One of my favorite pass-time activities is trying out various cuisines and exploring restaurants. If I’m not in school, at home, or doing work, I am most likely sitting at some restaurant with friends, eating. Luckily, my passion for eating runs in my family, so whenever I come home to see my parents, they always treat me to the most delicious food! I’ve never been a big fan of traditional German food; a plate full of sauerkraut, sausages and a good ol’ pile of potatoes. However, my parents were convinced that a certain restaurant just on the outskirts of my little town would make me change my mind.

The restaurant that they had in mind is the oldest restaurant in the Nordrhein-Westfalen region of Germany, which is where I live. Because I knew this was a famous restaurant, and quite a historic one, I wanted to dress to impress. I didn’t have anything sexy or revealing in mind, but I did want to shine. My ideal outfit was a simple, not-too-tight look that won’t turn heads in the wrong way. Basically, I wanted to look chic. I decided on a wine-red skirt that is wider at the hips and narrows down at the knees. I like to wear skirts higher up on my waist in order to make me look taller and emphasize my bottom half. I do this by wearing a darker color on top and making my torso look smaller, which is exactly what I did. I wore a nice black T-shirt that I bought from 365Hangers about a week ago and a pair of Ralph Lauren heels to make me look slender. I wore small hoops and a medium amount of eye makeup. After I was done getting ready, I was definitely ready to eat!

My parents definitely hit the jackpot choosing this restaurant! While I’m still not a big fan of meat (other than a good piece of steak every now and then), the meal I had here was very good. It did make me look at German food a little differently, but I still prefer fish over meat. The crowd in the restaurant varied in age, and I was really impressed with the way most people were dressed. I realized that Germans don’t really tend to dress up as much as people in LA. I feel like every occasion in LA gives people a good excuse to put on their nice dress shoes! My parents, however, kept saying all throughout dinner how jeans is inappropriate for such a nice restaurant. I was raised to not wear jeans to a classy restaurant, and instead was always told to wear either dress pants or a skirt. However, I think that jeans have kind of evolved since my parents’ generation where not all jeans are considered casual. Darker jeans, for example, are considered more formal than a lighter pair. I don’t usually wear a pair that have diamonds and sparkles all over my butt, or those that have intentional rips and fadings. I like to keep my jeans simple and a solid color. I agree that those with rips are more for a casual day out, but a clean pair of dark-colored jeans is acceptable to me. Nevertheless, I still felt like my wine-red skirt and black top was acceptable for the occasion, and it made my dinner even tastier knowing that my parents were happy that I wasn’t wearing jeans.

Love always,
Mia