A couple of weeks ago the most legendary beer fest took place on the Theresienwiese in Munich. Sadly, without me. Last year I made it and it was truly a wonderful, beery, winey (fyi: drinking many a Maß‎ of white wine spritzer instead of beer in order to keep up with the beer drinkers on your table… not such a good idea:-P), beery, kaiserschmarrn, beery, schnitzel, beery, lebkuchen heart, dirndl and lederhosen filled experience. One would think wearing a dirndl, hiking boots and braids in the metro is awkward…not when the whole city does it! Then you’re stared at when dressed as a normal civilian.
What I always forget when I put on my dirndl is where to tie the bow of the apron. I didn’t even know it had a meaning until lots of drunkards started chatting me up. My accompanying “Octoberfest-regulars” enjoyed the situation for a while, but then tried to enlighten my somewhat tipsy self to the meaning behind the bow (who’s place often tends to change the longer the evening and the flirtier the ladies get… :-)). So for the unknowing and forgetful out there:

Bow tied on the right side: in a relationship, engaged, married
Bow tied on the left side: single, or at least for the night 😉
Bow tied in the middle: virgin
Bow tied in the back: widow

In the spirit of Octoberfest I decided to bake some Brezeln. Also because good versions of this type of bread (or almost any bread compared to back home) are a rare find in London. And because I had to wait for 5 hours for a guy to come install my phone line. But that’s beside the point.

Brezeln / Pretzels

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