 100% sure where the items in the birthday basket were purchased, but I think it is safe to say that at least some of them were probably acquired at Lidl.

Now, I am sure you are dying to know what exactly the birthday basket contained, so here is the inventory:

2 Chocolate Bars

These were claimed (and eaten) by A.

1 Bottle Balsamic Vinegar

1 Bottle of Chinese Oyster Sauce (Product of Germany)

1 Bottle of Chili Oil (Product of Thailand)

1 Jar of Generic Peach Jam

1 Miniature Bottle of Truffle-scented Olive Oil

I must say I am intrigued by this particular product, and even if it sucks, it came in a really cool bottle!

1 Bottle of Canadian Maple Syrup

Product of Canada – or so it says… Only a taste test will tell for sure!

1 Bottle of Bullseye BBQ Sauce

Product of the USA… It even has an American nutrition label!

1 Kleiner Feigling

This is supposedly fig-flavored vodka: I have never tried it, so I can’t be positive.

1 Bag of Dried Mushrooms

And the oddest odd-ball of all… 1 Jar of Marshmallow Fluff!

Also a product of America, complete with nutrition label!

Amusingly enough though, the product that I found the oddest is the one that I might actually use: Because, you see, a long time ago I found that substituting marshmallow fluff for plain old marshmallows in Rice Krispie Treats works rather well. Therefore, if I can find some Rice Krispies I will be using that jar of marshmallow fluff to make some Rice Krispie Treats. And I am sure if I do end up making them A. will dismiss them as another one of my weird American creations, but no matter… I am used to eating those things alone by now anyway.

Of course now the question is what I will do with all of that other stuff that came in the birthday basket? Well, in six months let’s see just how much of it has been thrown into the trash!