Oktoberfest

Our little town of Mount Angel will swell this weekend from its usual 3,700 residents to accommodate 300,000 visitors for Oktoberfest. My mom told me that figure on the phone this weekend. Surely not 300,000, I said. Maybe 30,000, but not 300,000. That's more than the population of Boise. I was wrong. The festival is indeed that large. Beer and bratwurst for everybody!

We seminarians walked down the hill and hit the streets tonight for some serious grub from a Knights of Columbus booth. The half-chicken meal started with perfectly seasoned hunk of bird, continued with fresh corn dripping with butter, and finished with shredded-cabbage-and-heavy-cream coleslaw. No joke, fill-yer-gut and more food. Really unhealthy, button-bursting, once-in-a-while meal.

As the topper, another seminarian treated me to -- hold onto your stomachs -- a deep-fried Twinkie with soft-serve ice cream. While I don't indulge in Twinkies or fried food often, this was a bucket list indulgence that had to be satisfied. Would I order it again? I doubt it. But I can now say I ate a deep-fried Twinkie. Check.

For anyone interested in Oktoberfest, it's always two weekends after Labor Day. Come to the party, and I promise to treat you to a deep-fried Twinkie or your gut-bomb of choice. If you want more information, here's the website: http://www.oktoberfest.org.

I'm off to study Latin and dream of fair food.