Hochheimer Market

On November 7, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany3 Comments

We didn’t go far this weekend since we needed to take care of some much needed shopping while the stores were open, but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t have a good time over the weekend. As we have mentioned before, all of the stores in Frankfurt are closed on Sundays, so if you need anything, you have to buy it during the week or on Saturday, therefore we spent Saturday taking care of buying a few things for our new apartment. On Sunday, though, we took a short thirty-minute train ride to the town of Hochheim to visit a market that one of our new friends here in Germany had told us about.

It is one of the oldest markets in Germany having been established in 1484. Based on the crowds, it is also one of the most popular, we can only imagine what the Christmas markets are going to be like once they start at the end of this month. There are stalls selling sausages, hot mulled wine called Glühwein, nuts, popcorn, and candy galore. There are also rides and carnival games, but it was hard for us to see much of anything through the wall-to-wall crowds.

Bratwurst, Currywurst, Rindwurst, and More

We had some of the Glühwein and enjoyed a wonderful bratwurst as we scanned all of the crafts on display for sale. We even found a nice children’s book as a souvenir, but we did not take a photo of it to share. We shared a German market from Denver last year, but clearly it did not prepare us for the size of this market. They even jammed the use of cell phones so that there was no risk of anyone detonating anything with all of the large crowds. It was a quick trip, but definitely a fun one, but the size of the crowds made it a little difficult to enjoy everything that the market had to offer. We look forward to many more festivals and markets during the months ahead.

The Food of Heidelberg

On November 2, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes19 Comments

Every region in Germany seems to have local favorites that are unique to that area, while everyplace seems to have schnitzel and sausage. We were only in Heidelberg for a day, so we didn’t eat a wide variety of food, but we took a chance and ate what was deemed to be a specialty of the region. It was listed on the menu as “Pork Stomach”. Needless to say, we weren’t sure at all as to whether we should order it since it didn’t sound particularly appetizing. It actually turned out to be pretty tasty and we have some assumptions as to how it is prepared.

Basically the pork stomach is pork meat, potatoes, and vegetables that we assume are stuffed in the stomach lining and then cooked. The result is something that looks kind of like a giant sausage or for those who are familiar with it, a slice of Spam. The texture is a little difficult to describe, but with the brown gravy it was served with, it was very good. We probably won’t order it again, but at least we gave it a try.

Obviously there was local beer and we also had a very nice goulash with noodles. We have had this particular style of noodles a couple of times and they too are a little difficult to describe. They a soft and chewy, nothing like most pasta that we have had. It is a good thing that we have been walking a lot because the portions here have been very large. After almost every meal, we are asked if we didn’t like the food because we couldn’t finish the whole meal. We have done a lot of reassuring because it has been good, we just can’t eat that much.

Escargot Galore

On October 26, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes4 Comments

We love a good escargot and, apparently, so do the people of Frankfurt. Perhaps it is because we have come across several French Bistros, but they can be found in traditional German restaurants as well. More correctly, you will find snails on the menus, whether it is French or German. We have been here for almost four weeks now and already have had snails at least four times. There is nothing like dipping bread into the garlic butter that the snails are usually cooked in, decadently delicious.

Twice we had snails covered in cheese. One was covered with a mozzarella-like cheese and the cheese was gooey and sumptuous. The second was covered with a Gruyère type cheese, which also extremely good as well, but we are not sure that snails, oil, butter, and herbs really need to be enhanced by cheese. We suppose those that say cheese always make things better would probably disagree. Who knows, we will probably find deep-fried snails covered in cheese at some point, why stop with just cheese 😁.

It is certainly not the healthiest of choices, but it is hard not to have escargot when we find them on the menu. Some people are turned off by the thought of snails, but we are firm believers in trying new and different foods. We had our children try escargot when they were young without telling them what they were eating and they all really enjoyed it. We even tried a local delicacy, that might roll some eyes, over the weekend, but we will save that for another post.