Berlin!!

And only six months later I am back! The whole summer passed without a laptop and hence no opportunity to process my photos hence no inspiration to blog. I feel an inspiration to write more now that the laptop situation is fixed and the weather is getting colder, making it cosier to stay at home wearing woollen socks and drinking tea. Perfect time to start looking back at the lovely summer we had...

We had our summer holiday at the end of August, destination Berlin. It seems like everybody loves Berlin and I was convinced we would too by all the recommendations from credible sources. (Check Pumpkin Jam's post in Finnish of her trip for example) We stayed at Excelsior hotel near Zoologischer garten, which I had found just by browsing online. It was a bargain for a four star hotel, but we found it lacking personality and while the location was nice as such being very close to the U-bahn, S-bahn and busses, we were enjoying the eastern Berlin a lot more and found it a little annoying to have to travel quite a long distance to our favourite brunch cafe in Prenzlauer berg.

We spent a week in Berlin, mostly hanging around, eating LOTS, seeing the sights, shopping, getting a bit lost and just enjoying. Here is my Best of Berlin list:

1. Mauerpark

Berliners know how to spend their Sundays! At Mauerpark there is a huge fleamarket with lots of quality stuff, food stalls and good atmosphere. Behind the fleamarket there is a park where you can find all sorts of bands busking, people having picnics and chilling out. There is also an amphitheatre where a huge crowd gathers every Sunday for the Bearpit karaoke. I have never ever enjoyed watching karaoke as much as I did there.

2. Dinner in the dark

What an experience, recommend to everybody! We booked a table at Nocti vactus in advance and chose to have the surprise three course menu for around 30 €. We were a little apprehensive before the dinner wether it would be worth going or not, but as soon as our waiter Thomas led us in to the darkness of the dining room we were amazed. You really cant see a thing and you have to rely on all your other senses. You don't know what the food looks like, or in fact what it is so you really TASTE the food. After each course Thomas would ask us what we thought we had eaten and then correct us, if necessary. I was quite proud of my taste buds, I believe that practising with wine tasting has made me quite accurate. At one point we got company as unexpectedly an another couple was seated at our table. It was truly amazing to to start talking to strangers in the darkness and get to know them without seeing them. The night was unforgettable and so much fun. Thank you for the great company if you are reading this!

3. Brunch

Nearly every morning we had a great breakfast, the best ones were at Anna Blume in Prenzlauer berg and Schwarzes cafe quite close to our hotel. The three-tiered brunch is a must at Anna Blume, and well worth the wait. The cake selection looked amazing but we never had any room in our bellies for them...Next time. Schwarzes cafe had a lovely garden in the inner court and a good selection on different breakfasts. I made my own ordering smoked salmon and avocado, the best combo ever.

4. Getting lost

In Berlin you never know what is behind the corner. There are bars and cafes in courtyards, behind the East side gallery there is a beach bar, in Kreuzberg a Kiosk bus and a cafe in a vegetable garden.

Next some pictures starring the culinary delights of our visit... enjoy!

 Pad thai and a green curry at Mai Thai in Prenzlauer berg. Quite expensive but pretty tasty.

Prater, our favourite beergarten. Hundreds of people, pretty lights, Berliner Weisse and pretzels.

 Anna Blume three-tiered brunch. Divine.

 Beach bar behind East side gallery. I tried Moet Ice for the first time, quite refreshing but basically a waste of  Champagne.

 Amazing sushi at Sasaya in Prenzlauer berg.

 4€ Caipirinhas at Wohnzimmer.

 Outside Spanish restaurant Tres tapas where we enjoyed some really good red wine and tapas section, plus good tips from our waitress on what to see and do in Berlin. 

 Kjosk in Kreuzberg.

 Mexican lunch at Santa Maria in Kreuzberg. Loved it!! So happy that there is something like this also in Helsinki, might do a post about it later...

 Cafe in a vegetable garden in Kreuzberg. 

 Saturday market in Prenzlauer berg.

 Andy had a taste of the famous Berlin snack, Currywurst. Verdict: not the best you can have in Berlin.

 This is a crap picture from our African dinner at Massai. Interesting,would love to try again.

 Had to try one of these! Ice tea with bubbles. 

 Tasty focaccia type snach at Mauerpark fleamarket.

 Brunch at Swarzes cafe.

 Caffe & Gelato ice cream... Amazingness!

Proper German food on our final day. This was at restaurant Bavarium in Europe center. Schnitzel, spätzle and strudel. We like! Washed down with a glass of Riesling and a beer of course.

I loved the graffiti, observing was fun as you never knew where the next piece of art would be.

 Berlin, we will be back!!!

Rustic chickpeas, mushrooms and mash

So you remember how I was declaring my love for zumba in my previous post? My love for zumba caused me to sprain the ligament on my ankle yesterday. It hurt like hell. I am not able to move around very well now, I can't stop laughing at my self hopping around looking pretty stupid. Anyway, I have the best boyfriend in the world, he has been pampering me with flowers and sweets and a lovely dinner yesterday.

He stewed some canned chickpeas with onion, garlic, spinach and spices (ras el hanout, tagine mix, piri and something else too), cooked the mushrooms with red wine vinegar and shallots and made mashed potatoes with garlic cream cheese and some herbs. He is my hero!

This dish is lovely with some red wine, we were having some Italian Vino d'Tavola, but I think the meatyness and spice of the chickpeas can match to some heavier, earthier reds. Have to expirement something else next time...

Today I made A Pretty Good Omelette (whatever the French may say)

So, not so much cooking has been happening recently. Seems like it is not my top priority when my days are full of stuff to do... but it will come back, and I'm happy to accept that. The main point is to enjoy fully the things you have time to do.

This morning I was studying food culture of Provence in France, and then it became my top priority to cook a tasty brunch for us, instead of writing an essay. So I decided on an omelette. Cooking an omelette for a chef is scary, but I think it came out pretty good even if I say so myself. The trick is to cook it just for the right time so that the inside is still a little runny. Traditionally the outside should have no colour, but mine wasn't really traditional, with lots of filling as well ; red pepper, rocket and pecorino cheese, with a little pesto, salt and pepper.

Help me I'm a tea freak!!!

 Oops I did it again! I bought more tea!! I was visiting the Travel Fair and of course instead of booking a holiday like most people I was exploring all the foods and drinks... so tea it is. I bought six Forsman loose tea bags.

I now have 23 different types of tea at home. Insane. I do drink a lot of tea though, like six cups or more on a heavy tea drinking day. If that justifies this... I should host a tea party or something. Anyway, I thought it might be an interesting idea for a post to look what I've got. Here we go!

Women's fitness, Sweet chili, Rose and Bedtime

 I love Yogi teas, they are full of flavour and they are organic on top of that! My new favourite is the women's fitness with rosemary, nettle, rosehip and lavender. Lavender is one of my favourite scents and this tea smells heavenly! Sweet chili is Andy's favourite.

T2 French Earl grey and Turkish apple

 These boxes make me miss Australia! One of my favourite shops down under was T2, better than any candy shop. So many flavours and smells, it was AWESOME! I wish they would come to Finland too. Or I need to get someone to ship me some of the good stuff. Cause obviously I can never have enough tea.

CLIPPER; Indian chai, Green chai, Peppermint, Nettle and Detox

I'm a heavy user of Clipper's detox and peppermint teas. Detox is so tasty with flavours like raspberry and liqourice root and peppermint is just perfect after a meal. I like chai, but these are maybe not the best. When we were in India I drank lots of Chai, strong, cinnamonny, supersupersweet and goooood. It will never be the same here.

Finnish Forsman; Green jasmine, White pearl,  Liqourice, Rooibos with blood orange, India yoga chai, Russian blend(aka golden apple) and Green earl Grey

 So this is what I bought today. Amazing loose tea, we have Forsman tea at my workplace and it's very good quality. I've only tasted the jasmine and the Russian blend, which are both suberb, but I look forward to the others. Especially the blood orange rooibos! Sounds a bit different. I love liqourice so I hope I can substitute the candy with the tea.

Proper Brittish tea like.

This is Andy's stuff. I rarely drink black tea but when we lived in England it was a habit more than anything. I learned from Andy's family to make drinks to others, it's such a sweet gesture. Here it's more the "help yourself" way but in England everybody knows just how to make their loved one's cuppas. But since we've been here in Finland that habit has been forgotten. Maybe I'll make Andy a nice cuppa tea in his favourite (read OLDEST) mug when he gets home from work.

The mixed bag; Rooibos with almond and cream, Indiska chai, White tea with orange spice and Thehuone Green tea sencha sakura

 The chai and the green tea are gifts from friends, I mentioned my love for chai before (R, you know me!) and this green tea is amazing. Some green teas can have a really bitter flavour but this one is smooth and pleasant. It's flavoured with rosehip and cherry aroma. I have to visit the shop Thehuone myself one day...

The other two are new as well, but I already love the White tea with orange spice. I think white tea is going to be my next big favourite.

Cheeky tea tin and elephant tea pot

I love tea pots and would like to collect more. This one is so beautiful, from Indiska. We collect elephant related things that we find beautiful. I think it started from our trip in India and Thailand where we saw elephants for the first time, they are somehow so wise and gentle animals, yet powerful. i'm not superstitious but I like the Indian god Ganesha and how it's meant to bring good luck if you have a statue or an image of Ganesha. So in a way by collecting elephants I am trying to ensure that I will have good luck. I think it's worked pretty well so far... The story went a bit of topic there but nevermind, elephants are cool!  

Are there any other tea hoarders out there? Any recommendations?

My SuperGreen Smoothie

 As I was sitting at the hairdresser today, I got through quite a few women's magazines. I saw an article about smoothies in one of them and there was an idea about combining avocado, kiwi and yoghurt. Here's my version of that!

My SuperGreen Smoothie

Makes around 2 large glasses

1 Avocado

2 Kiwis

1 Lime

Cucumber

Spinach

Basil

1 dl Apple juice

1 dl Organic Turkish yoghurt

Sesame seeds

Blitz in a blender until smooth. I do mine with a stick blender, to make a nice froth bring the blender to the surface so air mixes in the drink. Does that make any sense? I got the idea from how the froth in cappucino is made, and that's how they get that fluffy texture to soups in professional kitchens. Just a little tip from me to you! This was an ideal afternoon snack so I had energy to go for a long walk after my day at uni (and the hairdresser). And it makes you feel super healthy and hippie!

MMmmmmmmmmm

 

Sushi Sunday

Our ingredients

 Sushi Sunday - I could make this a habit. Lazyish day with long walks with the dog, Toy Story 3 on DVD and making sushi. Or Andy making and me taking pictures. Sundays are more or less the only days he has time to cook at home, so I let him. We hadn't made sushi together before so it was about time

Speedy sushi making

  I got the ingredients yesterday from Hakaniemi, we made two different fillings; raw salmon & avocado and tuna with cucumber. We also made a salad from fresh spinach, raw salmon and avocado with a dressing from sesame oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, ginger, garlic and honey, as well as sesame seeds.

Rollin'!

 We had miso soup as a starter, super easy, just boil the kettle and add hot water to a sachet of stuff that looks like mud! Would've been nice to add tofu but since we didn't have any I made it extra seaweedy with this sea salad stuff. It's a mixture of dried seafoods and you can use it in salads or soups. I got it from the organic food shop Ekolo in Hakaniemi.

Miso soup Moomin mugs

 With the meal we had a piccolo bottle of Pommery POP rose Champagne. The bubbles complimented the fattiness of the salmon, avocado and Japanese mayonaisse, it was a good match. Shame it was just a piccolo...

After a Sunday like this it almost doesn't feel too bad to get back to studies tomorrow, it's just that waking up at 6:30 was never my favourite thing. Let's hope that I'll still find time to cook and blog after the everyday life begins again. Bye bye holidays! 

Salmon, avocado and spinach salad with sesame dressing

Maki rolls

California roll style