Fun Foods from the Rewe

[>: | blogger is being stupid so the pics have to go at the bottom. apologies]

  Ok, so not all of these are actually from Rewe, I just like the name because it reminds me of wawa :). This post just contains the fun convenience store/grocery packaged good German food stuff I bought. Similar to anywhere I go, I love checking out the local candies, cookies, and sodas so I stopped pretty much every night on my way back to my apartment.

First off, I LOVE FANTA ZERO!! Germany has a really tiny selection of sodas, especially diet. I think this is pretty status quo for Europe, but hard for a thirsty American like me who drinks like 100 ounces a day of beverage :p. Fanta Zero was one of like 4 diet sodas on the market, but it was all I needed! As everyone knows, non-USA Fanta is way better and kind of tastes like a combo of mineralwasser and Sunny D. I bought a liter almost every night of my trip and finished them all before leaving. I also tried "Mezzo Mix Zero", a Coke product that tasted kind of like orange hinted cola. It had nothin' on my FZ.

Another funny beverage I found in the Schwerin (Florence of the north!) train station was Hello Kitty soda. It was a mix of like strawberry-raspberry Capri Sun with mineralwasser. It wasn't that good, but I couldn't not buy an adorably pink Hello Kitty bev.

I hit the Haribo hardcore too :). I made a big effort to buy flavors that aren't common in America. I discovered an amazzzzzzzzing new type: yogi gummy. They are little cream fruit flavored gummies with liquid yogurt in the inside. So good. I bought like 10 types to bring home including caramel filled cows, fruity tires, pico artists, phantasia and Freddy Furkel pigs just to name a few.

Also got a new fav flavor of packaged cookies. Liebeinz cookies are square biscuits with a choco coating on one side. Difference is, the choco is actually super high quality delicious unlike most packed cookie ingredients. Mmmm. I only bought a couple Milka bars and Richter Sport because although delicious, they are pretty easily accessible in America.

I also hit the yogurt/pudding sections pretty hard. I really love those back home, and Germany had a way better selection. Usually I'd add one (or two....) on to my Fanta purchase as a late night dessert. I was really happy with the variety of flavors, especially in the rice pudding selection. I tended to stick with caramel and cinnamon, but ventured out and tried some yummy raspberry versions as well. Super wish they had such a wide selection in America. They also sold many quarks as yogurts which surprised me as I thought that was strictly a dipping/baking ingredient.

Rewe made me happy :) although the non-English speaking cashier lady totally thought I was retarded by the end of the week since I was in there every night, and always struggled at the end when I was pulling out my Euro coins to pay. Plus... I don't think normal people spend about $40 in 5 days on sodas and candy ':)

Bäckerei en Masse

One of the most surprising (and totally awesome) parts of Berlin to me was the plethora of "back" shops. At first we were confused that there was such a huge demand for Tempurpedic mattress stores, but then we discovered that it was short for bäckerei, the German word for bakery.

Even more prevalent than McD's or Starbucks in America, it seemed like there was literally at least one bakery per block, usually multiple if you counted the millions of sidewalk cafes which all hosted a selection of yummy looking breads and sweets.

I guess Germany is well known for their breads and when you looked in the shops it was quite apparent. Along with wide varieties of normal rolls they also hosted adorable shaped items like Easter bunny loaves. Unfortunately, I never got to try any because of the whole touring with 6 people plus baby thing :p

I tried a bunch of different items from many shops. They ranged from sweet breads to donuts to cheesecakes. I have to say my very favorite was the Berliner. This may sound kind of cliché since it's the stereotypical pastry, but it was REALLY good. It's essentially just a jelly donut, but the filling won me over. The strawberry jam was so tasty... Like the kind you get in mini jars from cheese baskets at christmas time :D

Other donuts I tried included quark puffs which were like giant, air filled donut holes. I also tried a variety of fruity pastries with himbeer (raspberry) and cherry. Both seemed to be the fruits of baked good choice. I also tried a "Milka" choco donut. All were good, but none particularly stand out.

I thought the cheesecakes were very interesting in Berlin because the majority were made with quark (Oakdale cheese farm ftw!!!!!!). The one I had just seemed lighter than a normal cheesecake, and I didn't find the flavor that great

As for savory baked goods, I of course partook in some awesome "brezel" action. Pretzels were, as expected, widely available. I had my first from a chain, Ditsch, which was fresh and delicious out of the oven. In general, it seemed like the pretzels were slightly lighter than the American counterparts. Me gusta

Other items included a lot of pastries filled with meats and ham. Ok but not my thing

I was a bit disappointed in general. With the wide amount of bakeries I thought the stuff would be outstanding, but I find I much prefer American and Asian pastries

Germany- the Land of Weird Meats

Meat... Hahaha if you have read this blog or talked to me at all, you know that my least favorite food is meat, particularly weird foreign meat. I'm not a vegetarian by any means, but I just don't really get excited about meat stuffs. So I was VERY excited for all the eating adventures that'd go down in last week's trip to Berlin, Germany :p. I've broken the trip up in to 4 posts, and this first one is about: weird meat! enjoy :D

Currywurst!

As a true (or attempting to be true) foodie I was ready to take on the challenge of trying some new items. The first that was recommended to me was "currywurst", a very typically Berlin dish that's kind of German-Turkish fusion food. It is typically found in street carts and random walk-up stands. It consists of a fried sausage that is doused in a yummy almost BBQ sweet sauce and bunches of spicy curry powder. It's then chopped up and eaten over French fries withe cute mini fork things :).

I had to drag my dad and bro out at like 11 pm to run to a stand before it closed to ensure I got to try it. So freaking worth it!! Mmmm I love hot dogs and Indian, and this was the total combo of both :D. Highly recommend and will be looking for it in SF. Stay tuned!

Weisswurst....

Another typical (although more Bavarian which I didn't get to visit MAJOR TEAR) German dish is "weisswurst." I remember hearing about it in German class and being nauseated... As the name sounds like, it consists of a random white meat sausage and is traditionally eaten with a sweet mustard. I was only willing to try a bite of Nick's, and I thought it was kind of nasty. The sausage itself had a weird consitency and was too squishy inside its floppy casing. And due to peer pressure I even dipped it in the sweet mustard which was so freaking gross. Don't listen to what others say, it still totally tastes like mustard :p. I was very happy that I had chosen some generic more polish dog-esque sausage for my lunch. It, on the other hand, had a bit too thick of a constancy, but was still tasty.

meat medley

One of the weirdest German meat dishes I tried was at a traditional beerhaus in Potsdam. I was already in a great mood after seeing the amazingly Rococo palace of Sans Soussi, so I went in with an open mind. The menu was huge and included pages of dishes with lots of meats and fishes. Both Margaret and my dad got like sausage variety plates with shiztons of meat stuff. Nick and I decided to be more adventurous and try "wild boar" steak. A totally un-Sharon order, but it seemed more exotic than the sea bass I was about to order.

Sans Soussi

Wild Boar Steak

I really liked the steak actually!!! It was a bit tougher/gamier than a normal beef patty, and it had a very subtle sausagey flavoring. Definitely something I would order again at a random German restaurant :). It also came with some yummy little potato medallions that were fried on the outside and almost tasted like they had cheese mixed in the middle.

Germans also typically eat cold cuts for breakfast. One morning Margaret provided a "Berlin Breakfast" for us which had breads, cheese, and meat. It was an interesting combo and seemed like more of a sandwich to me. I actually enjoyed a little flower shaped bologne thing, but I was less keen (such a ken word) on a bacon looking meat that you had to rip the fat off of.

German Breakfast

Sausage Bin  @ Market

There were also lots of meat markets all around where people shop for sausages, cold cuts, steaks, fish and even items like geese and duck. It was fun seeing all the giant meat counters and Germans busily shopping for their kitchens. Makes me wish I cooked more :(

Surprisingly that was all the weird meat stuff I tried... on a family vacation with 6 people + baby, it's hard to be team lead on much.