Brats



DePere Riverfest brat captured with my new Wisconsin camera



When I was a kid we'd pack up the station wagon for our family trips, usually to Florida for Marietta College spring baseball, or to wherever the Buckeyes were playing in a college bowl.  Inevitably, mom would run back to the house multiple times for something she had forgotten (or we had forgotten) and dad would say "Saylor, (he called my mom by her maiden name), get in the damn car! If we don't have it we'll buy it!" 

I have always loved that attitude and can say with certainty that I inherited it - much to my husband's dismay.  I jetted off on my honeymoon with a couple bathing suits and a toothbrush, and upon purchase of an airport camera ($$$) he concluded that this would be a costly inheritance.  Lucky for me, he adored my dad and can't begin to argue his philosophy.  And now I have another new camera, from Wisconsin.

My dad didn't much care for "stuff" but he, like me, thoroughly enjoyed his food.  I learned from him that eating outside is better than in.  That you should never eat at a chain when you travel.  That eating slow will make it last longer.  That some of the best eats are found in that dive on the wrong end of town. And that all you really need to do is ask a local...a REAL local, not the one working at the hotel.

Oh, and one other thing.  With festivals come food, and that's a great combination.

I spyed the DePere Riverfest in the Appleton newspaper and had a few hours to kill before the baseball game. So I GPS'd the scenic route, another dad thing, and headed north toward Green Bay.  My dad was never in a hurry.

The festival was situated in a beautiful waterfront park alongside a charming town and there were beer trailers everywhere!  What goes best with beer?  Brats, of course.  And there were plenty of them.  Mine (above) was the perfect brat, I'm sure of it.  I don't know how I do it, but if you tell them "the blacker the better" and "point me to the kraut", you could probably do it too.  Perfectly charred with a first bite "pop" followed by juicy goodness. It was so good and with proceeds benefting local veterans that I had to take one back to the hotel for coach.  I doctored it up and twisted it inside an empty hotdog bun bag.  The steam effect on the bun made his just a bit better than mine.