The Onion People

Last night, Zev and I had a great "local" night with friends. I love being able to find fun things to do right in your own backyard. Trust me, there's plenty of stuff to do in YOUR neck of the woods and plenty of stuff that might surprise you if you just visit your local information/ tourist office. I remember a few months into our tour in Montgomery, Alabama, when I was telling my colleagues at the law firm I was working at, about the Rosa Parks museum and the church where Martin Luther King preached. We even visited the town where Harper Lee was born and raised (and where "To Kill a Mockingbird" was filmed) and also discovered many cool local attractions in Louisiana. So last night we met up with our dear friends, Micah and PJ and their kids, as well as Bevin and Jeff and some of Micah's German friends, at a local festival happening in our town of Esslingen. Actually, it is Micah and PJ's German friends (Birgitte and family) who organized the Maultaschen cooking class we did a few months ago. So last night, we all headed down to the "Zwiebelfest" which means Onion Festival, held at our local historic marketplace. Birgitte and Micah had reserved a table with Matthias (with whom we had taken the cooking class with and who is a true larger-than-life German in every sense of the word.) I ordered the Maultaschen with the "onion melt" (caramelized onions) on top (words cannot describe how delicious this onion melt is) and of course German potato salad. Now that I have actually seen how that delicious potato salad is made, I know EXACTLY how rich it is, but it tastes so good, so I had some. Zev ordered the Rostbraten mit Zwiebel, which is a roast beef with (of course) some caramelized onions on top. And of course, German potato salad.The weather was perfect and it was a fun night out with friends, and a fun date night with my man.  

Here is an interesting little story/ legend that I found online about the onion festival:

The devil and the onion

It was on a nice day in autumn when devil visited the market of Esslingen. He stayed in front of a market stall with apples and wanted to eat one. So he asked the woman behind the stall for an apple. But the market-woman looked at the devil, and then she noticed his hoof and decided to give him an onion instead of an apple. The devil bit in the onion and became very angry when he realized that the apple was an onion. He went away cursing.

Up to this day people in Esslingen are called the “onion people” (“Zwieblinger”).

(More stories about Esslingen from: http://www.thg.es.bw.schule.de/index.php?page=englische-version)

Speaking of date night, Zev came home early on Friday night and we made pizzas at home. These are probably some of our favorite "date nights." Just a simple dinner at home and then a movie.

Zev made the pizza dough from scratch and added all sorts of yummy toppings like goat cheese and basil.

I made dessert using the apples from our backyard. I am grateful for our abundance of apples. At first I was trying to send them with Zev to take to his work, but he says that everyone is "appled out." Not sure if that is a real term but there you go. So I have been freezing my apple compote, which is really quite a healthy dessert.

This week I aim to really appreciate all the people and things around me. Like the beauty of life, marriage and apple trees. I know that sounds random, but I am feeling rather grateful for our blessings today.

Hope you have a great week too!