Saturday, August 25, 2012

Germany and Mexico - A Taste of Two Cultures in One Day

Travel, travel, travel…. so many places to be. The other day we made a visit to Germany and Mexico in one afternoon.  Really!

There’s more to this story, of course. About a year ago, after we got situated in our new home base here in Indianapolis, we started thinking of the local spots that we’d like to revisit, or initially explore, after eight years of being mostly out of the city.  There are old and new restaurants, parks, museums, old haunts and various areas of the city and state that we want to re-explore.  Then there were the Hurley injuries Sad smile. We were sidelined for a while; but now we’re starting to play again.   Getting ready to sample the tastes of Germany.

What first? Since we plan to start our low-fat diet again soon, we kicked off our travels with one of the most (ahem!) appropriate places, the German meat market that we were very curious about.  This traditional market used to be named Klemm’s and is now the Claus German Sausage & Meat Market.  Jerry and I both remember Klemm’s from the days of Sampling of the German sausages at Claus' market.our youth….the great bratwurst and braunschweiger…..oh yum.  The original location was in the City Market, established in 1913. The current location is a couple of miles south of downtown and still in the same German family. Our lady butcher was also an immigrant and she made our visit special with her samples and advice.  We had fun choosing from the pigs feet, Thueringer, frankfurters, and other selections of fresh and smoked meats.Meats in the display at the German market. Since that day we’ve consumed the bratwurst, kielbasa and cajun sausage on the grill, with some braunschweiger on crackers sprinkled in between.  I don’t know if we can choose one favorite because they were all singularly tasty, but I’m thinking the bratwurst might rank high. Thankfully, the old style homemade sausage still brings in the customers after nearly 100 years in this city. (www.clausgermansausageandmeats.com)

After our German experience, we headed home to have a braunschweiger snack.  But wait….on the way we remembered that we heard from a cousin recently about a gargantuan Mexican market/restaurant that we would be passing by on our way.  Why Neat rows of candles.not mix it up a little and replenish our hot sauce supply.  Carniceria Guanajuato here we come!

What a fun visit to an outstanding market.  The immaculately neat aisles are lined with every Mexican style food, toy and other cultural item imaginable.  The fresh meat selection is unbelievable.  Butchers were lined up working at a Friendly amigos.feverish pace to keep the stock of meats that mostly, for us gringos anyway, needed translation or explanation. But there was plenty of friendly help and they took a chopping break to give us a friendly wave. We thought we’d return to try some of the fajita mixture or freshly-made chorizo, or maybe get adventurous and choose from one of the unknown items.  Besides, we’ll need to come back hungry for lunch so we can Jerry picks a favorite.try the highly recommended tacos and carnitas in the restaurant.  For today, we made a selection from the mucho beans and hot sauces to add to our crock pot next week.

This turned out to be a totally pleasant visit to both a culture that shaped our hometown in it’s beginning and one that is having an impact today. It’s good to remember that we are a mixture of all kinds of people.  And it’s fun to enjoy the tastes of them all.

Thanks for visiting at Hurley Travels.  Be safe!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Arming Myself…with a little help from my friends

Since my morning walk on July 4 posting on the blog has been an extra difficult challenge.  This photo tells that story.

I broke both my right wrist Nancy waiting for the arms to heal.and my left elbow…just taking a walk in the neighborhood.  Yes, it’s the truth.  Grace, agility, concentration, awareness, lots of ways to describe the areas where I may have lacked in performance that morning. Really though, there was a biiiiiig dip in the sidewalk!  But, we’ll just move on.  Six weeks have passed now since Jerry began doing just about everything you can think of for me.  I’ve progressed to dressing myself and I actually took a shower the other day, since I have more use of the left arm and he wrapped my cast securely in plastic.  These have been some interesting weeks!

But anyway, I am now able to do a little more typing. The left arm is not casted and it feels much better. I can make it through a blog post, slowly….

You would probably think this situation could cause insanity. Yes, it’s really a huge pain not being able to pick up a full cup of coffee or comb your hair.   But, I’ve read books, listened to lots of podcasts and webinars on the iPad, Nancy wins the Niehaus Family Quilt, 2012surfed the Internet with one finger and watched more movies than I usually do. Krissy took me to the hair and nail spa.  Getting our toes done and a shorter haircut to assist in the grooming area sure helped raise my spirits. We’ve still had some family visits with grandchildren and at Tim and Jamie’s pool and made it to a family reunion in the past month. My sister, Marti, came to my rescue on typing my family newsletter. I even won the family memories quilt raffle at the reunion. Here we are with Aunt Peg, our quilter extraordinaire.

Actually, since my hubby is such a great caretaker, the moments of frustration or boredom have been at a minimum. He has prepared fantastic meals, served so that I can handle eating small bites with my left hand.   And, he has the cleanup duty, too. When I think about it, I’m pretty lucky. Maybe I’ll stretch this out a little.  Winking smile