Germany and Mexico - A Taste of Two Cultures in One Day

Travel, travel, travel…. so many places to be. The other day we made a visit to Germany and Mexico in one afternoon.  Really!

There’s more to this story, of course. About a year ago, after we got situated in our new home base here in Indianapolis, we started thinking of the local spots that we’d like to revisit, or initially explore, after eight years of being mostly out of the city.  There are old and new restaurants, parks, museums, old haunts and various areas of the city and state that we want to re-explore.  Then there were the Hurley injuries . We were sidelined for a while; but now we’re starting to play again.  

What first? Since we plan to start our low-fat diet again soon, we kicked off our travels with one of the most (ahem!) appropriate places, the German meat market that we were very curious about.  This traditional market used to be named Klemm’s and is now the Claus German Sausage & Meat Market.  Jerry and I both remember Klemm’s from the days of our youth….the great bratwurst and braunschweiger…..oh yum.  The original location was in the City Market, established in 1913. The current location is a couple of miles south of downtown and still in the same German family. Our lady butcher was also an immigrant and she made our visit special with her samples and advice.  We had fun choosing from the pigs feet, Thueringer, frankfurters, and other selections of fresh and smoked meats. Since that day we’ve consumed the bratwurst, kielbasa and cajun sausage on the grill, with some braunschweiger on crackers sprinkled in between.  I don’t know if we can choose one favorite because they were all singularly tasty, but I’m thinking the bratwurst might rank high. Thankfully, the old style homemade sausage still brings in the customers after nearly 100 years in this city. (www.clausgermansausageandmeats.com)

After our German experience, we headed home to have a braunschweiger snack.  But wait….on the way we remembered that we heard from a cousin recently about a gargantuan Mexican market/restaurant that we would be passing by on our way.  Why not mix it up a little and replenish our hot sauce supply.  Carniceria Guanajuato here we come!

What a fun visit to an outstanding market.  The immaculately neat aisles are lined with every Mexican style food, toy and other cultural item imaginable.  The fresh meat selection is unbelievable.  Butchers were lined up working at a feverish pace to keep the stock of meats that mostly, for us gringos anyway, needed translation or explanation. But there was plenty of friendly help and they took a chopping break to give us a friendly wave. We thought we’d return to try some of the fajita mixture or freshly-made chorizo, or maybe get adventurous and choose from one of the unknown items.  Besides, we’ll need to come back hungry for lunch so we can try the highly recommended tacos and carnitas in the restaurant.  For today, we made a selection from the mucho beans and hot sauces to add to our crock pot next week.

This turned out to be a totally pleasant visit to both a culture that shaped our hometown in it’s beginning and one that is having an impact today. It’s good to remember that we are a mixture of all kinds of people.  And it’s fun to enjoy the tastes of them all.

Thanks for visiting at Hurley Travels.  Be safe!