Nothing forces us to reassess the accumulated stuff in our lives like an overseas move.

Four years ago I moved from Chicago to Frankfurt, in order to be with my then boyfriend, now husband. At the time, it was very difficult deciding what to bring and what to leave behind, but the astronomical price of overseas shipping focuses the mind and forces one to be practical. And shipping was not the only consideration. The fact that European household voltage is about double that in the US meant that I had to say goodbye to most of my electric gadgets, the most difficult of which was my beloved Cuisinart food processor.

Now my husband had never even heard of a food processor before and he probably thought I was a little crazy for bemoaning the loss of a kitchen appliance, but he at least had the decency to feign sympathy and promised that we would buy a new one in Germany as soon as possible. So, once the move was complete and I had begun to settle in we took a trip to our local kitchen supply store to scope out the options. I was prepared for the fact that the same brands may not be available and that there may be other small differences. What I was not prepared for was that the prices would be twice as high (some machines even more!) than what I had paid back home. I simply couldn’t do it and we left empty-handed.

Four years later I have calmed down a bit and come to accept that the price of living is simply higher in Europe. I don’t have to like it, but there are plenty of other things to like about living here, so I guess I have to take the good with the bad. And last week I finally broke down and ordered a beautiful new food processor from Amazon.de. Today it arrived and I practically hugged the poor DHL guy I was so excited!

Now, what to make first…