Mitte bookshop gem

On Thursday at lunch time my colleague M and I popped by Pro qm bookshop in Mitte. They specialize in design, architecture, fashion... the selection is impressive, also in design magazines, both in English and German. It's a gem among bookstores! I couldn't stay long, luckily, and so this time I only bought one book.

Tips for buying presents in Berlin

Buying heaps of presents at once, like at Christmas, isn't always easy or fun. We got really excited to bring home carefully selected organic, fair trade and even raw chocolates from Bitterveld in Prenzlauer Berg. The most interesting – and delicious – chocolate we bought was their self manufactured goat's milk chocolate, flavoured with blood orange.

At Vom Fass you can buy oils, vinegars, wines and spirits "vom Fass", i.e. on tap. We chose cool, old fashioned looking bottles and wrapped up Scottish and Irish single malt whiskies as Christmas presents – they were a hit!

The guilty shopper

After finishing my article on Berlin's new veggie restaurants and their ethics, I can't go into any shop without assessing the ethics of each product there. So, naturally, when I stepped in to the new 24colours shop on Alte Schönhauser Straße the first thing I wanted to know was where the clothes come from – knowing that the answer wasn't going to be nice, since the prices are so low. Sure enough, their cool clothes are made in China, but the sales girl assured me that no child labour is used. But what about employees rights and the chemicals used in the fabric dyes? Well, I shut my eyes tightly, pulled out seven items from the racks and bought them. Oh, the guilt. At least 24colours is a local, Berlin-based, design company. I don't know how I'll explain it to myself when I find myself there next time? Except by that I found myself a cotton sweater for €8.90 (on sale), skirts for €12.90 and €16.90, a casual cotton top for €15.90 and a sleeveless print top for €13.90...

Social starvation. Coughing.

August. Still coughing. It still hurts.

I was supposed to go to work today, but felt really sore. When I called the office and found out that my bosses aren't going to be in the office before Wednesday, I decided to stay home until then, too. Most days I haven't even left the house, and when I have, it's been to go to the pharmacy or the supermarket – and once to go shopping: I got new leggings and a dress at Prachtmädchen and a pair of on sale jeans at Zartbitter. My social interactions have been pathetically few: 
1. We had dinner with S and L at Seth. Excellent, cheap Indian food.
2. I had tapas with the girls, L and A at Tafelgold. Good girl talk, even though I was too tired to participate as much as I normally would – mediocre tapas: too greasy for my taste.
3. My cousin J and his "new" girlfriend were in Berlin and we met up for dinner and a tour-de-Friedrichshain's-bars.

I'm lucky that this has weather-wise been one crappy July – maybe I would have stayed in and watched the rain, sick or healthy? Who knows.

On top of it all we got some really bad news on Saturday morning. A's brother-in-law got into an accident where he hit his head. A's sister found him unconscious a few minutes later and R was rushed to hospital, where he during the next 24-hours had brain surgery twice and was put into a coma. We still don't know what's going to happen, except that R is now stable and out of the coma, just sleeping now.

Heavily self-medicating with Fisherman's Friend and ibuprofen.

Swedish candy

Mmmm... E and I made a deliciously dangerous discovery a few weeks ago when innocently opening a bank account for her: Herr Nilsson (Wühlischstrasse 58) sells pick and mix candy from Sweden, Finland and Denmark for €1.60/100g. My favourite cola bottles and marshmallow mushrooms are there, only the selection of salmiakki (like salty liquorice) leaves a bit to be desired. The chocolate selection on the other hand is pretty terrific: Marabou, Fazer and Cloetta. The shop has only been open for about two months now, and I hope it does well.

When I took A there yesterday, he was delighted to realise that he can by his favourite chips in Berlin: Cheez Doodles, aka Ostbågar, aka Juustosnacks. I'm so glad we don't live any closer to Herr Nilsson, or we'd be in there every other day!

Basteln

Basteln basically means to do arts and crafts, which usually I hate. I don't have the patience: I concentrate, I try, I'm ambitious, but in the end something always goes wrong and it all looks like crap and I loose it! The project (whether knitting, sewing, card-making or cake-baking) goes in the bin and I'm in a terrible mood for the rest of the day. So when my friends invited me to go along to a pearl shop where you can make your own jewellery, I wasn't sure I should go. I thought I'd just tag along and buy some pearls as presents for my more talented friends who love that kind of stuff.

When I walked in the shop, I realized my friend A was there to make jewellery, not just shop and then go for coffee. I strolled aimlessly around, staring at the endless rows of pearls and materials. Not a single good idea of what I wanted to make came to me. Meanwhile A had already picked out her pearls into a little dessert bowl, had sat down and started to chop pieces of wire into earrings. I had to decide on something, and saw a pre-made pair of earrings that I could copy the idea from: with a hook, a piece of chain and a pearl dangling at the end. I'd be out of there in no-time, hahaa!

But once I sat down, something happened. It was fun! It was really fun! The girl who works in the shop helped me to make little links to attach pearls to the chain with, and to attach the chain to the hooks. I went back to the rows of pearls with my little bowl and picked out more colours, more sizes. I could have sat there all day, making earrings for all my friends. Unfortunately the shop is really popular and we had to give up our seats at three o'clock. My earrings cost €6: that included all the pearls, materials and the help I got. And they didn't look home-made, either! On my way home I ran a few errands, and when I got home and proudly showed off my earrings, A pointed out that some of the pearls had fallen off. Typical! So much for my talent at crafts! But I liked it so much this time, that I'll go back and fix them, make more earrings, too – but be sure to ask the pros to check my links and loops before I go!

I promised A and A, who showed me this great little gem, that I wouldn't share it's location. If you do want to know where it is you can ask and I can send it to you via email.

Crazy pottery and fair t-shirts

I actually wanted to go see crazy tea cups and teapots at the Strychnin Gallery on Boxhagener Straße, but it turned out that the Mad Potter's Tea Party only opens tonight and so they didn't really appreciate us strolling in mid-opening night preparations. R, who's visiting her old home town this weekend, and I were kindly invited to come by tonight instead, when the exhibition is set up and free drinks are served.

So we went for a coffee instead.

When strolling homeward along Simon-Dach-Straße, I noticed a new (?), interesting shop: Simonuno (boring website alert!). I thought it was called "Du bist schön", because that's the biggest text on the shop window. Anyway, they sell Fair Trade and organic t-shirts, hoodies and sneakers for pretty fair prices. The plain t-shirts are €16 and the ones with a print are €26. I see myself buying the cool, Berlin-themed prints as presents, for sure! I always think that Fair Trade and organic cotton feels much softer and nicer than regular cotton, too.

"Happy Christmas, see you next year!"

The spirit of Christmas is stress, yes? To get evereything done at work, to find presents, over how much money it all costs – and for us expats; stress over managing to see everyone one more time before we all fly off to our respective home countrys.

I can tick all those boxes: I finished work yesterday, but had been working pretty much 24/7 before then. I still have to buy a present for my best friend, we just emptied our bank accounts at TK Maxx and we've been meeting up with friends for "happy christmas, see you next year"-dinners every few days. At least we have gotten some excellent meals out of it :)

On Wednesday last week we met M and N at Spaghetti Western on Torstraße (it's a lot nicer than the website looks!). Just a few weeks ago they revealed that they are having a baby, so this was also kind of an celebratory meal. I must confess that all I could think was: "it was nice knowing you, see you again in three years". But the restaurant was excellent! Everything cost about an euro or two more than I thought it should, but: when in Mitte... I ordered spaghetti with tomato sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil (€5,50) – a simple dish it was everything you could hope for. I'm already craving another visit! For dessert (all €3,90) we wanted panna cotta, but it was out, so we chose cremè brulées instead. They were tiny and the sugar crust was really thick and tasted burned, so the meal didn't have the great ending it deserved.

On Saturday we had a Prenzlauer Berg breakfast in German with S, D and S. Schwarze Pumpe is an old favourite, but we have only tried their Sunday brunch before. On a Sunday you need a reservation, but this Saturday at 11 o'clock the place was empty. We enjoyed our veggie plates, several milchcafés and some Heiße Zitrone. Afterwards we visited the Trendmafia Christmas market on Brunnenstraße. Before I had to run off to work we managed to pick out a cool t-shirt for my brother. This market is definitively worth a visit, it's on every first weekend of the month outside of the holiday season, too.

Today we emptied our wallets at TK Maxx Neukölln, found pressies for my dad (he wished for a plain black t-shirt), for A's dad and loads of other tricky people. And I got winter shoes, finally (two pairs, I don't know if I will have to be reasonable and return one pair...). Then we met M, M and little J for gift exchanges and Thai food in Mitte. Thai Inside seems like a place that I'd be suspicious of: too chic, too polished, too close to Alexanderplatz and higher-than-average prices. It turns out it's quite the popular spot; I think we were the only English speakers in the room! Our dishes were all good and beautifully plated and the service was terribly friendly – so 27 euro for a starter, a soup, a main dish and two drinks isn't that terrible, is it?

Now I only need to buy two more presents, wrap them all, buy wine to bring home, get a hair-cut and then it's Christmas bliss!

No shopping, just brunching

Brunch buffet at Morgenrot, Prenzlauer Berg

 

On Thursday A's friends from Finland were going to fly to Berlin to see Suicide Commando at K-17. Their flight was cancelled, because the Berlin airports ran out of de-icing fluid – unbelievable! It's winter every year, you wouldn't think it would cause such chaos. The boys flew in on Friday instead, and got tickets for Monster Magnet at Postbahnhof. I had a "girls night in German" with S and S, and at 2am we decided to meet up with the guys for a beer at legendary Paules Metal Eck on Simon-Dach-Strasse. I was home at 5am, and needed to be at a photo shoot on Saturday at 11.30.

After the very successful photo shoot some colleagues and I decided to go to Morgenrot on Kastanienallee for breakfast – I still hadn't eaten anything and was feeling pretty weak. Plus I haven't been there in ages and I looooove their vegan/vegetarian brunch! A and I still made a half-assed attempt at Christmas shopping, but were too tired and too uninterested for it to go well. At least I got to visit the new English books store at Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann – thank god I was too tired to shop, even for myself :)

Today we talked the Finnish boys into trying our favourite brunch at Datcha with us. We all agreed, once again, that it really is worth to pay €9.80 per person for. I don't think I'll have to eat all day now! The guys wanted to still make an effort as tourists, so instead of coming to our flat for a nap, they went to the Erotikmuseum in Charlottenburg. I opted to go visit our Kiezweihnacht Christmas market at the Samariterstrasse church. It wasn't very big or special, but I did manage to buy a great Christmas present there... But it's for the secret santa present at next weeks Christmas get-together, so I won't reveal it, at least yet!

Kiezweihnachtmarkt, Friedrichshain

Christmas, shopping, Berlin

My mother is in Berlin again for the weekend, and I've kept her busy. We have ignored the snowy sidewalks and been shopping and eating well, mostly.

We started off on Friday by designing my mom a custom made perfume at Frau Tonis Parfum in Mitte, a scent of roses and lily of the valley (€65 for 50ml, €22 for 15ml). Then we dropped in to my fave clothing shop, Cyroline, on Alte Schönhauser Straße (they also have shops in Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain). I always find cool and comfy clothes there and this time both mom and I bought tops. This all accidentally happened on our way to check out a friends' exhibition at the very interesting Haus Schwartzenberg on Hackescher Markt.

On Saturday we had a date with S to go check out TK Maxx in Charlottenburg together – I had heard that the shop there was a lot bigger and a lot better then the one in Neukölln. Other people had clearly heard that too: it was super crowded! We did manage to find some Christmas presents and I bought a hoodie. S had a very successful shopping day and declared that she'd found "her shopping paradise" :) Everyone loves TK Maxx <3

Since we were in Charlottenburg – possibly for the first time – we decided to go see Schloss Charlottenburg and the Christmas market there. Sure, it was big, pretty and had free entrance, but it was also a bit kitchy and crowded for our liking.

When we found ourselves in Neukölln today, we decided to take advantage of the shopping Sunday (the shops in Berlin are closed on most Sundays of the year), and check out the TK Maxx there, too. It was a lot less crowded, so we could really engage in rummaging around and two hours later we walked out with more Christmas presents and two sweaters for A. Dangerous place, that is!

November sun

Mauerpark and the last warm day of the year?

The Bearpit Karaoke seems more popular than ever.

It's mid-November and we got to enjoy a temperature of +18°C and sun today! Wohoo! But isn't it just typical that our friends H and C left for Helsinki this morning, and all they saw in Berlin was rain... After they left we tried to make the most of the weather anyway by going to Mauerpark for a stroll. We haven't been there for months and were certainly reminded of that it really is the best Sunday market around: there's so much music, so much food, such a good atmosphere, so many things I could want. Sure, it can be a bit crowded, but that's a good excuse to stop for something to eat or drink while people watching. We found a birthday present for A's mom – like two weeks in advance –so for once we won't have to panic about finding and sending someone a gift on time!

As it happens, I found a new favourite fast food today in Mauerpark, the Turkish gözleme: thinly kneaded dough, fried on a rounded pan, folded over and filled, then served with a salad. Ours was filled with spinach and cheese, then wrapped around some fresh salad. The gözleme had a lovely crepe-like taste with a touch of great grill aroma and was fresh and light to eat. I feel an addiction coming on!

Keeping up with the gözleme orders required four strong women.

Gözleme with spinach, cheese and salad, €3.50

Guiding a shopping brigade

I got some unsolicited retail therapy yesterday. My friend came to Berlin for a short work trip and wanted to meet up with me. She ended up bringing five colleagues with her: picky fashion lovers, all thirsty for shopping – which I know very little about. I suggested we meet at the Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz U-bahn stop and then head towards Münzstraße, Alte Schönhauser Straße and Rosenthaler Straße. They found a lot of interesting shops there that I somehow have never even noticed. The best find was probably this, a vintage shop on Neue Schönhauser Straße called Made in Berlin:

There are two rooms for shoes in the back and a cool selection of vintage accessories, like hats and bags. I've read about it's sister shops, Garage in Schöneberg and Colours in Kreuzberg, where you can shop second hand stuff for €14,99/kilogram. They're meant to be good, too.

I'm feeling a bit shitty today, because my boss told me off for asking about the raise that I thought I was getting this month. Not until next month (of course, apparently). Maybe the shopping brigade will call me for nightlife tips and I can drink it off :P

Presents and pearls

An assorted baggy of gems from Tukadu on Rosenthaler Strasse should have reached the birthday-girl K already last week. These treasures don't come cheap: I bought pearls for 19 euro and the bag looked a little empty... But will make a gorgeous necklace, maybe, with white wooden pearls and silver stars. I would love to know if she got inspired!

Shopping for men

I hate buying gifts for boys: it's always so difficult! Men are a little bit like kids: they want toys and gadgets with buttons and cords. Clothes and books can be popular, but how do you know which ones? I bet most women end up buying men bestseller books, colourful socks or funny t-shirts as presents – I know I do. Every Christmas, every birthday. It's my dad's birthday on Friday, and because I've been working hard, I didn't get around to even buying a card yet.

Not far from our house is a funny shop called Männer Gift, gifts for men. I've always thought it's a bizarre concept, but today I decided I have to go in and see if they have a quick fix for me: a nice card and something I can mail in an envelope. I was pretty impressed: it's a big shop and they sell kitchen knives, frying pans, chocolate, towels, bathrobes, books, notebooks, underwear, bags, interior design knickknacks and jewellery. I bet I could have found many presents for my dad, my brother or boyfriend here – but nothing very cheap. I ended up buying a card and some "Louisiana Barbecue Spice Rub" for fish and meat (€9,50) in a convenient metal tin, because my dad loves to barbecue all summer long. Phew, I'm glad that's sorted (until next Christmas)!

Funky shop discovery (by bike)

A finally got around to buying new bike and so we could open the cycling season on Wednesday. On Thursday my bum was really sore, but it was so worth it! I love that feeling of spring when you are back on your bike, gliding along, able to go wherever you want to, with the wind in your hair. Unfortunately, spring wasn't here yet and gave way to the cold air and even snow, so the bikes were only out for two days... My weather widget promises +7°C by next Wednesday, though, so I have faith.

On Thursday I found myself in a wonky design store called Designpanoptikum, Torstrasse 201, in work related matters. The Russian owner collects and sells all things crazy and cool, and the shop is like a big rummage sale: you never know what you might find. I'll keep this place in mind if we ever move to our "own" apartment instead of the furnished sub-let we occupy now.

Count down

What a weekend! We went bowling (for the first time ever!) on Friday. It was so much fun, but also much more difficult than I had imagined. I also played air-hockey for the first time – a lot easier :) On Saturday we were invited to a Christmas party. I wanted to try to bring these really cute mini-muffins I saw a recipe for, so it was all about baking, cleaning, listening to Christmas music and wrapping presents yesterday. The muffins didn't turn out too well, but I love the mini-cake idea, so I'll try them with another recipe later, I think. And we posted our presents to America, so hopefully they will be in Boston in time for Christmas!

This week we are saying see-you-later to our friends here in Berlin before going home for the holidays. We have already scheduled a breakfast, a lunch and two dinners for next week! The most stressful part will be to finish shopping for Christmas presents. I still don't have a clue what to buy A's mother and my best friend... But I hope another visit to good old TK Maxx will help! We already spent like €200 there last week, hehe :)  I really recommend a trip there, especially to shop for the most difficult of all: fathers.

Good news!

I am happy over something really stupid. My favourite shop has just opened a branch in Berlin (Neukölln)! TK Maxx is a discount store, but with quality, designer and label stuff, like clothes, shoes, kitchenware... They tend to get in a few of this and a few of that, so they never have the same thing on the racks for long. In the States they are called TJ Maxx, I think. In Dublin I used to shop in TK Maxx all the time. I love the thrill of the hunt and the feeling of hope when I go in; "maybe today they'll have what I have always been looking for?".

I immediately felt an urge to go to Neukölln, where, to be honest, I haven't had an urge to go before. TK Maxx is on Karl-Marx-Strasse 92-98, almost directly at the U7 stop Rathaus Neukölln. It was a big, not completely crammed shop (they only opened last Thursday), but buzzing. I really felt like I was back in Dublin for about an hour :) We left with a pair of leather boots for me, Christmas presents for our friends' kids and A's godfather, a really cool woolen sweater for A and one of those small pillows you stick it in the microwave oven and it heats up. And I'll be back!

So I have a sweet-tooth...

I was the happiest of girls when we moved to Berlin and realised we can get most things here that we missed in Ireland, like rhye bread and salty licorice – aka salmiakki. Different types of "Finnish Bröt" can be found in most shops; Netto, Lidl, Kaiser... And it tastes just like at home. Our most regular sweets-supplier is a shop called Bärenland on Schönhauser Allee. They sell Swedish, Finnish and Danish sweets, and recently started selling gelatin free fruit gums too!

Oranienburger Straße – Bonbonmacherei!

We had no plans yesterday, so we lazily browsed our Lonely Planet Berlin book. Around Oranienburger Straße interesting things seemed to pile up – many of them free, like the candy factory Bonbonmacherei and The Ramones museum. It turned out that the Ramones museum now charges 3,50€ entrance, so we didn't go in the end. But we had a fabulous day, spent almost four hours just walking that one stretch of street. We left our bicycles at the Hackescher Höfe, a collection of joined courtyards, had a walk around and found a really cute, old fashioned toy shop. We continued our walk and headed for what was my goal the whole time: the sweet shop! Bonbonmacherei is in Heckmann Höfe, a smaller cluster of courtyards, filled with art galleries. They sell an impressive selection of hand made sweets and if your timing is right, you get to watch the candy being made in front of you.

The other highlight of the excursion was Kunsthaus Tacheles, a cooperative art project with workspaces for artists. The whole building looks like it should be demolished, it smells a little of pee, but it's super cool with its many floors completely covered in graffiti, old posters and clearly, attitude. When you snoop around the building you find make-shift galleries, shops and art studios hidden around, and there's a beer-garden and a bar downstairs. Only in Berlin... The Museum für Naturkunde will have to wait 'til next time, even if I really wanted to go see the dinosaurs.

German for 3-year-olds

My reading material is more juvenile than usual. I admit I have read all the Harry Potter books, but that's not juvenile. Currently I am reading a book called "Der Wald" – a book about the forest, for 3-year-olds. But it's excellent material for studying German. My more ambitious project is a Walt Disney "Lustiges Taschenbuch" with Donald Duck's spoof on Gone With the Wind (bought in Mauerpark). 'Die Ducks' have accompanied me to the park, but Der Wald stays in the privacy of my home. But I can recommend these simple books as learning material, it really works! (I suppose I know slightly less German than a native 3 year old...) Check out bulk bookstore Wohlthat, they have several locations throughout Berlin.

Picture from www.lustiges-taschenbuch.de