Cocina

Meine Güte!

I am a culinary genius. Let me explain.

On Tuesdays I am in charge of making lunch. The first reason is because I'm here on Tuesdays at the right time and the second reason is that Felicitas is not. No problem. Usually I make carrots and rice or potatoes.

Here's how it went: I realize that we have no edible potatoes, no rice, and no carrots today. Hm. My brain connects the dots and I realize that I'll have/get to make something else. But what? (these germans keep totally different kitchens than we do, let me tell ya'. For example, in the pantry/storeroom downstairs there is a whole crate of Rot Kohl (pickled red cabbage)). Then I remember that a while back Aldi had an american week with "American" food for sale, and what do you know? They had tortillas--under the name 'american wraps'. yeah whatev, they were tortillas. Anyway, Felicitas bought a bunch but we haven't eaten them all up, because they aren't a german food and you have to go out of your way to figure out how to use them in Germany.

That's off the topic. So then I was like, what can I make with tortillas? No meat in the house and nothing even remotely mexican. BUT, my mom sent me some spices--enchilada and taco. Aha! So I get some canned tomatoes and dump them into a bowl and the juice into a sauce pan. And then I get some canned kidney beans (maybe there weren't kidney, I don't remember) and dump them in. Then while scrounging through the cupboard--looking for anything that could taste good with mexican seasoning, I found some orange lentils. Knowing that lentils take on pretty much whatever you flavour them with I decided to try it out. We're going vegetarian here. Then I take the taco flavour and dump some of it in my pulverated mass of beans, tomatoes, and orange lentils. (this smells really good by the way). Then I'm like, I need a pan. I look for one and, to my disappointment, there is no pan. The only thing remotely similar is a round spring-form pan, the kind you make cheese-cake in. This will have to do. I put some butter in the bottom, fill my tortillas with the mexican-ish goodness and, oh, I almost forgot. They don't have sour cream, so I decide to use unflavoured quark. This will definitely be good, even if it not completely authentic, and they won't know the difference anyway, I think to myself slyly. I cram as many of the tortillas as I can into the pan and then pour my taco-flavoured tomato sauce over the top, cover it with foil and throw it in the oven. I contemplate how to explain in german in writing how to eat it. I won't be here when they eat lunch.

I just put the cheese on as the finishing touch. I hope they like it.

Ok, and I'm including some pictures from the last couple of days!

Here are Rainer and Pia. We had breakfast on the patio. It was quite lovely.

I took the train. Here's what the seats look like. These ones on this train didn't recline, but they were pretty comfy.

Here was my din-din. Bread and cheese, seriously a staple food in this country and very tasty.

And...I coudn't resist. Everyone was gone this morning so I could take a picture of the dirty-pool-water carrot salad without being suspicious.

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