Goodnight and I went back to the Luxembourg Fest of America today. We had to! The fest was offering mustreipen as one of the selections at the food booth and we wanted to taste it.
To begin the fest today, there was an outdoor Mass in the park followed by the coronation of the 2012 Grand Duke and Duchess of the Luxembourg Fest. Luxembourg is known as the green heart of Europe, so there are green hearts to be seen at the Luxembourg Fest.
In the course of the coronation ceremony, the emcee read all the names of past Grand Dukes and Duchesses and asked them to stand if they were present. I had read ahead and noticed that a very distant relative of mine had served in that capacity. When he stood, I saw where he was sitting in the crowd and went up to say a brief hello after the formal ceremony concluded. He did not know me, nor I him, but I wanted to say hello nonetheless. I had seen someone from his family driving an old tractor in the parade yesterday, so I knew there were descendents in the area. We didn’t chat long. Our common relative was my grand-uncle, so the roads diverged some time ago and as former fest royalty, he was a very busy man.
I shouldn’t admit that one of the biggest highlights of the fest for me was a food item, but curiosity had gotten the better of me during the course of my genealogy research. Goodnight and I stood in line at the food building to wait our turn for the treipen (mustreipen in WI). Since neither of us had tried it before, we decided to split one serving, which would have been too much for one of us, we realized. I was in such a hurry to taste it that I forgot to take a photo. Dang! But it is called blood pudding in other parts of Europe. I guess one either loves it or hates it. I did a poll of folks as I visited with people and that seems to be true. There was no in between. I loved it!
Speaking of meats and sausages, eating the mustreipen reminded me that I had to take a quick photo of the meat market where my mother went to buy meat for her mother. I found the market. The name has changed and it’s half the size it was when mother was a girl, but for her sake, I snapped the photo.
Must scoot. Long drive today!
Down here in southern Louisiana we have boudin, a version of blood sausage. And it’s the same here, either you love it or not. We were at a wedding this weekend with seafood served. There were plenteous raw oysters which I’ve been eating since I was a toddler. The groom’s family was from Michigan and many were definitely unsure about the oysters. Tried to encourage them to try, but was definitely a love it or not experience for them as well!
Lisa: I’ve had the raw oysters. I understand the hesitation. I didn’t think I would ever eat raw seafood of any kind until I went to the Bahamas. After that, the raw oysters were easyier. Hope the wedding was fun!
Catching up on your blog. Whew! While I was gone, you’ve (sort of) traveled to different countries and times, and you’ve talked your way into, and meandered through, a closed church that held family history dating back into the 1800s. You’ve eaten things that I’ve never heard of, and you’ve had fun! Way to pack it in, G.G.!
I love that you and GN do these interesting and fun road trips. So many memories are being created.
Is GN over the coughing fits?
Carol: Yup! We crammed in tons of fun while you were watching duckies. I feel like my trip was many more miles than it was. I feel like a time-traveler. It’s so engrossing, but I’m glad we were able to cap it off with a festival. GN is not over her coughing fits. She doesn’t cough much, but about once a day she has the choking airway constriction. Thanks for asking. I keep her close to me for that reason.
As much German as I’m finding in my ancestry, the one thing that doesn’t seem to have descended down to me is much love of pork-based foods or sauerkraut.
Now I do like noodles and potatoes…just about any style hold the onion.
Trav: You wouldn’t have eaten the mustreipen, then, nor the spuds they served with it, because they had onions with the taters. I love sauerkraut, but my stomach does not. My sis still mnakes hers from scratch.
Ah, in the UK that would be called Black Pudding and is available here in most supermarkets. I really like it but don’t eat it much unless it’s offered in an “English Breakfast” which I don’t often have.
It’s definitely a love or hate thing, like Marmite!
You might be interested in this …
http://calendarcustoms.com/articles/world-black-pudding-throwing-championships/
Dancing: I was familiar with Black Pudding since reading Sholokov’s “And Quiet Flows the Don.” I loved that book, and remembered the black pudding. Thanks for the link, though. Must be the haters who throw??? I liked it and will eat it again, but not very often.