Tomorrow is the day of my big Onion Market party—where I am serving delicious Louisiana Gumbo.
Today is the day I make the basics of gumbo—including vegetable stock.
But before I did that, I ran down to the Zwiebelmarkt because I needed to get cash from the ATM and run over to the post office where I participated in American Democracy by mailing my ballot back to Bloomington.
And now it is time to rant: Deutsche Post is incredibly expensive: I know it costs 1€ to mail a postcard from Germany to the United States or Armenia; I think it costs 1,70€ to send birthday cards to the States; and the ballot from Germany to Bloomington: 3€! I practically had a heart attack.
It cost Monroe County $0.84 to mail me the ballot and it just cost me $3.75 to mail my vote against Mike Sodrel back.
Basically, the message I just got from Deutsche Post, is that if I vote in a district where the outcome is certain, I shouldn’t bother to vote. $3.75 is not inexpensive; especially since I indicated that my time abroad is indefinite, so I do not get to vote on the local issues, just federal offices.
As I staggered out of the post office, overwhelmed by the price of democracy, my phone rang: it was a hidden number, ultimately T-Mobile thanking me for being a long term customer (since 2004!) along with an offer to shift to a plan with a better per minute rate. I listened to the sales pitch, until I realized that they wanted me to sign a two year contract, at which point I declined.
By this point I was well into the middle of the Zweibelmarkt—surrounded by booths selling a wide variety of food: Thüringen Bratwurst, Zwiebelkuchen, and non-Thüringen Bratwurst. One could also invest in drinks of all variety—although the non-alcoholic varieties were fairly difficult to locate. I ended up buying some mushrooms from about the only local farmer I recognized in Marktplatz (for the vegetarian gumbo). I was not tempted by the decorative onion things. I was only interested in the mime. (The mime is cute when not dressed as a mime.)
From there it was a quick trip home, and now the vegetable broth is boiling.
All’s right with the world.
Thanks for voting against MIke Sodrel. Sorry it cost so much. I’ll be voting against Hostettler soon. Maybe we can make a difference.
To make good Gumbo you need Okra, is that available in Germany? I’ve heard you can use Prickly Pear Cactus instead but I doubt that is available either.
Glad to vote against Sodrel.
I cannot get Okra or Prickly Pear Cactus; nor can one get Filé. I do have filé though as i brought it with me.