Schon ein Jahr! 一年容易又……

One year ago today I left Germany and returned to Australia. Although things are a bit different between the two countries, it didn’t take me too much effort to re-adapt to life in Australia. But I still miss some things from Germany.

Beer drinking is something that comes to my mind foremost. Apart from the unrivalled variety and taste of German beer, I miss the whole atmosphere of the drinking. In Germany people would do a round of toasting whenever a new beer has arrived at the table, and although it can sometimes be too much, it does add to the fun and camaraderie at the table. As a side benefit, toasting has become one of the few aspects of German I'm fluent with, when I have to say ‘Prost’ or ‘Zum Wohl’ so many times. Whereas in Australia, there is usually only a simple toast for the first beer, often as casual as slightly raising the beer glass and saying ‘Cheers’. This is a complete contrast to Germany where everyone has to touch the glasses of everyone else. (And for added difficulty in southern Germany, one ought to touch the bottom of the glass and look into other people’s eyes but not the glass when toasting. It does take practice!) Drinking in Australia somehow lacks the jolliness perpetuated through the repeated rounds of toasting. But one thing I like about drinking in Australia is being able to order snacks like potato chips and wedges to accompany the beer. Those deep-fried oily snacks are not only particularly tasty with beer, but they also help the metabolism of alcohol. Somehow in Germany those snacks are not popular accompaniments to beer, and instead people prefer the Brezel bread (commonly called pretzels in the English-speaking world). This bread can’t really satisfy my craving when drinking beer!

Yesterday for a pub lunch, a few of my colleagues ordered a dish called Chicken Parmigiana which is a pretty standard fare in Australian pubs. The chicken Parmigiana is most commonly made of a large piece of fried breaded chicken fillet topped with ham and cheese then baked until the cheese is melted, and served with chips and salad. It is indeed a very satisfying dish, but probably too hefty for lunch especially since I still had to work after lunch and my appetite has really gone downhill with age. I could only resist the urge to order it, and when the dish arrived for my neighbour at the table, I couldn’t help but to think of cordon bleu. The ingredients are still the same, but the ham and cheese are placed within the fried chicken fillet instead. It was popular enough in Germany despite its French origin, and I thought its smaller size would make a perfect portion for lunch. I’ve always been puzzled as to why cordon bleu has never taken off in Australia, and when I posed this question to a colleague, his answer was interesting and insightful: chicken Parmigiana is just an open-face sandwich version of cordon bleu! The similarity between the two dishes is indeed quite striking.

The world weather has gone to the extremes over the last few days. While much of Europe is freezing and shivering under the severe cold, south-eastern Australia is enduring a sustained heat wave. For everything else that I love about Germany, this extreme cold definitely is not one of them. I can only be glad that I’ve escaped it!


今天是我離開德國剛好一年，重返澳洲，澳洲和德國在很多方面都各有秋千，要再次融入澳洲生活對我也不難，但德國好些東西仍教我想念。

就像跟朋友、同事到酒吧喝啤酒時，除了懷念德國形形色色的佳釀外，還覺得少了一點熱鬧氣氛。猶記得在德國，每逢有人點了新一杯啤酒，大家都會乾杯一輪，雖然有時會頻繁得有點煩，但總的來說也是高興的，而德語乾杯用語Prost和Zum Wohl，我也因祝酒頻頻而說得琅琅上口。在澳洲，除了剛坐下來喝第一杯會說句Cheers外，不會特別祝酒，甚至乾杯時也祇是隨隨便便算了，不像德國般要逐杯敲過（而在德國南部祝酒時更得舉目對望，不望着酒杯而互敲杯底，那需一番練習才行），所以每次喝酒都覺得好像少了甚麼。但在澳洲喝酒倒有個好處，就是可以點些油炸東西佐酒，除了是佐酒佳品外，有人告訴我油份能促進酒精分解，而在德國當地人都不流行點這些零食，祇會點些Brezel麫包，滿足不了喝啤酒時的口福。

昨天跟一眾同事一同到一家酒吧午膳，席間有人點了Chicken Parmigiana這道澳洲酒吧例牌菜，一般的造法是把一大片打得薄薄的雞排醮粉炸過後鋪上火腿和奶酪烘至奶酪融化為止，配以薯條和沙拉。以前我也吃過，大大片雞排，一口一口的咬，滋味挺好的，不過太大片，吃了整塊會太飽，尤其是現在胃口無復當年之勇，而且飯後仍要工作，本來我也想點道點菜，結果也不敢，但看到那雞排的賣相，倒不期然令我想起另一道菜Cordon Bleu，在一片炸過的厚雞排中嵌入火腿和奶酪一同烤。此菜雖源自法國，但在德國也挺流行，份量比Chicken Parmigiana小，我會比較喜歡了。問同事為甚麼Cordon Bleu在澳洲不太流行，同事答得很妙：Chicken Parmigiana不就是把Cordon Bleu切開後鋪平的版本嗎？想起來，兩者果有異曲同工之妙！

近幾天世界天氣各走極端，歐洲風雪肆虐，份外嚴寒，澳洲東南部卻熱浪逼人，我這個不太喜歡冬天的人，對德國的日子再懷緬也好，也不免慶幸自己「走得快，好世界」了。