A Danish Copper Wedding Anniversary Party...

On Saturday evening Kathy and I were invited to a Danish couple's house to celebrate their 12 1/2 year anniversary. This is a traditional Danish thing - one explanation is that most couples don't make it to 25 years, so 12 1/2 is the new 25. Called a copper wedding, traditionally friends and family build the couple half an arch made from spruce (you get the other half when you reach your 25th). The arch is decorated with flowers and lights and positioned at the door of the home. In this case the half arch was cardboard, not spruce.

There were about 20 guests and the Christensens hired an Italian chef - Roberto - to do the cooking. It was really an amazing evening. Of the 20+ people, the only other American besides me and Kathy was the chef's wife, Sandra, and she is part native American. The guests were from Japan, South Africa, Malaysia, France and, of course, Denmark. There were probably others as well. The atmosphere was very reminicient to me of the old Tischler wedding receptions. It was very loud as we got deeper into the evening, and the wine flowed freely. The courses were served leisurely, with plenty of time for socializing (and more wine drinking) in between. After we found out how Mette and Jakob met we ended up going around the room and every couple told the story of how they met and how they got engaged. It was hilarious. Kathy and I agreed that it was the most fun we have had since moving to Prague. The hosts, the other guests, the food, the wine, the conversation...all was exquisite.



Here is Roberto with a few of his creations, including veal, pasta and beef.
















Here is Kathy with Mette Christensen.




This is the happy couple, Jakob and Mette Christensen. Jakob gave a very moving toast to his wife that proclaimed his eternal love.





Here is Kathy with Marlinda and Mirgoul.





This is Jean Marie, from France (on the left) and Derek, from South Africa (on the right). Derek works for Pilsner Urquell brewery - how cool is that - and also worked in Moscow for a Russian brewery.

A Saturday Night Out...

We went out to dinner with three other couples last night. Dinner was at La Bodeguita Del Medio, the only Cuban restaurant in town. The dinner was very good - I had a creole sampler - but the beer prices were the highest I have paid in Prague. It was 90 Crowns (about $4.50) for .3L of Pilsner Urquell when even at the usual tourist restaurants you can get .5L of Pilsner for about 60 Crowns. I think they try to steer you to the Mojitos (a rum based drink).
We skipped the dessert and elected to go for a walk and find someplace else to get something sweet. We ended up several blocks away at a place called Creameria Milano, a high end cafe specializing in ice cream. The picture is Kathy with the other three wives (Leslie, Dana and Meagan). We sat outside and although the temperature was probably about 60, they had gas heaters to keep things toasty. Kathy and I split an ice cream dessert that was about $16. The others were smart enough to walk inside and order a cup of ice cream for about $4.50. I'll have to remember that.
La Bodeguita Del Medio has a cigar bar and I will try that later. I've never smoked a Cuban cigar and they are legal here (well, they are legal everywhere ecept the US). All in all a very pleasant evening.

Hank's List...

Got an email from my buddy Hank criticizing my all-time favorite songs. Hank and I have known each other for about 40 years and we both like music - just different kinds. There is some overlap of artists and songs that we both like, but he is more of a KISS guy while I'm more Elvis Costello. Anyway, because it's so easy to make new lists on Finetune, here is collection of mostly 80's hair band classics. Enjoy, Hank.