So yesterday, we asked the front desk at the hotel for some local maps and where there are some good places to eat within walking distance. Basically, where we're staying is a huge multi-hotel complex. There are about 3 or 4 different hotels, a healthspa/mineral bath type place, a couple theaters one of which puts on broadway style musicals and a small shopping complex with several places to eat inside. So we decide to walk around a bit and go have dinner at one of these places. We chose a restuarant that had an appearance like an old traditional German pub, and it appears to have traditional German meals. The menu hung outside is all in German so we're mostly guessing at this point. lol
We walk in, a bit dazed and confused, wondering, do we seat ourselves or wait to be seated. Thankfully a waitress took pity and told us go ahead and find a seat where ever we'd like. We get settled in our seat and then question number 2... do we order from the table? or do we go to the bar and order? You see, in England, when you eat in a pub, you order and pay at the bar then the food is brought to your table when it's ready. D. was just about to get up and go ask, when we see our waiter coming to the table, menus in hand. To our relief, the menu he handed us was translated in English and he spoke in better English than we did. LOL
Now, when I say the menu was translated, I use this term very loosely. And we dont find out until after we get the food, just how loosely that is. LOL The descriptions of the food were very vague and you were expected to already know what a "schnitzle" and "Sosse" (sauce is the vague translation). We also take for granted that WE know what these things are as well... so we're too ignorant to ask the waiter. Haha! So we're looking at the kids menu and we basically have 2 choices: Schnitzle with fries or noodles with sauce. D. and I look at each other.... "what the heck is a schnitzle?" "I dont know, do you?" So we decide on the one that looks simple.... I mean, what can go wrong... noodles and sauce? who doesnt like spaghetti?! This is when the narrator pauses the film and says, "here is where our victims make their first mistake". We assume that sauce is your basic run-of-the-mill tomato sauce. Oh boy were we ever wrong!!! HAHA! I bet those waiters/waitresses had a big laugh over us that night. Not only am I sure we butchered the names of the food we ordered but our faces, when they brought out the boys' dishes, had to have been priceless. The noodles were a homemade German style noodle that tasted a lot like egg noodles but they were in the shape of a fat spaghetti noodle. The sauce was basically a gravy brown sauce that covered the noodles. The boys instantly turned their noses up as we all know, they're not very adventurous when it comes to food. I mean, the dish wasnt something horrible and it tasted fine to us... but is DEFINATELY was not what the boys were expecting (nor us) so they wanted nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, it was only their dishes that were an unpleasant suprise. D's and mine were delicious and of course we were frantically cutting up pieces of my chicken and his steak to give the boys so they had SOMETHING to eat. And to give the boys credit, they did reluctantly taste the noodles and ate some... they just didnt enjoy them. lol Unfortunately, S. didnt get enough to eat so he was sick all this morning.
On the good side, I found my German phrase book and inside there's a whole section on food and has REAL descriptions of what things like Schnitzles and Sosse are LOL. If I had that book on my last night, I would have know that Sosse is, in fact, brown gravy, and a Schnitzle -breaded chicken or pork - would have been the better choice. Ah you live and learn and I'm sure we'll make many more mistakes, but that book is now a permanent item in my purse. :)
Tonight we had much better luck. We decided to take the safe route and went to an Irish pub LOL. The boys gobbled up steak and fries, D. had his Guiness and some Shepard's pie and I enjoyed a chicken sandwich.
Tomorrow is the 4th of July so we're hoping to go to the festivities on base. It'll be the first time the boys and I have been to base so hopefully we can get a glimpse of housing there too. :)
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