《Leofoo Inn》

This is a small inn on the border between Norway and Sweden, located on our way to Lake Mainna, in the shape of a country cottage, in front of the main road, behind the low hill, the owner with a fence to circle a piece of land out, planted roses and daisies, put on a small white round table and chairs, became his own small garden.

Above the rafters of the entrance to the inn, is the name of the shop with black characters on a brown background - "LiuFu Inn", these four dignified and square Chinese characters, revealing a thick Chinese style texture, suddenly let us mistakenly think that we have returned to the embrace of the motherland.

Luk Fook Inn does not accept accommodation, it is actually a hotel.

It must be Chinese to open such a hotel in a foreign country, and sure enough, the hostess is Chinese, and more coincidentally, she is actually from Jiaojiang, although she is not a Linhai person, it can also be said that it is my Taizhou hometown, and suddenly the distance between us is closer.

I thought that the fellow must have married a local talent to immigrate here, but I guessed wrong, and her husband came out of the kitchen at lunch, also a Chinese, from Jiangsu. The aunt who helps in the kitchen, the little girl who serves the food, and the little boy who runs around in the restaurant are all Chinese, and when they enter the restaurant, they feel like they are back in China.

The lobby of the inn (in fact, it is not so big, but it is also a façade) decoration style is a combination of Chinese and Western, and there are many things placed, which makes people a little dizzy. The space below the wooden staircase is decorated into a mini commissary that sells a variety of souvenirs that can be carried around, mostly coins, and almost no one cares. In the hall, there are gadgets and antiques collected by the inn couple, Chinese, Western, Southeast Asian, and from Africa, and the walls are inlaid with huge deer heads. The hall is not large, but the couple has spent twelve efforts to divide it into several areas, the most praised is the place by the floor-to-ceiling window, separated by a sofa and a bookshelf, a separate small book bar, only three or four people can sit, but the light and shadow effect is excellent: a dark brown old leather sofa with copper rivets, reclining like an old man; in addition to books, there are all kinds of strange small objects on the bookshelf; there is a common brass antique telephone in the Republic of China period on the table, which is carefully cared for by a cover made of broken flower cloth. In the afternoon, the sunlight outside the house shines obliquely through the floor-to-ceiling window, pulling out the ornaments and vases out of the oblique, long shadow, and the eyelashes of the people on the sofa are also pulled out of the beautiful light and shadow. Sitting here in a relaxed and lazy atmosphere, I really don't want to move.

Next to the book bar was an old piano, also covered with a pale-colored fine floral cloth, which was old but clean, and should be a piano often used by the owner, not a pure ornament.

I told the hostess that these days when I travel in Northern Europe, I am not used to the food here, my stomach is not feeling good, and I miss Chinese food too much. The woman said that you can eat authentic Chinese food at noon, and my best is potato goulash! Listening to her say this, I actually don't think so, foreign Chinese restaurants can hardly burn authentic Chinese food, which everyone knows. The dishes cooked by foreign Chinese restaurants, on the one hand, attract foreigners to taste in the name of Chinese cuisine, on the other hand, they have to cater to the tastes of the locals as much as possible, and the result is often not in the ocean, becoming four different. So I didn't have big expectations. I even walked around the restaurant to see if they had fast food instant noodles for sale.

I wonder if the inn couple had a green eye on me because of their hometown and took out their ability to take care of the family? After the potato beef was served, a pure meat aroma immediately revived my taste buds that had been numb for many days, and my appetite was greatly moved. The potatoes have been thoroughly soaked in beef juice, the powder is not dry, the beef pieces are tender but extremely flavorful, and when you bite down, the beef juice bursts out. It is said that in domestic restaurants, it is not necessary to eat such a delicious goulash potato, and this lunch is eaten to the stomach, saving my appetite for several days.

After praising their cooking skills, I thought I could get close to them, because I had always had a question in my mind: Why did the couple run to a place so far away in Northern Europe, on a rural road in Sweden, to open an inn called "Liu Fu"? Here, who will understand the meaning of this "six blessings"? What good business can there be here?

Who knew that the seemingly enthusiastic and open hostess suddenly became less enthusiastic, I thought that she was in such a distant place to see the hometown people, the heart must be excited, who knew that her expression changed quickly, let me not understand: she suddenly showed that she did not want to chat with me.

So I went out to the garden to see the flowers and plants.

Today I suddenly remembered that this incident was out of seeing a movie on the Internet also called "Liu Fu Inn", starring Ingrid Bergman, a film related to China, the title of "Liu Fu Inn" was translated as "The Inn of The Sixth Happiness", at that time I thought, "the sixth happiness" is the meaning of "the sixth blessing", why not translate it as "The Inn of The Six Happiness", Is there anything mysterious about it? The Chinese word for "six blessings" should refer to six or more blessings, not to the sixth kind of blessing, right?

A few years have passed, and the memories of the Leofoo Inn and my Taizhou hometown, as well as the details of light and shadow, still vividly remain in my mind. Actually, I'm wondering if they've come back now. If not, is it okay to be in a foreign country after the epidemic?

It is a daily memory.

【Cloud Original】

(Image from the Internet)