First, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who sent me congratulations yesterday! I really got lots of nice greetings on the blog, Facebook, Instagram and email. I have read all of them several times and it really warms me up! My wonderful colleagues had also recorded a video where they sang for me - but how nice is that?
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ShareWe celebrated my 40th birthday by going out to eat at one of the many restaurants along the waterfront here in the UK. Cala Gonone. There was a really good starter (salmon salad with citrus fruits for me and a charcuterie and cheese plate for Peter) and a rather dry (overcooked) tuna fillet for the main course.
Anyway, we had a fantastic evening overlooking the sea and intense conversations with our super nice table neighbours from England! Sooo happy with a nice day and evening here in the warm and beautiful Sardinia!
Eating in a restaurant in Sardinia
Here in Sardinia we don't have those affordable 3-course meals that you find everywhere in Spain and France (including Corsica). Now we're in Italy and that means complicated menus of antipasti (appetiser: e.g. cold cuts, salad, seafood), primo piatto (first course: e.g. soup, pasta or risotto), secondo piatto (second course: meat, fish or vegetarian) and sweet (dessert).
For the second course, no side dishes are automatically served, so if you want them, you have to order them in. contour (sideways: e.g. French fries or boiled/grilled vegetables). It's not easy to know how to combine the dishes, and it's certainly not cheap.
Antipasti and grilled tuna
We each chose one antipasti (salmon salad for me and a charcuterie and cheese plate for Peter) and each of the secondo piatto (grilled tuna) and two contour (French fries and grilled vegetables) to share. Together with a carafe of white wine and a small brandy each, the party ended up costing €100. That's fine for a birthday, but I can see why we don't go out to a restaurant every day!
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Mrs Gunilla Yourstone says:
Congratulations in retrospect! Birthdays should definitely be celebrated while travelling. I celebrated my 40th birthday by listening to the "world's oldest language" performed by the San people in Namibia...
01 July 2015 - 9:32
Ama de casa says:
Oh! A little late, but big CONGRATULATIONS to you! How nice you are in the picture too 🙂
01 July 2015 - 9:55
Mr Steve says:
What a delicious birthday meal, but I can see why you don't go out for one every day.
I'm beginning to wonder where you'll be eating when you turn 50. Well, that's an eternity away.
Keep up the good work!
01 July 2015 - 10:09
Ditte says:
Nice that you were properly celebrated and also the "little extra" of eating in a restaurant. Because you only turn 40 once ...
It looked good, but the price was too high I think. As far as I remember, it was expensive to eat out in Sardinia already 10 years ago... And this tricky thing with everything to be ordered extra, that's how it is in most restaurants in Italy.
Enjoy and keep up the good work!
01 July 2015 - 10:57
Joanna says:
How wonderful that you had a nice evening!
It's hard to believe that it should be so difficult and so different, sometimes you get, as you say, really affordable large portions and three-course meals for 10 euros, and the next time you get two olives for 5 euros and a piece of meat without anything else.....
Looks wonderfully good anyway! 🙂
01 July 2015 - 11:02
maria ennefors says:
Congratulations in retrospect. It sounds like you had a great day.
01 July 2015 - 11:20
BP says:
It is probably lucky that you do not turn 40 every day and that it is 10 years until you turn zero again. But I'm glad you enjoyed the evening:-)
01 July 2015 - 11:41
Deciree says:
How wonderful that you were travelling too, during your birthday. But maybe that was the idea too:)) to go away and celebrate:)). Congratulations again Helena. Hugs
01 July 2015 - 11:54
Lena in Wales says:
Congratulations in arrears!
Now I have finally come home to Wales and have the opportunity to follow you again.
Sardinia, sounds lovely! Have not been there but have a constant invitation from a friend who lives there, so it just has to happen. Follow you with excitement until then!
01 July 2015 - 13:08
Markus- mittgrekland.se says:
Looks amazing! Hope you had a great birthday!
01 July 2015 - 13:10
admin says:
Gunilla, thank you so much! It sounds like an exciting 40th birthday you celebrated! 🙂
Ama de casa, thank you very much!
Steve, haha it remains to be seen where the 50th birthday is celebrated! 😉
Ditte, it looked expensive in all the restaurants! Maybe a little cheaper if you order pasta instead of segundo piatto....
Johanna, very different! And here in Italy there are no such ready-made affordable menus as in Spain and France. But pizza is probably cheaper... 😉.
Maria, how nice to hear from you! And thank you so much! Hope all is well with you and your family!
BP, yes it's lucky... but soon it's Peter's birthday! 😉
Deciree, well we haven't planned... But it worked out well! 😉
Lena in Wales, thank you! Sardinia is super nice, of course you should go here! 🙂
Markus, thank you! You absolutely cannot complain when you are in such a nice place!
01 July 2015 - 14:46
Alexandra says:
What luck that we will stay in an apartment hotel when we go to Italy, in case we do not manage to order at a restaurant haha 😉 (Although I have seen Ernst in Tuscany where he tells how it works and Ernst can always be trusted hihi)
What a fantastic looking dress you have in the picture!
01 July 2015 - 15:40
Ruth in Virginia says:
Sent a comment yesterday but it apparently did not arrive.
The same happened on Ana's blog.
Anyway - a belated congratulations on your 40th birthday!
Sounds like you celebrated in style.
My 40th birthday
took place 47 years ago - in 1968. Don't remember how it was celebrated,
but I remember that it was the year of the Russian invasion.
Czechoslovakia, because her husband was in Prague at a congress when it happened.
I was in Stockholm and was about to fly to Prague that very morning, when the invasion
started. Didn't hear from him for 4 days. Worried! But we
came together in London in the end. All good - for US, but unfortunately not
for Czechoslovakia
01 July 2015 - 16:04
admin says:
Alexandra, of course you succeed, although I think it's unnecessarily cumbersome. You order as many dishes as you want from the four (often two is enough, you can combine any of them). The only rule is that they come in order. And don't forget to order side dishes if you don't want to eat the piece of meat/fish all alone on the plate 😉.
Ruth in Virginia, your comment arrived yesterday, no problem! Read it aloud to Peter along with all the other comments. You have been through a lot of interesting and exciting things in your life!!! Understand that you were worried at the time, glad it went well for you!
01 July 2015 - 17:24
Mrs Anne-Marie says:
Congratulations in retrospect Helena! Fun with the picture you posted too which was 10 years old.
Understanding the dishes of southern Europe is not easy. I'll never forget the first dinner my friend and I had with the family we stayed with during our language study trip to France and we thought the spaghetti was the main course and lapped it up. We should not have done that. More came and we almost felt sick in the end. But at least we learnt that there were always three courses and that you took a little less of everything. 🙂
01 July 2015 - 19:20
Vackralillavardag says:
Happy birthday!
01 July 2015 - 22:26
admin says:
Anne-Marie, thank you! You do learn, but not easily when you don't know how it works!!!! 😉
Beautiful day, thank you!
02 July 2015 - 8:23
Kjell & Solveig says:
Congratulations from us in retrospect. Have a continued good journey.
02 July 2015 - 8:34
Camilla says:
Here is a belated congratulations, hooray hooray! Looks like you had a great birthday 😀.
06 July 2015 - 7:08