We have returned! There’s going to be quite a few posts about our trip to Fort Wayne to visit Ross, Liz and Jack; our trip to the Indiana Dunes; Colorado pictures and anything else we’ve forgotten about this fall!
This morning I made cinnamon apple oats for Rod and I using one and a half golden delicious apples, copious amounts of cinnamon and just a regular serving of oats. I topped mine with a little sugar-free maple syrup and he used poplar syrup.
I think Mario really wanted some of our oats! 
Caroline just wanted to get to the park! 
Before heading to the park with the dogs we also started a batch of chili to warm up the cool evening. We use bloody mary mix for the soup base and then we’re going to pair the chili with a nice hearty, multigrain roll. YUM!
When we got back from the park Rod and I started assembling our new bookcase and entry table from IKEA. We decided to go yesterday and finally pick up our first anniversary present to each other - new furniture for the bedroom and a few things for the first floor!
I’m loving the MALM dressing table as our new entry table complete with the clay pot that we won at a silent auction supporting the East 10th Street Children’s Center!
I also love how the EXPEDIT bookcase separates our living room from our dining room much better now - it also gives us SO much storage! Plus we can display some of the unique beer we picked up in Colorado (until we drink it that is)!
Here’s our new bed and nightstands - it’s low enough so that Caroline can jump on the bed plus there’s all kinds of storage in the nightstands!
I hope everyone has been doing well and apologies again for being SO far behind on our blogging! How has everyone been? 
We spent a day at the state fair a couple weekends back. In addition to spending time with a variety of barnyard animals, we also enjoyed fried green tomatoes, a corndog, fried cheese, white milk, a vanilla milkshake, honey lemonade and a sugar-free lemon shake-up. That’s a lot of food! Here are some pictures of the non-food related ways we spent our day.
More when we get back…
Twice a year the downtown restaurants put on an event titled “Devour Downtown” where you can get a three course meal for only $30 a person! Some places even do two for $30 or have lunches that are $20 a person. It’s a great opportunity to showcase what each restaurant is capable of and we try to go to two restaurants each time the even is going on (it’s usually two weeks long).
This time we went to Santorini Greek Kitchen for their family style feast. We were both really impressed with the quality of the service (and of our meal)! We will definitely be back for another meal in the near future.
The first course started out with a platter consisting of hummus, tzaziki, baba ganoush, tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta cheese, cucumbers and warm pita bread. I was most impressed with their hummus, as it tasted a lot like tahini but had a nice kick to it and was very light and fluffy. I also loved how smooth the tzaziki was, it was very tangy and had a lot of garlic present!
The appetizer course also came with a plater of spanikopita (spinach and feta wrapped up in phyllo dough) and tiropita (cheese and butter wrapped up in phyllo dough). We topped both with feta cheese and tzaziki, these were so good and so decadent! I just was so happy with how tasty they were and couldn’t help remarking to Rod that I could eat plates of just the appetizer course!
The second course was their famous greek salad topped with feta cheese, cucumbers, red onions, tomatoes and kalamata olives. The greek dressing was tangy and heavily seasoned which balanced out the creamy feta and garlic bread on the side perfectly! I haven’t had a better greek salad in Indianapolis!
The main course was huge! I’m not going to lie - when they brought out three plates I thought we’d never be able to finish it all (and we didn’t, we had two takeout boxes to bring home)! We had one plate filled with chicken, pork and beef souvlaki and a side of grilled, marinated vegetables. The pork and beef were amazing - perfectly seasoned and cooked just right. They were the starts of this course! Another plate was gyro meat, feta cheese and tzaziki! I was very happy with how well done the gyro meat was and how juicy it was! The last plate was our sides of rice pilaf, greek green beans and Taki’s (one of the owners) famous potatoes! I just had the green beans which were mixed with tomatoes and the rice. Both were delicious and complimented the other dishes quite well.
For the dessert course I just got a bowl of plain greek yogurt. I remarked to Rod that they might make their own because it had an almost cottage cheese flavor but had the consistency of Fage. It was really good and quite the filling end to our feast for me. Rod had a dessert sampler of Greek treats.
His platter consisted of rezogalo (greek rice pudding), galaktabouriko (custard filled phyllo dough), and baklava (layers of pistachios, honey and phyllo dough). He ate the whole platter so I think he approved! It was a great meal that also included a glass of wine (or coffee) for the $30 per person price! I would highly reccommend Santorini Greek Kitchen if you’re looking for a scrumptious greek meal with phenomenal service in Indianapolis! I was also really glad to have some of my favorite greek food, tzaziki in almost each course - yum!
This past weekend Rod and I went down to Sanibel Island to visit my parents for my mom’s birthday. It was a surprise trip and a whirlwind of a weekend! A few pictures from the trip:
Rod relaxing on the couch in the condo after visiting the pool and the beach!
Us on the beach during sunset.
Sea Turtle nest signage.
The birthday girl with her chardonnay.
This is what a week in Sanibel does for my parents!
Rod enjoying the views on Captiva.
The sunset over the water by the Mucky Duck.
This is what happens when my mom gets a picture with me!
A great picture of the sky after sunset.
It was a great trip visiting unit 7B at the Shell Island Beach Club. I just wish we could have had more than just one night to take it all in! Until next time San-Cap!
The view from the balcony in the morning!
After we awoke from a 2 hour nap, we decided to head over to the department of tourism to pick up their Brewery Trail kit. For 20 Euros we received a map of Bamberg and directions to its 10 local breweries, coupons for a free beer at 4 of them (and free admission to the brewery museum), a clay stein and a Bamberg backpack to keep everything in. We spent a bit of time looking over the map and decided to head directly to the most famous brewery in Bamberg, Schlenkerla.
We had read on websites that navigating your way through Schlenkerla could be a bit confusing. Apparently there is one room dedicated to regulars and locals, one larger room meant for tourists and a biergarten. Upon entering, it appeared that the tourist room was closed, so we walked into the room for regulars. We stood in the entrance, looking around, wondering if we were in the right spot and the bartender invited us to sit down and asked if we’d like 2 beers.
At Schlenkerla, there is always one beer on tap being served from a very large, ancient barrel. This beer is their famous rauchbier (smokebeer). You can find this beer in Indiana, and I highly recommend trying it at least once if you haven’t, but drinking it directly from the serving barrel it has a much more complex and balanced smoke flavor and nice creamy mouthfeel. In fact, almost every beer we had in Germany had a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
Once we grabbed a seat at one of the communal tables and we were well into our pints, the bartender came over and handed us a few promotional materials related to the brewery. We learned the whole story of Schlenkerla, and discovered the reason all the rafters were dark is that 1500s, they used to regularly paint them with the blood of the pigs the brewery served. I’m guessing they use regular paint now. We were curious if that’s the reason all traditional German architecture features very dark wood, but decided we should probably not ask. When the waitress came to collect on our tab, I fumbled greatly with my German numbers and Jess had to save me. When we settled up, we ventured back out into the city.
From here, we wandered the city a bit and just took in how beautiful Bamberg was. All the buildings are maintained in their historic style and nothing looks modern. You can view art from just about any point in the city, whether it’s stone statues, metal or marble sculptures or other historic items. It’s a really great thing that many American cities are placing a large focus on bringing public art into urban areas, but our efforts don’t even come close to the overwhelming amount of history that surrounds you in Germany. For the rest of the afternoon we simply just walked down streets in any direction to see what we could find. Nowhere were we alone, there were people out on the streets in all directions, and this was a Monday afternoon!
After our stroll through the city, we decided to make our way over to the other famous rauchbier brewery in Bamberg, Spezial. Spezial’s rauchbier is a much more tame rendition of the style. Heavy, dark roasted malts are replaced with a lighter caramel flavor. Similar to an amber or altbier. The smoke is subdued as well compared to the almost bacon-like smoke of Schlenkerla. It’s very apparent why both of these breweries can co-exist in such close proximity. Spezial is where I made my first and biggest faux pas. When we sat down in the biergarten, I asked the waitress for 3 beers. Having only known German for about 48 hours, zwei and drei sound very close. So close that I get them mixed up. Drei is three. Drei rauchbier bitte is 3 smokebeers please. Jess gave me a puzzled look and the waitress responded “drei?” to which I responded “Ja, drei.” As the waitress walked away, Jess quietly informed me that I just ordered three beers. Well crap. In an effort to save face, when the beers arrived I indicated that I would like two and Jess would have one. I don’t think it really fooled her. Now this is where things turn south. After excitedly flipping through pictures on my camera, I reached across the table to hand it to Jess so that she could see them. Upon pulling my hand back, my elbow hit one of my two beers and knocked it over. Great. Now I’m not just an ignorant tourist, I’m a drunk ignorant tourist. At this point I actually wished I was drunk, because then I probably wouldn’t have been completely self-conscious about the entire event. My shirt and pants were drenched in beer. I righted the mug, finished what was left of it and moved it away from myself. I spent the rest of our time at Spezial with my full mug clenched tightly in one hand. On the upside, the camera didn’t get wet, and after my clothes dried I was neither sticky nor did I smell of beer. Beer in Germany is magic!
For dinner that night, we decided to visit another brewery that was ranked very high for their food in our guide book, Klosterbräu. Once again, we sat outside, as we almost always did during our stay in Germany. Klosterbräu was the first place that we decided to order Spargelcremesuppe (white asparagus cream soup). We later learned that this large white variety of asparagus only grows in Germany for 6 weeks each year, and we were lucky enough to be there just after the season began! Almost every restaurant we visited had some sort of spargel special. The soup here was probably the best variation of spargelcreme suppe we had, as it had just a hint of horseradish that really livened things up.
I went ahead and ordered the schweinshaxe here and it was simply amazing. The exterior was light and crispy like fresh pork rinds and the interior was similar to steaming pulled pork. This was definitely the best schweinshaxe I had while in Germany. Jess went with a lighter meal of weisswurst in a vinegar sauce, as she was still full from lunch. We had a few beers here, a dunkel, a dunkelweiss, a hefeweiss and a maibock. All were great but most noticeably the maibock was not as sweet and heavy as American renditions, which was a welcome surprise. Jess’ favorite of the night was their Hefeweiss.
We stopped off at a nice little pub just outside of our hotel on the way back for one last drink. We made the observation that every single beer has proper glassware and the bartenders knew how to properly pour every one, whether it was from a bottle or tap. We enjoyed each others’ company to the sweet sounds of 80s American pop music, which for some reason is very popular in Germany. On our short stroll back to the hotel down narrow, faintly lit cobblestone streets, we fell in love with Bamberg and how picturesque and romantic of a city it is.