Dinner at the Feijens

The event I write about happened nearly two months ago, so my memory of the details are a bit hazy. I should have written about it earlier -- it was a wonderful evening and I would have liked to have record of all of it. Its never too late though, and I will write about the most memorable events of the night, lest I forget them as well!

Wim Feijen, the soup chef!

On 12 December 2005, Wim and Rina Feijen hosted a dinner at their home which is 30 minutes away from Eindhoven. The party included Jeremy and his visiting friend Sarah, Rob Hoogerwoord and his friend Irma, Mrs. Dijkstra, Arjan Mooij, me, and the hosts.

Wim lives in a very rural area and he keeps livestock including goats, hens and cats. Their house is a cozy, rustic place which is decorated very tastefully. We arrived at 1630. Mrs. Dijkstra drove us (Jeremy, Sarah, Arjan, and me) there. We started off in the sitting room with drinks and snacks. There was some delicious cream cheese with crackers. It went really well with the red wine I was drinking. I have do not recollect any details from the conversation that went on. It was more or less general talk of the kind one tends to forget after a while.

We then assembled at the dinner table while Wim prepared his soup and Rina Feijen prepared the rest of the meal. 12 December was a Monday, and we were told that Wim had spent most of the weekend preparing this soup, so I awaited it with anticipation. It turned out to be quite good, I certainly enjoyed it.

While Rina Feijen was preparing the rest of the meal, Jeremy and Sarah decided to give an impromptu recital of some music for piano and flute. Jeremy is a skilled pianist and Sarah is flutist by education, and their music entertained us while the food was being prepared. The also played a part of the first movement of Mozart's piano sonata K.331, which is one of my favourite pieces of music. Mrs. Feijen was certainly thankful to them since it took pressure off her as everyone's mind was diverted off the food and on the music.

Jeremy and Sarah

The piano is in Wim's study, and while the music was being played I took the opportunity to have a look at some of the books. It was nice to see some of the personal notes by Dijkstra and others in certain copies of the books. I am not sure that Wim approved of my reading them though. Alas, I should have asked beforehand!

Wim seems to love taking pictures and he suddenly got a grand idea of taking pictures of Jeremy and Sarah's feet while they were playing. So down he went, crawling under the piano to take these pictures. I have pictures of him under the piano, but I will not post them here. It was certainly a source of a lot of laughter!

Finally, dinner was ready and off we trooped back to the dining table. It was a splendid four course Dutch dinner. As an appetizer, each of us were served with a salad comprising of bacon and pineapple amongst other things. It was delicious.

The main course consisted of grilled meat with gravy and sauce, boiled French beans, boiled potatoes, and a mushroom dish. Dutch food is not spicy, but it certainly has a distinctive salt-pepper kind of flavour which I cannot quite classify. I definitely enjoy it though. All the food was cooked perfectly and presented in an impeccable manner. I thought I was eating at a five star restaurant! Here is a picture of the dining table, courtesy Sarah :

From left to right : Rob Hoogerwoord, Irma, Wim Feijen, Ria Dijkstra, Apurva Mehta, Arjan Mooij, Jeremy Weissmann, Rina Feijen.

Now, Wim is a huge fan of the Volkswagen Beetle. He has four of these cars I believe and often hosts gettogethers of Beetle enthusiasts. His house is also sprinkled with scale models of the Beetle. So, in his honour, the dessert was custard pudding with whipped cream and peaches, modeled in the shape of a Beetle! Check it out :

The Beetle!

After we had finished off that huge tray of dessert Wim said he would take the tray to his cats for them to lick clean. On his way out of the dining room with the tray, he stood straight up, held the tray by his side, at shoulder level, on the upward palm of his right hand. He folded his left hand behind his back, stuck his chin upward and marched out saying "Jeeves!" -- a tribute to that venerable butler from P.G. Wodehouse's books. It is a scene I will always remember.

After the dessert tray was duly disposed of, we remained at the dining table for coffee and sweets. There was a wide assortment of chocolates, candy, cookies, you name it! And all that after a huge dinner. I indulged myself with loads of coffee and loads of the sweets that were on offer. I think coffee miraculously provides one with a large appetite!

That brought an end to a wonderful evening. I had a great time and will always remember these incidents with fondness. Wim and Rina Feijen were wonderful hosts and I take this opportunity to thank them once again.