Saturday, August 12, 2006
How to Survive a Bavarian Breakfast
No, don't worry, I have neither run away from Ireland and settled back in the land of beer and Lederhosen, nor have I gone raving mad imagining Teutonic delights in the early hours of the day. I did, however, eat a serious overdose of German bread yesterday. My boss had gone to visit our Munich office during the week and returned with two humomgous loaves from my favourite bakery - Hofpfisterei. Unfortunately I had no camera at work with me, I would have liked to share the source of our delight - and her agony, as she had to carry 4 kilos of bread in her hand luggage - with you.Why? Simple, Germans tend to be obsessed, in a very positive way, with bread. Our bakeries
are an important part of everyday life. They can be found in most underground stations and many busy shopping areas as well as a number of tiny residential street that look so quiet you would think that they could support any business. Bakeries are often the first places parents let their kids shop on their own - I remember how proud I was the first time I was allowed to get rolls for breakfast from our local bakery - and they are among the few businesses that have permission to open on Sundays. And, as many of my Irish colleagues can attest, when we are abroad we can spend hours bitching about the lack of "proper" bread in our host country. So, whenever our boss wants to treat us to something special, she organises German bread for the whole team.Yesterday, the 10 of us nearly managed to finish the 4 kilos of bread in one sitting. But only nearly. A little was left over for me to take home to lofty. I also defrosted a packet of original Bavarian Weißwürste, a white pork sausage that is traditionally eaten for breakfast in my home state. They are
gently heated in a pot of simmering (not boiling) water and then served with whole grain mustard and bread or pretzels and a pint of beer. You have to peel the tough skin off before eating them otherwise they are inedible - a bit like a banger wrapped in a condom. As kids we had a whale of a time watching tourists trying to chew their way through the whole sausage wondering why they were the only ones struggling.Today it was lofty and I who were struggling, though. Even though we skipped the traditional accompaniment of Weißbier (wheat beer), after breakfast we were full and lethargic enough to contemplate going back to bed and simply forgetting about the rest of the day. We managed to resist the urge, but shopping was a short affair today and dinner was merely a simple sausage burrito with salsa and guacamole.
Christine at 9:58 pm
