Prost!

Nothing like Germany in Connecticut for Oktoberfest the last weekend of September.

For my German relatives in Texas, you must understand that Connecticut is Italian the way Texas has Germans.  Maybe even more so.  I've never seen so many Italians, even in Chicago or in NYC--every second person has an Italian surname or maiden name, or both.  And they all make homemade gravy, or sauce (the name depending on the region their grandmother came from!)  Perhaps that explains the 25 pizza restaurants in our town!  And only 1 or 2 German restaurants--and they count bars that sell Brats--in the whole state.  The delis here are Italian, not German or even Jewish, for the most part.  Which means no kraut or German potato salad or kolaches or rugelach or matzoh ball soup, really.  But lots of pickled peppers and prosciutto and tortellini salad.

Still, they like beer.  And beer and Oktoberfest go hand in hand and so I went to one this weekend.  And had a wonderful time.  Sure, the German band didn't know what a schottische was (I remember we danced the schottische at every dance in jr and high school), but there was sauerbraten, roasted pork, German potato salad (well, sort of), noodles (not spaetzle), sauerkraut, beets and cabbage, apple strudel, and Black Forest cake.  Yum!  I miss German food sometimes, having had access to it in Chicago (Berghoff) and in NYC.  There were also lots of German drinking songs, including the schnitzlebank led by lederhosen-clad guitar and accordion players.

Now if we could just get an Oma's Haus and Nagelin's Bakery up here!