Feasting Friday....because ultimately, it's all about the food.

I can remember my dad talking about Weinerschnitzel from the time I was a little girl, and within just a few days of our arrival in Heidelberg, Sir and I paid a visit to the Schutzenhaus in Eppelheim.  Yes, everything has a big name here.  And most of them make me need to clear my throat.

It doesn't look like much from the outside, but behind that door is a cozy, charming dining room and a huge garden with umbrella tables.  It's the restaurant we've gone to most often, and I have the elastic waist mom jeans to prove it.  Not really.  My jeans are now to the point that if I sit down in them too quickly I may or may not pass out.  Because, mercy, the schnitzel.

That particular dish is called Bauerschnitzel.  It is pounded pork, breaded, then split open and stuffed with farmer's bacon, onions and wild mushrooms, cooked in the however-they-cook-schnitzel-to-make-it-so-delicious way, then covered with THREE kinds of gravy.  Then there's the side of fried potatoes, which rival my mom's.  It's the reason cardiologists were invented.  I left the salad in the picture because I don't know how to edit photos  because there had to be some kind of redeeming quality about the meal.

There are all sorts of new and exciting foods to be discovered, and they're not all necessarily German.  We ventured to an Italian place just a couple of blocks from home.  Aside from this adorable thing which took me instantly back 20 years

they had Spaghetti Ice Cream.  Yes, I was thinking "ewwww" too.  But it's not what you think!  Vanilla ice cream, run through a ricer to look just like spaghetti noodles.  Berry sauce on top to resemble spaghetti sauce.  White chocolate shavings to become the parmesan cheese.  Magically delicious.

Will the culinary adventures never end?

Even at home, new discoveries abound.  Some are convenient versions of old favorites (Lord help me with my eggs benedict issshhoes)

My kitchen dream - hollandaise sauce in a juice box.  It was all I could do not to frantically jab a plastic straw right in the top and have at it.

And some fall under the Who Ever Thought This Up category.

This comes in bottles (duh) or as a fountain drink in restaurants and is wildly popular, second only to dark beer as far as I can tell.  It's a mixture of coca cola and orange soda.  It's delicious once in a while, but I couldn't make a steady diet of it.  My dad raised me right.  I'll always come back to Pepsi.

Then we have the Great Mysteries.  I had such fun in the German grocery store, buying authentic sauce mixes and things like spaetzle noodles.  Then I got home and realized I could not read the instructions.  Lucky, lucky Sir who gets to eat my experiments.

And the gift we received from our friends L and G, who are Belgian.  We are still specu-lating about what exactly Specu-loos is!

I think I need a Zantac.  Anyone?

Last but not least, we have the MRE.  Sir was in the field playing war this past week, and he got to sleep on a broken cot, slog through the mud, and eat these.  He loved that experience.  And I loved the fact that he brought one home to me.....and look where it's from, y'all!  MULLINS!!!!  Big shout outs to Mrs. Delores' home turf for feeding our boys in uniform!

Tomorrow's post:  The Bathrooms of Europe.  You do the math.