An old army buddy, Dan Ehl, writes books. I believe this is his seventh published in the series. It also is one he included me in the dedication, a nice surprise. Another old army buddy, Ron, and Dan’s wife, Barb I know. Good company!
Andy seems unimpressed, but I appreciate Dan’s gesture! Our friendship goes back to when we were stationed in the 69th Signal Company (Photo) in Kaiserslautern, then-West Germany. 🇩🇪 Dan was a still photographer and I was a motion picture photographer.
Dan was the one who introduced to the Tropfsteinhöhle Restaurant, a quirky place decorated like it was a cave with stalagmites with elves or some spirits among them (as I recall…).
The chef was a culinary school trained chef from Italy and his wife was a dour German who sat at the Stammtisch with her nasty miniature poodle, Cheri. She waited on the patrons. Cheri’s purpose was to bark at us and be very annoying.
The food was excellent, then they turned it into a pizza restaurant. 🍕
I always ordered the saltimbocca mit pommes frites. Barbarian that I am, I asked for catsup for the french fries, but snuck some on the saltimbocca! The chef 👨🍳 would come out of the kitchen about then to ask how the saltimbocca was – always excellent! – and, I hope, never caught me sneaking catsup on his masterpiece. The Tropfsteinhöhle Restaurant wasn’t upscale enough for that fellow! And I wish I could apologize to him for the catsup indiscretion!
What a touching gesture!
Much appreciated, too!
What a great friend !
Lots of fun, too!
Congratulations, Doug – and also to Andy 🙂
It was a big surprise.
That is an honor to be included in the acknowledgements! I like the story of the saltimbocca and catsup. I had to look up saltimbocca. 🙂
When you eat the best version ever first, though, you never find another version that satisfies! That was excellent saltimbocca in Kaiserslautern. It even was delicious without catsup…
Hey, Did you at least buy a copy of the book? That’s pretty cool.
Dan dent me a free copy.
P.S. Congratulations on having a book dedicated to you, Doug.
That was a surprise, and I thanked Dan for it.
Years ago, there was a restaurant here decorated exactly the way you described, Doug. Now I see where the Serbian owner got the idea.
As to catsup on saltimbocca, it reminds me of a time when we took a friend (who is no longer with us, sadly) to a very upscale Italian restaurant where he ordered Veal Parmigiano. The sommelier recommended a white wine (I don’t remember which), and our friend requested that the wine should be warmed up, rather than chilled. Since he did not speak English, I had to explain to the horror-stricken sommelier that the man was a famous Russian comedian who never drunk anything cold so as not to have a sore throat. Next, he requested soy sauce for his Veal Parmigiano. The Chef ran out of the kitchen, brandishing a huge cleaver, screaming, “I am aChef Vittorio, there is no aSoy aSauce in mia cucina!” Explanation about the status of our guest had to be repeated to mollify the chef. Meanwhile, my husband snuck out to the nearest sushi place and came back with soy sauce. Everyone was happy.
Lol! What an adventure! Us barbarians should be fed at home.
Yep, and major celebrities should wear signs around their necks. Another one, a singer, for the first time in a sushi restaurant: “What kind of a place is this, with cold raw fish and hot vodka? It should be the other way around!”
That’s a great honor, Doug! I still can’t click the Like button, the fault is on my end. Have a nice weekend.
WordPress can be soooo tedious. I’m having problems using the Reader on my smartphone so have no idea what most of you, including you, have posted since May. Damn!
Compliments , Doug !
In friendship
Michel
Thanks, Michel! It wad a pleasant surprise. Dan and I had some interesting and fun times in our USArmy days in 🇩🇪 Germany and a couple times in Italy.
It was the good old time .Your friend has well memorized this too. .
Very cool to be mentioned in your friend’s book dedications, Doug!
Lots of fun! I see I lost one subscriber, though, which helps keep my head from swelling too much! Lol!