Only in Germany...Spargel, its effects, and cooking

I just took a fun cooking class through one of the organizations around here. This class focused on cooking with Spargel (asparagus). After all, jetzt  ist Spargelzeit.

The class was great; I learned so much. The instructors gave us so much more information and hints than just about cooking asparagus; at one point, I think it turned into a support group for people new to dealing with German appliances! ;)

I'm going to write about a ton of the stuff I learned in class, but it definitely won't all fit into one entry since the information ranges from how to use your stove (har har, get it? ranges? stove? har har) to how to make quark, etc.

Tonight's funny thing which prompted me to think, "only in Germany!" [mostly fondly].

The instructor was excited about Spargel and its health benefits. She believes that it's healthy because it "cleans one out" and one supporting fact is that "you smell it twice!" I almost fell off my chair, laughing. This just seemed so German to me. After all, there is a commonly held belief here that sitting around naked in a hot wooden shack then leaving and dousing oneself with frigidly cold water is great for one's health. Some of these ideas here of what is healthy are very interesting, indeed!

I then thought about one of my friends. I ruined Spargel for him. He hadn't realized that Spargel causes most people's urine to smell nasty after ingesting Spargel. There are only few people who don't have that happen. My poor friend says he won't eat Spargel any more. I told him he was missing out. I'll just have to tell him that the whole unfortunate situation is a good thing, according to the German cooking instructor. It's not nasty, it's the smell of person being "cleaned out!"

Yeah, maybe not.