The big grill out - meat and "smares"

This past weekend, we grilled out with our upstairs neighbors, Jonas and Tina (yes, her name is also Tina), and their friends from Frankfurt, Christoph and Simon. The guys had been mountain biking around the Odenwald all day. There really are some incredible places  to hike, bike, tour, climb around us.

Our backyard here at Beinengutstrasse 45 is unique in all of the neighborhood. We actually have trees, grass, and wildlife (including a recently dead bird and a hedgehog who lives in the yard clippings compost pile). German gartens (a.k.a. "yards" for my American friends) are immaculately kept, seldom are vast and natural, and sometimes substitute pebbles for grass. I could go on and on about this -- as could Tina -- and at a later time, I will devote an entire blog to the Yards of Bensheim (complete with a photographic tour).

So, all this to say that we have a really wonderful backyard, which is perfect for grilling out in the summer. Folks here call it "barbecue-ing," which causes me some cognitive dissonance. I think that they should eat some BBQ, and then they'll know the difference! :)

Here was the menu (in order and cooked in phases on the open-fire pit grill), all purchased from the Metzgerei (the meat man): wild boar sausage, bratwurst, lamb, pig stomach, and ribeye steaks. No side dishes except bread with herbed butter, a caprese salad, and a cold curried vegetable salad. It was so delicious!Of course, it was accompanied by a lot of beer, radler (beer mixed with lemonade), wine, and a mixed cocktail the boys drank with campari, vodka, and peach juice. Hm.

Jonas (l) and Christoph (r) pre-smares

For dessert, Tina suggested S'Mores. "Smears???" Christoph asked. "S'mores," I said. "S'mmm huh???" he continued. "SSSS'''''MMMMOOOORRREEESSSS" I slowly pronounced, "as in 'give me some more' chocolate with marshmallows." Seeing that familiar look of lost-in-translationness on his and the others faces, I said, "it is like mehr auf Deutsch. Mehr (my sidenote here -- this word is pronounced like "mare") ist more in English. S'more!" The lightbulb dawned over my German friends' heads. Christoph said, "Ahhhhhh, okay, s'mehrs!" 

So...here is a photo of our first ever German smare. Eventually, the cookie proved to be too thick. We couldn't find graham crackers at the local Edeka. As a substitute, the group opted to put the chocolate piece inside of the marshmallow, and to roast it that way. It was a great idea! "German engineering," Jonas reminded me.

A great evening with some great new friends. Lucky us. Enjoy!