Oktoberfest Dinner Menu

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Hi friends. It's Monday!

Insert happy or sad face?

I'm rocking a happy face this morning for a number of reasons. First, I have off from work today. A giant hurrah to that! Secondly, I am spending the day with my Mom. Cue the party hats! And thirdly, I had such a nice weekend. Shaun and I literally had nothing planned this past weekend and it was so fun to relax, sleep in, do some things around the house and just enjoy having no obligations. We likey.

On Friday, we made pizza and caught up on our DVR (that thing is getting full!). Saturday we took a trip to a little pumpkin farm where we purchased a whole lotta apples, gourds, cider and cider doughnuts. It was such a gorgeous day!

On Saturday evening, we had planned to make an Oktoberfest dinner for two.

 

We went all out to create this German-inspired dinner and we were thrilled with how everything turned out!

Oktoberfest Menu

Jagerschnitzel

Potato Pancakes

Red Cabbage & Apple Slaw

Warm Apple & Cranberry Strudel

Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale

Though it did take some time to prepare everything, it was soooo worth it! We stepped out of our comfort zone with this dinner in that every dish was a new one to us.

 

I took on the schnitzel, the cabbage and the strudel while Shaun worked the potato pancakes. Though traditional schnitzel would use veal or pork, but since Shaun doesn't eat pork and I typically don't eat veal (unless I'm in Eastern Europe), I decided to go with thin-sliced chicken breasts, breaded, shallow fried and topped with a mushroom and onion gravy. Perhaps chicken isn't traditionally german, but it worked for us! For the side dishes, I made a super easy cabbage and apple slaw while Shaun grated potatoes and made giant pancakes. They turned out so fantastically, especially with a bit of mushroom and onion gravy on top :)

 

For dessert, I made an extremely easy strudel. Again, not 100% traditional, but it's so warm and appley that I'm sure you won't mind. I've got that recipe coming at you this week!

 

So that's how we got down with our Oktoberfest dinner. Oh and I almost forgot to mention that we sipped on Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale to get into the flavors of the season. It wasn't quite pumpkiny enough for my tastes, but I suppose it did the job. We even broke out das boot for the occasion!

So there you have it. Our little Oktoberfest dinner. Oh and does anything really say Oktoberfest like animal print placemats? Yeah, I didn't think so :)

Questions of the Day:

How did you spend the weekend?

Have you, or are you, getting down with any Oktoberfest celebrations?

psst...I'm blogging about shopping for my upcoming trip to Albuquerque, NM next week over on The Peach & The Pit! Check it out!

World Cup Fare

I don't know about you, but I spent Saturday cheering on the USA, wearing one of Shaun's many USA jerseys, and eating enough buffalo wing dip to feed a family of five (more on that later). Though it was a sad turn of events, it got me thinking about World Cup 2006, when Shaun and I somehow scored first round tickets through the crazy FIFA lottery system and trekked over to Germany for our first Euro vacation.

With tickets to 2 of the 3 first round games, we made the plan to do a 3 city tour, spanning Germany and France. The trip began in Cologne, Germany. With fan fare unlike any I've other seen, there wasn't a whole lot to do in Cologne aside from walk the pop-up street fairs in honor of the World Cup and park ourselves at outdoor cafes for hours on end, watching games, drinking Kolsch (the official brew of Cologne) and eating wiener schnitzel and frites until our stomachs begged us to cease. Yeah, it was pretty great.

In a land where it's cheaper to buy a pint of beer than a glass of water, we sampled all of the local goods. From gelato with bits of ice cream cone mixed into it...To neverending bratwurst...

Even though it was years before The Avid Appetite was born, it's pretty clear that Shaun and I were destined to be world-seasoned food fans, don't you think? Anyhow, at the first US game in Gelsenkirchen, we encountered that fan fare enough to top any Subway Series game to boot. Fans draped themselves in American flags, sang American songs, and drank in the streets for hours on end (and in the blazing heat no less).

And we partook in the fun...

With days between games, we made our way to Paris for a few days and then circled back to Kaiserslautern, Germany for the tailend of the trip. Since our friend Geoff, along with his wife Blaire, was stationed at the US Army base there, we had our own personal guide to the town. Somehow, the nights turned back to food at an outdoor cafe (where I sampled bona fide moldy cheese) followed by beer and Jagermeister sampling through the town's street fair. With dark beer served by the meter and Jager at every turn, here's a peak at what happens when you mix the two after many many hours...don't try this at home...

Yep, Shaun ended up riding a metal pony in the middle of the town fountain. Anyhow, while I'll continue my depression over the US loss to Ghana in 2010, it's pretty fab to relive our German adventure of '06 and reminisce over our first major trip together in a real once-in-a-lifetime experience. Plus, ya gotta love a land that encourages train breakfasts consisting of bread, nutella and beer.

So there you have it - a peak at our World Cup adventure of '06. How are you feeling after Saturday's game?