*** Quoting Malte Schmidt from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***


CS> Well, the local bread is pretty bad to me and to most non-locals.  It;s
CS> got this funny salty gummy flavor as if made with too much salt and
CS> undercooked. Our choices become make our own, or get frozen loafs of
CS> 'wonderbread' shipped in from the states.  if you've heard of
CS> 'wonderbread', it isnt enhanced by being pre-frozen.

MS> We have some baguettes which one can buy frozen. That does taste actua
MS> pretty good... after some time in the oven of course. :)

Not the same thing.  If you know Cindi (haglund?) ask her about
'wonderbread'.  ¨Its a supermarket mass market brand.  It's presliced,
soft, and there are many ¨other 'brands' but they are all pretty much the
same.  The frozen type I get ¨here isnt meant to be 'cooked' as it already
was.  Just defrost and eat.

Extremely convient and very bland with little nutrition.  Has lots of
additives ¨to 'keep it fresh'.  Takes about 2 weeks out on the counter
(wrapped in it's ¨bag) to develop mold which should tell ya something
.

CS> I'm not saying my homebake would send you into reams of rapture, but my
CS> neighbor Elise (German lady married to a USA man who's stationed here, now
CS> speaks english pretty well) finds it quite acceptable.  I wouldnt be
CS> afraid to serve it to you or worry that you'd put it politely at the side
CS> ;-)

CS> It's just fairly standard italian or french 'white', or with a little
CS> whole wheat though we get fancy at times.

MS> Whole wheat tastes so much better, IMHO. I still eat much white bread,
MS> because they offer more variations of it here, but especially when it
MS> comes to rolls I eat some whole wheat version.

I like whole wheat too, but am more apt to make white as it rises better
for ¨me.  I have gluten to add to wheat breads so can make that well
enough.

CS> Yes, and rice is a mainstay for us here.  But if you live abroad, you'll
CS> find some things you just 'want' and good bread is one of them.

MS> Certainly, you don't have to live like a Japanese. It is even better t
MS> way. You are in a way more enlightened and enjoy the best of both worl
MS> there, while the Japanese - no matter how tasty their rice is - do not
MS> know what they are missing by not having decent bread. That is the  
MS> fascination by getting to know different cultures. One can enrich one'
MS> daily life by getting to know how other peoples do it.

Definately.  Oh and the Japanese like our better breads quite well.  I
trade ¨recipes with several local people, printed out from MealMaster. 
There's a ¨local market (called 'Mama-san market' but more properly it is
Tonoo Market) ¨and a family there operates a sort of side part that is a
breadmaker stall now. ¨It started when the lady there and I were working on
our cooking (me learning ¨some japanese foods, her curious on selling
something new and finding me ¨sniffing at packages i thought were flour and
were it turns out).  One day i ¨brought her a loaf of bread made from her
flour and my japanese-english ¨dictionary with a carefully copied list of
what things I was looking for, along ¨with a picture of a japanese brand
(Zorashi) breadmaker machine.

A few days later she had brought in her's and plugged it in at one of the
few ¨outlets at her stall and made a few loaves.  I was very polite about
the ¨results .  She put out some flour and such and pantomimed
me making a ¨loaf, which I did and the subtle differences were all
carefully copied down.  I ¨continued shopping then went home and used
MealMaster (MM) to print her some ¨new ones out (keeping to ones that i had
a translation for the ingredients).

Over the next several months she added more machines and more outlets,
turning ¨into a little local bakery with loaves to order or premade.  You'd
order what ¨you wanted and tell her when you'd be back and she'd have it. 
Hot from the ¨machine if she was able to work that out (extra price and a
waiting list) or ¨for less, next day and reserved for you.  She'd also have
plenty of types ready ¨just for wandering by.

Like any good cook, she branched out and had lots of variations, having
'fusion ¨cooked' my earlier sets to Japanese tastes for some of them.  I
wasnt that fond ¨of the 'seaweed bread' but it actually matched many
Japanese dinners well and ¨was quite popular.  Her Schimi (phonetic, dont
wanna look it up just now, ¨japanese chile pepper mix) bread is one i still
make though.

Sadly, she was killed by a drunk driver (a japanese drunk driver) some 2
years ¨ago.  Her family is still there but the bread making scaled back as
the rest of ¨the family just wasnt as good at it.

MS> Well, i certainly know some people who are doing their doctorate in  
MS> Germany, who are not very open minded and when they return, they won't
MS> have taken anything with them from that experience.

Thats sad.  I'd love to have a chance to live in Germany for a few years. 
¨Denmark is another place I'd love as well as Belgium. Italy or Greece
would ¨also be good.

CS> bargaining (which isnt Japanese to do though there is something a bit
CS> close when you show a smaller pile of yen and indicate you need more of
CS> something to fit a dinner and they show you some alternative item).

MS> It is very uncommon to haggle in germany as well. Most prices are fixe
MS> Certainly.. with a major investment one can ask for a discount, but mo
MS> you either buy it for the price they offer the item or ... you don't.

Yes, same here.  In the USA, it's ok to haggle a little at road stands or
¨'farmers markets' but it's not really a major thing to do.  The price is
the ¨price and if you dont like it, you move on and find one you do
.

In Japan, the 'farmers market' (Tonoo market would be same) habit is not to
¨knock down the price with haggling, but if you are a regular, you get a
few ¨little free things added in commonly.  I'll shop and get for example:
2 lbs ¨kangkoon (also called kangkong elsewhere, Asian hollow stem
spinach), a few ¨carrots, some meekans (mandarin oranges), and find a fresh
small egg discretely ¨added or some 'togarashi' (spices).  Something along
the line of a 5yen ¨'freebie'.

Grin, they have me as well trained as any Japanese housewife now.  I know
what ¨freebies I like best and tend to shop those places more.  Now
Charlotte has a ¨totally different view of 'best places' but thats because
she likes their ¨'freebies' better .

I have been told reliably by others who have lived here, that tha habit of
¨'freebies' doenst 'continue' if they do not adapt well to local shopping
¨'housewife style'.  I've seen a few shop-keeps actually blank their faces
to ¨'inscrutable' when some walk in (quietly winking at me and Charlotte). 
They ¨usually are loud and wont even consider buying something they arent
used to (I ¨want mushrooms, not those long things that look like bean
sprouts!  They are ¨ukky looking and i DONT like bean sprouts!)  <---
example of non-adaptive ¨person to Japan.

                                       xxcarol

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