At the Lone Star Saloon…. in Bavaria

We often find there are many similarities between Texas and the German state of Bavaria we live in.  The pride, historical sovereignty, conservative values, local traditions, the unique dialect, and in particular unique phrases for hello (howdy y’all = servus).  Well we found one more reason to stretch the comparison after discovering the Lone Star Saloon Steakhouse restaurant in a small town outside of Munich (Seeshaupt).  This place could pass for Texas in just about every aspect, until the people start to speak.

To provide some back story, my co-worker Andreas insisted on taking me to his favorite steak place after learning about my Texas roots.  Although he was being nice and showing me new places, he was more interested to learn my opinion on the steaks.  He wanted to find out just how good (or bad) his favorite steak really was compared to most reputable steaks of America.  It would be like having a friend from Japan tell you that your favorite local sushi restaurant is the best.  Another reason for the invite: I had told him our experience eating beef in Germany has not really been the best.  Julie, the true Texan, couldn’t even finish her 4 oz steak the one time I cooked it at home.  She said it tasted like steak that belongs in dog-food, and once she said it, it started to taste bad for me too.

So back to last fall: Once I realized how excited Andreas was to get my opinion, (plus the opportunity to eat a high quality steak) I went out with my co-workers for a steak dinner.  Upon arrival I was pretty much in a state of jaw-dropping awe the entire night.  How could a town with less than 3,000 people in the middle of Bavaria have a hidden portal back to Texas!?  Let me start with the photos so you can see what I mean.

The amount of Texas memorabilia is really, really unbelievable, but what you can’t see is that Billy Ray Cyrus music was playing in the background.  And just to make sure I got the full experience I ordered the biggest steak on the menu – a 16 oz rib eye which was absolutely delicious (surprising, considering this was German beef!).  This was one of those moments that reminds me just how out of control food portions are in America when my co-workers could not believe an establishment would sell (and that I would order and could eat) such a big portion.  Certainly, I would not normally order so much food, but if I remember correctly this is an average size steak at any American steakhouse. Everyone else ordered 8 oz steaks.  In the end I had to give Andreas credit: this is a top quality steakhouse and really represents Texas very well.

I was so impressed by the place I took Julie along with our American friends Eddie and Laura to share the joy a few months later.  That’s when I learned I found the key to a Texas girl’s heart – good quality steak.

But this place gets even better.  The second part of this story is that the Lone Star Saloon offers all-you-can-eat TexMex fajita buffet on Thursdays, which if you have not noticed by all of the tortilla delivery requests is probably the one food we miss most from the States/Texas. 

The other week I went out again with my co-workers and this time I made sure to bring Julie with me.  I’m glad she did not miss it because it was quite humorous to watch a few of my German colleagues eat fajitas for the first time (wait, you mean that exotic food we heard about in the movies once!?!).  Without any instruction their instinct is to spread out the sauce and toppings over the entire tortilla, like a pizza, and then roll it.  Then they would pick up a knife and fork to commence eating it.

Luckily our waiter was there to give them better instructions.  Though perhaps the funniest part of the night was when he encouraged everyone to fold the fajita in thirds - by tucking in the bottom (more like a burrito) to keep it nice and orderly.  He was particularly insistent that Julie do this too.  After she said “I’m OK. I am from Texas”, he said, “I lived in Texas for 5 years and you should fold the bottom”.  Julie laughingly replied, “I lived there for 22 years, so I really am good!”  I think then he got the point and everyone got a laugh out of the German trying to enforce his ‘true’ Texas methods on the only real Texan in the place.  This did make for some nice conversation when we learned the inspiration for the restaurant.  Our waiter actually lived his 5 years in the Houston Bear Creek Park area.  This is an amazingly small world. 

In the end the fajitas were some of the best we have eaten here, but relatively mediocre compared to good Tex-Mex.  But then again, nowhere does it like Texas.  It doesn’t matter though when there is some good old Texas flare to help wash it down.  No doubt this is now one of our favorite places in Germany and we strongly believe it should be in all guide books – at least for the steaks.

Carving Some Fresh Powder

With all the effort around moving last year, we missed the ski season in the Alps.  So this season, I made it a top priority to hit the slopes as soon as possible. 

The Friday before Christmas break I took a day off and went snowboarding with a colleague.  We set off for a small resort just on the edge of Austria called Seefeld.  There we were - while many others labored away at the office the day before Christmas break - amongst the fresh alpine air home to some of the world’s greatest winter athletes.  This was really the perfect skiing condition- fresh snow and empty slopes.  In fact it was so empty that I would expect the resort probably lost money this day.  I started the day slow, adjusting to the new board, and I was feeling like a real professional out there- perhaps because nobody was around to see my falls.  Eventually my ego got the best of me though, because after a few hours I began attempting jumps (if you can call it that) and maneuvers that were outside my ability and taking some pretty rough falls.  In the end, a half day was enough, considering there were no lines for the lift.

 Having conquered one alpine mountain, I was anxious to take Julie out to the slopes so she could test out some skiing herself.  The other weekend we were invited by one of Julie’s colleagues to join him on a trip to Garmisch (home of the 1936 winter Olympics).  We purchased the Garmisch Ski Express ticket, which includes a round trip train ride plus an all-day ski lift ticket for just 42 EUR- a very reasonable deal I might say.   

We set off early Sunday morning and 2 hours later we were at the base lift and rental shop.  Eager to hit the slopes we rushed renting my board and Julie’s skis, and after boarding the first gondola Julie realized she left her poles back in the lobby.  I guess it goes without saying she is still VERY NEW to skiing.  But no worries, us guys took a quick run back down the mountain to get warmed up and retrieve the poles, and we were all reunited in no time. 

After wearing Julie out on the baby slopes, I spent the rest of the day trying to keep up with Zsolt on the rest of the mountain (who grew up in Canada and is a very good snowboarder).  At one point we ended up on the steepest part of the mountain, which in my opinion deserves a color beyond black, where I managed to slowly slide/roll/tumble my way down to the bottom (while Zsolt rode down pretty much flawlessly).   Later I learned this trail is known as “Kandahar” which is the downhill speed course used for the Olympics in 1936 and other world cup competitions.  At least the views were beautiful up here, and thanks to Zsolt’s new Intel phone, we have some pictures.

One of the surprises of Garmisch was the vast number of English speakers we heard.  It really felt like we were at a ski resort in Colorado and there happened to be just a few German tourists….a very strange feeling.  In fact during our lunch break, I think we heard more English than German!

After some lunch on the mountain and a long break to recover from my Olympic tumble, I joined Julie on some smaller slopes which were serviced by T-bar lifts.  These are the lifts (less common in America) where a T-bar suspended from a running cable drags you up the mountain while the skis/snowboard remains in contact with the ground.  I think this kind of lift is unpleasant for all, but especially worse for snowboarders who must straddle it between the legs and ride up with one foot unclipped from the bindings.  As I was riding it for the first time I encountered a very steep hill when the lift was stopped, which left my straddling this T-bar, dangling from one leg as my back leg was unclipped from the binding, for what felt like 30 minutes at on a 45 degree uphill slope.  Needless to say, I’m not the biggest fan of T-bar lifts after this.

As we were leaving we stopped in a lodge near the base to kill some time before our return train.  We were shocked to see all these random American brands/products and one section was stocked just like a Walgreens or CVS from the States.  Ecstatic that I found David Sunflower Seeds, I rushed in line to purchase them, noticing that the prices were even marked in $USD!   And that is when the cashier politely explained that this was an American military operation, and only those with valid military I.D. could make purchases (or enter the building, but somehow we escaped that notice). It finally made sense why we heard so many Americans on the slopes: we were in the vicinity of a large US military service.  Sadly, I was not able to purchase my sunflower seeds, but I’m just glad the troops aren’t deprived of them (thanks for your service!).

That was our first (hopefully not last) time skiing in Germany!  We both paid the price the next day, and Julie’s grapefruit size bruise on her leg gave us weeks to remember just how much fun we had.

Fact: Dr. Pepper tastes better in America

You might think I am crazy, but Dr. Pepper from the States tastes different than Dr. Pepper here (bottled in the UK I think).  How much different?  Enough where I found I don’t like the Dr. Pepper I found here.  And since American Dr. Pepper is my favorite soft drink, I found myself adding one more thing to the list of American products I cannot find here, or if I do find here, are different.

Here are my top food products that you people in American should not take for granted.  And I know these are all packaged goods, and I could try to make things myself, but where is the fun in that when a company already makes them good enough?

• Yummy flour tortillas: Ok, this is aimed mostly at Texas, where a good flour tortilla makes the foundation for good TexMex food.  Here – you can only find the stiff Old El Paso brand. 
• Snack Pack Pudding:  For me, I miss the basic chocolate one.  Pudding here is more mousse-like.
• Good ole butter popcorn:  Germans prefer ‘sweet’ popcorn.  Not like kettle corn (I wish), but lightly sweetened.  You can find “American butter” salty popcorn in some American sections of larger grocery stores, but this is Jolly Time popcorn, who uses the word “butter” very loosely.  You know that brand, right?  No?  Take my word for it, you don’t want to – disgusting!  At least when I go to the English movie theater, they have it done right.
• Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup – again, you can find a weird off-brand version in some American sections of grocery stores, but again, disgusting.  Lucky for me I have should enough to last me while I am here thanks to a coworker visiting Germany.
• Blueberry muffin mix: Specifically - Betty Crocker Wild Blueberry Muffin mix.  Muffins and cakes here are a bit different – they tend to be rather dense.  American cakes tend to be fluffy and, say what you will, what I prefer. 
• Cornbread mix – Anything branded “American” – like pizza, soup, etc – probably has canned corn in it.  Because us Americans LOVE OUR CORN, right?  Whatever – I do love cornbread, and they don’t sell mixes here.  And I am not sharing my stash of Jiffy Cornbread mix.  Sorry.
• Varieties of Cake mixes and frostings: If you want American cake mix here – you will find 2 flavors: Chocolate and Carrot.  Frosting?  Chocolate and Vanilla.  Where is my Cream Cheese Frosting??  Spice Cake?  Red Velvet?  Life is hard.

To combat having to “rough it” over here, we often ask our visitors to kindly bring us items we are missing.  For instance, here is the food stash my parents brought over last year (not pictured – the other non-edible products they brought too):

So what is typically in the American section of German grocery stores (those that have one) that I haven’t already mentioned??

• Carter’s American flag root beer
• Marshmallow Fluff
• Rocky Mountain American Marshmallows
• Strawberry Frosted Poptarts (a brand I actually know!)
• Barbecue Sauce
• Cheese-Whiz style cheese
• Bisquick Mix (another real brand!)
• Some strange brand of Mac & Cheese
• Hot chocolate packets
• Griffin’s pancake syrup
• Crisco shortening

Isn’t that great that those foods sum up American cuisine?  I know I always cooked every meal with each of those items, just like Germans only eat sausage and pretzels, washed down by beer.

One thing missing from my list of products I can’t find?  Oh yeah – American Dr. Pepper. Why is that??  BECAUSE I RECENTLY FOUND SOME!!! Yes – imported Dr. Pepper cans!  I have recently found two grocery stores that have this.  I have bought their stock up a few times, and Noah finds this all rather amusing.  At one point, I looked up from trying to fit as many cans in my arms as possible, to see him snapping my photo. Whatever – at least I can now scratch something off of my list!