German and American couples

[Dr. Obvious 49]

I joke that if we have the ceremony in German who knows what I'll be agreeing to!

Well, there is a law or code that says you have to have a translator present if your German language skills aren't up to snuff. Though, I am not sure where they set the bar. I went to the standesamt with my then fiance and we filled out our *intent to marry* paperwork. We strugged through it with my D+ at best German because the standesbeamter spoke no English. Good times explaining to him that the US doesn't have standesamts as he imagined them for vital records when we had to record information off of my birth certificate.

Somehow, for whatever reason, this particular standesbeamter decided that the translator requirement would be waived. I was really on the border. I thought I would probably need one, but I was way, way too cheap to pay for one, so didn't say anything.

I can understand the argument that the wedding is for his family. It is a long story, but the whole reason we had the wedding and receptions like they were at all were at my in-laws insistance. We had zero interest on our own. We are glad they talked us into to it, but it was not originally on the slab.

[jundp 191]

So my fiance said that as long as you aren't having a religious ceremony and trying to register it as the legal one, then it's fine to do it this way. I think the officiant will be a friend of his, so that's nice too. It's more symbolic gesture to let the families be involved.

Did you find the bread mix?!

[Dr. Obvious 49]

So my fiance said that as long as you aren't having a religious ceremony and trying to register it as the legal one, then it's fine to do it this way. I think the officiant will be a friend of his, so that's nice too. It's more symbolic gesture to let the families be involved.

Did you find the bread mix?!

I have no idea. We never had a religious ceremony.

No, not yet. I will be stopping by on the weekend and checking out what they got. What I am kinda looking for is something like this or this

Maybe that would also work.

I am looking for a recipe for this but am not coming up with much. I like the lighter form of this bread too (so would be happy if that were offered at Aldi if not this), but I would also like to know how to make the heavier version of it too.

Eventually, I think I will have to try my hand at labskaus. It one of the more bizarre things I have ever ate. It wasn't bad, just....interesting. My husband really likes it, but he is from the North Sea coast.

[Mrs.J06 4]

Hi Backmaedels,

I find this page interresting if you want to make bread in the machine: http://www.brotbackautomat.de/

Also good for practising German!

I have had trouble with "half-baked" bread if the ingredients are too heavy (too many "Koerner", do you understand?) Sometimes I just mix the dough in the machine and then bake the bread in the oven. If I have guests, I do it that way, since the bread coming out of the machine doesn't look as nice... Usually people get over it quick and love it, but as a first impression the oven-baked one looks better.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

The half baked bread thing was what I was worried about, the baking time. Thanks for the info and I will use the tip.

[jundp 191]

See, now I'm intrigued

I have never used a bread machine, but I do love to bake bread. I find that kneading the bread is a great stress reliever. I'm a nerd! I may have to learn to make heartier bread, though, b/c I've noticed that my fiance prefers thick, heavy bread. He's not big on the fluffy white stuff we usually eat.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Hehe, well, the dough for the heavier monsters doesn't have to be kneaded. In fact, one of the instructions in the recepies says:

Der Teig muss nicht geknetet werden, das ist das Schöne an der ganzen Geschichte!

But the brick bread is fairly good. May not be your thing...or your intestines thing (learned that the hard way )...at first. Try it with a good herring salad or with Nutella.

Speaking of Nutella, my mother had some in the cabinent and the exp date was off in the far future somewhere. I opened it, took a taste, and blech! Tasted rancid...and like peanuts. I turned it over and read the back. Apparently, they put peanut oil in it here and my mother had it open longer than I had expected. Lecker, lecker. Well, not going to be eating any more of that for awhile.

[Steffi_H. 0]

Hi there,

my husband and me have a even bigger language problem. I want our kids (we don't have any yet) to speak 3 languages. My husband is USC but his family is mexican, so he is fluent in spanish. I'm working on my Spanish (although my English is not even perfect yet), and he is trying to learn German. I try to speak German to him (the things I know he knows), but I'm not patient enough. He is planning on taking a class in the College though. I really appricate that, since my family doesn't speak any English and in the future I also want him to understand what I tell our kids when I speak German to them (I don't want them to ask me something in German and when my answer is no, that they go straight to their Daddy and ask him the same thing in Spanish and his answer is yes, just because he didn't know what I just said)...

I haven't baked any bread here yet, although I miss it so much, and we don't have Aldi here in CA, but thanks to you advice I might look in IKEA.

Have a nice Sunday...

[Dr. Obvious 49]

I try to speak German to him (the things I know he knows), but I'm not patient enough.

That was my husband's problem for awhile too. Now he is a lot better about it, but that is because I learned to speak better German without him anyway.

Raising your children trilingual sounds really neat. I hope it all works out for you and your family when the rest of the members come along!

The bread mix I saw at IKEA came in a carton that looked like a milk carton in their food section. It looked alright.

[germangel 0]

the bread issue is really big for me, too. I just miss bread with a real crust!! Not that soft, gooey stuff you get here.

Never tried to make it myself, but I'd like to give it a shot. Don't know where to start though. Roggenbrot is really hard to make, and I'm not sure about all those ready-mix packages you can buy here.

Gotta check out Aldi like someone suggested.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Yeah, I guess roggenbrot would be hard because of the time involved to create a proper sauerteig. I found this when I looked:

a) Sauerteig selbst herstellen (dauert etwa 3 bis 5 Tage)

Ein einfaches Rezept:

100 g Mehl (am besten Roggenvollkornmehl) mit Wasser zu einem dickflüssigen Teig (etwa wie Waffelteig) verrühren. In einer Schüssel zugedeckt an einem warmen Ort etwa 24 Stunden stehen lassen.

Dann wieder 100 g Mehl und entsprechend Wasser zugeben, gut einrühren und erneut etwa 24 Stunden stehen lassen.

Weiter so verfahren, bis der Sauerteig backfertig ist. Das erkennt man an drei Kriterien:

# Er riecht deutlich säuerlich.

# Auf der Oberfläche hat sich Schaum gebildet.

# Wenn man einen Löffel voll Teig genauer betrachtet, kann man unzählige winzige Bläschen erkennen.

3-5 days?? Ack. I suppose one day I will try this though.

[jundp 191]

I'm not patient enough to wait that long :-) But I suppose my grandma used to make sourdough bread and she had to let the mixture ferment for a few days too.

@Steffi, I like the idea of the kids learning all the languages. I speak Spanish and it's so different from German that it's hard for me. But I'm doing ok. Baby steps. I'd like to live there for a while, which I know would help me with the language (obviously). I wouldl't worry too much about the kids and the language problem though. I'm sure by the time they're trying to pull a fast one on you and your husband, he'll speak German well enough to know :-)

My fiance will be here in 36 days!!!! I'm so excited I can't stand it :-)

[Steffi_H. 0]

@junp: oh wow only 36 more days, isn't nice to actually know a date (I remember the time waiting for the approval, interview,...). Do you already have plans for the wedding, just a small one, you said, right? (you're doing K1, right?)

Yeah, my Spanish is getting better with every day. I think my Spanish is better than my husbands German. But for some reason I'm kind of tired of learning languages. But I have and want to learn, because his family still speaks Spanish at their house most of the time.

Enjoy the holiday tomorrow, I hope you're all off, and get to spend some time with your families...

[jundp 191]

@junp: oh wow only 36 more days, isn't nice to actually know a date (I remember the time waiting for the approval, interview,...). Do you already have plans for the wedding, just a small one, you said, right? (you're doing K1, right?)

Yeah, my Spanish is getting better with every day. I think my Spanish is better than my husbands German. But for some reason I'm kind of tired of learning languages. But I have and want to learn, because his family still speaks Spanish at their house most of the time.

Enjoy the holiday tomorrow, I hope you're all off, and get to spend some time with your families...

Oh, no, he's not coming for good Just a 6 week visit. I wish it was all over! We've had to wait on sending the forms b/c he needed to finish all his lectures first. So I'm filing right before the fees go up and he'll be working on his thesis while we wait this out. But we haven't seen each other since April, and we've never had 6 weeks together so we're so thrilled! We're doing a religious ceremony in Germany next summer if all goes well, and then a legal one here in the states.

It can get very frustrating learning a new language. Especially when you already speak German and English. I can imagine your frustration being here, you don't use your German that often and you are learning yet another language. Well, if you want to type in Spanish sometimes, you can get a LOT of practice here

I have such respect for the people who come here and start their lives over. I know how terrified I'll be when we eventually move to Germany, but I'm also looking forward to it, if that makes any sense. Until then, it'll be nice to share the same continent with him for a bit

[Mrs.J06 4]

Did anyone ever try to bring back bread baking mixes from Germany? They have a lot more varieties there and I'll be in Germany next week. Soooo... I'm thinking about bringing some back, but I don't want to get into trouble at customs.

I had all kinds of salad dressing mixes (the powdery stuff) and chocolate, wine and candy with my last time, and it was no problem. I declared it and the customs officer joked why I didn't like local salad dressing. However, flour and seeds might be different.

Does anyone have any experience?

JundP, enjoy the visit! I'm sure you'll have a blast! And he will probably be glad to escape the s***t weather in Germany at the moment.