My Favorite (German) Things: Food

We love the food in Germany - especially the farmer's markets.   Everyday a neighborhood in Frankfurt hosts a market where they sell fresh produce, meats, cheeses, and flowers.  (We now try to buy our  produce every few days instead of stocking up for a week like we did at home.)  Our Saturday morning tradition includes exploring these markets.  We take the bus to Bornheim where stands line the main road and surround the neighborhood clock tour   Everyone gets a treat.  Dave looks for the sausage stand.  The kids eat chocolate croissants while I enjoy my cappuccino, and we watch people go by.  I wish my "market German" was a little better as I mostly point to the apples or fennel I want.  Last weekend, we took the train just a few stops to Konstablerwache to try a market in the Innerstadt - center city.  I asked the butcher for Italian sausages to make tomato sauce, but he did not sell them.  He insisted the kids start eating German sausages and gave them each a skinny cured German sausage to eat.  Owen loved it and I ended up going back and buying five more.

At home, we frequented four different grocery stories.  Each week, Dave stopped at Whole Foods (Whole paycheck) for chicken nuggets with real chicken, turkey, and produce.  We went to Trader Joes for snacks and sauces.  We ran to Safeway for those last minute ingredients and Costco for bulk household items.  Here, we are lucky enough to have access to the military commissary where we buy some American snacks and cereals and all of our paper products.  The local grocery store Rewe, similar to Safeway but with European freshness, sells fish, locally grown meats, spices, etc.  (And the five euro French wine tastes incredible)  We hit the markets or the street stands to get produce.  I actually love grocery shopping here.   Now I need to start cooking more...