Kaiserslautern Farmers Market

We had several errands on our agenda this AM but my main priority was the farmers market! It was the highlight of my Saturdays back home in Vtown and I wouldn't mind it being the highlight of our Saturday's here. Yosh can come in the future & there are tons of options to eat and pick up for the week! Today's priority was a head of lettuce and onions for some ribs we plan on bbqing.

I was side tracked as we passed every booth and I saw things that caught my interest! Huge, fresh fruits and veggies! Tons of fresh meat, fish, cheese options... Like too many cheese to even choose from! All with a sample out to try before you buy too! 

Food options to eat hot and ready were brats, frikadell (like hamburger on a roll - brotchen), currywurst, fries, pastries, crepes, ice cream) options were endless! I had no idea what to choose and I wasnt very hungry so I just mooched off Antonio's. He had the frikadell and added German mustard which just made it even better! Unfortunately it was gone before I remembered to snap a pic, oops. Sorry mom!

Speaking of mom! I saw a ton of fresh flowers and giant sunflowers which always make me think of my mom! Obviously Antonio doesn't look thrilled to be taking this photo because I made him. "In front of the sunflowers for mom!" He's like "hurry up!" Literally.... He said that! 😂

So we walked around and just in awe found things we wanted at reasonable prices and it was just so exciting! The potatoes are SO cheap! Okinawa peeps would be jealous because let me tell you potato salad was not being made at my house living there! Look at the potato spread! & it's fair priced! Ah man this is just 1 spot, the options were for days! 

So after our uws and aws we decided to get lost down other streets in Ktown. It's a really beautiful area that reminds us of down town or any city life in the states honestly. After coming from Okinawa to us Ktown is like little America!! There are a ton of restaurants and cafés where tons of people and some dogs sit outside and just drink coffee or beers or eat and hang out and talk. People bike down here and grab a bite or a pint and some drive to meet up w friends or family. It's so new and exciting to us.

Places like the pic above are everywhere but many full of people. I just wasn't trying to be a cheaper and take pics of strangers everywhere. There was also American stores which is always exciting to those who lived on an island for 3 years. We found H&M, Foot Locker, & Claires. It was like we were at Westfield! Hahah! 

We also found odd stores that reminded me of my big bro Ben and his fiancée. Like this store... Who would come up with a food/cosmetic store marketing scheme? Possible a black and Asian couple like Ben and Lil?? Bwahaha!

Then you got an Asian convenience store next door to a record shop!! Ben does this not have your guys name all over it?!? Asia City smelled funny and had noodles and sauces too.

We were laughing it up and had a great time checking out all the vinyls. Sound check was the store it had a ton of records! I'll take you two when you come visit! Especially because Lils familys' store is right next door, jk!

We found a great high end audio shop and a pawn shop that had nice record players too! Antonio geeks out over speakers.

We had the best time just getting lost. We were down here last weekend out at the bars w friends but it was our first time, it was night time, and we were drinking. So I'd say this recollection was much clearer with stores and what was actually open at normal business hours. 

We got a bunch of great produce but really just got what we needed not much extra this trip since we were more browsing than buying today!

We got all our needs for about $4. The mirabellan (orange fruit on left) was amazing and so ripe! Those are the same things we have on our trees in the backyard but they're dying fast.

Last but not least, we found a sign that reminded us of our wedding sign we created w distances and locations that were important to us. We heard this sign was a big deal back when the World Cup was in Kaiserslautern back in 2006. Love it! 

Pizza Hut... Restaurant!?

 Antonio & I were out car shopping this week & there was a Pizza Hut right next door to one of the places. I suggested we check it out since it was so convenient. I mean it's Pizza Hut! We used to order it all the time on base in Okinawa, especially on Wing Wednesday. So we walk in & to our surprise it is a legit restaurant!!!

We were sat by a server and handed menus. We decided to give everything a look over before making any initial decisions we thought we had.

They have beer, wine, coffee variety and sodas. More tempting choices included a salad bar and other salad (salat in German) options on the menu. It was difficult to chose and appetizer because they were all new and exciting. We decided on a small sampler for one to try everything it had 2 wings 2 cheese sticks etc. Overall the regular wings were the best item and the potato wedges were cooked well and had good flavor. But we were so excited about the pizza our focus on the menu was scattered and distracted by hunger and anticipation. 

The waitress came back to take our order and she convinced us to order the stuffed crust as it is her favorite. Antonio loves stuffed crust so he was elated. We waited on our pizza while chatting and sipping our nice cold Hefeweizens. It was pretty nice. Looking around we noticed how clean and pretty the place was. It was decorated and fancy to us.

The pizza came out relatively quick. It was hot and fresh. The veggies were crisp and the stuffed crust was in fact... delicious! We were finishing our beer and talking when the waitress walked up w a small pizza box and served up our leftovers into a box. She handed us the box and took the pizza stand away with her. We were shocked by the excellent service and experience at a Pizza Hut..... Restaurant!

 

We enjoyed the pizza, we thought the leftovers the next day were even better! We would definitely go back. Maybe try the lunch special with the salad bar next time.

Tschüss! 

Our Village - Sulzbachtal

After a devastating loss last night I decided to jump back on the blogwagon. 

To briefly explain my devastating loss my photos from the festival we were at got deleted. It's a complicated yet basic explanation. I would say a cross between a user error and a camera malfunction. The memory card got reformatted and deleted all of the photos on the entire memory card. Most of those photos have been uploaded to my iPad since the move so most of the photos are still existent. However all the great photos I took of Antonio & Yoshi & our very first festival are gone. But let's not hold on to the past we are moving on here ....

I took some photos of our village and wanted to share a little about our area. The name is Sulzbachtal also referred to many locals as 'Sulzbach' for short which the landlords daughter says people shorten because they are too lazy to say the entire Sulz-Bach-Tal. 

Within our village there are two main areas 'Untersulzbach' which is where our house is located and 'Obersulzbach' which is up the road a little but still very close in distance. We are the lower region, kind of self explanatory even in German (under/over).

Within our village are very nice trails to walk, hike, or bike. There are signs that label the distance to the next village which is great if you don't have a gps watch or are just wanting to run a certain distance, it's all labeled. 

The walking trail directly across the street goes up and up and up about 3 or 4 km up maybe. It's all hill. Yosh did it like a champ although the cows along the trail startled him and he barked and scared me haha. The cows just stare at us all of them since Yosh was barking and got their attention. So it is a little creepy I don't know what to do so I just say hello when I walk by. There are a ton of fruit bushes and trees along the path up too I've seen a ton of apple trees, several plum trees, & a lot of blackberry bushes. Atop the hill is the villages water supply. A truck brings down supply of water in it's tank and transports it several times to some other place. It's pretty interesting.

This is a bus stop I believe but it had a beautiful stream running through it with a nice window for views while sitting or waiting. 

Our train stop. 'Untersulzbach'

We discover new cooler things about our home and village everyday. Here's my list so far to name a few:

-There is a train station literally at the end of our street (5min walk max)

-We have fruit trees/bushes in our backyard:

   Mirabellen (German, all the neighbors come to pick them filling huge bins, there are 2 trees & it's in the plum family that's the best description I have, see photo below)

   Raspberry bushes

   Blackberry 

   Apples (3 trees!)

   Plum tree (purple, standard plums)

-We have a garden house (brick) with a garden area, separate from our massive field/yard

-There is a stream/creek that runs right through the backyard

-the neighbors dont care about loud music in fact the next door neighbor and landlord encourage us to have parties and be loud (hah!)

-every neighbor is so friendly, we meet new ones everyday, and across the street his name is Antonio! (However we have yet to personally meet him yet, just friendly wave from a distance)

-there is a bakery truck that comes down the street and rings just like a ice cream man (Tuesdays & Thursdays @0800 & Saturdays @1100) & it is amazing! Like all the bread we've had here so far.

-trails everywhere to walk run or bike through 

Well that's about all the fun facts I have for today on our village. 

For commute time it is about 17 mins to base and from our front door to Antonio's work is 19 mins. No traffic of course.

Tschüs!

(Cemetery off the walking path near our home)

Altstadtfest, Otterberg

Saw a festival was close to the house so we decided to check it out...

We headed out there Saturday night, it was about 10 min from our place. The festival was full of adults and the night life atmosphere was felt. It was crowded and there was a lot of beer drinking. The band came on shortly after 8pm and was playing a variety of P!nk music. We love Pink although Antonio's home theater system at home sounds much better than the live group that was playing her cameo. But hey overall we still gladly nodded to the beat and sang the lines of our favorites songs of hers. While drinking beer and eating rolls full of meat that tasted like tri tip and of course bratwurst. The food was excellent! Yosh came with us and as usual was the center of attention.

Brats were 2€. Beers came in 3 different kinds we stuck with the hefeweizen it was 3€ for 0.5 liter and you pay a 2€ deposit on your glass. When you return your glass you can have your 2€ back. 

We had great food and a great time just hanging out Sat night we decided to go back Sunday for some more grub and a beer. 

 

On Sunday there were a lot more kids. Food was sold out. In some instances they would appear that they had food but the cook would say come back in 10 mins & they would have brats. The fries were sold out, the delicious BBQ meat sandwich from the night prior was sold out. 

But Sunday did have a flea market and a different band so we were excited to check it out. The band was the USAFE band overall they sounded good but they play much quiter live music here than were used to. 

We left full and happy again. We can't wait to go to our next festival!