It was an absolutely gorgeous Fall weekend, and a great one for the Annual Brugnoli Krautfest Party!  What a joy to be a part of the amazing festivities.

You may be thinking to yourself – “What the heck is a Krautfest?”

Our family has a long-running tradition of making homemade saurkraut, and our amazing Joyce and Rob know how to turn a “chore” into a party!

So about 40-50 family members and friends ranging in ages from 2 to 82 got together on Saturday with 600 pounds of cabbage and made a party out of making kraut!

Join me through a pictorial journey of the wonderful day.

It started with cutting…

then chopping and slicing and dicing…

Marty used his grandfather’s 100-year old cabbage cutter and embraced the heritage of using something today his grandfather used in exactly the same way all those years ago.

  and new generations learned the tradition.

there were measurers and salters…

 

Then lots and lots of pounding and stomping and smooshing and smashing.

There was food galore!

One of my favorite treats of the day were these Reuben Pierogies!  We sauteed potato and cheese pierogies in butter until browned, then layered with a slice of pastrami, swiss cheese, picked purple cabbage, and a small dollop of Thousand Island Dressing.

Warm soft pretzels were served with homemade mustard and cheese sauces.

We also had Parmesan Ranch Crusted Pierogies and Buffalo Hot Sauce Pierogies.

There was pumpkin painting,

There were games…

Zip-lining and Swinging

Friendship, Hugs, and Laughs

Delicious cocktails – my favorite was the Bourbon Apple Cider with Rosemary Sprig!

We ate halushki, halupkis, pork and saurkraut, kielbassi, german potato salad, cheese polenta with homemade sauce. Oh the delicousness!!

We sang!

The saurkraut is divided up evenly between all the crocks and buckets to send home with each family…

to wait – and taste test – and wait some more – remembering the special memories we created and looking forward to enjoying the fruits of our labor throughout the year.

It was a BOOtiful day!  Thanks Joyce and Rob for your amazing hospitality.  We love you dearly!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi