On Friday, November 6th, we got into our new little hot potato on wheels and drove across the country to a very cute countryside inn. We checked-in and dropped off our bags and then continued on, following the sun. We stopped off at a small church in the country side. Here we placed a wreath on the grave site of Jens's father.
Then we drove back to the inn and did a quick change of clothes and got ready for a very nice birthday dinner for Jens. While Jens was getting ready, I drove to his mother's house to pick her up as well as Jens's aunt.We arrive to the inn and we sit down for a nice dinner in the larger of the several restaurants.
So now we have ordered our food and we started with a shrimp cocktail. Jens's aunt ordered soup of the day. And so did I and then i asked what the soup was. I love soup but when i found out what the soup was, i quickly changed my order to shrimp cocktail.
For the main course everybody ordered meat, but I ordered fish. Hummmm - What kind of wine goes with both meat and fish? Amazingly the waitress had the perfect Chilean red wine that went as well with fish as it does with meat. It must have said "gullible" on our foreheads and happily we agreed that this must be the miracle wine.
This was the most wonderful fish! It's North Sea Plaice. It's a flat fish that swims at the bottom of the sea. Don't like fish? Give this a try and you'll be a fish lover. It's light and white and the bones stay together. As big as this fish dish was, i could easily have eaten another.
This is the waitress serving up the weinerschnitzel. That's veal from the inner side of the thigh. It taste's good but i don't order it as it is heavy duty battered and fried. One single serving was so huge, it really was enough food to feed 3 or an entire Ethiaopian family of 17 for a month. Take a look at the metal bowl - it's browned butter - about 4 sticks worth and it was just for me to pour all over my fish. I just used about half a spoonful. What a waste. I felt so bad for that hungry village in Somalia who have nothing but a bullet to bite.
Now comes the birthday boy's dish. 2 huge chunks of beef tenderloin wrapped in bacon served with a swimming pool of Bearnaise sauce.
Jens loves to give his meat swimming lessons.
This was the most interesting gadget on the table. It was on my fish dish. It's a lemon wedge press. You simply stick in the wedge of lemon in the press and gently squeeze while easily pouring the lemon juice over the fish. No icky sticky fingers to lick at the table.
I snapped one of the several lounge/eating areas in the inn.
After dinner we moved to the lobby/lounge. Here we had cake and coffee. Well..... I had. The others had too much meat to have desert so i ordered cake. We all had coffee and they served it with dark chocolate. Have you notice all the beautiful Royal Porcelain? It's not the fanciest of the fancy but it cost more than what you can afford. The cake was served with pomegranate seeds. I managed to lick the plate clean. No dessert for Robert Mugabe - he can lick my butter bowl.
Jens gets a b-day hug from his Mom.
What a wild party! I have my lampshade on.
The inn has a typical thatched roof. It's old now so it has moss growing all over it.
Beautiful autumn colors abound in the countryside this time of year.
Of course no birthday would be complete without Poochie and Mr. Potato.
The entrance is very welcoming.
This pix if from the Inn website. It was here where they serve breakfast. The early morning sunshine was doing it's best to break through the fog and mist and shine in through all the glass windows and doors. It was a very nice way to wake up with a hot pot of java. It's not a large website and i think only the menu card is in English but take a look here for more.The next day, Jens and I and Smootchi drove back to Copenhagen. We are exhausted from the ride so we took a nap when we got home. Then i had to do a quick number in the yard because the following day i have to work and we have an open house at 3pm.
Then we get ready to go out and celebrate the official b-day today. Jens is now 60 and we are both in shock. How could something so horrible happen to such a nice guy?!
Tonight Andy wants to join us and we head out to our favorite Italian restaurant.
After dinner we watch a movie at home and then i have to get into bed as i have to be to work early in the morning.
Only one couple came by today to look at the house. They didn't like the way the house was decorated - was the message on the post card that the realtor left behind. We thought that was an odd message. Then we got an e-mail from the realtor saying that they didn't like the way the rooms were laid out and that some of the walls would have to be knocked down. Again - another strange message. So I said to Jens, "As far as i am concerned, if the buyers come up with the cash, they can knock down all the walls and redecorate to their heart's content.
Now it's the 9th and Jens checked into the hospital this morning. He is having lots of checks, tests and adjustments over the next few days. Tonight at 8pm he had to turn off his pace maker. I was there when he turned it off. Shortly thereafter, he got up out of bed and we went down for a smoke. 10 minutes later after the last puff, i walked him back to the elevator, kissed him good-bye and sent him up to the 7th floor.
We'll see what happens tomorrow.
