Well, this might not be what you expected to see. I just had some delicious Bibimbap from our neighborhood Asian supermarket.

Korean Bibimbap in Oberursel/Germany

For the more traditional food and beverages Germans like to consume, visit  What the World Eats at TIME photo gallery, where you can view families from 16 countries showing their weekly food expenditure.

Most families looked rather happy, though the German family (slide 15 of 16) looked as grumpy as ever. Despite all the beer and wine bottles featured on the table.

Last Sunday, we had a good time in Franconia (Northern Bavaria) again. My sister, Waltraud, knows of all the surrounding wine fests and just before heading back to Frankfurt, we made a brief stop at a wine fest in Röthlein.

Federweisser and wine schorle

Federweisser is fermented grape juice and the wine schorle is wine diluted with mineral water.

Gerupfter Brot and Griefenschmalz Brot

I will provide the recipe for Franconian style Gerupfter (Camembert cheese, butter, onions, etc.) in another post.

The Griefenschmalz Brot was very tasty, too. Lard,  spread on dark bread, goes well with Franconian white wine.

No worries, we consume this only three times a year.

October wine fest with dance

The low setting October sun cast its glow on the dancers. Listening to traditional music, watching kids fetch their parents’ Federweisser, squinting against the October sun while savoring bites of Gerupfter, made this visit to Franconia a new experience: going back in time.

Another trip to my hometown included visiting the Stammheimer Weinfest, which has been going strong for the past 28 years. The location is just beautiful as the wine fest sits in the middle of the village with most benches underneath these gigantic willow trees.

Wine fest in Stammheim (Lower Franconia)

Strips with colorful flags strung across the streets give this fest a real cheery atmosphere.

Schweinehaxen (knuckle of pork) at the wine fest

As always we pig out on Franconian fest food, which differs from Hessian fest food by large. Additionally, it seems the state of Hesse does not have as many fests as the Northern Bavarians do.

Current, former, and out-of-village wine princesses lined up

This was such a pretty sight! All these young maidens lined up while somebody was giving a speech in the back. We could not figure out the role of the red clad guy in the middle, though.

"Horned devil" among the young maidens

I will ask around to learn of the significance of  his devilish presence in this angelic line-up of youth, wine, and beauty.

Edit: I have just learned that the horned devil is the Deifi from the Obereisenheimer Höll. More pics of him in an article from the Mainpost newspaper.

Impressions of Franconia can vary greatly as these photos can attest to. They were taken within fifteen minutes from each other on two different Autobahnen, A3 and A7.

Luke and Duke, the Nukes in Grafenrheinfeld

Luke and Duke, the Nuclear Power Plant towers, have been around since the 1970s. Their ugly pillars loom over the industrial town of Schweinfurt and really darken its rainy skies occasionally.

Schlossresidenz Würzbug

Vineyards in the sun

While resting at a Autobahn Raststätte on the A7, I got to see a very different view of Franconian culture and  its agricultural highlight – vines on every hill.

The area between Schweinfurt und Würzburg, especially around Zeilitzheim, is full of lovely wine fests in the summer.