Bicycle for sale

My last week starts tomorrow! Berlin has been dear to me. I think I would like to live here. Maybe in Prenzlauer Berg. Even though it's not supposed to be "the place" anymore after Kreuzberg and Neukölln. Most of all I will miss the moments of not knowing what will come after the next corner when I'm on my bike. Or which kind of nice nook for having brunch, lunch, café or dinner will I ran into today. Or the wind that blows to your face when you get out of the U-Bahn. Or the big broad-leaved trees and almost withered roses in the graffiti filled parks. Or the sound "Einsteigen bitte. Zurükbleiben bitte”, when you’ve managed to slip into the metro in the last minute. Or the Trödelmarkts.Or my favourite chocolate müsli. Or the overgrown flower beds. Or the beaten political posters on the walls. My little Möhrenkuchen, I will miss you.  

In the grounds of the mysterious Spree Park. An abandoned Ferris wheel in the background.

Wildflowers

Since I came to Berlin I have noticed that there are weed, nettles and mugwort growing everywhere in the city. The street corners are full of weed, the yards are full of weed, the unkempt flower beds are full of weed – even the vases in the bars and coffee shops have weed. This is something very Berlin to me. Weed and wild flowers seem to be in fashion.  They are everywhere, both in East and West Berlin, although the East is probably become little more overgrown. I guess, that the flower beds are the first thing to be cut off from the city budget. On the other hand, this creative "Let all the flowers bloom" mentality of the city can be seen in the city landscape - along with the ubiquitous graffiti and tags.
 

I went cycling to the forest not too far from where I live. People who know me know that I have a tendency to forget, drop and leave stuff around. After an hour of biking in the forest I was already on my way home when I suddenly noticed that the rubber ball of my funny bike horn had dropped somewhere. I turned my bike around and went searching for the little nuisance. I followed all the little cobblestone and earth paths that I had been following a little bit earlier but this time the missing part didn’t want to be found. As I was circling around in the forest I started to feel attracted by the yellow and purple autumn flowers I hadn’t paid much attention to before. I started picking them to make a pretty bunch.  Suddenly I felt an urge, searched for a good place behind a tree in the bushes when I heard noises around me. A nun was walking her dog pass the place where I was about to crouch. She saw my bouquet and said “Guten Tag” very politely. I decided to do save my urge for later.  I continued happily collecting the flowers for my bunch in the sunny and shadowy woods.
 

My stay in the woods was stretched to a two hour trip because of the missing rubber ball of my bike horn. I didn’t find it. But I found a lovely bunch of German wildflowers, a nun, a boat and two lovers on the boat at the lake, a snail, horse chestnuts and hearts carved on a tree.

Kartoffelpuffer und Schmand

German cuisine is extremely meaty. That’s one of the reasons why I haven’t really been to a real German restaurant yet. Currywurst (sausage with currytomato sauce) can Döner be found in every other street corner. It’s no wonder that Germany has over 1500 different types of sausages.

My focus is directed elsewhere from the pork chops. German groceries are normally very well equipped and one cannot avoid grabbing bio products on the way since there isn’t much price difference between the bio and the “normal” products. Kaisers and Karlstad’s food section are the super markets I most often buy my food from but LPG BioMarkt and Bio Company are also at times on my shopping list.

Today Kira wanted to cook some German food with me so we decided to make Kartoffelbuffer – potato pancakes. This dish is typically Central European and is served often with Apfelmus (apple sauce) and crème fraîche or sour cream. Here’s what we did:

• Grate approx. 1kg peeled potatoes and an onion finely with a grater. Add two eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Fry golden from both sides with little oil. 
  

• Enjoy with Apfelmus, schmand, Rotekohl (red cabbage in vinegar), green salad and Apfelschorle (apple juice mixed with mineral water).