Birthday Bash

There was a 75th birthday celebration the other weekend - Monica - René's mother, Werner's first wife.  She planned it all from Curacao and came to Germany from there to celebrate.  She invited friends from around Hamburg, but also from far afield.  One friend came from California!  That's friendship!!

Of course, getting together with friends is the most important, but food is not too far behind.  And since René (with his good friend Olaf) are serious cooks, the menu is a big deal.  And the biggest deal this time was a roast pig.  The whole thing.

And since they were getting ready for 40+ people, it's not just the pig on a stake, but the lamb and the chicken and the baked beans and the salad (but I have to say there was more bread than salad.  René is a meat-and-potatoes man).

 Festivities started at 1:00, the food was ready about 3:00 and there were a few toasts and a few little speeches, but mostly people just ate and talked.

Here we are in our birthday best.

And of course, there's always Kaffee und Kuchen.

The early birds left about 9 PM, but there are still hearty souls among this older crowd, and the last ones found the exit about 2 AM.  (I gave up about 12:30!)

Next morning there was a good bit of clean up to do before preparing breakfast for 8 and before we were done eating (again), some of the out-of-towners dropped by for another short visit before heading home.   

We followed suit and headed home mid-afternoon while the hosts and hostesses did more hosting during the day  --  all the leftovers got eaten (!) and most of the drinks gradually disappeared.  All in all, a happy party.

I don't think there's another biggie birthday bash coming up anytime soon.  Oh that's wrong.  There's one the next weekend.....