4.5.09

How can anyone live in this country?

They don't have chocolate chips; the things called "choclait chips" are made to be sort of like potato chips, only sweet and chocolatey.  They have two brands of peanut butter, the cheaper of which is twice as expensive as Teddie.  They don't have pecans.  Period.  They don't have navy beans.   They don't have vanilla in any of the places that a rational human being would look for vanilla in.  Baking soda is basically unheard of, and those who have discovered it hail it on the internet as a miracle ingredient.  If you can't guess, I was thinking about baking some cookies.  And a making soup.  Bad day at the supermarket.

Also the light in my room has burnt out, and I don't have another.  Therefore, as soon as it gets dark, the only thing I can still see to do is waste time on my compuker.

7 comments:

  1. How do they make cookies??? With yeast?

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  2. Ok let us know what we can send...pecans would be easy...

    heestdad

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  3. my professor for EU politics was from germany and baked us some REALLY FREAKING EXCELLENT cookies at the end of the semester, so they definitely have their ways. she even had to import a secret german spice to do it!

    also, be careful about sending things to EU countries. i think they may make you pay ridiculous customs when you pick it up...

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  4. Apparently as long as the items are a gift and are worth under 200€, I am good. This according to the internet, which is never wrong.

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  5. Easy to get around the choco chips--buy chocolate, chop up.
    Peanut butter is just out--although there is a very tasty brand of peanut butter in the Netherlands, it is just not as big a deal there as here.
    Where was the vanilla?
    And I have no idea why they wouldn't have baking soda. I mean, it's chemically simple...I shall ask my mother. Meanwhile, you could make cookies from European recipes (they seem to have baking powder??) http://www.jannekes.nl/index.htm?url=/taart/indexkoek.htm

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  6. my mother's reply:
    "Tot ik in Canada kwam was soda iets waar je de vuile was in kon laten weken. Van baking soda had ik nog nooit gehoord. Sindsdien gebruik ik het altijd braaf als het in een (canadees) recept genoemd word maar ik heb nog nooit geprobeerd wat er gebeurt als je het weglaat. Het schijnt gebruikt te worden om het effect van zuren (i.e. fruit) (op de maag van de eter, op de werking van de bakpoeder?) in je koekjes/cake te verminderen. Nu zijn dingen als bananabread en zo veel meer canadees dan nederlands. Maar ook in nederland heb je recepten voor bijv. rozijnenkoekjes. Moet je dan meer bakpoeder gebruiken? Of juist minder? Jij hebt scheikunde gedaan. Wat denk je? Werkt gist/bakpoeder meer of minder in combinatie met baking soda? Ik zou van de week eens twee batches van een en hetzelfde ding moeten maken, een batch met en een zonder baking soda. Kijken wat er gebeurt.

    Peanutbutter schijnt een typisch noordamerikaans en nedelands voedsel te zijn. Ik geloof niet dat je het elders in de wereld kopen kan. Chocolate chip koekjes, kant en klaar, kun je nu in Nederland bij Albert Hein ook wel kopen. (Toen ik er nog woonde, niet.) Maar over het algemeen zijn de mensen in Nederland veel minder geneigd om hun eigen gebak en koekjes te maken - waarom zou je ook, met zoveel lekkere bakkers in de buurt - en dat chocolate chips niet in de winkel te vinden zijn verbaast me niet.

    Ik kan me niet herinneren dat ik in Nederland vanille in een flesje heb gezien. Wat gebruikt wordt voor bakken is vanillesuiker in kleine zakjes (zoiets als suikerzakjes, van 10 gram of zo). Dr Oetker (duits) maakt dat en al die andere zaken die met bakken te maken hebben."

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  7. OK, I haven't seen navy beans, but admittedly I haven't been looking that hard.

    As the Dutch expert above me said, they really like to use vanilla sugar. However, I got kosher-for-Passover vanilla extract at a kosher store, got a little bottle to bring home with me from Ireland, and THEN discovered 1) my predecessor had left a bottle behind on the top kitchen shelf and 2) the Kaiser's at Kottbusser Tor sells it. So it's attainable, especially if you come visit me/a huge supermarket.

    That same Kaiser's is also where I got baking soda (Backnatrium, in handy little packets, actually with the rest of the baking suppplies).

    Peanut butter - I haven't tried it yet, having yet to work my way through my can of Barney's (ugh), but every Asian restaurant I've been to here has used the same brand imported from the Netherlands, available at Vinh Loi.

    Pecans... I think you're out of luck. But enjoy the currants while you have them.

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