Provisioning food

" Why don't they serve plain water at the table? asks my friend once again. They don't. I guess in the land of the beer, water is unusual. So if we ask for water, they will give you what Germans call "Sparkling water." I have not yet tasted it , but I plan to do so at least once, soon. I think it's like aerated plain water but I cant say anything without experience, can I? So if you want " just water," you should ask for "stilles wasser," which is a plain water order that comes in a fancy wine- like bottle. Speaking of wine, however we found some tetra-packs of wine at the penny market. We do get bottled water at the markets but we can drink water off the tap here with confidence. Let me not water down the food blog.

Lets talk food shopping now. Aaah the markets...
There are Bio- markets, very expensive, very organic with tur dal ( lentils / pulses) and ayurvedic medicines and we can buy tulsi tea also. I just peeped into one today and gave up becoz of the costs...
Then there are the great supermarkets, where bio products are sold with other brands. Fresh and cut veggies with ample car parking and flowers at the door.
Then we come to Kaiser, another mall, but more mixed prices and options of buying bargains. The nearest Kaiser supermarket is at the bus stop where we catch our metro to the univ so very convenient) Nice market. We found "reis" ( rice) and the massor dal ( red lentil) there.

Then there is the Aldi chain. Bulk, cheap and has all kinds of knick-knacks. If you want to buy socks, apple juice (appfel saft) and calcium tablets, then Aldi is the place. ( Also opposite our bank so that will make it attractive when we get our money in our accounts). We also have Aldi -talk sim cards. We can recharge them at the cash counter ; they print you a number you can use to recharge your talk time. And they had cacti and herbs, not flowers.

Finally after a week in Germany we discovered "penny markt," really cheap and most stuff is reasonably priced ( like Jantha bazzar). Things are on sale every week and may not be the next week. Clothes, pans and dog food... what do you want?
All of these places have mashed meat, cut meat and ready slices to throw on sandwiches and eggs too.
On an aside they charge 50 cents for every plastic bag we take out from the shop and have an incredible waste segregation system I will tell you about.

Every shop is closed on a Sunday. Except kaiser mall. so there is a Monday stock up and a Friday stock up.

So what does me, a vegetarian eat?
Simple
1. kellogs special K with chopped carrots in it.
2. Sandwiches BBJ or cheese veggies or toast / mashed potato puree
3. Rice with chutney podi or masoor - dal/ curd rice!
4. sometimes pasta instead of rice or bread rolls or croissants.
5. sometimes pizza if we go out and are " invited."

PS : If the host is paying they will tell you," you are invited."

In the outings we had I had potato salad and bread rolls, a cheese noodles dish, Rocket salad pizza ( spinach and parmesan cheese) and one fantastic turkish bread (that was like a very large vada) with corn and cabbage salad. I haven't yet eaten at the menza ( the univ canteen) but I have a pre - cash loaded card that can be recharged at a machine.

Among the best things I like is the tamara jam; I love the strawberry flavor. I also love the yogurt both plain and fruit- flavored. Love the milk, its fresh wholesome and very filling!

There Voll milk: whole milk and Fettarme milk ( skimmed milk).
Fresch milk is good but picking up packets that say "langer haltbar" means it will have a longer shelf life and has been homogenised.

It's apples falling everywhere in the garden and rotting . It is great eating them all the time, for the leaves keep falling down, soon a sign that winter is ahead and there might be no more fresh fruit and veggies. The fresh things may be replaced with frozen products and warmer soups will replace the saft drinks but till then scrunch and slurp. I haven't even thought of Ice-cream once, its that cold outside.
It's Halloween time in October so there are lots and lots of tea candles and Aldi had funny masks, skeleton gloves, witches hats and false dracula teeth.
Christmas is also coming and already there are sparkling things showing up on the market shelves. Pretty red and green decos .

And closer to my heart I am going to light up my window with tea candles for Diwali and try a payasam by provisioning from the expensive Bio market! If I cannot afford it there always the ISKON temple to visit.