Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Happy Birthday To...Me....

Happy Birthday To Me~
Happy Birthday To Me~
Happy Birthday To Me...Me...Me...Me...Me~
Happy Birthday To ME!

I had a great birthday celebration this year with the most number of warm wishes received! As one ages, the importance of material gifts somehow diminishes over time and in it's place, gaining in importance, is the warm fuzzy feeling of having someone remembering my birthday and sending me a simple birthday wish. :)

And topping off this sense of emotional fulfilment with yummylicious food would certainly make it a near-perfect birthday experience!

The birthday dinner was held a day before at La Balance, a restaurant situated in the Balance Hotel near Wörthersee, which specialises in SPA and wellness facilities.

Dinner was a five-course meal with a starter, soup, 2 main courses and dessert. I was initially worried about the portion for each course since a single serving in a typical Austrian restaurant can be rather large and hence, it is not uncommon for me to order the kid's meal from time to time. However, on this evening, I was pleasantly surprised when I was presented with the starter. It was so nicely decorated and the portion was just R.I.G.H.T! The rest of the courses were equally elaborately decorated with matching crockeries and most importantly, they all tasted yum yum!

Starter - Variation von Räucherfischen mit Krenschaum und Gurkenspaghetti (Variations of smoked fish)

Soup - Fenchelschaumsuppe mit Knusprigem Garnelentartare (Fennel cream soup with crispy deep fried prawn wontan)

Main Course #01 - Gebratenes Forellenfilet auf Spargelrisotto (Fried trout fillet with aspharagus and risotto)

Main Course #02 - Duett vom millstätter Tauernlamm mit Ratatouille und Kartoffelgratin (Braised mutton and lamb rib chop with potato gratin)

Dessert - Das Beste vom Topfen und der Zwetschke (Variations of quark cheese)

Dessert #01 - Original topfen with plum sauce topping

Dessert #02 - Deep fried pastry with topfen fillings accompanied by plum dip

Dessert #03 - Caramel topfen with plum

If I have to choose a favourite amongst the courses, it would be a tough decision between the soup, braised lamb and caramel topfen! :P

At the end of the sumptuous meal, I was even proposed a toast by the hotel owner and presented with a small bottle of their homemade marmalade. Isn't that what personalised service is all about? :)

On the actual day, I was greeted with the pleasant sight of roses in the living room - thanks to dear Sebastian and THE hubby!

The day was spent relaxing and idling around town with 2 bratwursts from the Wurstkönig and takeaways of four nice-looking cake slices from Café Bernold.

Now, this is the P.E.R.F.E.C.T birthday experience for me! :)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

3 of the pics didn't show up leh...
Mike

Duckburg said...

Is it...on my pc, all the photos showed up.