Scrambled Eggs and Mashed Potatoes

Hey cool kids, I hope you all enjoyed your summer. There is one last Essen 2 that I need to show you:

Strangeness: 5/5
Deliciousness: 2/5

I've had such a fun time blogging about Bremen and the Mensa meals. I hope you enjoyed it too!

With love and mashed potatoes,
~Aimee

Creamy Vegetable Soup and Pretzel Bread

One of the first words I learned in German was Spargal, which means asparagus. I learned this from seeing the summer Spargal and Erdbeere (asparagus and strawberry) stands. Today's soup had Spargal and other more difficult to identify vegetables. It was yummy.

Strangeness: 1/5
Deliciousness: 4/5

Stir Fry and Rice

Yesterday's essen was another Asian inspired meal, and it too was a pleasant surprise. Fun fact: I counted exactly three pineapple chunks in my meal.

Do you remember when you were little and went to day care and sometimes they would give you an apple for dessert and you were mad because that's not really dessert and where are the cookies? No? That's just me? Oh. Well dessert was an apple.

Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 4/5

Egg Pancakes... again

The eggy crepe pancakes made their third and presumably final appearance yesterday. But this time, instead of sunblock tasting yogurt, there was machiatto-like filling. I'm not just saying machiatto to make it sound fancy--that's what the menu called it. Here's the meal, making a sad face:



Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 3/5

Spaghetti

Wilkommen to the final week of Essen 2! I am so impressed that even after five weeks, there are still only a very few duplicate meals. Sure, the red sauce, vanilla sauce, and steamed vegetables have played a few rounds of musical chairs, but compared to Caltech dining, this is variety.

Today's essen is college food if I've ever tasted it: spaghetti and red sauce with steamed vegetables. And I even splurged and bought a pack of Parmesan cheese (25 euro cents). Americans, you take your free condiments for granted. Never again!

Strangeness: 1/5
Deliciousness: 3/5

'Curry' with 'Naan'

I was so excited for Essen 2 today because the menu said Indische--Indian food! Curry is my favorite food in the whole world, which is why I was utterly disappointed when today's curry was just soup with no curry flavor what so ever. I thought they might be able to pull off Indian in their own German-cafeteria-style way, like they did with Chinese, but I can't cut them slack here.

The one redeeming quality of this soup is that it has dahl--yummy lentils. Over this meal was decent for a meal but very bad for curry, which is what I was expecting and looking forward to.

Strangeness: 4/5 (strange that this passes for curry!)
Deliciousness: 2/5

Wow, I feel like such a curry snob. Which is so far from the truth! I like anything with even a smidge of curry-ness to it. I should just carry curry powder in my purse to make instances like this obsolete.

Milk Rice with Blueberry Sauce

I was so pleased with myself today because I was able to read enough of the menu to know what I was getting myself into with Essen 2. Another instance of dessert for lunch: warm, thick rice, like a hot cereal, and sweet blueberry sauce. It was served with sugar, which you can see on the tray to the left of my bowl, which wasn't needed because this meal was sweet enough for me already. I was a little apprehensive, because I don't usually like warm fruity food, but this was really tasty!


Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 5/5

Meat and Potatoes

Today's meaty essen 2 is brought to you by Xiaolei, one of the grad students helping me this summer. This meal is about as manly as you can get: meatballs and boiled potatoes.


Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 4/5 (according to our guest contributor)

But wait, there's more! I had essen 1 today, which was quite a treat. Essen 1 costs 2 euros, and you usually get an entree, a side, and dessert. Today's meal reminded me of the hamsters CDS made (tech alums know what I'm talking about): spinach encased by fried polenta, with corkscrew pasta and red sauce. It was served with a side salad and delicious lavender-blackberry yogurt. Overall, one of my favorite meals from the mensa!

Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 5/5

Hashbrowns and Salad

What a delightful juxtaposition of fried grease-soak deliciousness with green leafy goodness. And a side of sourcream!


Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 4/5

Szechwan Noodles

I love German cognates, because they sound like English words, except hilarious. Today's essen was nudeln with a sauce that smelled distinctly Chinese. The Germans do a pretty nice job with Chinese food.


Strangeness: 2/5
Deliciousness: 3/5

Minestrone

Today's meal gives me hope: although this meal is not too strange, I haven't eaten it in the mensa before. Minestrone and a wedge of bread, kind of like plain focaccia.

Strangeness: 2/5
Deliciousness: 3/5

'Pancakes' with Vanilla Sauce

Uh oh, I'm getting a little worried that I've exhausted the Essen 2 meals and won't have anything new to blog about for my remaining two weeks in Bremen. Today's meal was nearly the same as a meal a few weeks ago, but this time the crepes were topped with vanilla sauce instead of caramel. But I learned that I am mistaken in calling them crepes--these translate to pancakes, and crepes are a little different.


Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 3/5

Here's hoping for something new tomorrow!

Chili con Carne and Pretzel Bread

Wednesday's non-vegetarian Essen 2 is brought to you by a special guest judge, Priya's friend Aaron, who is in town for a few days. When I asked Aaron to rate his meal, he said he gave it a solid three and a half, and he grabbed an extra pretzel bread after hearing how much Priya and I like it.


Strangeness: 1/5
Deliciousness: 3.5/5

Over in Essen 1, I had the same margharita pizza I had on that very first day, but this time with a popsickle! I must say, the pizza is no chandler--it is more like frozen microwave pizza that you make for the kids you babysit. But it did the job, and I think the popsickle deserves an additional deliciousness point.


Strangeness: 2/5
Deliciousness: 4/5

Greek Salad and Pretzel Bread

Today (yesterday) the line for essen 2 was the longest I have ever seen! I knew I was in for something tasty. When I reached the front of the line, I was surprised to see... a salad. This flies in the face of every stereotype about German eating habits I know. Where was the wurst, the schnitzel, the beer, the sauerkraut?

I will just assume that everyone was in it for the pretzel bread, which itself costs 1 euro. Germans and their pretzels...

Strangeness: 1/5
Deliciousness: 4/5

Gnocchi with last week's sauce

Hi everyone! I am looking forward to an exciting weeks of essens, but sadly the week is beginning where it left off--on a not so strange sort of meal.

Squishy little larva-like gnocchi with a tomato and vegetable sauce that is suspiciously similar to Friday's essen. Let's keep our fingers crossed for better luck tomorrow!

Strangeness: 2/5
Deliciousness: 2/5

Pasta Milano

The week finishes up with a tasty, not strange meal. And I'm ok with that, but I do love days like yesterday :) I can always count on Essen 2 to be unpredictable.

Penne makes its second appearance this week, this time with a few vegetables (squash, cauliflower, peas) and tomato sauce.

Strangeness: 1/5
Deliciousness: 4/5

Mashed Potatoes and Hard Boiled Eggs

Everyday before lunch I check the menu by the door of the mensa. It's always in German, but I look for the V for vegetarian and any cognates or words I recognize. Today the first word was Zwei, so I knew I would be eating two of something. This is what I got:


Yep, those are hard boiled eggs on a bed of mashed potatoes, smothered in mustard flavored gravy.

My family can attest to the fact that mashed potatoes are one of my favorite foods in the whole world. On Thanksgiving and Christmas, I would eat extra helpings of potatoes instead of pumpkin pie. I can't really say the same for hard boiled eggs though. Eggs have a smell that I don't really like, and I eat them in moderation. Luckily, that smell was masked by mustardy gravy.

Strangeness: 5/5
Deliciousness: 2/5

Fried Patty and Pasta with Mushroom Sauce

It's Wednesday, so it's time to switch it up and get Essen 1. I forgot to look at the menu to find out what the name of this meal was, so I'll just describe it the best I can. The fried patty was an amalgamation of vegetables and corn meal and suspiciously rhombohedral. It was kind of tasty. The penne was soggy, cafeteria style pasta with a strange mushroom-based red sauce. As you've seen previously, I'm not a mushroom eater, so I sort of picked and poked this meal for a while. Dessert was chocolate pudding, which is always delicious!


Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 2/5

Kaiserschmarrn with Vanilla Sauce

Today's lunch roughly translates to Emperor's Mishmash, and it comes from Bavaria. It reminded me of French toast with a few golden raisins baked in, and was served with the increasingly ubiquitous vanilla sauce.

Strangeness: 4/5
Deliciousness: 3/5

Vegetable Soup with Pretzel Bread

On Monday, I had dejavu. There were different vegetables than in Friday's soup, but the taste was nearly the same. But pretzel bread is my favorite thing in the mensa, so this meal gets another deliciousness point.

Strangeness: 1/5
Deliciousness: 4/5

Vegetable Soup and a Roll

Friday's meal was plain and simple. Yummy soup with potatoes and carrots. Plus I got lots of important nutrients--like sodium. And chlorine.

Strangeness: 1/5
Deliciousness: 3/5

Spinach and Pureed Tomatoes

Today's essen was about as appetizing as baby food. A schmear of orange mashed potato-like tomato stuff, and a giant glob of gooey, soggy spinach. The taste was not bad, but let's just say I made a meal of my salad and split an order of pommes (french fries) with Priya.

Strangeness: 4/5
Deliciousness: 1/5

dinkel-patty and pasta

I learn more and more about Essen 2 every day. Yesteday I learned from Kevin, a guy in my lab, that Essen 2 is vegetarian every day except for Wednesday. On Wednesday, Essen 1 becomes vegetarian. So today, Wednesday, I present to you both Essen 1 and Essen 2.

Essen 1, which costs 2 euros, and is the meal I ate today, was farfalle pasta and a dinkel-patty, with a side salad and yogurt for dessert. I know from my breakfast cereal, dinkel flakes, that dinkel is bran. The bran-patty was made of carrots and potatoes, and coated in crispy little bran kernels. It was delightful! And my favorite part of today's meal. This meal was one of my favorites I've had in the mensa.

Strangeness: 3/5

Deliciousness: 5/5

Today, Essen 2 was a comically long bratwurst, and a noodle salad. The yellow splotch on the side is mustard (which is really tasty in Germany).

Strangeness: 2/5

Deliciousness: 3/5 (assumed)

Crepes with Caramel Sauce

There are few things more exciting in my life than picking up an Essen 2 like this one, taking it to a table, and poking and prodding to see what is inside. (Feel free to judge me for this.) As you can see, they got the dip-to-things to dip ratio correct! These "egg pancakes" were filled with yogurt with bits of pineapple and coconut. Quite a treat! I love pineapple, but not so much coconut. Once my mom made a comment that coconut tastes like sunblock, and now that's all I can think about when I taste it. :)

Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 3/5

Tortellini with Vegetables

Oh Essen 2, what are you doing to me? Today's lunch was yuck. Bland tortellini with soggy reheated vegetables on top. You can do better, German lunch ladies!

Strangeness: 2/5

Deliciousness: 1/5

Roasted Potato Cakes and Dip with Salad

Today's lunch was fried to perfection. These hashbrown-like potato patties are different from the hashbrowns and applesauce that was served earlier -- those were more like McDonalds hashbrowns, which are delicious by the way. These, too, were super yummy. You may come to notice that the mensa serves dip and food to be dipped in a roughly 1 to 1 ratio. I was not a fan to today's sauce, which I don't know how to describe. The menu used words like 'potpourri,' so they don't seem to know, either. The salad was pretty standard with a mustard-y dressing. Overall, pretty great!

Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 4/5

Have a great weekend folks! I hope you'll come back and visit me next week.

Mushroom and Pepper Soup with a Roll

I should have known that the longevity of the strangeness streak wouldn't last. Today's (yesterday's, really) essen was pretty blasé. But I was impressed by the three colors of bell peppers.

The most interesting part of this meal was playing 'dodge the mushrooms,' a game at which I clearly dominate:

Strangeness: 1/5
Deliciousness: 2/5

Farmer's Breakfast and a Pickle

It's a shame that today's Essen 2 was not vegetarian, because if there is something my diet is missing, it is a giant pickle. This was another meal that I translated the name because I wasn't sure what I should call it. Maybe an omlet? Or the inside of a breakfast burrito?

Instead I ate Essen 1, which was a German noodley thing with vegetables, salad, and chocolate pudding. But when I saw the long line for Essen 2 that persisted well into the lunch hour, I knew I still needed a picture. After all, my three readers are counting on me! After trying to be sneaky and take stalker-shots of people's meal, I ended up asking a guy, who had ordered two plates of Essen 2, if I could take a picture of his food. He replied enthusiastically "of course," and made no remark of how weird it was that a random American girl was taking pictures of people's lunches.

The pickle brings up the strangeness of this meal, and although I didn't taste it, I am giving it full marks for deliciousness because that line was LONG! And I saw several people with two plates, so it must have been good.

Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 5/5 (assumed)

Sweet Temptations and Vanilla Sauce

This is what Essen 2 is all about, folks. Some days I'm not sure Essen 2 is even meant to be a meal. Technical difficulties prevent me uploading pictures at the moment, but allow me to describe today's lunch.

I had to use babelfish to translate the name of today's meal because I wasn't really sure what to call it. "Süße versuchungen," or sweet temptations look a lot like the small McGriddles pancakes. They have the approximate shape and size of a hockey puck, a dense texture, and raisins baked in throughout. The vanilla sauce was thick and warm, like a custard.

Strangeness: 3/5
Deliciousness: 4/5

Dear readers, I hope you don't mind if I supplement my lunch with a green salad, because I am beginning to feel the adult onset diabetes kick in.

Potato Balls and Creamy Sauce

This is the meal which inspired this blog. There have been strange meals in the past, but these potato balls are spectacular!

The week started off with spherical boiled potatoes and a lot of some creamy, cold sauce which tasted strongly of green onions. Maybe I was supposed to stir it all together into a potato salad?

Strangeness: 4/5
Deliciousness: 3/5

Essen 2

I stumbled upon Essen 2 innocently enough. I am an American student spending the summer at Universität Bremen, in Bremen, Germany. I don't speak German. On July 2, the first day of my summer fellowship, I went for lunch at the Mensa, the cafeteria on campus. I stood in the longest line I could find, which happened to be Essen 2. There are many lunch stations at the Mensa, including a salad bar, au gratin station, vegetarische, and Essen 1 and 2, which have different entrees everyday. That first day, when I got to the front of the line, I was given a margarhita pizza and a small salad.


Essen 2, I found out, is the cheapest meal at the Mensa. Every day it is just 1€ for a meal. (The other options are between 3 and 5 € .) It is usually vegetarian. But it wasn't until later that I discovered that Essen 2 is sometimes... unusual. Because I don't speak German, I can't read the posted menu. Lunch is a surprise every time. Essen 2 entrees I have witnesses and/or eaten:

• pizza and salad
• vegetable soup and pretzel bread
• mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs
• hash browns and applesauce
• ham salad with a roll
  
• ravioli with marinara sauce

Some days, lunch is fairly typical and unremarkable. Other days, it not only warrants remark, but a blog post. When I got my entree today, I knew I had to tell the world about the wondrous culinary inventiveness that is Essen 2. For my remaining six weeks in Bremen, I will get Essen 2 for lunch each day, and henceforth expand my palette to food combinations I never imagined possible.