But before I reminisce, I must say that this last year was really no different than any of the eight years prior, except we now share a last name and a bank account. I guess that's what happens when you know someone so long. But I am happy to report that despite knowing my husband for nearly a decade, I am not bored in any way shape or form. It's a good thing he's so damn hilarious.
Anyhow, while eating our miraculously well-preserved wedding cake, I remembered it all - the joy of our wedding day, the excitement of our honeymoon, the patience of my then-fiancé in the year leading up to our wedding. But the memory that sticks out in my mind today is of a tiny little slice of our honeymoon - our first stop before the real vacation began.
We went to Africa for our honeymoon and the first destination on the list was Mozambique. Before flying all the way to Eastern Africa, we made a pitstop in Johannesburg, South Africa to get off the plane and to spend the night in a hotel before continuing on to the beach. So technically, our first night on our honeymoon was spent in Jo-burg.
Our travel agent booked us a room at a hotel near the airport. The idea was to eat some dinner, get some rest, and head to Mozambique refreshed and ready for yet another full day of air travel. We had very low expectations about this leg of the journey. And maybe that’s why it was so awesome.
The hotel was actually part of a casino resort that was done up like Caesar's Palace. It had everything - from the painted skyscape to the faux statue of David. We checked in to our room and headed down to the shopping and restaurant area for some dinner. We decided to go for the African Game restaurant, Tribes, to kick-off the journey. Being adventurous eaters, we perused the menu and scanned the list - beef, chicken, ribs, ostrich. Sounds good to me. We ordered the Game Platter - a dish we assumed would be a little of column A and a little of column B (with all columns appearing on the menu). When our food arrived, however, we realized our mistake.
The game platter included four meats, but only one - ostrich - was on the menu. The other three were not only not listed anywhere on the menu, but also not part of our everyday animal vocabulary. We were served ostrich, warthog, impala and kudu.
We did not learn what a kudu was until the end of our trip, where we not only saw them in the wild, but ate them again. To spare you the Wikipedia check, I have included a CinS-taken photo of some kudu... followed by a picture of what the kudu tasted like our first night in Africa. Sadly, our second taste of kudu while on safari was not as satisfying to the American palette. So now you know, always opt for the cheese sauce when eating mysterious game.
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