the wive's group on grafenwoehr set up a little trip to the bio (read: organic or natural) market in my town called eseo. the shop is quite literally 2 blocks from my house, which is pretty awesome. i have to say i'm really getting into this city living thing. everyone would just meet there and then go on a little tour of the shop and ask questions of the manager. when i arrived no one else was there yet. this is a side effect of growing up around the military- i'm always really early. three women and their children showed up shortly after i arrived. i introduced myself to the one i recognized from the Facebook posting about the shop tour and the other two continued talking to each other making it clear they weren't interested in meeting me. oh well.
we all walk inside and the manager meets us. she's a pretty lady named evita who's boyfriend is the owner of the place. she was super knowledgeable and answered all of our crazy questions . i thoroughly enjoyed picking her brain.
as she was showing us where the alfalfa seeds were for sprouting, a few more ladies came in with their wild monsters children in tow. these children were seriously banshees that ran all over the store with the child sized shopping carts playing 'lets crash into each other' and 'lets try to run everyone over'. i was completely horrified. yes, it's true, i have no biological children, so its different for me... but seriously people, you are representing the american spouses- have some respect and leave your kids with a sitter if they can't behave.
the entire time all the women tended to their children and chit-chatted amongst themselves. i was on my own the whole time shopping to my heart's content- no one spoke to me or introduced themselves. nothing. i was really surprised, but then again, i had a feeling that's exactly how it would be. sad, huh? i was pretty bummed because it would be nice to have some american friends, but today clearly was not the day for that.
evita was so great to have for translations and the inevitable, "what IS this?!" questions. she told me she's there most weekdays and was always willing to help read labels since i'm always terrified i'll buy something the hubs is allergic to.
the picture below is me getting some 6-grain ground into flour- yes- in the store getting fresh flour ground! yeow! i think i found my little heaven! i also got some rye since i'm addicted to rye bread lately. i can't wait to start playing with it! other items to be ground were spelt, oats, wheat, bulgur, and tons more!
below is my take-away from the shopping trip. the two davert brown bags are my freshly ground flours. the red box is a starter for Hildegard bread which is made with spelt. you can find a recipe here: recipe i was also really excited to find myself some coconut oil- that little jar smells like heaven! i also got some organic hand soap with citrus and olive oil for the kitchen (which smells completely edible! yum!). the hubs is a soda drinker and i'm always on the hunt for organic sodas that he likes, so he gets to try germany's version when he gets home. last but certainly not least i found dry bourbon vanilla. this is how you can make vanilla sugar, and it can be used in baking recipes too! so much fun.
next time i go, i'll take some more pictures and tell you what other amazingness they have to offer! thanks for stopping by! xo, gg
