Shake up your English 4 – Food 2

Well, after fruit, vegetables and meat we are going to talk about fish and seafood and about spices and herbs.

fish and seafood

Do you like fish? I do. I love fish and chips – so battered cod (Kabeljau in Backteig) is wonderful for me. I also like plaice (Scholle). Hake (Hecht) is okay  I also like herring, sardine and salmon (Lachs) – with bread – great. And a trout (Forelle) – blue or „Müllerin“ is also delicious.

Beside fish, there is seafood which you find in the ocean. Do you like seafood? Pizza frutti di mare? 😉 I like it, but only in small amounts. I do not like a whole bowl of mussels (Miesmuscheln) (Moules – as they are called in France where we ate them some years ago). Did you know that in France (and also in Belgium I have been told) they serve them together with fries as „Moules Frites“.

I like pizza or pasta with prawns (Garnelen) or shrimps. You can also have crab (Krabben) or crayfish (Flusskrebse). What I do not like is squid (Tintenfisch) – I do not like the texture.

To come back to mussels again … In Ireland there is a famous song „Molly Malone“. In Dublin you can find a stature of her wheeling her wheel barrow (Schubkarre). She was a fish monger (Fischhändlerin) and in the refrain it says: „She wheels her wheel barrow, through the streets broad and narrow, crying cockles (Herzmuscheln) and mussels (Miesmuscheln) alive, alive, oh.“

Let’s come to an end with seafood – but there are two things we must not forget. Two luxurious ones: lobster (Hummer) and oysters (Austern). Have you ever tried that? I have never tried lobster, but my husband and I tried oysters in France and in Ireland. He likes them – I am not such a big fan. Very slimy, somehow :-).

After such a fishy business (Achtung – das heißt „nach so einem verdächtigen/zweifelhaften Geschäft) let’s go to spices and herbs.

spices (Gewürze)

I really like curry, but only the mild version. I once tried a real Indian curry (as I stayed with an Indian family in London) – and I nearly died – it was sooooo hot (scharf)!!!!. Curry is a mixture of spices such as cumin (Kreuzkümmel), cardamom, coriander, paprika, tumeric (Kurkuma) and ginger (Ingwer).

What I also use often is pepper (Pfeffer), cinnamon (Zimt) and nutmeg (Muskatnuss). At Christmas we als use cloves (Gewürznelken), anise (Anis), vanilla.

The gingerbread spices includes: cinnamon, anise, ginger, fennel (Fenchel), cardamom, coriander, cloves, allspice (Piment), nutmeg.

herbs (Kräuter)

Wurzelinchen loves tomato-sauce and I love to season (würzen) it with Mediterranean herbs like: rosemary (Rosmarin), Thyme (Thymian), Oregano, Sage (Salbei) and Basil (Basilikum).

In summer I really enjoy some bread with butter and chives (Schnittlauch). What I do not like very much is parsley (Petersilie) – in soups I prefer lovage or love parsley (Liebstöckel). It’s a nice name, isn’t it?

Do you grow your own herbs? I did during the last years, but as we are moving I did not grow anything this year. Except some cress  – Wurzelinchen really liked that – growing and eating :-).

Fotos: pixabay.com

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