One of the things I've felt that has been missing from my life here in Germany has been the opportunity to meet a friend for a lazy lunch.
When I lived in England my friend Al and I had it down to a fine art, Fridays were perfect, you actually felt like you'd earnt the 'time off', it was almost the weekend and the house was clean, all the chores were done, the ideal opportunity for a little 'me time' before diving into the 24/7 family time that the weekend becomes once children are involved.
We would sometimes meet to do a spot of shopping first before heading to a quiet coffee shop for a delicious panini and a serious gossip, or maybe no shopping just straight to a country pub where we would draw out a glass of pinot grigio over 2 courses, accompanied of course by lots of gossip.
The problem with moving to Germany was two-fold, I no longer had weekly access to my lunch partner and I also lost my lunchtime as the school kicks out anytime between 11.30 and 2.15... I really missed being a lady who lunches and it's taken me almost 4 years to find a replacement (not for Al, that is impossible) I think I'm starting to get the concept of 'Frühstück' - finally!
Last week I managed to squeeze in 2 social breakfasts and today another one.
It's just so civilised, we met at 10 (a little late for breakfast and to be honest we lingered so long we should have called it brunch) but it does mean that the little, but necessary chores of the day had been done (kids to school; tick. laundry started; tick. food for tea; tick. market; tick) but by the time we four were all gathered together we were starving.
The venue was Romeo's (or Enzo's as the locals call it, due to the fact that Enzo own & runs it) a little Eiscafé that is so popular on market days that reservations are advisable.
Rebecca, Rachael & I all opted for the 'small breakfast' which consists of a huge basket of bread (4 different sorts) butter, cream cheese, jam, ham, salami, paté, mozarella, tomato, brie (we had a combination of veggie and non veggie hence the wide selection of toppings to go on the bread), Princie decided to satisfy her sweet tooth and went for the banana & ice-cream waffle (shudder) this was all washed down with as much caffeine as we felt we needed.
It was a great way to end the week/start the week end, two hours of uninterrupted girlie time, just good, simple food, great coffee and even better company. I think we all felt the benefit, so much so that the venue (if not the date) for the next Frühstück has already been suggested.
So I guess I'm no longer a 'lady who lunches' but rather a 'frau die frühstücks'!
word of the day; kleines frühstück - a meal which can take up to two hours to consume and can replace 2 normal meals
No comments:
Post a Comment