Tuesday, October 25, 2011

What do I miss? Part I

I recently received an email from a friend of mine, a fellow American navigating German life.  This particular friend happens to have a connection worth it's weight in gold.  She knows someone who gives her access to the commissary at a nearby military base.  Can you see where I am going with this?  Anyway,  in her email she asked if I needed any American grocery products (i.e.  food, beauty products, toiletries, etc.).   After days of deliberating, racking my brain, and trying to predict future cravings of food from home sometimes brought on by the rare bought of homesickness that hits me for about 10 minutes every couple months  I finally made a list.

- Kashi GoLean Cereal:  my favorite cereal that I love to reach to mix in yogurt or eat plain as a snack. Plus it is loaded with protien which is perfect for veggie freaks such as myself.

- Life Cereal: Childhood favorite.  I usually can satisfy my desire for this on my trips home, but my parents are watching what they eat so there was no Life when I was last home.  Sadness for me.

- Cinnamon Life:  See above. With the added bonus of Cinammon.

-Advil:  We ran out and it is SUPER expenisve here. I am not even sure if you can buy it here in Germany, but I hear conflicting stories.

-Craisins:  Did someone say cranberry white chocolate cookies? Craisins in oatmeal is calling my name. The actually have dried cranberries here, but they are NOT the same. Not even close. David thinks they are nasty whenever I cook with them. The man also hates raisins, so his opinion is a mut point, but still...

- A1 Steak Sauce: Request from a friend of hubby's who just recently returned from living in the states.


That is it.  I miss cereal, craisins, and headache relief that doesn't involve sleeping the day away. What does that say about me? Or perhaps the better questions is what does that say about how I have adapted to life here?

I should clarify that there are other things that I miss from the USA, but I just restocked my supply in September when I was home.

-Trader Joe's Raw Crunchy Almond Butter:  Delicious, nutritious, and only like $5.  Gotta get my  ABandJ fix occasionally.

-Baking Soda:  Important if you want to bake almost anything using an american recipe.


Finally, there are the things that I always crave, but would be a fool to think that I could get here:

- a good southern biscuit
- a sweet Vidalia onion
- a Houston's veggie burger ( my first meal when I returned to the states from a summer in France back in college)
- mexican food
- bread from Great Harvest
- yellow squash
- kale
- a decently priced sweet potato that tastes like the ones from home
- Trader Joe's

For Christmas dinner in 2009,  after living here for just shy of 4 months, I requested what my family considered to be the stragest dinner ever: grilled, marinated salmon (fresh not frozen), baked sweet potatoes, and sauteed yellow squash with onions.   It was amazing...but probably only for me. :)