Hello, firstly a bit about myself: I'm Tobias Stollberg, a 22 year old engineering student from Germany and I'm glad that I can work in the Yusa lab for three months.
Food is always an important part of life, so it's a great way to introduce yourself and let people experience a bit of a new culture. That's why we held a German food party.
When I first thought about what to cook, I couldn't think of anything because when I cook in Germany, I don't really cook anything traditionally German. So I wanted something that is German but also a dish that someone would eat at home nowadays. When I spoke to my mum, she suggested mashed potatoes and what could be more German than mashed potatoes with cooked carrots and meatballs?
Once the plan was ready, I went shopping with Iwanaga-san. Professor Yusa bought a potato stamper, and then it was time to start cooking.
First, the potatoes needed to be peeled, cut into pieces and cooked. Then they were mashed and mixed with a little butter and milk until the mixture was creamy. Finally, it was seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
We also cut the carrots and onions.
Some of the onions were cooked until translucent and added to the mashed potatoes.
The rest of the onions, an egg, some garlic and breadcrumbs were mixed with the meat and seasoned with salt and pepper. The meat mixture was then formed into balls, coated in breadcrumbs and fried.
The carrots were sweated with a little bit of butter.
Finished!
While we were eating, I gave a short presentation about myself. Everyone enjoyed the food, and it was really cool!