Whew, that was fun! I feel like I’ve been on vacation for the past two weeks. I think I managed to attend Oktoberfest 8 or 9 times – so at least half of the days. Impressive that I’m still standing, no?
The major thing I learned from my marathon of festing is this: if you don’t have a reservation, go during the week, and go early! There was a huge difference in crowd level between weekends (including Fridays) and weekdays. On a weekday one can get a seat in pretty much any tent for lunch and some afternoon drinking, without waiting in line or getting shoved around by too many drunken frat boys. The music is a little more low-key and traditional during the day, but it picks up in the early evening, which is about the same time that the dancing on the benches starts. Speaking of Oktoberfest music, how long until I get these songs out of my head? (The playlists at the tents are very repetitive, to say the least.)
Now I’ve got about four days of ‘normal life’ before visitors and travel descend upon me again. So, if I’ve owed you an email for the past month or so, expect to finally get a reply this week. Right after I hose down the apartment. And figure out what to do with 50 green tomatoes…
WRT green tomatoes, we’ve made pickles (more or less the same recipe as the cukes), had them fried, scalloped and relished.
I think I’ve liked them best fried or scalloped, but that may be my starch/carb bias showing.
Oooh, thanks for all the suggestions! I’ve been poking around the internets, but hadn’t found any inspiring recipes yet…
yes, pickled green tomatoes! At least that’s what Laura’s family in the Little House on the Prairie book series did. And half of what I know comes from those books. The other half comes from VH1.
Oh, and I did get to hear and do a little dancing to “Cowboy und Indianer” in the Armbrust tent. Loved it!
Eh, I would just stick the tomatoes in a bag with a couple onions until they ripen, but I’m too lazy to do anything like pickling :^)
Yeah, pickling does seem a little out of my usual complexity level when it comes to food prep (as does probably everything they do in Little House on the Prairie books).
I’m pleased to find them ripening rather quickly now that they’re off the vine, so maybe I’ll just go with that instead… although I did make some salsa the other night with a few of them. Yum.
Fried green tomatoes (that have been breaded first) with grits or polenta are GREAT! Serve is with a little bacon and you have a meal!
If they stay somewhere warm and dark, they should ripen fairly quickly.
Well when you don’t hear any of those songs, they seem to not be so worn out.. They actually make me miss the diversity of Europe…