What a lovely weekend. Good weather. Good - no, great - food. Good relaxation. A win-win-win-win-win weekend all around.
On Sunday, we went to the annual Kutztown Pennsylvania German Festival in Kutztown, PA, about a two hour drive. We usually go every year, but we missed it last year for some reason, so I'm glad we got there this year. The festival is about what's generally called Pennsylvania Dutch stuff. It seems like the festival people are now making a point of calling it Pennsylvania German stuff. The latter is correct, the former being a long-ago confusion of the words 'Dutch' and 'Deutsch'. Kinda like Columbus et al calling Native Americans 'Indians'. Anyhoo, it's a festival about all kinds of stuff about the early German settlers and their descendants in Pennsylvania.
The food: Now, the food is very simple. But don't let that fool you! I had the best roast beef I have ever had...juicy, rare, tender.... It was served on a bun, I added nothing to it...I didn't even need the bun, the meat that was that good. Ya know when you go to the deli and you see the current roast beef and you think, 'That's nice and rare and juicy looking' and you get it and, yes, it is pretty yummy? Well, this festival roast beef is what all deli roast beefs should aspire to. Kevin ordered a roast chicken platter, so as to get the traditional sides, and we just shared everything. The chicken was fall-off-da-bone juicy. The sides were pretty good, too, but I gotta tell ya, for me, pretty much everything that day was overshadowed by that simple roast beef.
We also had homemade vanilla ice cream. That was unusual on my part because I ate vanilla ice cream. I usually don't choose vanilla because it's so vanilla. I used to work at Friendly's when I was but a young lass and it boggled my mind how many people would order vanilla - vanilla! - when there were so many other, yummier flavors available. But I wanted to try it because it was homemade. They used a generator mixer which was powered by two people: one person rocking on a chair and another person pedaling a stationary bike. The chair and the bike were connected to the generator mixer. So that was kinda silly.
I also had corn on the cob roasted on the grill. I've never had it like that. I've had it when it's been boiled; also, when it's been cooked on the grill, but without the leaves and/or wrapped in foil. This was cooked in the leaves on the grill. The leaves (is that the right word? it doesn't sound like it) were burnt, catching on fire throughout the process. The corn was kinda dry, but it was still yummy. Two of the best food things about summer are corn on the cob and watermelon.
Enough about the food. The entertainment: We watched square dancing...that looks like a workout! And we listened to the Sauerkraut Band. They were okay...kinda mellow and kinda thin sounding...I expected something with a little more oomph - or oompah - to it. We viewed the quilts - there were about 2,500 there - including the top prize winners. They're beautiful. I would love to have one, but the cats would ruin it. Even without trying, just by walking on stuff, they end up pulling threads out. Dolly, just for fun, does occasionally pull threads out of our cheapo commerically made quilt. I suppose if I ever get one of those lovely quilts I would have to hang it and not use it. I guess that would be okay. Maybe next time! Although I don't know how I'd choose from all of those beautiful quilts.
There were lots of other arts and crafts: woodworking, sewing, metalworking, pottery, stoneworking, handmade musical instruments, basketry, blacksmithing, glassblowing, herberies, dried flowers, tanneries, silversmithing, jewelers...click here and here for more exhaustive info.
Oh, wait, there's more to say about the food! There was a farmer's market, including Dietrich's Meats. Well, there's no kind way to put this...Kevin is a whore for this kinda stuff. He bought some German wieners for Tuesday's cookout, some bacon (I don't know if he could put into words how he feels about a quality bacon) and some kielbasa. We also bought some Dutch apple jelly (for me - I love that stuff), horseradish mustard (for Kevin - he loves that stuff), corn relish (for my mom - she loves that stuff) and some sauerkraut (mostly for Kevin - he loves that stuff; I'll just have a little because, ya know, one should put some on one's wiener). I'm still trying to figure out what makes a German wiener a German wiener; I wish I'd thought to ask them. Crikey! They actually have a website! ('We have old-fashioned leaf lard!' They've got scrapple, too...oofah.) Anyway, the wieners were delicious...much denser, more substantial and so on compared to your average American supermarket hot dog. Definitely a good choice. Maybe it's just how they're made that makes them a German wiener. My dictionary was of no help...it doesn't even have 'wiener' listed! But then again, this dictionary is older than me, so maybe the dictionary and me are before the advent of hot dogs, frankfurters, wieners, whatevers. I do have a small confession I feel I must make, if only because if I don't disclose it, Kevin will. In addition to relish and mustard, I did, in fact, put ketchup on my wiener. Purists, have mercy on me; although I know what I do, I cannot help myself.
The kielbasa is for tonight. The town's summer concert series is going on now; concerts on Wednesday nights in the park (or at the Darress Theater in case of rain). I hope it's dry tonight because we're planning on picnicking at the concert...it's polka night! Kevin cooked up the kielbasa last night so we don't have to fuss around making it tonight before the concert...I snatched a piece, so I can tell you that it, too, is delicious.
Maybe I should just rename this the 'What I Ate Today' blog.
My mission this afternoon is to go to this Polish deli I've recently discovered in Lake Hiawatha. I haven't been there yet. I'm to see what they have that might nicely accompany the kielbasa. In a way I hope they have nut roll, but in a way I hope they don't because I seriously could eat the whole roll myself. And OMG! If only I could be so lucky as to find a nearby place that makes a yummy nut roll! We used to have a place called the European Bakery in town, run by this Polish couple, but the joint closed a few years ago. We miss it terribly. I miss the nut roll especially. My girlfriend's mother used to make it and she gave me her recipe, but she makes, like, 20 rolls at a time. I made the recipe once years ago; I think I used a turkey pan for the mixing bowl.
Bonus points for anyone who can help me with this: Years ago, when looking through a Pennsylvania B&B directory, one B&B mentioned their 'ankestube'; they seemed quite proud of it. Thing is, I can't figure out what it is. I know 'stube' means 'room', but I don't know what 'anke' means. I know 'anker' means 'anchor', but I'm pretty sure this word had just 'anke' in it. Yeah, so I've been wondering about this off and on for, oh, say, 10 years or so. The lucky winner will receive...hmmmm...let's see...your choice of: (a) one lb. of old-fashioned leaf lard; (b) one dozen dried pig's ears; (c) one quart of pickled tongue - cow or pig!; or (d) some German food item TBA that's actually yummy and you'd actually want to eat it.
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