I'm German. We eat.

Yes indeed. I am German. I'm a lot of things but today it's all about the German. Specifically the Russian Mennonite portion of my German heritage.

As previously mentioned, almost every year I go to a "tasting festival." It is a fundraiser for a local academy that is filled with germany goodness that I am sure contains absolutely NO calories whatsoever. At least that is what I tell myself as I stuff my face. Typically I spend an entire weekend shopping in the cute stores in town, eating, spending time with family. This year I was in town for about 36 hours. (See my post on my road trip!) So this year due to scheduling conflicts I was in and out of there like a dress on prom night (not my prom dress of course, give a girl some credit). I was there and then I was off.

But what I did enjoy was giving in to my love of food and eating wonderful dishes crafted with love by some of the locals. The menu includes noodle soup, green bean soup, stewed beef, pork sausage, fried potatoes, cheese buttons, lettuce salad, relishes, zweibach buns, pluma moos and kuchen.

I cannot describe how delicious the food is. It's all homemade from scratch. Now granted there are certain things that I just do not eat. For instance, it takes a special German to eat Pluma Moos and I am just not special enough to enjoy a fruit sauce filled with dried fruits like prunes. No thank you. But I am however willing to eat stewed beef which takes like 24 hours to make. Or fried potatoes that melt in your mouth. Or delicious pork sausage with a little bit of sweet sauerkraut with it.

Kuchen just may top the list though. Its like a custardy type thing that sits in a sweet dough crust (kinda resembles a pie). And then you typically have a few slices of fruit on top. Peach is my absolute favorite. And if you are a good german you get a "Hutter High" from eating poppy-seed rolls or poppy-seed kuchen. You pick your poison.

Following dinner we typically check out the museum which houses some things from our family which were donated. There are also chair-weaving, quilting baking and other demonstrations that you can watch. And every evening there is a musical. This year it was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, which is my favorite musical. I LOVE the music and the production was amazing. I even had a cousin who was in the Pharaoh's harem and she was fantastic.

When I go to this festival it feels like going home. I get to see family that I only see once or twice a year. I get to eat food that I only eat once a year. I get to see a great musical. I get to relax and let go of the stress that so often follows me around. I get to have fun. I get to embrace my heritage. I get to be me.

So I had to share a little about my trip because it is one of my favorite parts of the year. Do you have anything like this that you participate in? I hope so.