On Tuesday night I met up with other members of our Taize group. We had a meal at an Italian restaurant (next to MY coffee shop) which was great. Scanning the 'specials' board I noticed the that there was on offer; Espresso, and Vanilla Ice Cream. I ordered what I thought was going to be a pleasant cup of coffee to have whilst, or just after, eating my ice cream. Turns out though that it is in fact, one dish. An Ice cream with a coffee poured over the top, Doh! Made me laugh.
Are there other potential misunderstanding traps that I should be aware of if eating out?
Also, is there any special knowledge I should have about eating at Taize in addition to the frightening fact that there is NO coffee. (I hadn't realised in time that I had signed up for a decaffeinated form of Monasticism!!!)
There is Coffee (and fairly good at that) at Taize, you just have to hunt it out!
Oyak, is (or was) open around the end of breakfast and before groups, and you can buy an extremely reasonbly priced coffee. It makes the week go along much better!
Mark,
Thanks for the info, I am SO pleased to know that.
I was thinking that sans coffee was a Monastic step too far :-)
Beth can probably provide a lot more tips than me about eating at Taize. Certainly the one I remember is that there is a special technique to breakfast involving not eating the chocolate until you've used it to spread the butter as you didn't get any cutlery with breakfast.
If you feel the need to explore beyond the community Cormatin is the closest large village which has shops and a couple of cafes, although most people seem to take the bus into Cluny at some point during their stay, which I can certainly recommend. It has a reasonably sized Intermarche on the edge of town, but alongside the shops and restaurants it is fascinating to see the town which is quite literally built on the ruins of Cluny abbey, which in it's time was one of the most significant monasteries in Christendom. http://bit.ly/glbxe
You had one of my fave puddings! I prefer it when it's a chocolate bomba covered in espresso :o)
Eating at Taize you will be fine. Breakfast tip two - place tea/hotchocolate bowl on topf of butter as you carry it to whereever you sit to eat - helps soften the butter for spreading. I tend ti spread the butter with the packet its in personally.
coffee is certainly sold from machines as is coke but I found the morning hot chocolate plus chocolate in the hot drink gave me a sufficient caffeine kick.
More tips next week :o)
Richard,
I'm looking forward to seeing you out there, thanks for the tips
Sarah,
Alison and Clare were asking about whether you'd be there?
What I remember about breakfast was being able to go through more than once as you didn't need a ticket last time I was there. Don't lose your meal tickets for lunch and dinner though! And the food will keep you alive, although catering for thousands does mean that it won't be fine dining... I do miss the hot chocolate...
Beth,
Thanks for the comment. I reckon I might pack my fav' pepper and jalepeno relish (not for the breakfasts though you understand).
lots of people have mentioned the hot choc, sounds good