Today is the day of the much-anticipated Aarau Rüeblimärt, aka carrot festival, aka the day the town turns into a carrot wonderland. Try as I sort of did to keep my hopes realistically low, I was quite excited about the whole thing, and I'm not even such a fan of carrots (although I do like them, but only really raw. Or in juice form. Cooked carrots leave me cold. And in a slightly-related story, I used to have a friend who once ate so many carrots that she turned kinda orange. Which was funny).Anyway, carrot wonderland. Reto and I wandered off to the main drag (or near enough) where the carrot market (because that's all that a carrot wonderland consists of, apparently) was being held. I had a checklist of things I was expecting from the carrot fest, and the only thing I was disappointed by was the absence of a person dressed as a bunny. There were carrots galore (obviously, but also in a veritable rainbow of colours and shapes. Who knew that carrots came in other shapes?),
all manner of baked carrot products (carrot cakes, carrot muffins, carrot bread etc), carrot soup, carrot jam, carrot cheese (ergh),
carrot pizza (again), carrot art, 
fake carrot decorative items, 
real carrot decorative items, 
and, possibly best of all (and definitely better than a person dressed as a bunny), a stallholder dressed as a carrot.
all manner of baked carrot products (carrot cakes, carrot muffins, carrot bread etc), carrot soup, carrot jam, carrot cheese (ergh), carrot pizza (again), carrot art, fake carrot decorative items, real carrot decorative items, and, possibly best of all (and definitely better than a person dressed as a bunny), a stallholder dressed as a carrot.Sadly we both somehow forgot to take any money with us, and so none of this wealth of carroty goodness could be ours, but at least we are rich in memories. Or something.
UPDATE: We went back to the market and bought a bunch of carrots. .JPG)
Which are delicious, but they were a total ripoff (4CHF, aka about $4 for that crappy bunch!). In other news, the main drag (not the same one as the carrot wonderland one, but the actual main drag that actual traffic drives along) was plunged into some sort of chemical hazard disaster situation. The road has been totally blocked off for a few hours (and still with no signs of being opened to traffic again in the near future when we last saw it) with firetrucks galore, some sort of chemical hazard people, lots of floodlights and all sorts of pipes and hoses everywhere. It all seems to involve some chemical-transporting vehicle. We are keeping an eye on the local news.
Which are delicious, but they were a total ripoff (4CHF, aka about $4 for that crappy bunch!). In other news, the main drag (not the same one as the carrot wonderland one, but the actual main drag that actual traffic drives along) was plunged into some sort of chemical hazard disaster situation. The road has been totally blocked off for a few hours (and still with no signs of being opened to traffic again in the near future when we last saw it) with firetrucks galore, some sort of chemical hazard people, lots of floodlights and all sorts of pipes and hoses everywhere. It all seems to involve some chemical-transporting vehicle. We are keeping an eye on the local news. 
12 comments:
Have you ever tasted carrot cake? If not try it: it sounds weird but tastes great (I was wondering if you referred to this when talking about food failings...)
Oh, and P.S.: My best wishes for your upcoming wedding!
Carrot cake? Blergh. I thoroughly disapprove of vegetables in cakes. Which is funny,because I am a big fan of vegetables in general, but they really should know their place (ie. not in dessert).
And thanks about the wedding, although I'm sort of trying not to think about it (because it's all kind of annoying to plan. Reto's the one who refuses to elope, so you'd think he should be doing all the planning, but no...).
I think I see where your food problems come from:
1) maybe you simply don't know all the good things that are around.
2) maybe you tasted some stuff but the quality was crappy, then you got a wrong impression.
Honestly, you should really try carrot cake, it tastes totally different from actual carrots (ask Reto, he will tell you...)
...Hope you don't think I'm asmart*ss... :-)
...tell me as soon as you've tasted it!
It's probably nuclear waste
No, I have tried carrot cake (on many occasions over the course of my life - we have it in Australia too). I just don't like it. And I don't like marzipan carrots either. Or that cream cheese icing.
I'm such a complainer.
Are you suggesting that carrot cake is made of nuclear waste, Steph? Because I don't think I would disagree. Those marzipan carrots are a very suspicious colour...
Oh, I see what you mean. http://www.azonline.ch/pages/index.cfm?dom=113&rub=100004704&arub=100211481&orub=100211474&osrub=100211474&Artikel_ID=101693730 That's in german so it won't help you at all. Sorry.
i recently rediscovered the humble carrot and have been delighting in its sweet crunchiness. i'm with you on the cooked carrots, though.
my flatmate made a carrot cake this week and i wouldn't have known there was any carrot in it at all if she hadn't told me. the walnuts made much more of an impression.
i have more of an aversion to sweet things in savoury dishes than vice versa. get those dates and apricots and sultanas out of my couscous!
I always thought I was a big fan of the sweet/savoury combo thing, until I met Reto, who likes to eat mystery sausage product with cheese and jam on it. And he can eat honey on anything (btw, his dad is a bit of a honey-farmer and Reto has a pathological fear of bees. Oh the happy childhood memories!).
i did eat cheese on apple for morning tea today, so i am clearly a hypocrite.
Cheese on apple? Yep, that's peculiar. Even Reto thinks so.
nah, it's good, mate. you should try it! it's gotta be a nice cheese but.
Great piece about the Carrot Festival, hopefully I can visit next year. Do you have photos you could post to me, for inclusion in the World Carrot Museum!
Thanks, John
Post a Comment