Tuesday 23 December 2008

Frohe Weihnachten! (Merry Christmas)

TONIGHT is your last chance to visit Birmingham's ever popular German Christmas Market.
It's hard to believe it's been there since mid-November. Time has really flown.
If you do plan to pop down and soak up the final drops of Christmas magic, there's plenty in the way of food and drink.
Traditionalists may wish to stick to the sausages, beer and mulled wine. The spicy 'red' sausages served in crusty rolls at the stall outside the council house (£2.80) are good and you probably won't be able to resist the scent of the garlicky potatoes, although I am told they aren't suitable if you're planning a mistletoe smooch. Unless you've shared them. For the fearless, there's garlic bread smothered with cheese.
I am yet to try the pretzels stuffed with brie and cranberry but they look delicious - tonight could be my last chance.
If it's a sweet tooth you need to satisfy, there's gorgeous buttery apple and cherry cake, fruit skewers dipped in chocolate and morsels of marzipan stollen everywhere you turn. At £2 and £3 the fruity skewers are pricey, but the chocolate is really good quality.
However if you prefer a taste of the exotic, there is the Mumbai Grill, serving skewers of chicken and lamb tikka wrapped in naan bread, and Woktastic for sizzling portions of stir-fried noodles.
Both of these stalls are in the craft part of the market, outside the library, and close to my favourite stand of all, which is selling cups of warm winter Pimms.
I look forward to the arrival of the market every year as, for me, it heralds the start of the festive season.
I may just have to weave my way through it one last time before it is packed up for another year...

2 comments:

Jim said...

I did go Emily, but it was so crowded I didn't have time to even try and get a drink, never mind food. This was a couple of weeks ago on a Friday night.

Emily said...

Hi Jim
Yes, it does get very crowded, almost unbearably so. I also went a couple of Fridays ago and we were lucky enough to grab one of those cosy little booths to sit in while we supped our mulled wine. Lovely!