Savory Oatmeal Redux:Tomato Oatmeal

Before I was forced to return to the delicious combination of applesauce and oatmeal, I had a sudden epiphany. Oatmeal with Italian seasonings? Why couldn't it work? Let me lay the field with what my tomato oatmeal included. First I measured out the half cup oats and full cup water and cut them in my sauce pan. With the stove on medium heat, I mixed in a tablespoon tomato paste, a pinch of basil, a dash of garlic, and some salt. It took a bit longer to reach the proper, sticky, oatmeal consistency than normal- but the result? Fairly delicious. I even added a little bit of shredded goat cheese and it tasted even better.

I think it is fair to say that you can treat oatmeal like a blank slate, adding which ever flavor combinations you can think of. I'm not sure where I want to go next, maybe into an exciting world of Asian flavors? I have soy sauce, wasabi, sriracha, etc. Let's see what I can come up with. I invite all suggestions.

Chocolate Chili Oatmeal

This morning saw the trial of a Lydia recommended oatmeal combo- chocolate chili oatmeal. It was fairly delicious. Once more, I cooked up my normal portion of oats, while they were still on the stove and not entirely congealed- I mixed in maybe 1/2 Tablespoon of cocoa powder. Then two dashes of chili powder. In the bowl they went and my taste buds were in for an adventure! The cocoa powder was unsweetened, and it really could have used some sugar and I probably could have put in more chili powder, but it was pretty nice the way it turned out.

The general combination of chocolate and chili has become popular over the last few years, it is quite a traditional Aztec way to enjoy chocolate. I believe Lydia came to the taste sensation through my mutual love of things spicy and chocolate. A nice addition could even be to add some sriracha. What is sriracha not good on?

Unless inspiration or advice strikes, it looks like tomorrow will be back to applesauce oatmeal- so people, give me some suggestions!

Oatmeal

A 500g bag of oats costs between 30 and 35 cents at my local supermarket and is enough to last me about 10 breakfasts, 1/2 cup of oats plus 1 cup water at a time. I eat it every morning. How many ways are there for me to eat oatmeal without dying of boredom?

I used to eat it with a bit of syrup, raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
OR bananas
OR peaches
OR any other fruit I had.

But now I am out of fruit. And out of raisins. And out of syrup.

It seems oatmeal's okay savory- I read a few articles online of people swearing to this fact. And I have a few eggs, some salsa, and naturally sriracha. This morning I had a scrambled egg with some salsa and sriracha in oatmeal. It was nice, different, but then, that's what I am looking for.

Any other cheap oatmeal suggestions?

There is a cherry tree outside in the inner courtyard, it has cherries on it. They are naturally on the high branches, but I think tomorrow I'll pick some. They could go with oatmeal, right?

Mexican Food in Berlin

A friend mentioned tortilla chips and salsa to me yesterday. This set off a major Mexican food craving. So I set out to see what Berlin had to offer. I had been mildly wary. I mean, I wouldn't eat Mexican food in Massachusetts, but I was going to eat it in Berlin?? But hey, I'm going to be here for a year, I thought I might as well see what Berlin has to offer.

I had passed multiple Mexican establishments in my general area (alright, two)- so I decided to try one. They had a nice lunch time special- some of their entrees were half off. Including enchiladas! This was looking alright. I thought, why not go for it? I even had a margarita with lunch, only 3€! Things were looking up.

I was eagerly anticipating my margarita. And it came. It was white. I have never seen a white margarita before. Did they forget the Rose's Lime Juice? I checked back to the menu, it seems their margaritas are made with white tequila, as opposed to our more common gold tequila. And as far as margarita mix goes, it seems some kind of "sour" additive was added, but it just wasn't the same. It was also very strong. And not green. Kind of disappointing.

But to the food! I ordered chicken enchiladas. They came with rice, a salad, and a bit of guacamole on a leaf of red cabbage. Interesting. The enchiladas were not drenched in sauce, kind of a disappointment, and seemed to have been baked- the cheese on them had that appearance. It wasn't that bad, the meat had been marinated. There were no beans. They were missed. The food didn't make me want to cry, unlike a chile relleno I once had in Coeur d'Alene (oh, how could they ever call THAT a chile relleno!!). There wasn't any salsa- but had I been motivated to spend an extra 3€, I could have procured some. My experience with salsa in Germany, and spicy food in general, has however not been inspiring. I bought some salsa at a grocery store, labeled hot- it was somewhere between mild and medium. I asked for spicy sauce on my Döner, it was no where near. I have found Sriracha- and it is amazing. However, I don't think I can carry Sriracha around with me everywhere.

Lunch was okay. Not inspiring. When I came home I did some research, and discovered a Latino grocery store. I plan to travel there this weekend and see if I can procure tortillas! Then maybe I can do some home Mexican cooking to satisfy. A funny side note- Germans pronounce the ll's in tortilla like l's, it seems they missed the part where ll's are y's in Spanish. Or maybe they got their cues from Napoleon Dynamite.