Cinemania!

The Oscar nominations are in, the Berlinale kicks off in ten days. Time to eat, live and breathe film for a few weeks. Last Friday we saw The Artist at Cinestar Original im Sony Center – the French, silent, black-and-white film that has enticed film critics everywhere. We, too, liked it: it was a great feel-good film that had us forget about everything else for 100 minutes. And the dog is fantastic! Today it was a whole different story as we viewed Kriegerin, a German film that came out in January, at Hackesche Höfe Kino in Mitte. It's the final project or thesis project by director David Wnendt, that describes the neo-nazi scene in Brandenburg, just outside Berlin. I found the film interesting, a little naive, and the cast of young actresses was amazing – definitively the German film to see this year. As a new Berliner and foreigner, it's indeed interesting to gain insight to the hate and violence brewing in the "suburbs" – something you luckily aren't faced with in central Berlin. The dialogue wasn't hard to follow and the story wasn't complicated, so Kriegerin can be viewed without having mad German skills.

The next film I'm looking forward to seeing is the Finnish film Iron Sky, about space nazis, that premieres at Berlinale 2012 in the Panorama Special series.

Berlin with dad - Tadjiki tea and Tintin in 3D

My dad was in Berlin for a visit over the weekend. He and his wife have been to Berlin only once before, precisely two years ago. For the life of me I can't understand why they keep coming to Berlin when it's cold and dark here! Despite some light rain and a few gusts of Siberian wind, we had a wonderful weekend and manage to do things that were new to A and me, as well.

 

On Saturday afternoon, after a cosy cup of tea and coffee in our kitchen, we took of to Dahlem to visit the Christmas market at Domäne Dahlem. It was rainy and cold, so the market wasn't crowded and we didn't have to queue for marzipans, glühwein, roasted chestnuts or mustard. For a meat-eater there were interesting things on offer, like horse and deer meat, or organic boar sausages. The museum and the little atelier shops around the market were open, so we could get warmth and shelter when we needed it. All in all, it was my favourite Berlin Christmas market and we had a lovely time.

On Sunday we visited the Tadschikische Teestube – a place we wanted to see already on dad's last visit. The little tearoom is hidden in plain sight on the second floor of the Palais am Festungsgraben, next to the Deutsches Historisches Museum. Since it appears in many guide books it's well known and very popular, so a reservation is advisable. We managed to get a table with cushioned floor seating by being there exactly when the Teestube opened, which is at 3pm on the weekends. Most of the tables were reserved but we could sit down at one that was reserved for 5pm. Almost immidiately a queue started forming at the doors. The tea selection at the the Tajik tearoom is extensive and ranges from smoky Russian tea to iced Japanese cherry tea. The kitchen prepares a few Russian dishes like pelmeni and blinis, both sweet and savory. Dad and M were really impressed and we realised that we now have to bring all our guests to the Tadschikische Teestube for a pot of tea.

Through work I tried to get us tickets to see Rigoletto at the Komische Oper, but had no luck. Instead we went to see The Adventures of Tintin in 3D at Cinestar Original im Sony Centre. My dad hadn't seen any modern 3D film before, so even if we ended up at the dubbed-into-German film version, we all enjoyed the experience and the film a lot. And we all understood almost all the German!

It was a fun weekend and now I feel geared up for shopping for Christmas presents, for the office Christmas party on Thursday and for the last deadline of the year at work.

Jägerklause weekend

On Saturday we were all tired and hung over – A and M wanted to go play in the studio and make some recordings. K went back to TK Maxx for a second time and I stayed home, reading on the balcony, feeling slightly abandoned. We couldn't muster up much energy and when everyone got back, we just had a quick bite in our downstairs restaurant, an ice cream in our neighbouring ice cream shop and then settled in our favourite biergarten, Jägerklause, for the whole evening. It's a pretty good place to be stuck at, though!

On Sunday we had a full day planned: posh, Russian brunch at Datcha, then flee-marketing at RAW, Boxhagener Platz and Mauerpark. It was a really hot day, almost +30°C, and after stuffing ourselves at Datcha, we were weak. K came about some really good bargains at RAW, M bought a cool briefcase for his base pedal on Boxi... and then we were exhausted.

After a strengthening beer at Jägerklause we had Maultaschen at Hirsch – so good, so affordable – and headed to the Freiluftkino Insel in Cassiopeia. The King's Speech was the only English original version film playing on Sunday, so we got a chance to try a new Freiluftkino venue. It was pretty small and cosy, but almost all the chairs were plastic garden chairs, so I wouldn't go see a very long film there. The King's Speech, on the other hand, was really good and we left for bed with a smile on our faces. That was M's and K's last evening in Berlin.

Summer enough for Freiluftkino

Freiluftkino is one of my favourite things about Berlin summer, and now the season has kicked off!

A was sure it wouldn't be too cold to FINALLY see the 2010 Banksy film, Exit Through the Gift Shop as it was the opening film of the Freiluftkino Kreuzberg season last Friday. When we found our way in between the buildings on Mariannenplatz we were warm from cycling and it was still not completely dark. We could see rows of beach chairs parked in front of a hoard of green, plastic, garden chairs. The outdoor cinema in Kreuzberg is definitively smaller than Freiluftkino Friedrichshain! We grabbed fold-up beach chairs and found a nice spot in the centre. Typically for Berlin, people arrived late and when the announcer finally got to introduce the film it was already dark. Smartly we'd brought a blanket, but it didn't stop the cold air beneath the chair from soaking through the fabrics and onto my back. By the end of the film I was pretty cold, but hadn't even considered leaving: the film was funny and good, poignantly asking the question: "what is art?" – depth that I hadn't expected.

A glimpse of the Berlinale

FriedrichstadtPalast, Mitte

 
Next week will be a hard working one, again. I'm still hoping to make it to a few more Berlinale things, like a Berlinale Shorts screening (I'm super eager to see Swedish zombie film "Återfödelsen" ("The Unliving") and later I want to take advantage of the Berlinale Kinotag on Sunday the 20th when all films are only €6.

On Friday we saw the Cohen brothers' True Grit at the FriedrichstadPalast. It was a pretty cool venue since it gets converted to a cinema only once a year, for the Berlinale. It seats almost 2000 people so festival atmosphere and buzz are a guarantee. True Grit itself was nothing special: a very true-to-its-genre western with good actors. No Country for Old Men was far better.

After the film we had tapas at the Spanish Barcelona restaurant in Mitte – we bought a voucher for a €14 tapas plate for €7,25 on Blitzdeals.de and were eager to use it. The tapas were really good, but the plate wasn't really enough of a dinner for two... And the atmosphere was slightly lacking, but that might have been because we got there at 6pm, which is pretty early.

Waiting for the Berlinale

It's high season for film freaks: the Berlinale kicks off this Thursday and goes on for ten days and a week later it's the Oscars.

Just tonight I saw Black Swan at Kino International and wouldn't be surprised if Natalie Portman wins the best actress trophy. The next Oscar nominee I'm planning on catching is True Grit – also the opening film of this years Berlinale festival. Berlinale program here. Oscar nominees here.

Work, Harry Potter and potatoes

Work, work, work – blahblahblah. Yes, I've been spending a lot of time at the office. Yes, the weather is miserable and rainy.

Luckily we had booked tickets to the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1 already a month ago. Before going to the cinema we met our friends M&M for baked potatoes at Bixels, a restaurant in Mitte that only serves baked potatoes (and salads). Thumbs up! They were really delicious and the toppings were all more exciting than I would think to do at home, so definitively worth €5-6. But then again, I'm a sucker for spuds :)

Cool Kino

Oh my, original language films in a cinema close to home! Wohoo!

We went to see the preview of The Road at Kino International on Karl-Marx-Allee last week, and I was really taken by the old, funky building. Very GDR, very fancy. The film, on the other hand, was depressing...

Fresh air at the cinema

We visited the Freiluftkino Friedrichshain for the first time last Sunday and saw Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. It was fantastic. So was the cinema! Bring a picnic, buy a beer: there's benches, chairs and also a few tables at the front. The cinema apparently seats 1500 people and there was plenty of room for everyone on Sunday. The only BIG problem I had was that they only sold sweet popcorn: yuk! Next time we will bring our own.

We are experiencing another tourist invasion early tomorrow morning, by A's parents and godparents, and I'm a little annoyed that we will not be able to see Inglorious Basterds there on Saturday. Go on our behalf – it's so good!

No sugar, please

I decided to try not to eat sugar this week, to ease my addiction a little. I'm off to a rocky start, though; I stopped by the office, where I saw cookies and accidentally ate one. We had a meeting across the street in a café and I ordered a chai latte (it came with one of those tiny amaretto cookies, that taste like nothing but amaretto and sugar). I got home and found some of my Swedish marzipan pastries next to my computer and had one for dessert. Maybe I'll do better tomorrow.

The weekend was long and humid, filled with junk food. We celebrated my job and drank so many cheap cocktails on Friday, that we didn't even want to change bars, but stayed in BR101 until 4 o'clock... It was a great night, almost all of our friends made it and even a new Italian one. On Sunday we were invited to a free screening of the star filled musical Nine (trailer here) – very confusing to see dubbed films in the cinema! I think we were lucky though, I think the thick, fake Italian accents would have driven us crazy in English! After the film we cured our hangovers at the famous Kreuzburger, that surprisingly also does an impressive array of veggie burgers!

Finnish Christmas Market

Here's something to do when the sun shines on Saturday: visit the Finnish Christmas market in Kreuzberg! I will definitively go there on Saturday or Sunday to see if I can find some Finnish chocolate, salmiakki and Christmas goodies. And maybe something with a Moomin troll on it :) Speaking of which, did anyone else know they are doing a Moomin film? A former colleague sent me this link today. The weather forecast is amazing for Friday and Saturday, like +14°C and sun, so let's make the most of it!

Picture from Moomins and Midsummer Madness

Until next time

My best friend was visiting us for four days, she left this morning. Of course I got a cold at the same time, it always seems to be like that. We still had a fantabulous time, and did an amazing amount of Berlin-living; not to mention beer-drinking. I think the most memorable day was Saturday, when we went to Sachsenhousen concentration camp in the day, and then to see Inglorious Basterds in the Sony Centre in the evening. Great contrast, great film! Sunday was particularly nice too, because the weather was incredibly warm and sunny, and we got to enjoy Mauerpark the way it is meant to be enjoyed; curry wursts, krishna fast food, browsing and then sitting down in the grass, drinking beer and listening to music. We also met other friends there and I counted five languages being spoken in our little group; English, German, Finnish, Swedish and Portuguese!

Sachsenhausen

After Mauerpark we went to Massai restaurant for African food, which was really interesting – and quite inexpensive. I had a South African cider with dinner, and it was the best cider I've had outside Ireland, I think. I think what impressed our visitors the most was the amount of super-cool bars, cafés and restaurants in Berlin. Friday night we spent in Zu mir oder zu dir, a funky, little bar with a cool dj and the most comfortable sofas ever. On Saturday we spent all night at Tacheles, hopping from bar to bar there – it is just the most unbelievable place in the world; we wondered in the art studios, the sculpture park in the yard, watched a flame-throwing act... On Sunday we went to the absinth bar on Schönhauser Allee after the cinema, and even if there were tourists there who found the bar in their Lonely Planet guides, it didn't make the atmosphere any less effortless and fun. The list of absinths is long, the prices are reasonable, even cheap if you go for one of the promotions. Still on Sunday we managed to go to both Wohnzimmer, that I had read about everywhere, and Soupanova, to meet our Irish friends.

Painting the wall in Mauerpark

Lucky it's cheap here, that sounds like an expensive weekend!!! :D

Sunday rest

We are going to go see the Star Trek film today. I heard it's funny – I hope I won't have too high expectations... We will also make fish cakes from our left over new potatoes, a dish we have picked up here in Ireland. Here's the recipe, borrowed and altered from the blog www.lidltreats.com

Fish cakes
125 g smoked salmon
Half an onion, finely chopped
2 scallions
1 heaped dessert spoon soft cheese, e.g. Philadelphia
4 baby new potatoes, cooked, peeled and cooled.
1 medium egg
Black pepper
Butter or oil to fry the fish cakes

Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Fry the onion gently for about 10 minutes. The onion should be soft and slightly brown. Put the fish in a bowl and separate the flakes gently with a fork - do not mash. When the onion is done, mix it and the chopped scallion with the fish, again without mashing or overly breaking up the salmon. Fold in the cheese. Crush the potatoes so that they are in small chunks, but once again, do not mash. Fold them into the mix. Season with a good amount of black pepper, maybe a squeeze of lemon juice, too. Now lightly beat the egg and mix it gently though. Don't mash! Divide the mixture in four and form into balls in your hands, then flatten into a cake shape. Put the cakes into the fridge for an hour or so (longer is fine) to firm up before frying. Fry in butter or olive oil (I prefer butter) over a medium heat. Be sure to allow them to fully fry on one side before turning them over, otherwise they can break up a little. Serve with a nice salad and maybe a creme fraiche sauce.