I’ve really neglected this blog, having not posted anything since last April. I have a full-time job as a long-haul truck driver, plus I do another kind of general current events and life commentary blog, but maybe I’ll make it my New Year’s resolution to get back on this one — I really want to re-kindle my interest in my German ancestry and pride in being German-American.
I was listening to a radio talk show the other night, and while speaking on the subject of the failings U.S. public education, a caller claimed that we had to depend upon German technology on a project to bore another tunnel hole on a San Francisco Bay area highway.
Seems like I’ve been hearing several reports recently that a lot of our green revolution stuff and so on depends upon technology and know-how from overseas, and quite often Germany.
Just read an article in Der Spiegel Online that said Mercedes-Benz is working on a revolutionary electric car that will have little steel, but instead mostly some stronger and much lighter synthetic, plastic-type material known as carbon fiber reinforced polymer. The good thing for the U.S. is that this stuff, the carbon fiber polymer, is made here in the U. S. in Washington State, taking advantage of the availability of hydroelectric power there. I may have German heritage, but I’m no scientist, but you can read the article at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,736296,00.html
Germans are noted for innovation and quality. And the German nation is not as bad off economically as many of its European neighbors and even the United States because it is still into making quality products in demand all over the world (although I just read that workers in Bavaria are not too happy about stagnant wages and having had to give wage concessions some time ago to remain competitive on the world market).
I read a book awhile back (actually I think I listened to a recording of it) about suspension bridges and how a German immigrant was the one who came up with woven steel cables that make the modern bridges possible — before that we were using rope.
And if you look up the history of the automobile and the internal combustion engine, you’ll see German names all over that.
And if you live in the northern end of the Sacramento Valley in California, here’s some trivia/history for you. My mom, who’s 100 now, not too long ago did some research for a short story she wrote for a writing class. Seems that the crossroads you might see referred to by sign along I-5 (or the old 99W) known as Artois (pronounced something like “our toys” by the locals, but actually named after a former province of Northern France and pronounced “artwa“) was once known as Germantown. But during World War I things German fell into disfavor so the name was changed. Seems a troop train went through town and the American doughboys were not too happy with the name Germantown, seeing as they were off to do battle with the Kaiser.
Someone in my own family once suggested to me that they thought the mailbox name on my grandmother Walther’s farm was changed to her brother’s French surname, which of course was her maiden name — he was living with her at the time, Grandfather Walther no longer being around. This supposedly was done because of the anti-German mood during World War I.
Like I say, I’m trying to get back into my German-American frame of mind to revive this blog I have neglected over the past few months. In that spirit, I made myself my own version of a German omelet this morning, eggs mixed with sauerkraut.
Right now I think I’ll have a beer.
PROSIT!
P.s.
I decided to add “German-American uber alles” to the headline and tags hoping I would snag more readership. I have read that the infamous line “Deutschland uber alles” (Germany above all) in the German national anthem did not mean Germany over the rest of the world but instead called for a united Germany (Germany not being one nation until the 1870s — and then of course it had been split for decades after World War II between the Eastern Soviet block and the free West before being unified again). At any rate, I am not 100 percent German (is anyone?), but the German part of me is peaceful in nature.
As promised in my last post, here’s a “comprehensive review” of the Old Europe Restaurant in Folsom, Ca. Except maybe I should have not written “comprehensive” because that sounds a little too all encompassing — I was just continuing on with my quest for some German-American culture, and I don’t know that I found it.
But I will say that the place is worth your while if you are in the area (Folsom is near Sacramento and on the American River — Old Town Folsom itself is worth the visit).
First off I would say that if you plan to dine there, make sure you are hungry. I don’t think this a light eating place.
I was concentrating on the German atmosphere, but the Old Europe Restaurant serves a variety of European foods.
I had the entrée simply titled “Wiener schnitzel” and chose red cabbage to go with it.
What I got was three huge schnitzels — basically breaded veal cutlets — topped with some lemon slices, and, as I said the red cabbage. I was not able to eat it all, but took a Styrofoam box home with me. But what I ate tasted good to me.
But I think you have to be as hungry as if you just chopped down a tree or were getting ready to chop one down in the Black Forest or maybe as if you were preparing to climb the Alps, to fully enjoy the meal.
My wife had Spatzle (German egg noodles) with Feta cheese. She is a light eater, and she had a huge plate full of them, so she shared with me.
I would have been just as happy to have ordered what she had instead. I have tried several times to make my own Spatzle (see my previous posts) and one time bought some ready-to-go kind. But this stuff was good. I think it’s all in the seasoning or what you mix with them. As my wife said, otherwise “you just have noodles”.
What made it all seem as if we were partaking in some German culture was the beer we drank. I ordered a stein of Spaten, a beer from Munich, and she had the Warsteiner, from a town of the same name in Germany. And then we ordered one more round — both Warsteiners this time.
I’m not an expert in German beer, but I have consumed beer in Germany, and I found these imports to be mild, but certainly good enough (I wonder — do they tone it down for what they think the bland American taste is?).
As for the atmosphere, well, we showed up early and things were pretty slow, but after a while it got a little more crowded, at the bar section anyway — I think they were having a party.
And while we ate we did hear some live accordion music, to include the “Beer Barrel Polka”.
The walls are decorated with some photos and paintings in a old European motif, as well as some framed ancient-looking German Mark bills.
I think I saw the owner, although I did not meet him. He looked to be a somewhat portly, or maybe I should say hefty German. My wife tells me that she and my daughter talked to him when they were there previously and that he had been a soccer player in Germany.
And I should have felt right at home in the building, not because of my German heritage, but because I used to work there. The building formerly housed the Folsom Telegraph newspaper. I pounded out many a story right about where we were sitting.
The restaurant has an outside beer garden. It was not the right kind of day for it when we were there, but I could see it would be pleasant when the weather was a little more
Balmy.
While Old Town Folsom is not Europe, it does have an authentic old-time atmosphere, and I am sure that many a German worked in the nearby mining camps during the California Gold Rush that began in 1849.
Besides German, I also have French ancestry. A great great French Uncle of mine hauled in enough money from the gold rush to buy a small farm back in the Midwest, I have always been told.
So if you even bothered to read this blog, you may be interested in your German heritage. I don’t know if you will find it by going to the Old Europe Restaurant in Folsom, but if you are hungry and thirsty, certainly you could satisfy that hunger and slake that thirst and enjoy the atmosphere of Old Town Folsom while you are at it.
Missed the bockbierfest, but it’s off to Folsom…
Well this is embarrassing. On my last post I said that I was looking forward to going to a bockbierfest in Sacramento. Things happened and I did not. I do hope that those who did enjoyed themselves and that if anyone got the idea from reading this blog, so much the better.
I’m having a hard time getting this blog off the ground, even though my interest in things German-American has not waned. I write a kind of general interest or news commentary blog each day that takes up my time and I have other obligations as well.
But so much for the excuses. This time my wife and I plan to dine soon (within the next day or so) at a place called the Old Europe Restaurant. It’s in Folsom, Ca. (near Sacramento). Actually, she along with my eldest daughter have already been there and they seemed to be sure that I would like it, keeping in mind I am the German-American fan among them (I think they take some pride in their German heritage also. Well, my wife is not sure she has any, but we think she does. Her maiden name has taken on an Americanized spelling, but we believe it is German.
A brochure describes the restaurant as offering authentic German, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, French, and Austrian food and also says it was designated “Best German Restaurant” for 2008. Not meaning to take away from that, I must note there is not much competition in the area. German restaurants don’t seem to be all that popular in my part of the country (Northern California), although there are several here and there.
At any rate, I hope to be able to provide a comprehensive review of this one in Folsom, concentrating on the Germaness of it all, in the next few days.
Yours truly,
Anton von Walther
Okay, Tony Walther (the former was my blog name)
Looking forward to Bockbierfest in Sacramento…
I’ve really neglected my German-American blog, not having posted anything new for several months, and that is something I want to correct.
Yes I’m the kind of person who gets interested in something and then feels forced to drop that interest due to life events and also a person who feels compelled to go too many ways at once and in the process becomes almost static.
But the only thing new I can think of at this time to go along with my German-American blog is that my wife and I and possibly my oldest daughter and her husband (all of us German-American by heritage) plan to attend the 42nd annual Bockbierfest April 2 and 3 in Sacramento, Ca. put on by the local German-American organization known as Turn Verein, which I understand means gymnastic club. That is a story in and of itself for which I do not recall all of the details even though I read about it in the Sacramento Bee newspaper years ago. That could be a subject of a future blog.
But this plan to attend the Bockbierfest goes along with my resurgence in interest to learn more about my German roots and to learn the German language. If I had studied German as long as I have thought about studying it I’d be fluent by now. But it’s difficult because German is not a language one hears much where I live or in most places in the U.S. even though a major portion of Caucasian American citizens are of German descent.
But an interesting site you can go to on the internet to hear some German conversation is Easy German, YouTube. Just enter that in Google and you will be able to access some pretty good clips of people speaking German on the streets of Germany, complete with English subtitles.
While I don’t see much chance of it now, I hope to go back to Germany one day. My wife and I lived there for about two years when I was in the service back in the late 60s and early 70s.
I’m a big fan of beer, something Germany is world famous for.
I had been carrying around the apparently erroneous info in my head for years that Bock beer was something that came out of the dregs of beer barrels. But upon looking up Bock Beer or Bockbier in the online dictionary I find that it gets its name from a kind of strong beer first brewed in the 14th Century in the northern German town of Einbeck.
When I learn more about this I’ll blog more about it.
Meantime I’m looking forward to the Bockbierfest and brushing up on my German.
You can get info on that bierfest by googling Turn Verein, Sacramento.
P.s.
Don’t depend upon the computer or more specifically Google Translate to learn German. I have received a couple of e-mails from native speakers advising of the pitfalls and the embarrassment that can cause. I thank them.
Scrapple turns out to be better than I thought…
I first read about the dish called scrapple in a novel by James Michner called “The Novel”. As I recall, the story was about a novelist who lived in Pennsylvania and wrote about the German population known as the Pennsylvania Dutch, you know, as in Amish and Mennonites and such, those people of plain dress and horse and buggies – actually I guess it’s the Amish who stick to the horses and maybe the Mennonites have allowed themselves to advance somewhat – but back to scrapple. Much was said about the food that the German hausfraus cooked, and one of the favorite dishes was scrapple.
It’s a mixture of pork scraps (what would be otherwise unused meat left over from butchering into the main cuts) mixed in with cornmeal and flour and pan fried before serving.
Somehow when I read about it, it did not sound all that enticing.
But recently at a local restaurant, known for its breakfast menu in particular, the menu included “New England Scrapple”.
Now I may be missing something, but I don’t think scrapple is rightfully called a New England dish. From my reading it is associated more with German settlers in, as I noted, Pennsylvania, and other states. But then again, I could be wrong. Maybe there is such a thing as New England scrapple.
But the important point is, I ordered some and found it, to my pleasant surprise, quite tasty.
So, if you happen to live in Redding, Ca. (Not Reading, Penn.), you can order it at the Country Kitchen. And I took some home and enjoyed it warmed over.
And if you’re into cooking, you can of course find recipes on the internet.
Been busy making a living recently and have not had time to devote to my German-American blog, but finally I had something to add. Hope to get my computer mobile (I’m a truck driver) and post more blogs.
I visit two German food stores in Sacramento…
Many weeks ago now I had blogged that I was going to the Sacramento area and while there I planned to visit two German food places, the German Delicatessen and Morant’s Old Fashioned Sausage. Many weeks after I had indicated I finally made it.
My wife and I had actually gone to nearby Roseville to visit my oldest daughter and family. And by the way, she is expecting child anytime. My wife had gone to help her with things around the house, but we both had some free time and decided to visit the two places. I’m the one who thinks he has this interest in his German roots. Actually my wife I think has German roots too and the man my daughter married has a German last name. His father is from Montana and one time told me that although he does not speak German, he remembers when he was a little kid and went to church the sermons were in German (I know he was born sometime in the 1920s).
Back to the German food places: the first stop was the German Delicatessen on Auburn Boulevard, 5859 Auburn Blvd., to be exact. I had actually been there once maybe 15 or more years ago, but it was then under different ownership, run by two old German ladies, as I recall. I referred to them in a previous blog, noting that someone else said they were rude (I thought that myself) and I also thought that made them seem authentic to me, based on my experiences living on the economy in Germany back in the late 60s and early 70s when I was a GI (no I don’t mean all Germans are rude, but many of them seemed to have an attitude about young American soldiers).
Don’t know who owns it now (the German Delicatessen), but the young lady who waited on us worked the cash register with one hand and held a baby under arm and with the other hand. She was cheerful enough. Did not detect any German accent. There was a wide assortment of various types of German food and some wine and some beer. I can’t give the place a rave review for atmosphere, though. I think it had slightly more character – not much – with the two old German ladies. All I bought was a bag of ready to prepare Spaetzle (basically egg noodles). I had blogged previously about my adventures trying to make it from scratch at home. The ready-made was easier to prepare – didn’t taste any better (I think maybe cheese, a good sauce, or gravy will help – I just used garlic salt and some of that dry sprinkly Parmesan cheese this time).
So if you want to try out the German Delicatessen, it’s off of I-80 at the Greenback exit. If you are coming off the freeway, you will take Greenback and turn right on Auburn Boulevard and in a few blocks on the right you will see the place. If you get to Garfield, you’ve gone too far. And anyway you can map it on the computer. If you want to get some authentic German food, I’d recommend it.
The place I was really looking forward to going to, though, was Morant’s Old Fashioned Sausage in South Sacramento. I heard that although it was in what some might think a seedy section of town, it was quite the place for German atmosphere, what with the butchers and customers freely conversing in German.
We found it easy enough. It’s at 5001 Franklin Blvd. In a nice clean looking and fairly modern building with a parking lot. The surrounding area looks a little rough – not too bad at mid day.
Well, they certainly have a meat counter full of various meats and sausages, plus some other food selections.
But we found no German speakers, just two Hispanics behind the counter speaking Spanish. Didn’t have a clue as to what I should buy, but I finally settled on a pound of dinner sausages. I pointed to several loose sausages and said I’d take a pound, but the clerk talked me into buying the same thing in a sealed package (slightly more than a pound, I think). Probably just as well since we took them back to our home. My daughter’s family does not tend to stray from white bread American fare, to my knowledge (you know boxeroni or McDonald’s).
As I left, I said: do I say “auf weidersehen”or “adios”. I got the impression they were not amused, although they did smile ever so hesitantly. And one of them said: “tschus” (a German way of saying “bye”) – guess he showed up that gringo (me).
Again, if you’re after that German food, I’d definitely recommend the place. Looks like for atmosphere you might have to go to Germany itself.
P.s.
On another note, got a comment/e-mail from a reader in reference to a previous blog to inform me that Google Translate is “wretched” and “primitive”. That is what I began to expect – it’s not at all reliable – it is fun though, kind of.
Erlernen der Deutchen
Trying to learn German without any native speakers or at least an instructor to interact with is difficult, maybe impossible. Nonetheless I have been trying for some time to do just that.
Another difficulty is that unless one has money to buy good study materials it is also a seemingly hopeless battle.
There are some free tapes (or CDs or whatever sound they have now) at most libraries, and I think listening to those recordings has at least familiarized me with enough German that I can pick out words in German movies or video lessons or German television (which I do not have current access to).
I don’t know how good the Rosetta Stone program is, but it’s terribly expensive.
I did log onto a free site offered by the German broadcasting entity known as Deutche Welle. It is called Deutsch Interactiv. It is kind of interesting, but I find it difficult for a beginner like me. You almost already have to know German to navigate it.
For a while I was listening and watching to some German lessons on YouTube. They still have some, but not the one’s I saw, at least not just now when I checked. I especially liked one where this woman stops people outside a small supermarket in Germany and asks them what they have. It’s all in German (I think there were English subtitles). I like the way it is natural and you can see and hear real German spoken. It also shows you how cosmopolitan Germany has become, because some of the customers speaking fluent German are obviously not German. One woman and her daughter appeared to be Middle Eastern.
I would think that the best on-your-own learning method would be to have a program that combined realistic videos with people carrying on real conversations, backed up with text and video instruction to show you how the words are spoken and sentences constructed.
To me any language instruction ought to concentrate on speaking and getting right in on constructing one’s own sentences. Grammar should only be touched upon casually and only studied in detail after one is comfortable with light or simple conversation. That’s how most people learn their native tongue. But that is just my opinion.
Watching German movies or TV if it is available to you is highly effective too.
And as with so many foreign languages you have to learn the proper indefinite article at the same time you learn a noun. You have to memorize them together as if they were one word. There are three indefinite articles in German, der, die, das (all same as “the” in English). So while in English you just remember the noun “dog” in German you would remember “der Hund” (all German nouns, proper and otherwise, are capitalized).
To check on the above info I learned about another free resource available on the net. I found it under German Lessons, Wikibooks.
But most all of this is more of a supplement to formal instruction or what probably would be the best instruction of all, total immersion.
Auf Wiedersehen
I’ve always been proud to be part German and have a German last name, but I don’t think I really got into thinking of myself as a German-American until sometime in the late 1980s when my wife and I and youngest daughter (still at home) moved to Sacramento, Ca.
My wife and I liked to go downtown to McKinley Park. There was a city library in the middle of that park. I think I may have just previously read a magazine article about the German author Siegfried Lenz, maybe I read the article at that library. Anyway, I checked out a novel he wrote called the “German Lesson” (“Deutschstunde” in the original German). Of course I checked out an English language version of the book.
But I would advise anyone wanting to be entertained and informed and to learn about the German character and the effect on the lives and psychology of the German people during Nazi rule to read the book. It’s interesting because most to the people portrayed are rural people, who are nonetheless affected by what is going on in far off Berlin and the world at large. It is fun to read because it is told from the perspective of a young man being held as a juvenile offender and forced to write an essay on the “joy of duty”. He writes quite an essay. Read it. I think you’ll like it.
At the time I read this book, back in the late 80s, I had planned to study German on my own, and while I did to an extent, other things, such as work and life in general, got in my way.
I have more time lately, but I still find other things to do. But also among the things I find to do is do this blog.
Hope I can come up with something concentrating more on German Americanism.
The only thing I can come up with right now is that my mother told me that one of her grandmothers was German, with the last name of Slusser. Her grandmother called cottage cheese “schmerecase”. I understand that in some of the more ethnic locales of German-Americans here in the United States that term for cottage cheese is not uncommon (then again, I may have this wrong. I need to check it out. If anyone knows, please comment at end of this blog).
Mom who is probably more English than anything else nonetheless has her birthday on Oct. 30 and always wants everyone to help her celebrate it with the theme of Oktoberfest, a famous German celebration.
One of my brothers studied German and participated in a college exchange program in Vienna, Austria (Austria a German-speaking nation).
And I served in the United States Army and was stationed in Germany for more than two years.
I still try to study a German as I can and plan to do more.
Auf Wiedersehen
I didn’t get the chance to go to Sacramento and try out those two German food places that I blogged about last time, but I still plan to do it in the future.
And while I indicated that I was going to make Spatzle (or spaetzle) at the conclusion of my last blog, I didn’t, but I’m threatening to today. I got a basic recipe off the web and plan to add some things to it. I’m no cook, but I can cook things, especially if I have a good recipe to follow.
With the advice of my wife, I plan to make the Spatzle and then mix it with perhaps some fried onions and definitely with a Hillshire Farms sausage I bought at the supermarket (we don’t have any German ethnic food markets where I live). I might also warm up some sauerkraut I have in a jar (in my last blog I said I prefer Steinfelds sauerkraut, but I noticed I have Farman’s).
Spatzle is basically German egg noodles or miniature dumplings. I’ve tried to make them previously but it came out kind of dull. I think I did not cook it right, and I think some spice, as my current recipe calls for, will help. If anyone has suggestions, feel free to comment at the end of this blog.
I know little to nothing about German food, although I have probably eaten German dishes, slightly Americanized, most of my life. I imagine we all have.
When I was in the Army stationed in Germany (1968-1971) the only German food I recall eating much of were Bratwursts and Schnitzels, primarily sold at stands on the street corners. I also ate some kind of Schnitzel-like meal at a German canteen on the Army post. And I recall eating some sandwiches and drinking beer at a little stand where we washed our tanks.
Also, once I went into a Gasthaus and ordered dinner. Since I could not understand the menu I asked the waitress for advice. She brought me some potato soup and hard bread as I recall. Not very thrilling. The beer was good, though.
While eating there I saw a table where men were playing cards and drinking beer with some type of wine chasers. I noticed their face cards were quite ornate. I think they used to make them more like that in the USA (so my father told me), the face cards that is.
And now I recall that once my wife and I went out with another couple. The guy was an American GI but his folks back in the states were German. He knew how to speak German and get along with the locals – something I sure didn’t, even though I have a German last name (don’t a lot of us?) and am part German. We went to this picturesque restaurant out in the country. It was a kind of cabin as I recall. He ordered us this dish he liked (I do not recall its name, if I ever did know it). As I recall it was a plate heaped high with rice mixed with vegetables with several fried eggs thrown in – maybe gravy too. Whatever, it was delicious. Now have that with some beer.
I’m pretty sure we were the only Americans there. Most of the clientele appeared to be middle-aged Germans. And the folks were dressed for dinner, men wearing coats and ties and the women wearing appropriate evening attire. I imagine we were dressed like Americans – you can probably kind of picture that. I mean we weren’t wearing T-shirts that said I came all the way to Germany and all I got was a Schnitzel, but I imagine we were fairly casual. Well, actually my wife and the other woman probably had dresses on. I really don’t recall that well. But I am sure the fact that we spoke English and we dressed the way we did made us out to be the Americans we were (hey American and proud of it!).
At the conclusion of our meal I noticed that many of the German couples got up and started dancing. Not polka. I think they were dancing to swing music or something.
So, yes I was in the land from which my ancestors came. Didn’t learn much about their culture, but all these years later I am trying to catch up.
If I could just find out what that dish with the rice and vegetables and eggs all mixed together was.
P.s.
Success! I was able to make quite edible Spatzle for dinner after all. My wife helped by sautaeing some other ingredients and fixing another side dish. I didn’t follow the exact directions after making the actual Spatzle. We sauteed the Spatzle along with other stuff, rather than separately. But it worked!
I tried to give a link to the recipe but it did not work. But you should be able to find plenty of recipes by simply Googling German spaetzle dumplings. There are two different spellings for the stuff as you see in this piece.
Appreciating German-American culture via Spatzle…
If you look up any website on German food you are likely to run across Spatzle (with the umlaut — two dots — over the “a” which I can’t do on this keyboard). It’s pronounced in German like “shpetzla”. (You will often see it spelled “spaetzle” as well.)
Is it any good? Don’t really know. I’ve tried to make some a couple of times, but I had mixed (no pun intended) results.
Spatzle is nothing more than tiny egg noodles or miniature dumplings if you will and is often served as a side dish, I understand.
As I recall, you mix eggs and flower and, perhaps, milk, and boil some water, and then using either a specially designed Spatzle maker or perhaps a collander, sift the resulting dough through the little holes into the boiling water, and you have Spatzla.
I think it helps to put something on or with it — gravy, cheese, onions, plus some spice.
Hot dogs and sauerkraut is a kind of Americanized, German-American if you will, version of German cuisine.
I like to buy Steinfeld Sauerkaut and Miller hot dogs. And by the way, a German exchange student long ago told me that the two most common names in Germany are “Miller” and “Schmidtt” or should I say Miller “und” Schmidtt? He also noted that my last name, Walther, is both a first and last name in Germany, and is quite common. And all my life I have been asked, usually in a less than serious manner, whether I am related to the folks who make Walther firearms. I actually had a Mexican gate guard ask me that when I worked as a truck driver. I answered: “yeah, my daddy was a pistol and I’m a son of a gun”. But seriously, I am not related to that family that I know of.
So, at any rate, although I’m not the chief cook in the family, I may just try my hand at Spatzle again. Now if I can just find that Spatzle maker.
P.s.
Of course, anyone seriously considering making Spatzle should check out the variety of recipes offered on the web.
