A Curious Birthday

Picture that:
you live in the Netherlands, it is autumn, it is grey, it rains a lot, you and your kids have recently had a cold and your sister-in-law invites you to celebrate her birthday with the whole family in a tour in the nature. "Saturday 25th of September, Recreation area Het Twiske at 12h30", to be precise.

And there goes the family into the recreation area Het Twiske. I have previously posted here about Twiske (for more about it click on the tag list "twiske") and about this hobby of my sister-in-law. Today she told us she would guide us through pads with lots and lots of mushrooms. Ummm, it starts getting interesting for me because I am fascinated about these funghi.

Above, the S.I.L. shows the "classic" type of mushie from fairy tales to my little girl : a red one with white dots. Lovely.

The mushie above looks like an apple that was beaten by gnomes, doesn't it ? Chomp, chomp, chomp !

My SIL in action. With little mirrors, she shows us how the mushies look on their under. She doesn't take any of them from the trees or the ground. But the broken ones she does collecst in a bag for her future tours. She knows how to preserve them for a while.

It was one and half good hour spent in the middle of uncountable and odd mushies. Oh, no way I can remember the names and functions of all of them !

Below: big fox holes.

My sister-in-law advised me never eating blackberries from the lowest branches of bushes, 'cause foxes pee on them. But enough mushies and fruit. It is time to sit down and go drink and eat something, thus we headed to Pavillioen.

We were so lucky with dry weather. The location of Pavillioen is really amazing, near water, bushes ... there were even rainbows. We decided to sit on the back outside so that the kids could run freely - and make some noise.

During years and years, we have always sat outside in The Pavillion and asked some snacks and beer. French fries or bitterballs and a beer. Just that. I didn't know that you actually could have a fancy dinner at there.

Prosecco was ordered...

Most of the grown-ups decided to go for a classic Dutch chocolade truffel, and the kids asked muffins and hot chocolate.

Many Dutch people like having something sweet and light for their lunch: slices of bread topped with chocolate, some fruit or yoghurt, or maybe a soup, or sometimes just a pie. I preferred to order a tosti - cheese /tomatoes. However, deep inside of me I would rather have a tagliatelle with mushies, garlic, cream, parsley and parmesan cheese. Or a small risotto... with lots and lots of mushies, of course !

I enjoyed a lot such unusual birthday celebration.

And we were sooo lucky it didn't rain.

Gefeliciteerd Anja ! Happy Birthday !