Nat has somehow perfected the art of ordering the biggest item on the menu. She doesn’t want the biggest item, she just always gets the biggest item.
In Riga she asked for a small side of cabbage to go with her fish at the casual dining buffet near our hotel. She was served an absolute mountain, taking over her plate and engulfing the fish.
You may recall our night at Rosengrāls. Peppa’s lamb shank was quite tiny. My venison stew came in a small bowl. Nat had an entire chicken, butterflied and laying legs spread across her plate, on top of a pile of barley on top of a pile of lentils.
A huge slab of lasagne in Poznań.
The biggest slice of cake every day in Berlin.
A half a chicken last night in Madrid.
But the best of all was in Poznań where we were enjoying the local dumplings – delicious Polish pierogi.
Our first night at dinner Nat was considering one of the autumn specials, chicken and vegetable stuffed pierogi.
‘Is just one pierogi,’ our waiter told her.
‘Oh, how big is it?’ Nat asked. She used her hands to create a shape the size of an apple.
‘Oh no,’ he smiled, ‘is bigger.’
‘Is it to share?’ she asked, ‘or a dish for one person?’
‘For one,’ he responded. ‘Do you want to know? Or shall I surprise you?’
‘Surprise her,’ Peppa and I said together.
‘Ok, I surprise you,’ and off he went.
A short while later Peppa’s pizza arrived. My pork stew arrived. And then Nat’s pierogi arrived.
Like slow motion, the size was gradually revealed as our waiter reached across our heads and lowered it carefully onto the table.
Peppa and I have never laughed so hard. At the size of that dumpling, and at the look on Nat’s face. It was a monster pierogi, spreading across a super sized plate and hanging off the sides. Probably the size of twelve apples.
Nat now requires a warning before she orders anything lest we have a repeat of what Peppa and I now refer to as the great dumpling incident of 2026.
