Dinner in Berlin

Today John and I decided we didn’t want to spend the dreary afternoon indoors, so we set out for one of the many cafes in our neighborhood that have covered, outdoor seating. John wanted a beer and I was looking to get a glass of wine. We found ourselves at an oft-passed restaurant/beer garden with a cute covered terrace. One glass each and two hours later we decided we might as well have dinner. The night had turned beautiful and we had nothing but German homework awaiting us. Out came the menus and then out came the most delicious salads of our lives. We discussed our memories of past salads and had to admit that we don’t (as a rule) remember salads - there’s the Chicken Finger salad at The Loop (What up, UNC?!!) - but really, our lives are not marked by anything green and leafy...until tonight.

John had a lovely salad of greens, cubes of some soft, white marinated cheese, orange slices, avocado, tomato and potato croutons (think Chase potato squares on a Sunday morning). My salad was really the winner of the night: greens, marinated and roasted veggies, and...cheese-covered toasted baguette pieces. I took one bite of the toasty baguette and my entire life changed. It was literally heaven in my mouth. John got in on the action and our only reaction was to stare in wide-eyed, drooling, wonderment. There was a distinct desire to eat our weight in this cheese, perhaps use it as a face cream, spend hours in a vat of it. We (okay, so really John) asked the waitress what kind of cheese it was? “Ziegenkäse” but then ,bless her heart, she realized we were American and added, “goat cheese.” We are now goat cheese fans - for now and always. We are also fans (for now and always) of the German dinner experience, which was 4 hours of uninterrupted quality conversation, food and drink. We left only because we needed to buy groceries. We probably could have stayed all night. :)