Lorenzo's Food Favorites, Part 1

Three weeks ago, I took a 7-hour series of trains westward from my CBYX language camp at Kloster Hedersleben to my new home in a tiny village called Hamminkeln, near the border with the Netherlands. My month at language camp was a super fun experience, our camp leaders - called “teamers” - were helpful and nice, and I made some friends who I hope will be lifelong. 

My one complaint about language camp was that the food in the dining hall was not always the best. Back in El Paso, any food item served “con weenie” is always going to be a good thing, but I have to tell you that the Hedersleben black lentil stew with cut-up wurstchen was seriously unappetizing.

I’m happy to report that life in my new host family is delicious. I’m only three weeks into my new life, but I wanted to start recording my first food impressions.

These are a few of my favorite things so far:

•  My host mother Sandra’s goulash. This is a traditional German beef, potato, and carrot stew served with a side of spätzle, which are like little cut up shoelace-size noodles. This is what we had for dinner on my first night with my host family because they wanted me to experience some of their traditional dishes. 

• Roasted chicken. This was possibly the most tender chicken I have ever had in my life. I'm not sure yet if this is because of the way Sandra cooked it or because the ingredients in Germany are so much fresher and less processed.

• My raspberry cream birthday cake. After my host mother heard that one of my favorite desserts when I lived in Germany as a child was Himbeerekuchen, she decided to replicate it for my 18^th birthday. It has multiple layers of thin cake layered with raspberries and whipped cream. It was extremely good, and I think the freshness of the raspberries and the freshly whipped cream made it 100% better. It was such a great birthday surprise.

• Apple cake made with apples from our own orchard. Another extremely delicious baked good is a sort of apple cinnamon cake/pie called Apfelkuchen mit Streuseln that Sandra made with our own freshly picked apples.  We live on an old farm that is surrounded by an orchard of fruit and nut trees so we can go and pick our own fruit whenever we like.

• Then there’s Apple Pie #2 that we had this past weekend at a cousin’s birthday party. This one was a little more similar to American apple pie with a top and bottom crust, but still made with apples from our orchard, and still super delicious. 

On our very first Facetime call after I got my host family assignment in August, the whole family assured me that Sandra was a wonderful cook. As you can see, I have now officially verified that to be true. And I’m hoping to learn a lot from her while I’m here.

I have also had my first cooking experience since arriving:

• Bratwursts on the grill. My first weekend here, my family went to a kind of neighborhood reunion. My host brother & I were given the job of cooking the wursts for the whole crowd. I was a little worried that I might embarrass myself and my Texas BBQ skills, but thankfully we cooked them just right.

Honorable mentions: 

• My daily pretzel. While it’s no big deal to people who’ve grown up here, I am still marveling at being able to get a fresh high-quality pretzel every day from my local bakery.
• Döner with giant juice boxes: the Turkish-style döner kebab sandwich, what most Americans might compare to a Greek gyro, is without a doubt one of the most delicious things in the world. I have discovered that most döner restaurants sell weirdly huge juice boxes that are quickly becoming one of my favorite drinks. My favorite flavor is the all-in-one-12-fruit juice box. 

I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next in my German food journey. In the meantime, I ordered a few types of Mexican candy from the MexGrocer Europe website to share with my host siblings and school friends.