I learned a new word today, which is always fun, but before I tell you what it is, I’ve got to ask you a question. What is the most delicious meal you have ever had? Was it a home-cooked meal that grandma made? A once-in-a-lifetime trip to a Michelin star restaurant? Those would be the sort of answers you would expect to a question like that. But what if I asked the question in a slightly different way, would you change your answer? What is the most delicious bite of food that you’ve ever had? You might have the same kind of answer: a bite of fish caught fresh from the river that morning with grandpa or an exquisite cheese while meandering the streets of Paris. But you might also answer, “Cold hot dogs and Pop-Tarts.”

And that’s where we come back to the word I learned today: gipfelschmaus. It is a German word for that moment on a mountaintop where even a basic snack tastes like the best meal of your life. “Gipfel” means summit or peak and “schmaus” means feast or delicious meal. So put together, it means a mountaintop feast! There is nothing that tastes so good as a little treat at the end of something hard, whether it is climbing a mountain, running a race, or digging holes in the garden. When we’ve done something that takes a lot of energy and determination, especially when we reach our goals, our body is tired and is craving a replenishment of energy, and in that moment anything we eat usually tastes like the best meal of our lives.

And I wasn’t fibbing about cold hot dogs and Pop-Tarts. At the end of a particularly dicey hike in the Appalachians, it was raining so hard and turning so cold that we couldn’t use our stove to cook anything, so our meal was uncooked hotdogs and cold Pop-Tarts. At the moment, it tasted like heaven!

The spirit of this new word really resonates with me. Whenever I’ve gotten the chance to stand on top of a mountain, whether it is Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Wilson in Sedona, or Blood Mountain in Georgia, there is sort of a “King of the World” feeling that kicks in and makes any snack I have taste better. I’m almost thirty years away from my Pop-Tart and hot dog days, so the snacks I have are usually a little healthier, but no matter what they are, they just taste better on top of the world. Anyone up for gipfelschmaus this weekend?

P.S. Next week is Independence Day, and Kerby’s will be closed for the holiday on Friday, July 4. Come in and see us before then to make your garden festive with red, white, and blue! We’ll reopen on Saturday, July 5 so you can still have a long weekend of gardening. Plus, we have Yoga in the Garden on July 5 at 9:30 am and Daddy Pig’s barbeque and dessert food truck on Sunday, July 6 from 11 am – 3 pm. Several opportunities to celebrate the holiday weekend!