Whatever happened to the faces or the glow

[austin_dern]

After Bronner's we went into the Frankenmuth proper, for dinner. There's a pair of massive German restaurants there, on opposite sides of the street. They used to be owned by separate families but, as will happen, one side sold out to the other and they keep the apparent separation going because all the patrons were happy that way. I hear there's secret pedestrian subways connecting the two, which seems plausible enough --- there's a lot of shops underneath anyway --- and not actually that thrilling a secret once you've heard about it. But still, secret pedestrian tunnels beneath city streets are always fun.

bunny_hugger and I had stopped in to town like this once before, getting lunch at the Bavarian Inn Restaurant on the way to, I think, the Saginaw Zoo. That we got in one of the upper-level floor. For dinner we'd eat downstairs in a spot that opened onto the parking lot and, had we been in the right room, a view of the river and the park lining it. Well, it was a tolerably busy day; we were just happy to sit down.

They had a lot of food, which compensated all right for there not being many vegetarian options, as see earlier comments about the German word for ``vegetarian''. It left me realizing how much I missed the taste of egg noodles soaked in butter and that's not even me being snarky; it's true. Fill that out with unlimited side dishes like cole slaw, potato salad, red cabbage and the like and you can have a really filling dinner even without the small sausage.

Our server, it happened, was a black woman. She was dressed like the rest of the staff in full, photogenic Classic Historic Bavarian Garb That Probably Actually Dates To Like 1895. This prompted us to tell some sotto voce gags about how much that cross of racial and ethnic types would offend Future Disgraced Former President Von Clownstick and his bunch. Those gags were funnier before he seized office.

After dinner we wandered around the shops downstairs and I know I already said the dining room we went to was downstairs. I have no explanation for this except I think the Bavarian Inn has a lot of basement. We weren't out for anything particular to buy. We had heard that one of our pinball friends placed a couple machines in the Bavarian Inn complex, but we weren't able to find them and nobody seemed to know where they were. We came really close to buying some specialty breads and cookie cutters and whatnot but resisted.

After all that we wandered up the (not long) street to another of Frankemuth's attractions: Cheese Haus. It's just what the name would suggest. Our pinball friend MWS had asked if we happened to be there to pick up some of a particular cheese spread which, if he had the chance, he'd eat nonstop day and night until he exploded. We were happy to pick that up; he hasn't shown signs of exploding yet. While the place did have a great selection of cheeses and spreads and enough samples that we might not have actually needed dinner we didn't get much. A couple spreads. I got some Boyer Peanut Butter Cups. Mallo Cups are great but you know, the company does make other stuff.

Just as we were heading out we noticed that we had parked beside ``Pasty Haus'', which offered, the sign said, bubble tea, ice cream, and pasties. Who'd have guessed? More stuff for whenever we get back to Frankenmuth. Always there's more stuff to do.

Trivia: Before the verb ``smoking'' became attached to what one did with tobacco ``drinking'' was used; one would ``drink smoke'' or ``drink tobacco''. Source: Tastes Of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants, Wolfgang Schivelbusch.

Currently Reading: City On A Grid: How New York Became New York, Gerard Koeppel.

Comments

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Trivia: Before the verb ``smoking'' became attached to what one did with tobacco ``drinking'' was used; one would ``drink smoke'' or ``drink tobacco''. Source: Tastes Of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants, Wolfgang Schivelbusch

Would you happen to remember when that changed over?

Also, I know what you mean about butter noodles. Mmmm...

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Schivelbusch says it happened over the course of the 17th century, but doesn't pin down just when. (But his books like these are big-picture ones; it's actually a bit of a challenge to find a discrete trivia-of-the-day item from him, as enlightening as his books can be.)

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

That's fine. I was wondering if it was late 18th which would make it a good piece of stuff to slip into the 1812 novel. But 17th is a bit early.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's probably too outdated to use in 1812. Language is never a perfectly uniform thing, but it's probably just a bit too far removed to be plausible without it being some weird family quirk.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

One would think there'd be some magic available involving spätzle or rosti! Still, there is indeed much to be said for red cabbage, rendered tart by Bramleys, fortified by cloves. =:9 (Though, for the Crimbo dinner, I didn't have cloves available, and had to make do with some ground pepper, which sufficed - the essential element is the apple)

Hungary, at least around 1991, was perhaps worse for non-carnivores - even "salads" were tinned and pickled. Fine with a goulash, but not much of a main per se. (That notwithstanding, the quality was very good, and at least then, very cheap by Western European standards)

And there is magic in a really good baked potato. ^_^ I recently went through a few of a different variety (King Alfred?), which proved to be fabulously buttery just by itself, straight from the microwave, even before adding a little milk, salt, and pepper, and mashing away to top a quick sort of cottage pie. =:9

I wonder if said friend might also take to the likes of Berthaud's Époisse and Stinking Bishop - both quite pungent in aroma, but still quite mellifluous upon the tongue, and easily spread.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I've always been partial to the sort of German-to-Polish, heavy, much-boiled meal, although I've attributed that to programming from having dinner at my Polish grandmother's so often. bunny_hugger thinks I'm a miracle worker with (vegetarian) kielbasa, but all I do is throw it on the frying pan with some sauerkraut and wait until the smoke seems to be too much.

We've been finally getting back into eating potatoes around here. Our problem is we haven't got any good spots to store them that also keep us from forgetting they're there.

Good question for MWS there. I've never quite gotten a sense of his tastes, although bunny_hugger nailed it quite well with a box of Christmas chocolates.