Just when I thought

I knew everything there was to know about ground beef--something new.

This has been an ongoing battle for me here in Germany. Okay, perhaps battle is a bit too strong a word. First I tried the hackfleish--which just didn't taste right in chili or spaghetti sauce. Then I found out that hackfleish (doesn't it just sound ymmy?) is a mixture of beef AND pork. Rindfleish is all beef. So I tried that, but it had a kind of gamey taste to it and the smell of browning it made me nauseous. Just when I had given up, Aldi started selling ground turkey--which works and tastes just like ground turkey does in the states. A handful of bread crumbs and an egg mixed in and you've got a tasty turkey burger.

So, ground beef was not even on my radar for my second tour of duy. But on my second night back in Germany, friend Robin had me over for spaghetti--with meat sauce. It was yummy. Stupidly, I asked her, "Did you get this ground beef here?" Like she had it flown in from Argentina. She showed me the package and it said "hackfleish zum braten" which means ground beef for roasting. Yesterday I was at the grocery store and checked. Some packages simply said "hackfleish" and others had the "zum braten" added to the title. Have no idea what (if any!) the difference is. Just browned some (not nauseous) tonight to make spaghetti tomorrow. Know you will all be waiting with baited (is that how you spell that?) breath waiting to see how it all comes out.

We are just about out of our jet lag. Maddie is still going to bed pretty late for her, but school starting will even everything out. We're going shopping for all the "ingredients" as Maddie calls school supplies tomorrow.