what a brat(wurst)

It is not the Christmas items that start making their appearance on store shelves in August, or the Christmas songs played everywhere you go the day after Thanksgiving that get me feeling all Christmas-y. The thing that really gives me a jumpstart into the ol’ Christmas spirit is the Georgetown Christmas Market. And this year I MISSED IT! It is something I had done with my family for the last 30 years. At first we started going for the overall Christmas experience; the outdoor European market, roasted chestnuts and hot apple cider, St Nicholas, and horse drawn wagon rides all set against the quaint backdrop of a historic mountain mining town. Sure all that stuff is nice…but in the end we went every year for the brats. I am not going to go so far as to say I am a brat connoisseur, but my family is from Wisconsin and brats seemed to be the only meat that made it on to the grill in the summer. I am not talking Johnsonville here…I am talking fresh sausage made by that old German guy who had a deli counter in back of the PDQ in Waukesha. That being said I think it is fair to say that the ones we get in Georgetown are hands down the best. The booth that sells the brats is run by a Catholic church out of Denver…and those Catholics know how to make a kickass brat. It does not get much better than a veal brat boiled in beer and onions, then tossed on the grill for a few seconds to give them a touch of color, served on a pumpernickel bun with sauerkraut and spicy brown mustard (insert drooling noise that Homer does here). Totally worth the 50 mile drive. After 20 years of asking we finally got them to tell us where they got the brats. Even though I could now go and buy the brats anytime I never did. Somehow it would take away from how special the Christmas market ones are. Having to wait all year makes them taste that much better. So if I seem a little bah humbug this year it is because I did not get my brat fix that kicks off the holiday season.