Tag Archives: produce

German lifestyle, Hessen, markets

A rare weekly market rendezvous…

Bill took the day off of work today. Our dog, Noyzi, needed some blood work done, and it was going to take a few hours. So, rather than come and go at work, or task me with the job of taking him, Bill stayed home. We did some boring housework, which you can read about on my main blog.

While Bill was at the vet’s, he ran into our neighbor, the veterinarian who owns the practice where we take our dogs. He immediately recognized Noyzi and gave him a pat. Sadly, Bill happened to be there as a family was saying goodbye to a much beloved family member. We lost our dogs, Zane and Arran, here. In fact, Zane’s anniversary is coming up on the 31st. 🕯️ I’m sending warm thoughts to that family. It’s so hard to say goodbye.

It was hard for Charlie to say goodbye to Bill and Noyzi; that’s for sure! He was really upset at being left home with me. He cried, barked, and stayed in the foyer, waiting for them to come back. However, unlike Noyzi, Charlie doesn’t like car rides, and he hates the vet. I think he got the better end of the deal. Noyzi wasn’t thrilled to be at the vet’s today! But he did get a treat.

One unexpected thing that happened today is that I ended up ordering a new steam mop. The one I bought in late 2018, when we were fixing to move from Baden-Württemberg, seems to have bit the dust. It started to heat up, as usual, and then just kind of died. It didn’t die all of the way, mind you. The little green power light was on, and I could feel the electrics trying to heat up. But it just never got there.

I got tired of waiting for our old mop to try to heat up, and broke out the Tineco wet vacuum I bought a few years ago. I cleaned the floors with that. It does do a good job. But I still like having a lighter, less cumbersome steam mop for upstairs. So I ordered one from Paris that will probably get to me in a few days.

Then, after all of that stuff was done, we decided to go to the weekly market in our village. It just started up again after a brief summer pause.

I love the weekly market. One can purchase deli meats and cheeses, fresh breads, fresh vegetables, Middle Eastern goodies, and wine… The ice cream man also comes with his goodies. He has a good sense of humor, speaks English, and offers delicious ice creams. I think he gets a kick out of us, because when we first met him several weeks ago, we said we were hiding out in Germany.

Bill bought some cold cuts and cheeses from a Tyrolean farmer’s market seller. They had a nice conversation in English and German. An older gent asked us if we were British. We told them we’re American. I was flattered that it wasn’t obvious, in spite of my profane t-shirt…

Look carefully. I should probably buy another one.

We also bought a kilo of plums from the fruits and vegetables vendor. We would have bought bread, but the guy was busy, and Bill has an appointment with his Jungian analyst today. So we had some wine and ice cream from the friendly vendor…

As we were enjoying the low key weekly market, which the city manager attended, I was thinking about how lucky we are to live here. People around here mostly know us, but even the ones who don’t are very nice.

The Metzgerei vendor asked if we were new, because he’d never seen us before. I think he’s different from the folks who used to come. We said we weren’t. He kind of good-naturedly ribbed Bill for his attempts at German, then sang “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, when he heard that I’m from Virginia. Of course, Virginia is NOT West Virginia… but that’s okay. It’s a great song. Besides, Bill Danoff, who mostly wrote that song, had not been to West Virginia when he wrote it. The song was actually inspired by drives in Maryland. Germans love it, though. Who wouldn’t love Germanic John Denver’s beautiful tenor voice?

Another elderly gent asked if we were Brits. We said no, we’re American. Bill told him where we live, and he said, “Please come back.”

I did notice that the weekly market seemed a bit sparse… but that might be because it’s August, and people tend to vacation in August. Also, they host it during working hours. It’s hard to go to the market when one doesn’t leave work until an hour before the market closes. But I guess the people who run it sell their wares at bigger markets on weekends, and no one wants to be hanging out on a town square during the dinner hour.

We also saw our old neighbor, Daniel, who stopped to pick up some vegetables. Daniel moved to a smaller, cheaper place following his divorce. He’s a very nice guy. We miss having him near, but it was nice to see him today.

Anyway… I do love our little village, and I’m grateful that we get to live here. We were very lucky, because this was the last house we toured when we were looking, and it popped up the day before we were heading back to Jettingen, back in November 2018, having come up here to look for a place to live. I suspect we were the only ones to tour it when it came up, and you’re damned right we snapped it up quickly. It’s been a GREAT place to live… both in terms of the house, and the town.

Below are a few photos from today.

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markets

Weekly market leads to profanity and homemade Friday night goodies!

This may seem like a mundane topic for my travel blog, but for those of you who know me personally, it might make some sense. Yesterday, after Thursday’s weekly market in our market square, I decided I wanted to use some of that delicious produce to make sauce. One thing led to another, and after a few hours of work, I had made lasagna with homemade sauce and a loaf of fresh garlic bread from scratch. The only thing that would have made it better is if we had also made the lasagna noodles, which we could have done, as we do have a pasta maker. We usually reserve fresh pasta projects for when the weather sucks or there’s a lockdown order because of a pandemic. 😉

I know I have a few readers who have met me offline and know there was a time when I really enjoyed cooking and baking. I don’t do it so much anymore, as Bill kind of took over that chore some time ago. But there was a time when I was a pretty damned good cook. I even got paid to do it. So, as Bill was finishing up his Friday work day at home, opting to use a few comp hours to take the afternoon off, I ventured into the kitchen and started a pot of water to blanch the beautiful vine ripened tomatoes we bought on Thursday.

“What are you doing?” Bill asked.

“I feel like making sauce.” I said.

“Great! I’ll get the peppers!” He was genuinely excited, as one of the reasons he decided I might be worth marrying is because I cooked a mean pot roast and made homemade cloverleaf rolls when he visited me at the apartment I lived in during graduate school. Like any good moonchild, he is easily seduced through his stomach.

Bill laid out the beautiful fruits and vegetables from the market. I started chopping them as the tomatoes blanched in the hot water. I was going to remove the skins, but decided not to bother trying to take out the seeds. I peeled the tomatoes and boiled the skins to render out even more of the flesh, then threw three kinds of sweet peppers, onion, garlic, fresh basil, and salt and pepper into a pot, where it simmered for most of the afternoon. I also used up the last of our oregano.

When I mentioned wanting to make bread, Bill said, “We already have bread from the bakery.” But it was the chewy kind that I don’t like that much. Besides, I enjoy baking bread. The kneading process is a great stress reliever. So I made a perfect loaf of garlic bread. Then, it came time to mix up the cheeses (mozzarella and Parmesan) and make Bechamel sauce for the lasagna. Although it started out a vegetarian dish, I decided to add a little Black Forest ham from the market. Just a little bit, mind you, as the ham was a bit smokey and strong, and a little was really all it needed. I wouldn’t usually put ham in lasagna, but Hell, I’ve see people put boiled eggs in them here, so why not? The ham was very good, by the way.

Below are some photos from yesterday’s project, courtesy of the market. Bill did have to go pick up some spinach for the cheese layers, and I added a little tomato paste from Parma to move the sauce a little bit. We still had enough sauce left to make a pizza later today. He also picked up a couple of slices of our local bakery’s version of a Sacher Torte… which wasn’t really a Sacher Torte, since it wasn’t made with apricot jam. There was also plenty of wine and good music, and the kitchen smelled fabulous!

I’m really pleased with how it turned out. Bill quipped, having tasted the lasagna, “That’s a fucking good lasagna.” He was channeling The Kids in the Hall, which probably ages us a bit. But I agree, it is a fucking good lasagna. I’m glad I “still got it” in the kitchen.

Yeah, I like it. It’s really fucking good…

Arran was happy to hang around and help us clean up, too. That’s good, because while I might be a good cook, I’m not the best at cleaning. But I make a fucking good lasagna… and an even better loaf of bread.

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Baden-Württemberg

Food extravaganza in Nagold!

As I woke up this morning, I said to Bill, “You know, I think we should go to the market in Nagold this morning.”

“Do you think they’re still going now?” he asked.

“Yeah.  Why not?”  I responded.

Bill was game, so we went this morning and were rewarded with a large haul of delicious fresh food. Have a look!

The tower at 9:00am…

We were immediately attracted to the first fruit and vegetable stand we encountered.  Bill got us some strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.  He didn’t see the blackberries until he’d already paid.  Bill loves blackberries.  I could take ’em or leave ’em.

Pretty flowers.  I amused myself by watching the fountain.  For once, no kids were playing in it.

Plums!  I love how beautiful everything looks.

Bill checks out the beans.  I think he got some of those, along with peppers.

I had to ask what the green stuff is.  I think it’s a mix of broccoli and cauliflower.

Who could resist?  Not us.

Another shot of the fountain.

We tore ourselves away from the fruits and vegetables and made our way down the street.  I couldn’t help but notice the heavenly scent of salami.  A very well stocked metzgerei was doing a brisk business nearby.  Bill and I determined we needed to pick up some wurst, but only after we checked out the rest of the market.  
I spotted a stand where a young man was selling deer salami and sausages.  Bill loves venison products.  I don’t like deer meat, but I like to encourage Bill to treat himself.  I think the young guy was getting a kick out of us, especially when I said “You know you want to.” to Bill.  The same guy was also apparently a beekeeper, so we bought some honey as well.  The French honey we bought last year is almost done.

Next stop was the fish market… we picked up a couple of whole trouts and a salmon filet.

Bill went to town at a cheese stand, even as a rather impatient older lady kept pushing in front of him.    The lady doing the selling was laughing as Bill shuffled awkwardly to the left and ordered more cheese.  Wish we’d picked up some butter, too, not that I need to be eating it.

Pretty flowers.

We made our way back to the metzgerei with the heavenly cold cuts.  Bill bought a nice selection of three sliced meats.  Lunch should be good today.

Good stuff!

We finished with a stop at the bakery, where we got some brotchen and a few Berliners– German jelly doughnuts!  Yum!

My first Berliner.  Believe it or not, I never had one here in Germany before this morning.  I usually talk myself out of them.  It was worth the wait!

God, I love living in Germany.  We need to hit the market more often.

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