
(apart from family & friends of course! And my book collection that I had to leave behind!)
Mostly food…
Christmas Markets
Germany has THE best Christmas markets! I kinda miss the whole atmosphere. It was always so special. I miss the cold, all the yummy food, the scents, the Gluehwein, the burned almonds, etc. Going to the markets was always so much fun and I loved it when it was dark and you could see all the lights. It’s weird to celebrate Christmas in summer. I will never get used to it. It’s such a totally different atmosphere. I want to go back to Europe over Christmas at some point.
Being so close to other countries
That’s a big thing that I didn’t really appreciate until recently. In Germany, we could just jump in the car and drive to the Netherlands. Trips to Venloo were tradition 😉 But even flying to Spain or the UK was so easy and so cheap. Now the closest different country is New Zealand! There’s enough to see in Australia alone though, so I’m not really complaining. And we have all of Asia to explore.
Monte
AAH I MISS IT SO MUCH! It’s a vanilla/hazelnut custard and SUPER delicious! I heard rumours that they sometimes offer it over here at Aldi but I haven’t seen it yet. If I do, I make sure to buy ALL OF THEM!
Affordable booze
I don’t mean the $3 vodka that will probably make you blind… But my favourite rum was somewhere around 12 Euro. The same one here is almost 3 times as much.
That cherry Iced Tea
The BEST iced tea ever! All of the ‘Pfanner’ ones are great if I think about it. We used to mix them as well. They had this great ‘Christmas/Winter flavoured’ one, that you could warm up as well. Delicious!
I used to drink a LOT of iced tea in Germany. But not so much anymore here, they are all too sweet.
Flavoured buttermilk
Or buttermilk in general. There is only one brand here and it’s so expensive. Buttermilk was one of the cheapest groceries in Germany and I loved it. The plain one, as well as the many flavoured ones, especially lemon!
Muellermilch
Flavoured milk. SO good! They had so many great flavours, I especially liked Chocolate&Coconut. Or only coconut. Kinda reminds me of my childhood, cause mum always bought it for us 🙂
Sucuk from the Turkish butcher
Sucuk is a spicy Turkish sausage, that we always bought for BBQ. It was my favourite and I am still on a quest to find it here. I had it once in a restaurant, but it wasn’t the same 😦 I won’t give up though…
Chili Cheese nuggets from Burger King
You know, Burger King exists here, but it’s called ‘Hungry Jacks’. They do have almost all the products you get in Europe. But NO CHILI CHEESE NUGGETS AND I AM SUFFERING! I was eating bags of those and I will never get over the fact that they don’t exist here!
I tried several recipes and actually found one that is pretty good. Still… it was my favourite Take-Away food!
Zwiebelmett
Raw pork mince with salt, pepper and raw onion on fresh bread. The best!
Wow, we don’t have the chili cheese nuggets in the US either. They look awesome though!
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Maybe it’s Europe only? But it really is a shame that they don’t have them everywhere, they are SO good!
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Raw pork? Man, you are asking for worms and other nasty wiggly rigglies…
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I was exposed to mettigel – in which the raw porch is shaped and decorated like a hedgehog!
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Yes, the world famous Mettigel!! 😀 A German tradition haha – did you try/like it?
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No no, it’s fine 😀 There’s some really strict regulations for it.^^
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Haha, your post reminds me, I live in the US now, but one of the things I miss most about Canada (where I’m from) are their Burger King poutines. Darn them and their geographically restricted menus!
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Ooooh, poutine! We had it here, but it was awful 😀 Mr. DZ was so disappointed – he had it when he was traveling Canada and liked it a lot!
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I miss Christmas Markets too ❤
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“Yes, the world famous Mettigel!! 😀 A German tradition haha – did you try/like it?”
Oh no no! My meat is medium well and I don’t even like touching raw meat haha
I loved the chocolate creme Hit cookies! Are you familiar with them?
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Uuuh, I can’t think of them! Are they a newer thing? I haven’t been back in 5 years 😀
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Nope, they’ve been around for 125 years (per their website lol) Bahlsen is the brand I guess.
Actually, Im pretty sure I can get them here but I had them in Hamburg.
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This is such a cool list. That tea looks and sounds awesome and man, I’d kill to try some chili cheese nuggets!
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Interesting list! A lot of this food sounds delicious, and I would love a Christmas market. Here is our Top Ten Tuesday
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I’ve never been to Germany and never had any of these delicious things. Someday I very much want to go! And now I know what to look for in the stores, haha.
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Haha, you definitely do 😀
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Very cool list! I do wish Burger King would at least on occasion offer their location-specific foods in other places. The chili cheese nuggest sound delicious. And Burger King poutine might not be real Canadian poutine, but it’s better than nothing. (And I don’t get to Canada for the real stuff as often as I’d like.)
I have a problem with most prepared iced tea being too sweet, too. I get around it by brewing a big pitcher of tea and then serving it chilled and over ice. More work, but tastes better.
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Ha, I know what you mean! Self made is great, but a bit of a hassle. I used to have my fridge full of homemade iced tea at some point. I think it was my last summer in Germany and I had to save money haha
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LOL, yeah, saving money is also a great way to get in the habit of homemade.
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Those chili cheese nuggest look really good!
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Wich part of Germany were you from? Town wise?
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It’s a little town called Herten in West Germany. Closest popular cities are probably Bochum, Duesseldorf or Cologne 🙂
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It is kind of sad that I rarely go to christmas markets even though I’m like an hour away from the German border.
Great topic. 😀
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Such a cool list! I’ve always wanted to go to a German Christmas market in Germany. And yeah, I get what you mean about not always feeling like I appreciate being so close to Europe. Annnd this post has made me hungry 😉
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Mrs. NW and I often dream of going to a Christmas market in Germany. Just having Christmas in winter would be an amazing change haha
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