US Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and yes, the Budman and I will be celebrating the day with family who are coming for a visit. So, as we began to create our menu of traditional and favourite Thanksgiving dishes, we realized, “uh-oh, we can’t get some of these things here.”
Exactly what types of things might that be? Well, here is the list in no apparent order: canned pumpkin, sweet potatoes (canned or fresh), cranberry sauce, pie shells, brown sugar (although unrefined brown sugar could be located), cream of celery soup, evaporated milk…just to name few.
One interesting challenge is that my German vocabulary only goes so far, and that is not saying much. After making the grocery list, I basically had to look up the words on an online translating website before heading to the supermarket. The bad news is, several of these items cannot be located in Germany.
The good news is:
(1) A recent trip to the UK afforded me the opportunity to pick up 1-2 of these missing items,
(2) A work colleague is picking up the canned vegetables this weekend, and the hand-off will be made on a business trip next week when I return to the UK,
(3) Some of these items can be made from scratch (i.e. pie shells). Thank heavens for the Becky Crocker cookbook or this Hachie Gal would be lost,
(4) Last but not least, family members will be bringing the remaining items in their suitcase.
And you thought Thanksgiving Day grocery shopping was a pain in the US? True, I had no crowds to contend with, but sourcing these items has been a truly global procurement effort.
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2 comments:
12 years later, I still remember when I was in the basement supermarkets am Wehrhahn (Karlstadt/Kaufhof) and they often had these types of delicacies.
But some things had to be imported directly.
My first Thanksgiving in D'dorf in 1990, I was there 3 weeks, wasn't getting any visitors yet, couldn't go back to the states yet, I dived in and went native. I had a big plate of Muescheln Rheinishe Art at Benders Marie in the Altstadt.
I enjoy your blog and your photos. Please keep it up.
yea, we checked Karstadt but sadly no luck. We did run across an "international" store close to the international school and have gotten some of those hard to find items. Being out of the US now for 7 years, we sometimes just have a hnakering for those dishes from home, though.
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