Trivia # 1

Apologizing for the absence in my blog...guess what's that thing?

Answer in the next post

Expat nostalgia

As a former expat in Germany and Netherlands, I do sometime miss some snacks I could have just there.
It has always been interesting first of all to find globally some snacks but with different names, changing according to the local perception of a naming.
Even more interesting was to discover new snacks or chewing gums I couldn’t have in Italy.
With my surprise, some became popular here too, sold in vending automatic machines, like the chocolate crunchy balls Maltesers
But some are so peculiar, it is not so common to find them here in Italy.Yesterday I stopped at my fave shop “La Deutsche Vita” where I could find Hanuta (sweet sandwich with solid Nutella) and Yogurette (chocolate bars with Yogurt filling and strawberries, a pleasure for 72 calories each)
I remember instead Chocomel times in the NL. I agree, just milk with chocolate powder. Though, it was nice to have it handy!
Bifi instead was and still is terribly German: a portable single-packed salami stick.
Thirsty? Then drink on it, with Mezzo Mix: produced by Coca-Cola HBC, it’s like Coke with orange juice. Amazing discovery: I need to thank my Mum brave enough to try it first while buying it and I felt in love.As per beers go ahed, laugh about it but I loved Beck’s Chilled Orange and Green lemon. I had them in Bremen of course, where Beck’s is produced by InBev brand.

समोसा Samosa

I still can remember my first time at an Indian restuarant, at the Bombay (Daniel-von-Büren-Straße 29, 28195 Bremen).

Once again it happened during my German year: I was there with one of my ex boyfriends celebrating my birthday. That is why I can still remember it was on 17th July 2007.

That day, my taste buds discovered something new, and hey guys I am not refering to a new snack nor to a new dish but the world literaly opened to different flavours that I never had the chance to experience before. What I liked most about the food served there was the tandoori chicken and the naan, that particular Indian bread.

What thickled my curiousity was for sure a baked appatizer pyramid-shaped.

That was my first samosa.

It is also common to fry them. Best way to describe them: a pastry with spices, onions, potatoes, peas, coriander, lentils (daal), chicken and sometimes lamb (I don't eat lamb though)

Try it yourself. There gotta have an indian street food shop or restaurant around the corner.

I would like to visit India once I grow up mature a little. At the moment I'm too afraid to face poor people on the street, living in bad condition and dirt all over. Let's be clear: I don't want to see the posh side of India, I am willling to see the real India and maybe the pink city of Jaipur. But now, I am not ready enough...

Where to eat in Aachen

Kartoffel, Kartoffel… that is probably the first word a person knows when approaches German.
You imagine a land, not so vast, full of pork and potatoes.
Well, in Aachen I left my heart at Pomm'Pös the house of potatoes in the Nordrhein-Westphalia region where I could taste the best Flammkuchen ever. This dish is from Alsace a borderline area between France and Germany. Its name can also be tarte flambé even if I prefer the hardest Flammkuchen.
At Pomm Pos I experience the one with shrips, spinach and sour cream. Delicious!
If you come to Aachen you should also consider to pay a visit to Rose Am Dom, where you can be delighted by German food. For those who cannot believe it as a worthy culinary experience, just trust me or try it yourself.

Pomm'Pös
Krämerstraße 7,

52062 Aachen, NRW- Germany

Rose am Dom, right behind Aachen’s main Cathedral
Fischmarkt 1
52062 Aachen, NRW- Germany

http://www.roseamdom.de/

a typical Flammkuchen

S'more

Give me three words: marshmallow, chocolate and buiscuits.

There you go, with the help of a bonfire while camping or thanks to a modern microwave oven, you obtain a delicacy called s'more. Its name reminds one's chewing while saying the way too long sentence "(I would like to have) some more".
It is really popular during summertime, I personally had my first s'more on 4th of July with some American students durign my exchange studies in Germany, strange to say.What I like most about smore is not its taste rather the way to prepare it together with friends, be patient and careful while warming the marshmellows and ready to take it away from the fire before burning it, then squeezing it layiring it as in a sandwich made by Honey Graham's crackers' very similar to our Digestive buiscuits and "glue" it to a thick chocolate bar to be melted by the hot temperature. Wonderful.

That is why I wouldn't like to buy the Hershey's smore, it would all lead to a regular junkie food in a plastic bag.

Look at this nice math formula:

Kartoffelpuffer

What could Kartoffelpuffer sound like? Absolutely German!
Although Poland and Czech Republic have their own ways to serve the potato pancakes, these are have their reason to be in Germany eaten espacially outside the Christmas markets.

I had mine in Bremen, then I tasted them once again here, in Turin at La Deutsche Vita.

People like it as a salty dish, I personally love it as they should be eaten so along with apple mousse to give an extraordinary combination of flavours.

Kartoffelpuffer can also be tasted with garlic or mashroom sauce, with sour cream as topping and so on. They're a pillar in the Jewish cuisine where they're know with the name latkes.

Visit this link to watch a video showing how to prepare Kartoffelpuffer, in German of course.

Macarons

Eating a macaron is like walking on a cloud, immediately sets you in a good mood with the prettiest pastel colors and an intense flavor.
It’s also a matter of harmony: while picking the fave taste one’s already thinking about how they will look in the box, matching the perfect colors as in a painter’s palette.
This example of cute pastry has its origin in Comery, a city in France.
As time passed we got used to La Durée brand, Pierre Hermé, Pascal Caffet and so on.
I personally prefer La Durée and I got admit I adore the boxes that like a coffret, hide these mysterious beauties.
Once in a while I select the redfruits, even if I tend to pick the extra chocolate, caramel, almond or pistachio ones.
They were beloved by important ladies in the world history such as Caterina de Medici and Marie Antoinette.
You can even watch the latter eating macarons in Sophia Coppola’s alike named movie, interpreted by a marvelous Kirsten Duns!
The bravest may try the flower ones, instead of fruits.
You will be enchanted by Pierre Herme’s rose taste.
A supporter of PH macarons? For sure miss Blair Waldorf in the TV series “Gossip Girl”.
When Meester’s character is upset about the disappeared Chuck Bass (performed by Ed Westwick) on the last episode of season two, he gives her a reason to have been spotted in Paris: just to buy her the macarons she loves the way he loves her back.

Romantic kiss.
Curtains down.

The end