Trivia Advent Calendar

[L Verge]

(12-06-2014 05:51 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  You nailed it, Laurie, Dave and Scott! Behind the window are Abraham Lincoln's goat slippers:

...some info on which is on this link Roger once provided: http://m.neatorama.com/2014/07/01/Presid...rs/#!7TRiF

On this special day all guesses and replies shall win. St. Nichoas invites you to a spree on a Xmas market of your choice: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QryIGBjbln8

Before his marriage, A. Lincoln was said having worn rough Conestoga boots even to evening parties in Springfield and once burst into a parlor with the comment “Oh boys, how clean these girls look." I tried to find a picture of such boots to no avail (like cowboy boots perhaps?), just found this:

"Conestoga: 1690s, name of an Indian tribe in southcentral Pennsylvania, probably from some Iroquoian language and sometimes said to mean 'people of the cabin pole;' later a place in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A characteristic type of covered wagon, called Conestoga wagon, was built there from 1750 (about three years before the last of the Conestoga Indians were massacred), but it already was an established term, as the first reference is to the name of a Philadelphia tavern, and probably originally meant the type of wagon farmers used on the road from the city to Conestoga. Also a breed of horses (1824) and a type of boot and cigar."

And also nicknamed Prairie Schooners as they carried thousands of Americans westward.

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Thanks for the link to the German Christmas Markets - would love to see them in person someday. I also clicked on the video about traditional German Christmas food. The main tradition seems to be the Christmas goose. Although I have been chased by some geese that should have ended up on someone's table, I have never tasted goose. Is the flavor similar to turkey? I had pet ducks as a child, so please don't tell me that they taste like duck!

I had never tasted red cabbage until I spent a few days in Germany long years ago, but I did enjoy it, along with spaetzle (which was similar to a Russian dish that my husband's babu used to make). I also learned to love weiner schnitzel while I was over there. I knew it as breaded veal cutlet here at home, but the German version was even tastier. Our local Swiss/German restaurant closed a few years back, so I'm missing these treats.

One more thing: I have always thought that marzipan (which is wonderful!) was a French creation, but the more I hear of it, Germany appears to be the point of origin?