Did you miss me?

Four days without writing in my blog! The longest I’ve ever gone, I do believe. Mister and I had a lovely weekend in Fredericksburg, Texas for his birthday. Fredericksburg, in case you’ve never been, is a quaint little town in the middle of nowhere (as is most every place in Texas). Most of the buildings are the originals that the Germans built in the 1800’s. I know that’s not a big deal to any of you Europeans or East-Coasters. Or even Mid-Westerners. But for any frontier-type place it’s kind of unique. Texans are so very proud of their history and try not to rip anything down.  So there are several sweet little towns in Texas that have lovely old main streets that now house darling shops and restaurants. Coming from Utah, which has a few old towns but most of them are dilapidated and forgotten and decidedly not charming, this is wonderful.

We stayed at a really nice little B&B that was actually a private cottage. Mister’s favorite thing about staying in a hotel-ish type place is that he gets to watch TV in bed.* And eat in bed. And well, you know. We’re very bed-centric people. Sleeping in is a luxury that we treasure. Unfortunately there were several mockingbirds the first morning that sounded more like they were in our closet than outside. Who can be angry about being woken up by birds, though? (Mister.)

This weekend in Fredericksburg was the Weihnachten festival (weihnachten means Christmas in German. It’s supposed to be pronounced “vine-octen”, but Texans pronounce everything strangely, and this word is no exception. Now it’s known as the “wine-ashten” festival.) There was a thoroughly old-school parade. There weren’t floats as much as pick-up trucks and tractors sponsored by the local beauty shops and insurance agencies.  But they all featured smiling, waving people and were heavily decorated (tractors covered with lights, longhorns cattle with their horns covered in lights, the old-fashioned fire-engine covered in lights, school marching band with all brass instruments covered in lights–even the trombone.)  

Despite being 70º during the day, it ended up being quite chilly at night. It was nice to finally have a hint of winter.  Especially since we had a private hot tub at our hotel and could hop right in after the parade was finished.

It was very festive and put me most certainly in the Christmas spirit, which you know has been a bit of an issue for me thus far.

Being a German town there are several restaurants that serve Schnitzel.  It’s most properly known as Wienerschnitzel (pronounced with a “v” sound at the beginning.) The wiener part of the word means that it’s from Vienna (which is called Wien, duh), not that it has anything to do with hot dogs.  It doesn’t.  Wienerschnitzel is made of a very thinly sliced pork or veal cutlet that is breaded and fried.  Usually it’s served with lemon to squeeze on top.  My grandmother is from Vienna and taught my mother how to make schnitzel. It was always a big favorite at my house growing up. Now I make it and my kids love it too. 

I like to think of myself as a schnitzel connaisseur.  Whenever I have travelled to Austria/Germany I have eaten it at least once a day.  I cannot get enough of it.  It is my ultimate comfort food. Fredericksburg has lots of German restaurants due its heritage.  We ate at several and while the schnitzel ranged from good (tasty but too think) to atrocious (basically a dry pork chop), nothing rang my bell.  There were a couple of restaurants we didn’t try, but Mister did not relish the idea of German food at every meal.

I’m sure you’d love to hear more about my weekend sans kids, but reentry into the Mommy stratosphere is proving difficult, so I need to go and give it my full attention.

 

*Even before we got rid of TV in the whole house we never had one in our bedroom. I have forbidden it from day one. It just seems that TV replaces all the communication that can happen when you’re getting ready for bed.

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7 thoughts on “Did you miss me?

  1. Well that sounds like a great weekend, I mean what a great idea to do when you have your mother in town.

    James would have a projector screen in the bedroom if he could. But having the hot tub right there too, now that is great.

    The last time that I was in Fredricksberg it was in the summer months and super hot, so I think that you have the right idea in shopping when the temps are cooler. Nice work. Did you find any fun trinkets to decorate your home with?

  2. Fredricksburg is my favorite small town in the world! Lucky you…
    This was the first place I ever saw Shabby Chic before anyone knew who Rachel Ashwell even was. If you watch, places in Fredricksburg are featured in design magazines periodically. Who would guess such a fine place would be smack in the middle of nowhere in the hill country of Texas! Your weekend sounds heavenly, but you were missed…

  3. I thought arguing about the remote and how much more Military Channel our marraige can handle, was conversation before bed!

    Just kidding, at our house it’s actually our Mister that wants the tv gone.

    It sounds like a lovely weekend.

  4. I believe that I have been to Fredricksburg, as I am a Texas native. Very cool place indeed…

    We don’t have a TV in our room either, but my husband would prefer to fall asleep to one, in bed, every night, if he could.

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