On the July 4th weekend a friend and I decided to take a trip to the Alsace region of France. I had been to the northern part of Alsace last year, but this year we went a little further south. On Thursday evening we took off after work and drove south to Freiburg, Germany. Friday we woke up and toured around Freiburg for a bit.
Freiburg is located on the edge of the Black Forest, and used to be a completely walled city. I’m not sure if the wall is complete anymore; however, even if it is complete it is not the original. Freiburg took some heavy bombing during WWII and was substantially rebuilt. It has a pretty little downtown area.
We walked around a bit in the AM, and then headed for the border.
We had lunch in the town of Rouffach, and then headed up the road to Eguisheim where we set up at a campground right outside of town.
We walked into the town and took some pictures, had a little wine, took some more pictures, had a great dinner of choucroute garni with an appetizer of foie gras. Eguisheim is a neat little town of half-timbered buildings, which were very well kept. I was taking pictures of buildings when I saw a couple of window boxes with flowers. As we walked around various towns in Alsace there were just so many windows with fresh flowers that I was fascinated by it.
I think it might be a law in Alsace that you must have flowers in your windows.
The next day we drove to Colmar, parked the truck at the train station, and hoofed it into the city. In Colmar we checked out Le musée d’Unterlinden. I know it sounds like an underwear museum, but it is actually quite a nice museum with paintings and everything. It is in a refurbished gothic church, and it houses a quite famous painting of Christ on the cross which is quite vivid in it’s portrayal of the cuts from the lashings. The painting is part of an old and very ornate altarpiece.
After eating lunch in Colmar we headed for a campsite in Ribeauvillé. After setting up camp we headed into town and took pictures of window boxes with flowers. I took pictures of more than that, but the window boxes were my thing this weekend.
I tried some snails after dinner (and wine). They are supposed to be an appetizer, but I was kind of dared to do it, so this day they were dessert. Maybe it was the wine, but the snails were actually quite good, and not at all disgusting. They tasted like garlic and butter, and they came in a sauce of butter and garlic. I was really expecting them to be one of those foods that just keep getting bigger the more you chew, but the texture was good and they were not at all slimy. I may even collect a few this summer, and fatten them up for dinner sometime.
Another thing they are big on in Alsace is Cranes. The feathered kind. They build these huge nests on the top of buildings, I first saw them on top of churches and thought it was pretty neat. Then I started seeing them on other buildings, including houses. The problem with having a big crane nest on your roof is the color and amount that these things crap.
The next day we went up to Château du Haut-Koenigsburg, a pretty impressive castle. It was just starting to rain as we were leaving, so we headed back to Germany.
All in all a pretty good weekend.
5 comments:
Love these window box pictures!
Okay, so you posted, but did not answer, my question about the "rub" you use on your smoked meat. Am I to conclude that you don't use a rub when you smoke? Or, that you want to keep the recipe a secret? Did Gibbs make you sign a secrecy agreement when you left?
W.
Hey T,
I had snails once at a friends wedding reception. They tasted like pencil erasers dipped in garlic butter with some minced garlic rubbed on for good measure. You know, those big old pencil erasers from those monster pencils they gave us in first grade.
Maybe I got a hold of some bad snails but my only thought at the time was, if you got rid of these goddamned snails and just had some minced garlic and garlic butter on, say a piece of toast, you'd have something. (I think they call it "bruscetta" in Italy.)
If I ever get to France (fat chance) I'll try escargot again just to see if continental snails are any better than domestic snails. I've got to tell you, I don't have very high hopes. After all, as Sam Kinison might say, "IT'S A FRIGGIN' SNAIL - WHAT DID YOU EXPECT - WE HAVE SNAILS IN AMERICA TOO BUT WE DON'T EAT THEM!!!!!!!!". (Well, most Americans don't.)
I'm glad your snail experience was better than mine. Could it be that you have been in Germany so long that you are starting to turn "European"? No offense - but that's the only way I can make any sense out of you liking snails. I know you have very eclectic tastes - but jeez - they're snails for crying out loud. I can't imagine that European snails are any less "eraser-like" once cooked than American snails.
Just a couple of observations.
W.
So how do you like the truck-bed tent? It looks pretty cool.
Steven
Steven - The truck bed tent works great. It rained like hell one night in Amsterdam, I didn't get wet at all!
Wilhelm - Perhaps the snails you had were overcooked? I mean, far be it from an American to overcook anything. And I thought I had stated that they pretty much tasted like the sauce they were in. Am I being too subtle?
And here's a good start for a rub:
2 Parts Salt
2 Parts Brown Sugar
2-3 Parts Paprika
1 Part Black Pepper
1/2 Part Cumin
1/2 Part Garlic Powder
1/2 Part Onion Powder
Cayenne to Taste
I also like to add:
celery seed
fennel
corriander
All these quantities are approximate because I rarely measure any of these things when making a rub.
Tschüs
-Tony
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