Appel Happel Apple Fest: Pony Rides, Apple Picking and more!

Appel Happel Apple Fest: Pony Rides, Apple Picking and more!

Pumpkins, apples, leaves falling, scarf and boot season…these are a few of my favorite things! I love autumn and what better way to kick it off than at the Appel Happel Apple Fest in Mainz!

Coming from the North East of the USA, going to a farm and having fresh squeezed cider at the end of September is very fond tradition for me. Luckily we have Appel Happel in Mainz so we can celebrate the beginning of another crisp golden autumn.

This wonderful apple orchard has a great store to buy fresh vegetables, fruit, wines and you guessed it, a lot of apples. You can even sample the different types of apples that will you buy for either eating whole or for baking.

 

  

After shopping for home items, it was time to eat! The best selection was the homemade apple, pear and plum cakes! So for this fest we made an exception and had dessert first. After that we went to the tent and had some German sausages on bread.
  

This is such a wonderful kid friendly fest with so much for them to do. Located in the back of the fest was 2 big bouncy castles and the very popular pony rides.

Most likely my daughters favorite treat of the day (or year) was the make your own chocolate covered apples!

Adjacent to the fest is where the apple orchards start and you can get a wagon or bring your own bag and start picking! Some of my earliest childhood memories are of filling up my own bucket of apples in the orchard. The apple and pear orchards are so well kept here, even if you aren’t picking that day, it still makes for a lovely walk through the trees.

What to do with all of the apples?

Below is a yummy recipe for German Apple Cake very similar to the cake I had at the fest. Lecker!

http://www.marthastewart.com/343813/german-apple-cake

Address:

Marienborner Bergweg 33, 55127 Mainz, Germany (Parking is located along the street. )

Happy autumn, everyone! Here I am wearing my apple hat that was knitted with love by my Nana. <3

Author’s Profile: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

Short Video of the fest:

Wiesbaden Folklore Fest

Wiesbaden Folklore Fest

If NYC’s Greenwich Village and Wiesbaden, Germany collided, it would create: The Wiesbaden Folklore Fest

Held at the Wiesbaden Schlachthof during the last weekend of August, the Folklore Fest brings out the funky, cultural, alternative and artistic side of Wiesbaden.

This 3 day open air festival has been entertaining the funky masses every late August since 1976. This felt like an end of summer celebration in the sun! This fest had the normally provided fest entertainment such as music, food and drink but unlike other summer fests in the area, it also had one of my favorite pastimes: Shopping!

The Folklore Fest was small in size, compared to other weekend long music festival, but they really had a great shopping tent area like the big fests. The vendors sell items you normally would not find in Wiesbaden stores. They sell handmade clothes, jewelry and unique gifts from around the world. They sell funky and hip items at great prices. Even if you don’t go to shop it is still really fun to walk around the shopping tents and see new things.
  

The fest wants to give the feeling of welcoming all different types of people, they are strongly against anti-discrimination, racism and wants everyone to be there with an open mind. For example the interpretive performing arts, displayed crafts and music acts.

There was a performing arts group walking around the fest that looked like two big babies doing interpretive dance. My daughter was pretty scared of these guys and I had to cover her eyes every time they passed by us! Even though they were kind of creepy, I appreciated the uniqueness of the situation and art form.

A very popular area for the kids was the huge block pile. All day kids were busy creating with the massive pile of wooden blocks.

To match the creative fest vibe, the food vendors were also extremely unique! One grill vendor looked like right out the movie ‘Mad Max’. They had great food variation as well, such as Afghani vegan food and Mexican burritos.

  

A food vendor had one of the best quotes that I totally agree with! “You can only be happy with a happy stomach”.

In addition to all the cool funky food and art, no doubt the main attraction of this fest is the music…big and small! One of our favorite activities at the fest were the homemade musical instruments all around the park. Made from hula-hoops, bicycle wheels and even rubber boots, these creative instruments made magical sounds!
 

Located in the back of the fest is the main stage, which brings around 30,000 visitors throughout the 3 days! For a small fest and not so large city, this fest really gives the experience of a huge music festival! They have an exciting line up each day with a great variety for the fest goers which include, metal, rock, pop and hip-hop.

Along the side of the area with the big stage, there was a water spray station set up to cool off the music fans during the shows. I envisioned a second Woodstock mud party breaking out!

If you want to see this alternative/ funky side of Wiesbaden, be sure to check out the Folklore Fest in August!

Address: Murnaustrasse 1, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany

Author’s Profile: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

Mainz Beer Bike

Mainz Beer Bike

Can’t decide if you want to spend your weekend sitting outside drinking beer or perhaps go on a nice bicycle ride through the city? Well, with the Mainz Beer Bike you can do both!

Anytime you see Beer Bikes in big cities they are always the main attraction on the street! Everyone waving and honking their horns in celebration. Most likely also wishing they were on the beer bike! Luckily we can have this biking and beer drinking experience right here in Mainz with the company BierBike Mainz.

How it works:

The beer bike sits up to 16 people plus one provided driver on the bike. 10 people pedal the bike, 5 people can sit on the bench and one person is doing the important job of serving the beer in the middle. You don’t have to worry about being a good bike rider because the trained driver will do all of the steering and choose the safe routes for the beer bike’s 2 hour journey.

The bike comes with a tap for beer, lights for night time rides and a stereo for your favorite tunes! If that isn’t a recipe for a good time all over town, I don’t know what is! Just bring Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ and press repeat.

Even though it is a beer bike, the company wants to stress that drinking isn’t the main attraction. The real fun comes from the togetherness with your group and having a great time riding on the bike through beautiful Mainz. Not only are you having a blast with your friends while drinking great German beer, they have guided tours that take you passed all of the gorgeous landmarks and sites in Mainz. For example you will pass the Dom, the Old Market Place and the Rhine River waterfront.

Winter time on the Beer Bike:

BierBike Mainz has a great offer in the winter time where you drink German hot mulled wine (gluhwein) and eat holiday gingerbread cookies (lebkuchen). This would be so fun to do with friends while singing carols then getting dropped off at the Mainz Christmas Market!

Beer Bike Prices: Sunday to Thursday: 200 euro and Friday to Saturday: 270 euro. Beer must be ordered for the tour at 4,50 euro per liter and you also have a choice of other drinks like wine at their station.

Here is the link to book your very own Beer Bike experience: http://www.bierbike-mainz.de/english/contact.html

  

Author’s Profile: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

Trappist Westvleteren: How to score some of the ‘best beer in the world’

Trappist Westvleteren: How to score some of the ‘best beer in the world’ 
Brewed by the Belgian Trappist Monks at the Abbey of Saint Sixtus, the Westvleteren Brewery is known around the globe to produce perhaps the best beer in the world. This is could be due to the Monks esteemed reputation as brewers, the unmatchable taste and quality of their beer and the rationed/ reservation style of ordering.  


According to Ratebeer and Beeradvocate, the Trappist Westvleteren 12 has complex dark flavors of caramel malt, figs and dark fruit which makes it one of the best beers on the planet, no scratch that, the universe. This beer is not sold in stores and it is only sold in small quantities (60,000 cases per year) every week right at the gate of the monastery, from their hands to your trunk! So for any beer enthusiast, or those curious to what the best beer tastes like, living in Europe is like being so close to the Beer Mecca of the world, you just have to make the trip to try it!

Here’s how to get some Trappist Westvleteren:

The Call:

First you have to check out their webpage to see the beer schedule and when you can call the ‘beer phone’ (yes kind of like the bat phone).
 

  
You call the beer phone during the times listed on the left side only. It shows what beer you are calling for, so if you call for a yellow block “TW 12” that is what you will get. If you get a busy signal, call them over and over until you get through. If you get a recording, press ‘1’ to talk to someone.

Then when you speak to someone they will ask you for your licenses plate number. He will then ask what day and time you can pick it up. Your options are on the other column of the website you saw online, indicated by the color you ordered. He will tell you your day and time for your pick up!

The Pick Up:

You will receive 2 cases of the highly coveted beer! There are no changes available! Don’t be late for your order and do not show up with a car that has a different licenses plate or you will not receive your beer! They ask you to pay with your credit card and your receipt will say that you are not allowed to resell your beer (Niet verder verkopen). Also you are not allowed to order beer with that license plate and phone number for the next 60 days! So you better make it last until then! :)

If you missed the calling times for the beer phone, and you find yourself in Belgium one weekend, you can still try the Westvleteren liquid gold! Across the street from the brewery they have a beautiful café called ‘In de Vrede’ where you can order it in glasses and drink it at your table. They have a small gift shop where at times, if you are lucky, they sell a 6 pack per person.

They also have gorgeous and historic walks in the area listed on their website, so you can make your beer pick up a really beautiful day out in the Belgian countryside. http://www.indevrede.be/wandelen.php?lang=en

Address: Donkerstraat 13 - 8640 Westvleteren, Belgium - T +32(0)57 40 03 77

Prices: €30.00 (Blonde), €35.00 (8°) and €40.00 (12°) per 24-bottle crate (excluding bottle/crate deposit). Deposit for empty bottles and crate: €12 (€9.60 for the crate plus €0.10 per bottle). But most people would want to keep the crate as a souvenir.

Follow on Reading: To learn more about how the Monks “Make the beer to live but do not live for the beer” check out the article by The Independent, who got a rare interview, called: Monks who make the world’s best beer pray for quiet life.

Author’s Profile: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

German Bakery Technology: Combating Cooties!

German Bakery Technology: Combating Cooties!

We tend not to think about how gross it is to touch money then touch the food we are going to eat. Or maybe we just block it out so you don’t think of the frequently passed bacteria on your scrumptious baguette.

In 2014, The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about Why You Shouldn’t Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is. NYU researchers found that hundreds of different kinds of bacteria is passed from hand to hand when you exchange money.

“Easily the most abundant species they found is one that causes acne. Others were linked to gastric ulcers, pneumonia, food poisoning and staph infections, the scientists said. Some carried genes responsible for antibiotic resistance.” How disgusting is that! Um, acne?!

TIME also wrote about Dirty Money and how majority of the U.S. bills are contaminated by cocaine. And that paper money can carry more germs than a household toilet.

Even though we are talking about ‘Dirty Dollars’ it must be the same with 'Icky Euros'. Even though they are much more prettier and colorful than the US dollars, they most likely have the same about of microbes living on there.

Okay I think you get the point.. and I don’t want to gross everyone out any further! If you really do the research, I think we all will be swiping our credit cards to pay for a pack of gum just to avoid touching the fecal cocaine glitter on the money.

So what about the bakeries!? Well, in Germany they are getting it right!! I went to one of my favorite food stores in Germany to get some German Brotchen goodness and I saw this new contraption. I actually said outloud…“NO WAY! How COOL!!”
 

Here you tell the bakery employee with the acne-causing-dollar-dust free hands what you want to have, he places it in the bag for you, then from his side of the counter he inputs the price of your purchase. Then from your side you use this handy dandy, cootie combating money machine. You can either insert the money or you can even swipe your credit card (which is a rare thing here!). Then.. voila! You take your bread! How come it took so long for this to happen!? Well let’s just be happy that it is here.

Here is a video of how it works!

 

 

Author’s Profile: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.

Wiesbaden Street Food Festival

 Wiesbaden Street Food Festival 

Calling all foodies! The Wiesbaden Street Food Fest is a place where it is publicly acceptable to literally eat your way across the fest! 

Challenge accepted!

This early September indoor and outdoor festival at the Wiesbaden Schlachthof is one of a kind! If you love the food at German fests, sometimes it is hard to search for something delicious through all the beer and wine stands. Well not at this fest! Here the food stand is king and I was the loyal servant on a quest in street food heaven! Companies from all over Europe, from fine dining to BBQ to Vegan, came to Wiesbaden to display their culinary works of art, one food stand at a time.

Man oh man, this fest did not disappoint. Here are some of the highlights I saw and what I ate:

For my first stop I was looking for an appetizer type of dish. I had to pace myself and I didn’t want to overdo it right away! I came across a food stand from Berlin called Pan Kowalski. They offer a new food concept to show what pierogi’s are capable of when you fusion a traditional Polish pierogi with hip street food. It was delicious! It was a great balance of a fried dish but wasn’t oily at all and still felt like you were eating healthy. They were served on a bed of fresh grilled vegetables with an option of beetroot and horseradish sauce to compliment. Check out their facebook page to hopefully catch them around Germany!
 

I really loved the culture of the fest. While I was eating my amazing pierogi’s we were listening to the cool Jamaican tunes from the Jerk chicken stand.

There aren’t many other fests where within arm distance you can get an American doughnut, some Asian desserts and Spanish churros. One of each please!

Inside the Schlachthof they had food stand and also vendors like olive oil vendors where you can buy their products.

Music was really everywhere and it added such a nice atmosphere. What I loved about it was that there wasn’t a formal set stage and a list of bands, they would play in any area that looked like they needed some music! This Dixie band was just too cool!

Nope. Nope. Nope.: That is all I said while walking passed this stand. And as I still look at these photos it is a big: Nope. However if you are extremely adventurous and want to see what it is like to be Bear Grylls on his TV show Man Vs. Wild, then by all means feel free to sample at the insect stand.
  

Then a complete contrast to eating insects, it was now time to check out the vegan burger stand that was in a cool silver vintage bus. Their very clever name is ‘Food V(eg)an’ and they are from Taunusstein, which is a town just North of Wiesbaden. I ordered the ‘Hipster Burger’ which had fresh bread, vegan patty, lettuce, tomato, onion and BBQ sauce. It was so good I think even a meat lover would love it! They also offered a ‘Corleone Burger’, ‘Gandhi Burger’ and scrumptious sweet potato fries. 

It is time to sit down and eat my ‘Hipster Burger’! The fest had nice tables set up in the middle so you can rest for a little bit. All this eating was very tiring. ;)

One of the biggest ‘wow factor’ stands was the impressive ‘Peanut Butter Bacon Burger’. I hope to not disappoint, but I did not try that. However it must have been a great combination because the stand constantly had a line of people ready to get their PB-and-B-Burger on. 

If you fancy a cocktail, you can drink it in this very cool double decker English bus!

We were about to leave and then we bumped into some friends who said we *must* try the Italian rice balls. Okay twist my arm, I listened to their suggestion. Ran by a really nice Italian man named Francesco, the stand was called the ‘Food Agent’. I ordered the spinach mozzarella rice ball. How was it you ask? Well if loving these rice balls is wrong then I don’t ever want to be right. It tasted like a big, softer mozzarella stick filled with savory rice and spinach. If you are curious to try this at home I found a recipe online: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rice-balls-recipe.html

This fest travels the area so be sure to bring your appetite and check it out! Here is the facebook page to follow: https://www.facebook.com/StreetFoodMarketRheinMain

Author’s Profile: Gemma is a mom, a veteran and an Army civilian living in Wiesbaden, Germany. With New Jersey roots, she is enjoying her extended European vacation.