Munich's Oktoberfest 2013

I'm just back from Oktoberfest 2013
and
just about over my jet lag!

I joined my youngest daughter in Munich, Germany.

She has been living there for the past year and

insisted that my visit coincide with their Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest is the World's largest fair held in

Munich, Bavaria, Germany. (Bavaria is it's region.)

It's a16-day festival beginning late in September and ending

usually the first Sunday in October.

 

The first Oktoberfest was held in 1810 to commemorate

the wedding of Crowned Prince Ludwig (later King) and Princess Therese.

By 1960, it became the World's largest festival. 

 

Germans wear their traditional clothing of Dirndls and Lederhosen.

Women can wear either a dirndl or lederhosen but the men, obviously,

just wear the lederhosen like the above picture shows.

 

More than 6 million

people from around the world attend Oktoberfest.

I was one of the 6 million this year!

 

The festival is much like our fair complete with Ferris wheel and other rides.

The focus of Oktoberfest is the beer and their breweries -- and hours of beer drinking!

 

 

Each beer brewery has a "Biergarten" and

sets up a "tent" on the premise.

These tents are taken down and set up every year!

 

The breweries also have a team of horses carrying keg/barrels of their beer.

 

The barrels are gorgeous with their fresh flowers.

 

 

We first went inside Hacker Festzelt.

 

 

It was the first tent I had gone into and I was in awe

at the size, the beauty, as well as the number of people inside!

We couldn't easily find a place at a table so we
decided to try another tent.

 

We then went into Augustiner Bräu.

It was equally as beautiful and equally as crowded!
My German-speaking daughter asked occupants at a table if they
 could fit us in and they made room for us!  Yay!

 

We immediately bought a large pretzel from a cute
"pretzel gal" in her dirndl dress. 

 

 

Then we ordered a "mass" of beer - to share.

I was amazed that the servers could hold so many masses of beer.
Her left thumb and fingers were holding the handles to each of the
bottom six and the seventh was just sitting on top!
She made it look effortless!

A mass glass holds 1 liter of beer and is the only size available.

 

An interesting note on the "Oktoberfest Beer" is that the beer is brewed

specifically for Oktoberfest and must contain a minimum of 6% alcohol.

(A higher alcohol content then in their normally brewed beer.)

It must also be brewed within the city limits of Munich.

 

Needless to say it is a lively crowd who often arrive and stay at their

tables from 10:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night listening
to the live music, eating, and drinking!

 

Eins, zwei, drei, Gsuffa!

(One, Two, Three, Drink!)

 

Food is served all day long...
 

 

and can be ordered table-side inside...
(Chicken, red cabbage, and a boiled potato!)

 

 

and outside...
 (Sausages and the like!)

and sweets for the sweet tooth!

 

I was content sharing my mass of beer and pretzel with my daughter.

 

Another Oktoberfest tradition is buying your sweetie a
decorated gingerbread cookie heart necklace called a Lebkuchenherz.
(Lebkuchen = gingerbread  Herz = heart)

 

My daughter bought me one that actually means "sweetie"
and I wore it around my neck like a necklace.
Many of them were humorous and endearing like "little mouse".

These gingerbread hearts can also be found again
during the Christmas holidays.

What a fun day to be remembered...

 

"Until we meet again!"

 

The next day we were off to visit friends in The Netherlands... Tchus!

 

 

Thank you for visiting my blog!

 

 

This week I will be joining

The Tablescaper's Oh! The PLACES I've Been!

 

 

Fondly,

~Karen

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Chef's Garden at Hotel Del

Before the weather turns and we are still in season her in So Cal,
I wanted to share with you what I found during a recent walk
with a friend through the Hotel Del (Coronado).

Source: Hotel Del Coronado Images
 

We came across the hotel's Chef's Garden.

 

Strawberries, Purple Sage, Spearmint, Chocolate Mint...

 

 As this sign reads, one can return at 3 pm and be part

of the Chef's harvest as he prepares for that night's menu!
How cool is that?  Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for that
afternoon's harvest but what an awesome thing for them to do!

Just sharing... Thanks for visiting!

Fondly,
~Karen


 



On The Back of a Harley

I have returned...

 from my glorious cross-country ride to the Midwest on the back of a Harley!

For those of you Harley Davidson fans, the bike was a 2013 Ultraglide Limited.

We began by heading towards Nevada with a ride

to sight see around Hoover Dam...

which "dams" beautiful Lake Mead.

Then back on the freeway, past Las Vegas...
Did I mention we were in 115 degrees heat?

It fortunately cooled as we rode into Utah by late afternoon.
In fact, as we rode past a grass (alfalfa?) field,
we could feel the temperature drop at least 5 or 10 degrees.
Now I never could have felt that in a car!

  

By night fall, the evening was spent in Cedar City, Utah,
with, surprisingly, no back or leg aches!

Up bright and early, we headed towards beautiful Bryce Canyon National Park.

 How cool was riding through this?

The views were stunning at Bryce Canyon...

and spectacular!

Then, back on the bike continuing through Utah...

headed towards Colorado!

 

The second evening was spent in Grand Junction, Colorado,
then back on the bike...

continuing through Colorado with plans to stop
and visit relatives in Steamboat Springs.

Steamboat Springs is a beautiful town, even
without it being snow season.
On the mountain you can see the ski runs.

We were treated to a gondola ride up those
snowless ski slopes overlooking the Yampa Valley.

After a nice visit and breakfast the next morning,
it was back on the bike...

through the Eisenhower Tunnel...

the gorgeous Colorado valleys...

and charming Colorado towns...

and then through Denver, making our way to our

destination...

of Kansas.  A beautiful state of rolling hills.

 

After a few productive days in Kansas we rode another day's

ride to Illinois to visit relatives and pick up a box that I had

mailed and had waiting ahead of me containing more clothes!!! 

Though the bike's saddlebags were

limited, I really never wanted for anything as long as I could
wear my black boots, jeans, and change of shirts.
Then back to Kansas for a stay before returning to So Cal -
by airplane this time!

Most days were ridden 400+ miles with pit-stops every 100 miles.

My legs and back never were sore - nope! - not at all the whole time!

 

In reflection, it occured to me that only on the back of a bike, with
the asphalt wizzing by beneath me, would I ever

have experienced the different smells of the outdoors
both good - and some not so good - or the mentioned
temperature drops.

 

It was a trip to be remembered and hopefully not my last one.

This year has been a blessed year for traveling and adventures.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

I will be joining
The Tablescaper's Oh, the PLACES I've Been!

Fondly,
~Karen

 



Harley Road Trip!

Headed on a cross-country road trip...

on the back of a Harley...

Got my jacket and got my boots!

Be back soon!

 

Fondly,

~Karen



Peach-ey Crumbles

Peach Crumbles... It all began with

my sister and niece going peach picking.

They came by with six grocery bags full!

I began sorting the too ripe ones, from the not ripe ones,

from the mushy-fell-on-the ground-must-eat-now-ones.

I was much too busy to even think about taking

pictures at that point in time, so sorry.

I did manage to blanch, peel, slice and bag up 

many to send them home with.  I think they even

gave away a few of the bags to friends afterwards.

And, of course, I was left with some of the peaches (yay!)...

Many of which ended up being blanched, peeled, sliced, and

placed in ziploc bags for my freezer and for another day and time.

I held out 2 lbs. of my sliced peaches for Peach Crumbles.

The recipe came from my copy of Barefoot Contessa At Home.

From it, I made Ina Garten's recipe for Peach and Blueberry Crumbles

but left out the blueberries.  The peaches were

combined with sugar, flour, lemon juice, and lemon zest,

then spooned into individual ramekins.

The crumble for the top was made with flour, sugar, brown

sugar, cinnamon, and cold-diced butter.  It was a much lighter

crumble than those crumbles that include oats. 

They were then baked to over-flowing deliciousness!

A little messy, but I think that gives them their

scratch-made charm!

I always take an opportunity to serve a pretty dessert.

Using pretty plates makes it all seem so special.

I found these beautiful dessert plates at either Ross Dress For Less or

Marshall's in bundles of six.  They look like fine, dainty, china but are in fact

dishwasher and microwave safe.  It doesn't get better than that - pretty AND tastey!

Now, hmmmm what will I do with the other peaches?

This week, I will be joining:


Thank you for visiting and enjoy!

Fondly,
~Karen

A Trio of Patriotic Pies

Happy Independence Day!

I ran across these patriotic pies in Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts book

(a gift from my sister) and thought they'd be perfect

and festive for today's celebration.  I deviated

slightly from her recipe by making three different

berry pies - not mixed berries as she suggested - and making

three, not six.  I made only one recipe of her Pate Brisee

(sweetened pie dough) the night before to have ready in the frig. 

It is always nice dividing a task between two days.

(It's even more nice to have the pie dough waiting in the freezer!)

I used my six-inch cast iron skillets which I often use for my Tamale Pie.

As you can see, it takes a lot of rolling and cutting of the

pie dough into stars and stripes stars.  Its important to keep

the cut-out shapes cold until you are ready to use them,

so they will retain their shape when baking.

Once assembled, these were actually kept in the

freezer for an hour prior to baking.

My Blueberry Pie had a top crust made of a ring of stars.

My Blackberry Pie had a top crust of stars and stripes.

My Raspberry Pie had a top crust cut out with stars.
 

 

You can find the recipe for these small patriotic pies on Martha Stewart's website.
The star cutters can be found at Michael's in the fondant cutter section.



Now to concentrate on the food for tonight's celebration...

 

Be sure to go over and check out other patriotic happenings

at Common Ground's Be Inspired! Its a Patriotic Party! which I will be joining.

 

I will also be joining   

 

Thank you for visiting and enjoy your Independence Day!

 

Fondly,

~ Karen

Eating at Pie & Burger!

 Pie & Burger is a mainstay in SoCal's Pasadena

and probably hasn't changed much in it's 50 years

of being opened: still operating on a cash-only basis

and making their sodas by squirting the soda syrup into

the glass then filling it with bicarbonated soda water.

My Diet Coke was made this way as well.

 

Pie & Burger is located near the corner of Lake Blvd. and California St.

On a recent visit, I had to have a burger -- and pie, of course!

I actually would have liked to have eaten

them in reverse order!

Their burger is delicious and comes with a special sauce.

Onions were optional but always a yes (please!) for me.

I couldn't eat it fast enough, knowing what was coming next.

 

Their pie menu is all that and more!

I love pie!  I'll choose pie over anything chocolate all day long.

My favorite is Coconut Cream so which one to order was a no-brainer.

This menu reminded me of my grandmother who made

amazing pies, many of which were on this menu -

even Butterscotch Pie!

I'm looking at this pie menu and making notes on

pies I now want to make.

 

What pie choice would you choose?
And, what pie do you now want to make?

I will be joining The Tablescaper for her
Oh! The PLACES I've Been!

Thank you for visiting!

 

 Fondly,
~Karen