Getting Groceries Here Takes A While

Well, the hurlyburly from the last week is finally settling down-- our flood-damaged apartment is being taken care of 100%, and all the remaining minor work on the place (yes, it still isn't complete 7 months after move-in) will be completed as well. The Ireland and some other local day trip photos are in the process of getting edited and put up on the photo site, and overall, all is well. But while that's getting done and dusted, one of this here blog's longtime readers asked for more "slice of life" stuff-- what daily life entails here in Deutschland. So here we go.

Today was my bride's birthday, and she was going to treat herself this evening with some Mexican food that our friends brought over from the USA to Ireland (you simply can not get decent Mexican food here in central Bavaria, and the stuff they claim is "Mexican food" brings me back to Taco Day at my elementary school in the 1970's-- it's just crap), and we in turn brought back here. Anyhoo, to complete the dish I had to get one small white onion, some Jack or Gouda cheese, and cilantro. Easy job, just go to the grocery store, right? Oh, you silly readers-- this is Germany, remember? This meant I had to go to 6 different stores to get these 3 ingredients.

1. The grocery store right around the corner does sell white onions... in a 2-pound bag. I only needed one, so I left.

2. Then I went to my regular fruit & vegetable shop. No white onions, but they did have a regular yellow onion. Sheesh, I bought it, hoping I could find a white one later. They also had a small cheese case, and when I asked him for either Gouda or Jack, all I got was a blank stare. How do you describe what Jack cheese tastes like to somebody who's never had it, and with my limited vocabulary? After a time (and with impatient customers starting to line up behind me), he suggested that I just go to a grocery store.

3. You can get cilantro at exactly one store in this city of 500,000. It's a crazy Asian market that sells everything from food to those ceramic waving cat things to bras. And they were out of cilantro (known here as "corriander"). The girl behind the counter speaks excellent English, and advised that I come back in 2 hours-- maybe their weekly delivery would be in at that time. Luckily, the delivery truck was pulling up just as I was about to leave. Cilantro purchased; yay, score one for the good guys.

4. The specialty cheese shop down the street from the Asian market (mind you I was walking this entire time) where I knew for certain I could find Gouda was... closed. It's Monday after all. Wha?

5. Went to the OTHER grocery store in the area which has a decent cheese section. They stock Gouda, but they were... out. No white onions there either.

6. Hopped on a tram for the Hail-Mary, the overpriced all-natural store (think Zuppan's or Whole Foods), and yes, they had the cheese, plus some other odds and ends too (this store also happens to be the only place in the city that sells ground turkey-- and if I told you just how much they charge for it, you'd then ask me why I haven't gone vegetarian). Still no white onions, but I considered this mission accomplished-- B gets the meal she's been looking forward to for a long, long time.

Wow, that only took 90+ minutes to do. American supermarkets never fail to impress foreign visitors, who are used to things like stand-alone pharmacies, bakeries and fruit stands in their neighborhoods-- all of it under one roof is incredibly exotic-- not unheard of, but still a rather odd concept for many. But this afternoon is also pretty typical for me-- it really isn't all that unusual to have to go to 2 or 3 stores just to get basic grocery shopping accomplished, or get the foods you prefer-- and special or ethnic meals require a lot of time and planning, and maybe a trip or two out of town for those hard-to-find ingredients. It's all part of the rich experience of living here... but being a spoiled Yank, I don't thnk I'll ever get used to it.