Carrying heavy shopping bags (tote, not plastic, we are no longer in Saudi Arabia), we made our way through the shopping district to the last spot on our agenda – lunch.
For some time I had it in mind, where could I take Tamer to finally try this traditional Slovenian dish. I was quite proud of myself for planning such a lovely day for us. slovene cuisine
We both open our menus and begin excitedly marking which “štrukelj” [shtrukel] we want to order. Since we were really hungry, I suggested to share another plate of chicken in sauce with a side of buckwheat porridge (no pork crackers on top), and so with a plan in place, we were ready to order.
“We’d like the cottage cheese-spinach one, and we had another buckwheat one in mind, wait…,” I rush through the pages to choose the right one.
“Oh my. Well, that will be quite a lot,” the waitress offers her judgement, her eyebrows raised and her lips severly pursed.
“Hmm? Really? So how big is one štrukelj anyway, we did plan on sharing everything…” It’s a good thing I didn’t mention we were also thinking about getting soup for an appetizer. Her face would probably never recover from all that grimacing.
We split one (admittedly large) štrukelj and bits of chicken with a side of buckwheat porridge. Without a single trace of guilt, we decided to order another one for dessert, the ultimate chocolate bomb.
When it was time for the bill, the waitress couldn’t help herself. She would probably suffer immensely if she didn’t hiss at me in an extremely meaningful tone: “Well now, all of THAT must have been enough, WASN’T IT?”
Sometimes I seriously wonder who benefits from being raised well and possessing good manners.
What do YOU care if we order FIVE štruklji? The whole point of this lunch was for my husband from Sudan to try Slovenian štruklji for the first time. Do they really have to be served with some salty Slovenian mockery? So what if people usually only come here for a snack, we were both HUNGRY at four in the afternoon and wanted a full lunch. Also, can’t we simply get a doggie bag of whatever we might not finish? Aren’t you interested in selling more and profiting???
I could have said all of this. But I didn’t. I’m a regretting it now a bit. On the other hand, I knew how the witch would act all surprised, as if she didn’t say anything wrong.
“Yes, it was wonderful, thank you,” I replied with a big smile without any shame. She’s the one who should be ashamed.
We will not go there for štruklji again. We are however, looking forward to recommendations of tasty (and non-judgmental) locations, and invitations to home kitchens as well. Tamer volunteers as an honorary taster.
