German food is surprising in many ways, but always tasty. We have been fed fabulously over the past five days while in Telgte. Some of my favorites and insights:

+ I walked past the potato pancake kiosk at the Maria-Geburtsmarkt Festival several times and could not stop because we were going to eat somewhere else. Today, we had some free time, and I was able to eat four potato pancakes. Made with grated potatoes, the pancakes are fried and slathered with apple sauce–too good, and they went down fine.
+ Rouladen is a thin cut flank steak filled with coarse sausage and a mustard sauce and dill pickle and baked in a dark herbed cream gravy. Amazing! Its most important side is spatzle, a heavy noodle made from dough cut into boiling water. I could have eaten, but did not, the entire serving dish for all 75 guests at the meal. Fortunately, I also eaten it at the Bavarian Inn to which we were taken several days earlier.
+ Beer. In Germany, it is food :-). The Germans take beer production, refined over the centuries, quite seriously. Order the wrong one and you are seen as ignorant or offensive. For instance, in Munsterland, an alt (old beer) is popular and is served in a regular looking beer glass, but in Koln (Cologne) it is called Kolsch and served in a narrow tall glass. Dare not order Alt in Koln or Kolsch in Munster, although the two cities are close in proximity. Whatever the name, it is good. Right now we are in light-colored beer country, not dark beer. This is good for me since light beer is my preference. My wife, Kathy, much prefers dark beer. In Spain and Italy, I wanted pastries, she wanted gelato–in Germany, I want light beer, she wants dark. Don’t tell her that I planned this entire German adventure to keep us in areas where only light beer is produced–water for her, beer for me.
+ Plum cake, whether it is in the form of a crumble cake, or a kuchen, plum pastries are wonderful–enough said. I ate it every day at least once. Kathy wanted some of mine and I said, “Go eat gelato.” Of course, I did not say that! I hid my pastries from her instead. Of course, I did not do that. Well, maybe, once.

I could write much more about steak tartar and sausage and saurkraut and wine and foods I cannot pronounce much less spell–it was all good! Our hosts were outstanding and Holger and Silka who were with us daily and took us under their welcoming wings are outstanding and loving folks. Many thanks to God for such blessings and friendships. WEG