home alone

Jul 17, 2010 11:39

yeah well, for an hour and a half or so. The boys are out at a Daddy playgroup, so I'm bumping around the house by myself for a bit.

organizing old photos, zzz )

sourdough, baking, pretzels, dude, summer

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Comments 10

tinimaus July 17 2010, 11:17:22 UTC
Turkish food and in particular lahmacun is one of the reasons I'm glad to be back in Germany. Ooh, and rollos.

Our new house has a Turkish kebab shop round the corner. I'm really pleased, but I still want to try and make my own, despite the fact that my Turkish cabbage salad never turns out quite right.

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cakeinoz July 17 2010, 11:40:04 UTC
yes it's one of my favourite things to buy at the Turkish takeout places in Germany. I always like the salad and bread combination. Homemade is of course better, as you know you'll get a bit of meat on the bread. :) If I had access to them, I'd buy some of the bread at the bakery and make them at home that way.

My grandmother was from Armenia so there are a few dishes like this that I like. I'll be attempting to make some Armenian bread soon (have made it loads of times with my mum, but never solo!) and I'm sure I'll some here to blog/complain about it.

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annette09 July 17 2010, 19:21:54 UTC
Do they not offer the chicken pox vaccine? I know it's a little late, right now, for T. It was just coming out when my kids were little, so I don't know what age it's recommended. And of course, there's all the controversy surrounding vaccines. Didn't know what the UK pediatrician thinking is on this. Seems to be more as a convenience for working parents here ... so kids won't be home sick. And parents have to miss work ( ... )

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cakeinoz July 17 2010, 19:43:44 UTC
you know, they don't offer the vaccine here on the NHS. Private doctors will do it (so, for a fee) and we were seriously considering just paying for it. It's a moot point now. (it's also ridiculously difficult to get any information on it from people. Online searches didn't turn up much, and the few inquiries cookieman sent out to offices via email had no responses.) I don't think the NHS is really giving it much consideration right now, as there have been a lot of budget cuts in the government, and this vaccine hasn't been high on their list anyway. Germany does offer it, though, and most other European governments seem to, as well ( ... )

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annette09 July 17 2010, 20:07:01 UTC
I had no idea they were owned by the same company that owns Trader Joes. We don't have Trade Joes here, yet, but I know Laurel waxes poetic about them, so I have a good opinion of them. I'm like you in that I could see myself buying canned goods there, but I was a little disheartened to see that they didn't have any organic produce. (I'll spend a little more money on buying organic of the "dirty dozen", and stick to "conventional" on the rest). Glad you mentioned that about their parent company.

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cakeinoz July 17 2010, 20:40:54 UTC
yeah I thought it was an interesting tidbit of info when I found out. There's a big difference in the "theme" of the stores (if you ever go to a TJ's, you'll see what I mean. It's set up like an island import market, sort of, with lots of cutesy signs, palm trees, and employees in Hawaiian shirts.) Aldi is definitely a scaled down, basic shop, whereas TJs has an extensive selection of prepared foods (like just about anything in their awesome freezer section.)

However, it does mean the food quality should be about the same. I imagine they source the food from the same places, and slap TJs/Aldi stickers on them where appropriate. I still remember running into TJs branded peanuts in an Aldi in Germany once. That's actually the point when I decided to see if the parent company was the same.

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susanelizabeth July 18 2010, 13:07:34 UTC
I love Aldi.
Buying things like washing powder and dishwasher tablets saves a fortune. Whenever I shop there I always buy their biscuits, smoked salmon, ham, cheese. Basic pantry stuff etc. Some of the special offers are brilliant too. Apparently the bunches of flowers last for about two weeks in the vase - which is fantastic.

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cakeinoz July 25 2010, 15:13:21 UTC
oh I did buy some Asian lilies there, and they were amazing. They lasted for ages. We go there at least once a week for pantry goods or German sausages if we're barbecuing. They have an own-brand version of the dude's breakfast cereal (Ready Brek) as well as some good cheeses. We usually go to Aldi before we do our regular shop, just to see what's on offer...

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cakeinoz July 25 2010, 15:10:31 UTC
Aldi is nothing like TJ's, really. I only even mention the ownership issue because the quality of their own-brand goods is the same at both shops. The similarity ends there- TJ's tends to do a lot of cutesy branding (eg, Trader Jose etc) and a lot of service (tastings, extra employees in cute outfits) which Aldi doesn't have. or, they don't have over here; they might adapt a bit to the US market in terms of customer service.

anyway, I'd highly recommend checking it out. They do have some nice pantry goods, and they are usually good for in-season produce.

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