Zandvoort is a small town on the shore of the North Sea in The Netherlands near Amsterdam. Our rep there drove a blue Cadillac. The car had a reputation in the town and was sometimes used in parades. The rep also had a "hunting lodge" behind his house that was a manly retreat. He liked his reputation. Once he was going to take us to eat at a "special" place. It was after dark and we rode in the blue Cadillac through tunnels of trees across the flat coastal land and ended up at a place that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. But the parking lot was full of cars. Not to worry - we drove to the back, parked where it looked like you shouldn't and made our grand entry through the kitchen. The table was waiting and the service, that seemed to be from the manager, was immediate! We were not an inconspicuous party.
On the trip when Glynda accompanied me we got to meet a couple cooks. The first one was in a suburb of London. There were four of us - Brian was one of the others along with the rep who was feeding us that evening. Glynda ordered a French onion soup for a starter. It was a big serving and she didn't eat all of it. The waiter was concerned that there was something wrong with the soup. We assured him that it was just more than she could eat. Next the manager came. He too wanted to be sure there was nothing wrong and we assured him that it was fine. We thought that had to be the end of it but no - in a few minutes the cook came out of the kitchen. He wanted to make something else for her since she didn't like the soup. We finally got it all straightened out and the meal went well from there - until the after dinner cigars that sent Glynda from the table!
The last little tale took place near Nettetal, Germany which is near Dusseldorf. This was another country restaurant and the reps had brought their wives so Glynda would have some female company. It was a party of seven with Brian being the odd man. This was another long and excellent meals with many courses of good German food and, again, a wine for each course. That was usually two bottles per course and by the end of the meal we had a good collection of empty wine bottles on the table. It was late when the meal was over and that was when we were introduced to Akvavit (Danish for aqua vita - the "water of life"). It was an after dinner drink that is suppose to settle the stomach. The cook came from the kitchen, poured a cordial for each of us and one for him too. A toast to the meal and to the cook! We downed the drinks in one swallow and the meal was over. In the car on the way back to the hotel we three visitors agreed that the drink did indeed make the stomach feel much better. (BTW - the hotel was really an old country house but was in the city of Loberrich then. Since we were going out that evening we had to get two extra keys before we left - one to get inside the high walls around the building and another to get into the building itself. Then we made our way up the big wooden stairs in the almost dark and then to our rooms!) It took us over twenty year to find Akvavit in the US but we do have a bottle in the dining room now.
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