The BIG Event

I thought that Friday night's party was fantastic, but little did I know that Part Two of Werner's birthday celebration on Saturday night was going to be even more spectacular!

We all took taxis to an establishment called "Kitchen Club".  "Kitchen Club" is a cooking school which started out in a building just a block away from Werner's flat.  Werner owns the building, so "Kitchen Club" is his tenant.  The business has been so successful that they have opened a second location, larger and in a different neighborhood of Madrid.  The new location specializes more in "just-for-fun" cooking classes for large events such as Werner's birthday bash.

As we entered the "Kitchen Club" we were greeted by a large poster made from a photo of Werner as a teenager.  "Werni, the flower child of Othmarsingen!"

 

The spacious facility includes two large cooking islands where the lessons are given, and long tables where the participants eat the results of their labors.

   

The guests were divided into two groups... one group at each of the kitchen islands.

Our chef was quite the comic.  He was going to teach us how to make a Spanish dish, paella, and a Swiss dish, potato salad.

My cousins Hans Peter and Ruth were with me at one corner of the island.  None of the three of us care for shellfish... so we were not thrilled that we were making paella with all that "yucky" stuff like shrimp, squid and mussels!  

 Me... pretending to be hard at work!  Behind me is Auri, Werner's housekeeper, who is like a member of the family.

With my cousin Werner and his sister Brigitta

                                                                        

The finished paella

After completing our cooking, we sat down to eat.  Hans Peter, Ruth and I feared that there would not be much for us to eat since we don't like seafood paella.  But there were numerous other dishes that had been prepared ahead of time by the chefs of "Kitchen Club".  Nobody went hungry!

Tony and Jay, who live in Portugal, are two of Werner's oldest and dearest friends.

Manuel, Werner's spouse, has a large family, and they were there in full force.

Here is Manuel with his mother and sister María.

The party was not over with dinner.  Of course there was a birthday cake.  The Spanish contingent sang the birthday song "Las Mañanitas" (I was surprised to learn that it is the traditional song in Spain, as well as in Mexico.)  Then "Happy Birthday" was sung first in English and then in German.

One of the surprises of the evening was that Peter, Brigitta's partner, had brought his Alpenhorn, the traditional instrument of Switzerland, and he played for us.  (How did he get the Alpenhorn on the plane?  It unscrews into smaller pieces which fit into a manageable bag.)

 

 Werner tried playing the Alpenhorn, but with much less success.

There was a beautiful audio-visual presentation with pictures of Werner through the years.  Hans Peter gave a touching tribute to his cousin (which was translated from English to Spanish by Monica, Werner's dear friend and neighbor).

Finally, the family presented Werner with a flag of the emblem of the Marti family of Othmarsingen.

 

Hans Peter explained to me that it was not a family coat of arms but just an emblem, since the Marti family was never nobility.  The gray triangular image in the center of the flag represents the blade of a plow, reflecting the family's agricultural roots.

The party did not start to break up until 1 A.M.
It was an unforgettable evening, and I am so happy to have been there!!!