The Best of the Wurst

On October 19, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes9 Comments

Most everyone knows that there are a lot of different sausages in Germany, including the one most commonly known in the United States, Bratwurst. We have had the opportunity to try several varieties of wursts and most have been extremely good. They are often, but not always, served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes or on a bun with mustard.

Rindwurst – Beef Sausage with Potato Salad

We have seen many people eating Frankfurt’s gift to the world, the frankfurter, but we have yet to try the local version for ourselves. Perhaps it is because, once we moved into our apartment, we now consider ourselves to be Frankfurters 😀. In addition to trying the various sausages, we have also had a couple different versions of schnitzel. They also have been very delicious, however neither of these German staples are very health conscious.

We look forward to trying some of these same dishes in some of the smaller hamlets to see how they vary throughout the different regions of Germany, but we will need to do a lot of walking to justify eating that much rich food. As for our favorite meal so far, we will have to say that they were each good in their own way and perhaps the quintessential experience is yet to be had. Obviously there is a wide variety of food in Frankfurt and we have eaten many different styles of food since we have arrived, but we’ll share some of those meals later.

Apfelwein – A Perfect Drink for the Season

On October 5, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes6 Comments

As we toured through the old city, called Altstadt in German, we came across a wonderful little festival that is going on through next weekend. Besides the food vendors and vendors selling art, clothing, and souvenirs, there were also booths for wine and even better, Apfelwein, or apple wine. It isn’t actually a wine, but is actually a hard cider fermented from pressed apples. Unlike hard ciders that you find in the United States, this wasn’t as fruity, but rather more like a mild beer and quite delicious. It is always served in a lattice-patterned glass called a Gerippte and for larger groups you can get blue and gray pitchers called Bembels.

Although we have already had our fair share of local beers already, trying the Apfelwein was truly enjoyable, especially with the cool brisk autumn air and the leaves changing on the trees around us. Nothing seems to bring out the taste of autumn like apple and what better way to get that than an outstanding adult beverage. Not that we aren’t going to get our fill of apple strudel as well. Sitting in the old pubs, like the one in the town square called Alten Limpburg, is a great way to people watch, chat with the locals, and enjoy a nice pint of beer or refreshing glass of wine.

We have learned a lot about the local Riesling wines as well as beers like Hefeweizen, which actually comes in more varieties that just light wheat, but we’ll share more about those another post. For now, sit back and imagine yourself enjoying a refreshing, fizzly, cider that will make you feel relaxed and ready for the upcoming winter. We have had a long day today as we went back to work for this first time since we moved to Frankfurt, so the vacation is over, but the explorations are not. We will enjoy the free time that we have, but for now we don’t have to imagine a glass of Apfelwien, we will go and relax with one to end our day and recuperate for tomorrow. 😀

The Food of the Taste of Colorado

On September 7, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes6 Comments

Although we were surprised by the amount of other things for sale at the Taste of Colorado, there were still plenty of food vendors and we definitely got our fill of tasty treats. Some of the food was more typical to a carnival than a food show, but there were also some more elegant options as well. You have the choice to have small tastes of items or you can have a full entrée if you prefer. We mostly chose to have small bites so that we could try a wider variety of food.

The best things that we ate was Chilli Chicken (and that is how they spelled it) from Bawarchi Biryani Point. It was the best Indian food that we have had since we visited India several years ago. We also enjoyed a couple of Thai chicken wings that were sweet and spicy from Yaffa’s Savory Mediterranean.

Something that you can’t find everyday was the fried alligator that we had from Bayou Bob’s Seafood and Southern Cookin’. It would have been too much for us to eat, but there were a lot of people who enjoyed giant turkey legs, a traditional carnival favorite. We did, however, give the roasted corn on the cob a try from the Colorado Corn Company and it was buttery and delicious.

If sweets were what you wanted, there were plenty of options there as well. As expected, you could certainly find several places where you could get some traditional funnel cake. There were other options as well, such as cookies and giant rice crispy treats. We aren’t into to sweets, so we opted for a curried deviled egg from Baur’s Restaurant and Aqua Terra Culinary.

Although it wasn’t actually at the Taste of Colorado, we also had some spicy calamari at Henry’s tavern when we decided to get out of the heat for a little while and get into some air conditioning. We also had a couple of beers while we were walking around, but we ended our evening with a couple of cocktails at The Mix in the Sheraton hotel where we watched all of the people dressed up for the anime convention.

Unfortunately there were only so many restaurants that we could try, so we will have to go back next year in order to make the rounds again. In addition to the food, there was also a tent with food demonstrations, which were very informative. There were definitely some creative choices, so if you go, make sure that you bring your appetite with you.