Success in the Great Molasses Quest

Yes it took visits to at least six grocery stores (more if you count individual branches of the same chain), but perseverance paid off and I can say that I found molasses at the Reform Haus in the Frankfurt Nordwestzentrum (Northwest Center, I find that mildly amusing). The Reform Haus is a health food store (which I think does alternative medicine and bio food as well, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention) where I was also able to find gloriously unsweetened applesauce (which I also haven't been able to find at 'normal' grocery stores). I haven't tried the applesauce yet, but even if I decide I don't like the taste it can be used for baking purposes.

Anyway, back to the molasses. I don't know what it is about molasses that gets it into a health food store, but I am grateful. My next step is to try mixing it with regular white sugar to see if I can get a usable result.

The quest for real American chocolate chip cookies

I decided I wanted to make some chocolate chip cookies, preferably chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, but I was willing to concede that I had no idea whether or not my local stores carried pumpkin puree (so far, they don't). To my American mind, the major ingredients in a basic chocolate chip cookie are, well, basic. Any American grocery store will carry them all, usually with a variety of sizes and brand names to chose from. So far I have found everything but the chocolate chips and brown sugar (though I am still trying to determine which type of available flour is most similar to American all-purpose flour). The lack of chocolate chips is discouraging, but not fatal, as German chocolate is very good and I can always smash or chop up a candy bar in order to get my little chocolate pieces. In fact proper scientific study might require several types of chocolate bars to be sacrificed to this noble cause so that each can be assessed separately. It will mean making more cookies than I originally intended, but these minor inconveniences are part of living in a foreign country. I will report on the results after I solve the brown sugar problems.

My brown sugar problems are slightly more complex than the chocolate chip problem. Yes, I know that German stores have bags of sugar that are labeled "Braun Zucker" however this brown sugar is different than what Americans call brown sugar (a woman who has never been to North America absolutely insisted this could not be the case because if it is called brown sugar it is brown sugar, the point really wasn't worth arguing). However, I knew about this problem before I got to Germany and am prepared to make my own brown sugar, as my cooking guru (a.k.a. Mom) has informed me that American brown sugar is basically a combination of white granulated sugar and molasses. What I didn't consider was that molasses (Melasse) might not be readily available, partially based on the logic that molasses is an ingredient in gingerbread; gingerbread is associated with Christmas and "Hansel and Gretel"*; Germans are known for their skill at celebrating Christmas and their wonderful fairy tales (Märchen, one of my favorite German words) including "Hansel and Gretel;" ergo I really thought molasses would be findable. Sadly, I was wrong and as I type this, I can say that I have looked in four grocery stores and have no molasses. However, I do have a lead...

*Further research indicates that my childhood memories notwithstanding, in "Hansel and Gretel" the witch's house is not always (perhaps not even usually) made of gingerbread, it can also be made of bread, cake, candies, or chocolate.

Differences in cooking here and there

My grandmother, who has had experience living abroad has given me some excellent advice that I am going to pass on here.

As far as the metric system goes one kilogram is a smidgen over 2.2 pounds, but according to my grandmother, most of the time it is close enough to say that one kilo is about two pounds and half a kilo (500 grams) is about one pound.

She also recommended that I take measuring cups, measuring spoons and a cookbook or two with me since I am accustomed to cooking with American measurements. Fortunately, this same grandmother has also given me an excellent cookbook that focuses on recipes in portions for one or two people. I'll probably use that supplemented with some other recipes typed into my computer (someday I might count how many books I am not taking with me because of my computer and the Internet).

Some people might think that if you are going to live in a new country you should just immerse yourself in the whole experience including the food. I think I am going to prioritize. Learning German and how to interact with Germans = high priority. Learning how to cook German foods, not so much. It will be a nice thing to do, and eventually I will probably purchase metric measuring cups and a German cookbook but for the present, the foods that I am comfortable with appear to be fairly inexpensive and it will be one less thing to worry about while I am settling in.

Trying to work out a budget: Groceries

I like to know what I'm getting into with just about everything, so I've been trying to set up a budget based on my projected salary.

I have been using German websites to get a rough idea of how much my personal staples will cost. The sites that have been most useful in this are: aldi-sued.de/index.htm and www.real.de. Both sell things besides groceries, giving me the impression that they might be a bit like a SuperTarget or Wal-mart in the United States, but having never been there I can't say for sure.

What I've learned so far is that food in Frankfurt does look a bit more expensive than is typical in Wisconsin, but most of it is organic which is a plus, I've been meaning to go more organic with my food anyways. I haven't noticed a whole lot of frozen food, which I think is due to the fact that from the pictures I've seen, German refrigerators are really small and don't have a lot of freezer room.

I also find that one of the standard measurements for food containers is 100 grams, which isn't as much as it sounds. At first I was assuming that this would be about a cup or maybe even two. It isn't. Once I looked up the conversion online I discovered that instead this is more like 3.38 ounces otherwise known as less than half a cup (to be more exact it's something like .42 cup, using the U.S. measure).