Pinkus Braürei

Six Months Later...

It is hard to imagine we have lived in Münster for 6 months now. We feel at home, but in some ways it feels like we are in a holding pattern at the same time. Since I am not in my own home I can't start on most of the projects (home improvement, gardening, etc.) boiling away in my brain. I am not *really* home. We are not tourists, but we are living here with an expiration date, and no matter how much we try to immerse in life here, the end of our stay will come.

However, instead of counting down the days till we are back in our official domicile,  we are living a very full and happy life here. The nice thing about knowing we are only here for a limited time is that we are much more likely to go out and do and try things, because we may not have a chance in the future.

This week, a colleague of my husband invited us to join him at a very traditional style German Restaurant, the Pinkus Braüeri.

Pinkus Braürei

Keeping with the traditional German style, most of the tables had bench seating. This is not a Biergarten, so there was no outside seating under Chestnut trees (but I will be sure to visit a Biergarten when spring comes).

There are plenty of decorations and paintings to give the restaurant "been around for a long time" feel. This restaurant is over 150 years old and is still run by the same family.

I don't know if this glass window is a depiction of a original founder of the brewery, but can you imagine the skill creating this out of glass would take?

Eintopf

An Eintopf (single pot) was explained to us as traditional peasant food. You fry up the potatoes you ate for breakfast or lunch and top it with the meat left over from your previous meals of the day. Maybe they were cooked in seperate pots in the beginning, but they end up together in "one pot".

Russell and I ordered two portions of an Eintopf. The wiki page is rather misleading. In ours, the meat consisted of two portions of two different types of wurst, and two portions of pork similar to a ham steak on top of a bed of fried potatoes.  Can you see the (hot) brick under the plate?

Needless to say, I think me met our monthly meat needs with this one meal. Whew!

Sauerkraut

I have never been a fan of sauerkraut, but I could eat this kind everyday. Our friend related a story to us about sauerkraut when he was young boy. His mother would make up a huge vat of it and keep it down in the cellar. During the winter months they would eat a portion of it every day, not because it was cheap (which it was), or poor people's food, but because it was such a great source of vitamin C. Today we can eat fresh fruit and vegetables year round, but at that time, you had to do your best with what you had.

Another happy surprise was Lima Beans! I am sure they were swimming in bacon fat and butter, but I ate the whole bowl.

Mmh, pan fried potatoes.

Quark - our dessert. I have mentioned before that one of our most pleasant food discoveries is Quark. It is low in fat and carbs yet very high in protein and it tastes so creamy and smooth.

This recipe includes sour cherries (hiding on the bottom, but peeking out a bit here) with a rum sauce and crumbles of pumpernickel bread.

We never get tired of finding new things to try. As the seasons change we keep discovering things we have not yet seen. There is always something new going on in town or something new in the supermarket. So, the adventure continues next week! Bis Nächste Woche!