Lying in bed this morning around 430 am wide awake as all good people do who have come from the other side of the world, has inspired me to finally update this. Although it is no longer that early ( I felt that an hour of reading with some breakfast before going back to sleep fixed that), I thought that as the motivation has kicked in, I'll run with it :)
Well, I have arrived, safe and sound- with my bags all intact and no delays. Yay!
Its actually day 3 in Germany and I should take some pictures soon of what the little town now looks like in its summer glory. Sadly, the sky looks worse here than it did back in my wintery Australia, BUT the temperature is a bit better ( albeit the 3 layers I still wore to work today!). Apparently the hot summer that had been plagueing the germans two weeks ago has given way to a cooler change for this week and perhaps next as well. I stand in hope that it returns before declaring that summer is over and the colors change.
I'm currently staying with Kira, who is the world renown baker of the office. As you can imagine, I admire her greatly for her incredible cakes, cookies, slices and, well, everything she churns out! As she has lived here for a couple years already, I knew I could pose her the questions about baking in Germany that I needed to- Namely: What are the ingredients that you cant find here?
It had been a question on my mind for alot of the baking time I did at home- wondering if I could replicate these dishes the same over with the "Germs". I could only really come up with two ingredients that could be difficult to lay hands on: Golden Syrup and Mixed fruit( the kind you put in Christmas Cakes). But after talking to Kira, I have been enlightened as to other difficult elements for baking:
*Vanilla ( here it is only in vanilla sugar form),
*Cornflour ( although perhaps simply because Kira is not used to baking with it as it is not as available in the states?)
*Brown Sugar ( which absolutely saddens me! I have so many wonderful recipes requiring this!! Not the least of which my fantastically brilliant Double Choc Self-Saucing Pudding!)
I'm sure there were more, but I cant quite think of them at the moment. But working in an office with many who travel all over the world rather regularly, I am sure to enlist their help to stock my pantry! Well, first I'm going to experiment with those that can have replacements and see what I get. Who knows, it may taste slightly different but turn out pretty much the same! Stay tuned for the "Germ' version" of my baking!
** please note that my reference to Germany as "germ-land" or Germans as "germs" is by no means meant to be derogatory ( Credits for terms: Kim)**
bahahahaaaa! You just cracked me up big time! :)
ReplyDeleteWe have golden syrup on board in ship shop, just so you know! The bakery here is stocked amazingly. Also, if you can't find cornflour and need it for a recipe (like lemon meringue) you can use custard powder. It's the same stuff, it just obviously gives it a yellow colour, and a more vanilla flavour. Still just as good :)
PS. I have mastered a GREAT waffle recipe (we put lemon and sugar on top) and an even greater cheese waffle recipe which we make for lazy Monday mornings when we have no where to go!