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the beet, the beet, the beet
[Before I get to the beets.. Still in the midst of getting the coding for the not-so-public stuff in order, it's taking longer than I thought. In the shuffling for some archived code, I found a vector I had worked on a year ago and figured it was now or never. It's been bouncing on the header left and right for the last hour but I think it will stay put. If you don't see it, it's embedded in some java.]
This post and hopefully posts to come will document an earnest effort to liberate my eating habits. I will always have a place in my belly for Hamburger Helper, Stoffer’s and Chef Boyardee and their paper weight meals. A part of me still holds on to the wishful thinking that such garbage food isn’t all that bad. We live, don’t we? We save time, don’t we? We save money, don’t we?
Well, I’m not so sure these days and this is why I’ve got red beets in my kitchen.
So beets. so random, you say. Never once did I pay attention to them. They were never in our refrigerator and a canned beet was suspect. I wonder what my dad thinks of them. He always has some strange and intriguing explanation for waging the blech-food finger. My favorite: “Cilantro tastes like dish water!” he’d proclaim. The only beet I saw for a long time was at a Pizza Hut salad bar, cold and previously canned, it would stain my sunflower seed covered, cottage cheese a brilliant pink.
Tom Robbins wrote that the beet is a serious vegetable. I haven’t finished the book yet but I already disagree. After watching A’s 3 year old nephew paint himself a wide clown smile with a plateful of beets, it’s clear the beet is laughably simple and sweet.
1 kilogram of organic beets costs 1.88€. Trim the ends and put them in boiling water with a little bit of vinegar to preserve the color. Cooking them whole will preserve the flavor but large ones will take about 1 hour to cook in a traditional pot. I used a pressure cooker for 20 minutes on the highest ring setting and they came out fabulous. Afterwards I put the beets in a bowl of cold water, while I rubbed the skin off with my fingers. It comes off easily and I didn’t notice any finger staining during the process.
There is tons of information on the health benefits of red beets brimming on the net but now that I have these health gems, what to do with them? Besides boil them and tossing them onto a salad, I’m starving for better beet eating ideas. Any suggestions?
where do you grocery shop?
Snow on the ground in the middle of November. This is a sign to beef up or get beat by the winter blues this season. I am determined more than ever not to let this winter business get the best of me. It already took one ACL.
Eventually I’ll start a gym membership with my rehab center and on weekends visit the heated swimming pools in the area. So far my winter conditioning is in the form of shop hopping. It is very easy to exhaust the variety from our down-the-block Tenglemann and Aldi. All the random finds within the last 2 years in Munich have made us one of those couples who just aren’t satisfied with one place to shop.
To find that one place that carries the things we want, need and like still wouldn’t be a dream for us. Of course there’s the V-markt or Walmart superstores withing driving distance. But those places aren’t very attractive when you need a map to find the one item you were looking for and the prices are just as pocket burning as the smaller stores.
So I run around – in the rain, wind, hail, sleet, snow – for things like bread. Turkish bread (pide) was bought on the Turkenstraße until the corner market on our street started selling baked goods. Occasionally, we like Kastenbrot (box bread, loaf bread) to make toast. But it is never to be found with any regularity in any of the neighborhood bakeries. I have to make a special trip to Sendlingstraße. Croissants are the best at the Post-Bakery a few blocks down, which is convenient because this bread is a must for Alex for our weekend breakfasts.
Then there is the vegetable saga. I’m always disappointed in the veggies at Tenglemann. There are always flies hovering over the produce. Instead I walk 10 minutes in the other direction to a corner shop delicatessen, where they sell bio-products or Class I produce: never over-ripe, but ready to be eaten within the next few days. Every other week we’ll order bio-fruits and veggies from the Öko-kiste. But only if I plan to cook a lot that week. A whole head of cauliflower is just over the top for the two of us.
I’ve yet to divulge my full trust with a Metzgerei (butcher). More like I have to gain trust from them. It is hard to shake the feeling as if I’m getting the second-grade cut because I said Grüß Gott with too much foreigner flair. It’s probably one of those things where you have to establish a rapport. Yet so often, I just want to pick up the non-discriminant pre-packaged dealio and move on. I suppose if I want to get serious about making my own stock, it’s time to start sucking up.
attempting German style charades
Somebody said this weekend that Munich has more days of precipitation than London. I just can’t believe that that applied this year. The weather has been very cooperative. Warm when it counts (weekends) and chilly at night. Paradise for a Floridian.
Still I had been feeling a bit down last Thursday and Friday. Stuck indoors and fighting this Bewerben book is just no fun. But Friday night, we celebrated Fabian’s birthday at Lake Hofstätter. Mandy set up a wonderful little party and her chili was out of this world.
At the party, I attempted to play this game called “Funky Monkey”. I don’t know why it’s named after a Beastie Boy’s song. I chalk it up to Germans who know too much junk English. The game basically consists of scribbling down names of famous people on scrap paper and throwing them into a bowl. Two teams compete in 3 rounds using the bowl of names three times. Each team member has a two minute turn to act while the other teammates guess. First round is to get through as many names by any means without saying the name. Second round is pantomiming. Third round is you say only one word.
My first German charades game and I did okay except for naming/describing famous German people. Hey slack was given, but what a loser that I couldn’t even describe famous people from my so-called culture. Tell me, why are there Germans who know about Macho Man Randy Savage? It’s disturbing. I had no clue what my teammate was talking about until he said ‘Snap into a Slim Jim!’.
What an evening and shared a new twist to an old habit of mine since I’ve been in Germany. Expat life is a continuous game of charades – either the culture is a riddle and foreigners are the ones having to guess the meaning or we’re the ones relying on physical gesture rather than verbal language to convey our message. We like games. We thrive on games.
The rest of the weekend there was no ‘game on’ rather dedicated to vegging out. Literally. We ate so many vegetables. I made vegetable soup and a veggie casserole. Had Alex not convinced me about ordering a pizza, I would have made something with Fennel, spinach, or red cabbage. Thanks to the Ökokiste, I’ve got to be more creative with preparing veggies. Other than that ordeal, Alex read his new Philip Kurr book on the balcony and I warmed my bare feet in the warmth of the sun. One of my favorite past times. And no I’m not ashamed to show my feet! We watched “the Wire” – our latest series addiction and an episode of Weeds. I’m devastated that U-turn is 
I love that character.
We look forward to seeing Marko aka Blackforest this week. Maybe he’ll deliver a Kuckucks clock. I don’t look forward to getting blood drawn tomorrow. Such is live.
“Konzert” and “Kiste”
Modest Mouse, Album: –, Title: Float On
Horray! We got to see a rare European appearance of Modest Mouse last night and loved every minute of it. There were two drum sets and three percussionist, who produced beats that totally kicked, and there is always entertainment when one guy alone can play a cornet, synthesizer, string bass, and bass guitar. It was a last minute decision and tickets were still available. In the next week, they are playing in Frankfurt, Köln, and Berlin tonight. Tickets are available through ticketbox.de Oh, if a front stage mosh pit and over two dozen people successfully crowd surfing isn’t your thing, you’d be better off downloading the music instead.
After hitting the sack late last night, we were awoken by ring at the door at 8:50 am. It’s a holiday today, who could it be? Oh, it’s just our friendly neighborhood farmer delivering our bio fruit and veggies. We learned about Ökokiste.de from a guest at a birthday party and decided to try it out. Or, lets say Alex was gaga for this new way to shop, I’m still neutral on the bio-craze. But wow! These farmers are punctual and the produce looks great. The cherries taste excellent, bananas also wonderfully sweet. But now I’m faced with vegetables I’ve never had in my kitchen before or grew up with as a child. Anyone got any good suggestions for preparing beets, kohlrabi and rhubarb?
