Oktoberfest 2013 seen from up in the air: the non-beer side of it

 

This year the famous Oktoberfest takes place for 180th time in the beautiful Bavarian capital Munich! A friend of mine asked me few days ago why Oktoberfest starts (and takes place mostly) in September? Good question I have to say. But there is also a good reason for it: the difficult Munich weather! In 1810 and the following years the celebration took always place in the month of October (usually in the middle of the month). However in 1829, four days after the official opening, the first snow storm arrived and everything had to close down! Since 1872 this big beer party has been moved to the last 10 days of September (+first October days) so one could enjoy better weather& more pleasant temperatures....

This huge celebration is known of course to most of the visitors for the ...German beer! Every year during 2, 5 weeks (this year between 21.09-6.10.2013) around 6 millions liter of beer are sold&drunk there! However half of the surface at the fair ground is dedicated to having fun like a child: big wheel, carousels, rollercoasters...name it! These are all there waiting to be enjoyed the whole day&evening (recommended before the drinks:-) So this year I enjoyed the "Riesenrad" and one carousel-ride, which made me feel like a happy kid again;-)

 

Moselle colours in early September: between Filstroff and Colmen

Its AGAIN mirabelles-prune-time... So today I am very trilled to share with you my latest reportage for the gourmet-travel page TravelGluttons! Enjoy the read below+if you want to see the second part of my article just clck here.

Even if the golden "mirabelle" plum is not bigger than a golf ball, it has already won, years ago, the reputation of the unmistakable symbol of the French region Lorraine. Located at the three-borders-area (Luxembourg-Germany-France) this northeast region of France with its capital city Metz is also the biggest producer of the aromatic plums. 80% of the whole world production takes place here – we are talking of some 15,000 tonnes annually! Holy fruit paradise…

You might start wondering what they are doing with all these plumes, right? This tiny fruit has a very versatile use. It is of course the main ingredient for making the famous local gourmet food (for the locals) and souvenirs (for the visitors): fruit jam (la confiture de mirabelles), plum brandy (eau de vie de mirabelle) and the not-really-transportable, but to-be-eaten-on-the-spot (or, if available, just-right-out-of-the-oven) queen of all pies: la tarte aux mirabelles.

 
Why queen of the pies? Because it's not just another pie with fruit inside, it's a real visual/ gastronomic/taste-buds-using masterpiece! The edges of the pies are the only way for you to know that there is something else on the plate other than fruit. The fresh mirabelle plums are cut in two and gorgeously arranged on the top. Nothing else, the rest of the work is for the oven: to turn some of the fruit sugar into a yummy caramel crust. Some of the best tarte aux mirabelles I have tried looked so beautiful that one does not want to start cutting them.
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But there is much more in Moselle/lorraine than mirabelle-prunes, have a look below for a colourful like a rainbow harvest in the garden as well as for some unusual and unexpected encounters...And in case you wonder: my first "tarte" with damson plums tasted A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! thanks for asking;-)

WISHING you all a good weekend with these perfectly imperfect potatoes, which make me smile every time I look at the picture:-)

Summer fruits in Jakoruda (market and garden)/ Летни плодове в Якоруда, от пазара и от градината

 

One of the reason while I love summer (not only beacause of all the sunshine, warm temperatures and all the green nature around us) IS the fact that this is one of the reachest in fruits season! So while discovering the mountains at home I also ENJOYED the fresh, yummy and juicy summer products: watermelons, apricots, tomatoes, .... name it! The birth town of my grand-mother Jakoruda (where we start our mountain hikes from) has a very busy market every Saturday. Today I am taking you there, before we pass by our house at the end:-) The beautiful apricots are from our garden, which is vere well taken care of my parents& a helpful neigbour. They were good subject to try my new lens, 35mm macro!

From Rila (mountain) with love: cute and colourful bugs

 

While hiking in Rila mountain next to the breathtaking views we had fabulously colourful encounters with small and tiny representatives from the butterfly/bug/caterpillar family...So please meet the hummingbird hawk-moth (also known as "humming moth" or "гълъбова опашка" in Bulgarian and "Taubenschwänzchen" in German). When you look at the wings of this butterfly (yep, its part of the butterfly family) you will instantly know why its call that way:-) 

While I was checking online its names in different languages I found some interesting facts about it. The humming moth is supposed to recognise colours pretty well, it recognise the yellow and blue nuances pretty well, however he humming moth can not tell the difference btween the black and the red. It flies in sunshine, but also at dusk, dawn and even in rain which is pretty rare for hawkmoths. And the third picture could be its larvae, we did not ask though:-) the last stranger we met was so great colour, we forgot to ask for his/her name during the photohooting, if anyone knows, pls tell me!

From Rila (mountain) with love: great views and colourful flowers

 

I have reported here once last year about the highest Bulgarian mountain Rila (with Musala being 2925,4 m high). The place is magical, once you have been there you always long to go back...I was going up every summer with my grand parents when I was little. It was standard nature escape... So this year I did it again with my parents! We took another hike trail and had a fantastic weather and amazing encounters. Enjoy the breathtaking views of lakes and colourful inhabitants! I hope you can feel how special, quiet and cozy this place is from my photo-tour...

Next to enjoying the magnificent views, refreshing out feet in the lake water and sweating while climbing up we did not forget the most important activity! We have picked some fresh Rila thyme (picture below), which is used in almost every Bulgarian family as aromatic tea or best home caugh-remedy in the cold season! I love to collect this plant as my fingers are parfumed for some time afterwards with the thyme oil:-))