An American Braviour's Fantasy

Part 10 : Melkweg ~ Kibbeling

The drinks finally came after waiting seemingly forever and so did the food and it was quite the scene to watch these Dutch-folk all imbibing their alcohol and nibbling on food that Rashelle couldn't identify by looking and it was all just another day in the life, she thought. Fascinating!

Sam told the Waiter which plates to put in front of Rashelle and she was obviously overwhelmed but was at least a good sport. She tried everything he pointed at and told her what to dip what into what. Basically everything was batter-dipped and deep-fried. The contents of each scrumptiously greasy morsel were various foods like meatballs, cheese chunks, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, saucy asian noodles and the last one she tried made her laugh out loud.

"What is this?" She asked Sam, pretty sure already that she knew but wanted to make him tell her.

"Kibbeling." He told her with a smirk. Rashelle scowled and raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"This is fish!" She said covering her mouth with her hand.

"It's battered and fried." Sam told her with a smart-ass grin. Rashelle pretended to smack him on the arm and struggled to swallow the bite in her mouth without choking.

"Oh my God!" She said and started to laugh. "That's funny!"

"Do you like it?" Sam laughed with her. She nodded and licked her fingertips.

"Yeah! It's great. The batter is... unusual, but I like it." She told him and reached for another little chunk of the kibbeling.

"How is it unusual?" He asked, curiously.

"It's really thick and hard." she told him.

"So am I!" both Dioni and Jai said at the very same time. They looked at each other and shouted, "Hey!!" and hi-fived across the table. They were so funny! Rashelle thought. 

When everyone finished laughing at them, Sam and Rashelle continued their way through the food in front of them, each of them nibbling off of all their shared plates as the others at the table all whispered to each other about how adorable they were. After most of the food had been cleared from everyone's plates, the conversation picked up again and they would all slip back into speaking Dutch off and on, but were obviously making a concerted effort to speak in English more than usual and she knew they were doing it just for her benefit. It was flattering that they would be so considerate. In fact, just sitting in the middle of everyone at her table, in the middle of the little restaurant, in the middle of city of Amsterdam, in the middle of the Netherlands, in the middle of Europe... she felt utterly connected to everything and everyone around her. It was a very zen moment.

*****

"You're quiet." Rashelle heard Sam's voice and she turned her head, snapping out of her trance. As she caught his gaze, she realized that he'd been watching her. She was almost embarrassed for a moment but the feeling passed quickly as she stared into his twinkling eyes and started to drown in their depth. What did he just say? Oh yeah. I'm being quiet, she remembered.

"I was just watching - everything. All this is normal to you but to me, it's completely alien and amazing... I don't understand everything, kinda like your language, I only catch every tenth word or so but, I dunno, I just feel so lucky to be here. Everyone I've met since I arrived yesterday has just been incredibly nice and helpful and I'm just so grateful. Am I being too sentimental? I'm sorry." She tried to explain. Sam grinned, then looked down at the table and took a drink out of his glass, leaned back and just looked at her. She sat up, beer in hand and stared back, wondering what he was thinking.

"Hey, Morena." Dioni's voice addressed her once again. She looked up smiling as Dioni picked up his drink and pointed across the table at the cocktail in front of her. "Drink up, Angel-eyes! You're in Amsterdam tonight!" he said loudly and everyone at the table shouted and cheered and lifted their glasses.