A few weeks ago, Trav and I ventured out to find "Alpine Village", a German compound of shops that is a popular destination for Oktoberfest. I had visions of a huge bierhall and steins and bratwurst...but on a Saturday afternoon, all we found were little old Germans teetering through the parking lot into the market.
We wandered around the market/deli/bakery for quite a while, marveling at the thousands of products that reminded me of Europe. We were planning on having a German feast that night, so we ended up with quite a bit.
From the butcher: Weisswurst, knackwurst, rauchwurst and leberwurst.
From the bakery: a slice of poppy seed cake
From the grocery: pickles, mustard (bavarian and dusseldorf), sauerkraut, creamed herring, tinned octopus, bacalhau, and herring, and plum butter (kind of like apple butter).
All told, it wasn't that expensive for all of our goodies! Plus, we figured this was probably a one-shot deal, given the location and general feel of the place. It's right next to a big freeway in a not-so-nice part of town.
When we got home we boiled the wurst, sliced up rauchwurst (like a smoky chorizo), and opened the jar of creamed herring. Trav grilled the wurst and warmed up hotdog buns, and we spread out our goodies on the table. We also made a warm potato salad that was delicious!
Our dinner wasn't quite as good as we had hoped. The rauchwurst was to die for, but the Bavarian mustard was too sweet, and the other wurst fell short of our expectations. Nothing compares to the food in the "old country", but at least it came close. Hopefully next time we eat a spread like this, it will be in a tiny gasthaus somewhere in Deutschland!
