Carol Shenkenberger ---> Malte Schmidt AM 12.07.06
BETREFF: *Re: Re^2: Health care*


Hello Carol!

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.

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

But with these choices, I think it is much better to bake your own bread,  
yes.


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.

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

I also eat very often this pretzel type stuff and the turkish ...flat  
roundish bread, more air than bread. My dictionary suggests unleavened  
bread.

MS>> Well, if I were in a different country I wouldn't mind doing it their
MS>> most of the time. If I like to eat the rice they have all the time...
MS>> fine. I find it more important to live their way of life at least to s
MS>> extent. That is what being abroad is all about IMO.
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.

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

CS> You may not have known it, but we've been living in Japan for 5 years now.
CS> Well past any initial stages of 'living abroad in another land' and yes,
CS> adaption to the land you move to is what it's all about.  Otherwise, it's
CS> just a waste.

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

CS> My 12YO daughter can shop in any land i am sure unless they require price
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).

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


CS> MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

Interesting to read, but... I am not much of a cook. Maybe I will forward  
it to my mother. ;-)

Bye,
Malte!
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