Last night, Brad had to cancel our lunch date as he has several back to back meetings today and only has thirty minutes for lunch. I kind of had a feeling this would happen as busy season started this past week and was surprised he even invited me. However, we are having dinner tonight and spending all day together tomorrow, which is more than we would if it were busy season in the states. I am planning to make two dishes from my Naturally Thin cookbook (Caesar Salad and Spinach, Chive and Ricotta Linguini) and hopefully they will turn out well. I went shopping yesterday for most of the ingredients, but decided this morning to make the ceasar salad. Therefore, after my walk with Cheryl I planned to visit the Basic Bio Mart to purchase anchovy paste, which in German is called Sardellenpaste.
I did go to the gym this morning and wanted to share my funny story. My day started off like most mornings, Brad and I had coffee and breakfast together before heading off to work and I got ready for the gym (Monday, Wednesday and Friday it does not open until 9 AM). After enjoying more coffee, sending a few emails and checking my kitchen for all the ingredients needed for tonight’s dinner, I packed my gym bag and headed to the ubahn. After about a ten minute commute, I arrive at my gym to check in and obtain my locker key. I head to the locker room, but as I am taking off my snow boats I realize that my shoes are at home…bummer! However, I still really want to work out and start to think of what I could do without shoes. Yoga or Pilates do not start for another hour and I cannot wait, so I decide to ride the bike in my socks. Luckily, the gym was not overly crowded and all the bikes were free. So I picked one in the center (hoping no German lady would sit next to me) turned on CNN, put my headphones in and began to ride. I had brought a book with me too, so I looked very focused and prayed that no one would notice. About half way into my ride, an older woman sat at the bike two over from me and I was certain she was going to say something as she appeared to be sour. The sight of her brought me immediately back to my childhood, when my sister and I would go swimming in my grandmother’s community pool. The old ladies would always yell at us for splashing, even though we were not, and for some reason I thought this lady would start doing the same thing, but in German. Therefore, I spent the last 20 minutes fearing a scene would occur and would never be able to show my face at this location again. I know this may sound a little dramatic or over the top, but the Germans can be harsh and have no problem telling you what they think. Luckily, I was able to complete my ride, clean the machine and went into the locker room without a confrontation.
I had some time to kill prior to meeting Cheryl for our walk and decided to look for the Sardellenpaste. I thought this would be very easy to find and be out of the market with all of my ingredients in no time, but man was I wrong. After visiting a bio mart, neighborhood market and the Japanese shop, I decided to head home and regroup. After making some falafel for lunch, I looked on the internet for substitutions, just in case I was unable to locate it. Thank goodness I did because after trying two more stores with no success, I decided it was time to go to plan B. The most popular suggestions for Caesar dressing were the following: capers packed in salt, miso and olives packed in oil. Since, I did not want to get my immersion blender out to make salad dressing; I decided to purchase an olive di crème, which looked like olive tapenade. To my surprise the dressing turned out really well and I am kind of glad I was unable to find sardellenpaste as I would probably have never used it for anything beside salad dressing and there are only so many times you can eat a Caesar salad.
My walk with Cheryl was really wonderful. She took me through a park near her flat and it was connected to Olympia Park, which I love! She also pointed out a few restaurants that we should try as well as a beer garden. I really do enjoy spending time with her and so glad KPMG had us come to Munich early. I am sad that they are leaving in a month, but hopefully we will keep in touch and she will not mind if I email her with crazy questions.
It is getting late and I still need to check out the Vorstadt Café menu and then make dinner for Brad.
Haben ein tolles Wochenende! die Gauntletts
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