Thursdays

We really did find a Thursday routine. Since I’m in love with the Kollwitz farmers market. Walking up there, buying fresh fish. Thursday fish day. Smoked fish for Friday evening. Buying veg at the smallest stand: beets, every week a big bunch of beets. Eating Thüringer sausages with apple mustard. Drinking coffee’s before heading home again with a stroller full of fish, veg and cheese 

Father Carpenter

New coffee shop in town. For now it’s just a pop up behind de 14 oz store. New coffee around the corner of course has to be tested and this one definitely is a gain. If not for the coffee, than for the good service or the wonderful location. Perfect for us with an enclosed garden: Girls running around, mum and dad sipping cappuccino’s 

Prinzessinnen Garten

Oma came over to stay with us for a couple of days. She has an amazing kitchen garden back in Holland, so I wanted to go and visit the Prinzessinnen Garten with her today.

6.000 square meter hidden behind a round-a-bout in Kreuzberg. Boxes and crates full of herbs and vegetables. Of course not really the right time, vegetable wise, but it all looks great anyway. Oma explained the girls about Jerusalem artichoke, we bought seeds for her garden. We had coffee, lemonade and carrot cake in the shadow of the foliage.

It is a beautifully warm and sunny day for the time of year and this is one of the best spots to be on a day like this. It feels fresh in their shadow, the atmosphere is extremely relaxed. People around us drinking coffee or beetroot juice. Ordering a plate of the daily special or opening the lunch box they brought themselves. What also strikes me is the diversity in people that sit here. It’s not just the organics one might expect, there also are tourist, business people, groups of friends catching up, hipsters and three generation families. That’s us

Sparrow

There’s two species that dominate Berlins summers. Sparrows and Wasps. It’s been many times this summer we had to change places or leave a terrace, because circled by these small striped insects. I do get nervous when the wasps around the kids. And those Berlin sparrows, those guys really are as cheeky as can be. You can’t turn your back on anything eatable.

Today they were totally lurking us at Kiezkind. Just chilling out with some sausage sandwiches and mango lassies. They almost got hold of Lou’s lunch. Nothing that can make her more mad than trying to steal her food, especially when sausages. She completely told them off, those sparrows

 

Meierei

A favorite coffee place: tes Meierei. Because they have a nice terrace under the trees of Kollwitzstrasse, good coffee, good babyccinos, the people that work here are really, really nice, they have a tasty beef soup and last but not least: they have buttered bretzels 

Confiserie Orientale

Our oldest has started preschool, a very big step. Nobody understands her and she doesn’t understand anybody back. Luckily children are flexible, do not need words to play.

To make it a bit into a party we visit another terrace after school every day. Just these first weeks of course. Today we went by Confiserie Orientale, a Turkish tearoom with a showcase full of treats. She picks a chocolate cookie, me a mascarpone and pear cake. Wow! I’m not a pie person, but this is beyond delicious. Well done!

Madrid

Our yearly weekend break without the kids. Last year we went to Rotterdam and had a great time (definitely going back someday), this year we are invited to a wedding in Madrid on the same day we have our own four year anniversary. Normally I’m eager to explore new things in a city, but this time we visit a lot of places we have been to three years ago. This time it is about being together - and about food of course.

Having Breakfast on the upper floor of crowded La Mallorquina in between elderly Spanish ladies and gents. Oyster and wine at Mercado de san Anton, Jamon and Cerveza at Mercado de san Miguel. Late night supper at the roof top terrace of Gau Café. – this was a new spot for me but more than worth visiting again someday overlooking the roofs of Madrid - Middle of the night cocktails on top of the Oskar. This all spread over two days of course. At the end of the second day we attended a real Spanish wedding starting in a little church in the hills at six pm, ending at a horse farm at 6 am. It took us about a week to recover but it was definitely worth it.

Schendelgasse

The playground at Schendelgasse is another of our favorite playgrounds. Not the playground itself it what attracts us that much –it probably is one of the least fancy playground in the area and could really use a bit of paint-, but the area around it that makes it a good place to spend out weekend in and around. It’s situated next to the Alte Schoenhauserallee and this gives us the opportunity to go out with the whole family, have breakfast together, let the girls entertain themselves and have mum and dad run errands in turns like going to the hair dresser, Flip Flop, &other stories or one of the other good places this street and the surrounding streets hold.

The best place for breakfast in the Alte Schoenhauser is definitely Zeit fur Brot. No weekend passes without us visiting this place for either a full breakfast including some yoghurt and sandwiches, just a cup of coffee or a cappuccino together with their ab-so-lute specialty (something you must absolutely try when in this area): their Zimtschnecken, which are the most fluffy cinnamon rolls I’ve ever tasted. Very sticky business, but so good. They also come with marzipan, white cholate or maple and walnut, but for me the original cinnamon ones are the very best.

And while we have our breakfast, coffee or snack, the girls are happy to entertain themselves on the swing, slides or in the huge sandpit.

Mother’s day

Mother’s day for me is not about getting presents and all, but I very much likes the breakfast in bed the girls and their dad made me today. Normally on this day we would have two big bouquets of flowers and go and bring both our mothers a visit, but today it’s about what I like to do the most: strolling around the city and have coffee. So that’s what we did. Coffee on the terrace of No Fire No Glory when the sun was still out, later on lunch at Das Blumencafe, hidden behind their forest of plants and finish the walk with some gries-himbeere ice cream at Susse Sunde before heading home because the rain just wouldn’t stop. Wonderful day

 

 

 

Uit de Keuken

We’re back in Amsterdam for a week to celebrate the birthdays of my brother and father-in-law who were born on the same day but 45 years apart. Or actually we’re not back in Amsterdam because we’re sleeping over at grandpa and grandma’s who live just outside Amsterdam in a little village called Oostzaan. 

Today my oldest and I were on our way to the dentist when she called in sick leaving us with a couple of hours free time in Amsterdam. We, or I of course, decided to go and visit our old neighborhood to check out how everything is holding up there. It’s changing quickly, in a good way with lots of new developments in the area behind our house.

A street behind our old house they are transforming old tram sheds into a cool new place with tv studio’s, a cinema, a hotel, a denim lab, a food market and all kind of other cool stuff. It’s opening later this week. Too late unfortunately for us to visit, but we go and have lunch on a little terrace on the other side of the road overseeing all the construction activities at “De Hallen”.

Uit de keuken is a lovely little place I’ve been eying ever since it opened a year or so ago. Never had a chance to go here until now and regretting not sitting down here before! Lovely lentil and zucchini salad for me and for her a chocolate spread sandwich. Wandering across the neighborhood we both really miss this place. 

Barcomi's

Today the babysitter came to play with the twins in the morning for a couple of hours so my eldest and I could go out together for a change. Of course papa really wanted to join to on this occasion so first thing we do is head over to Barcomi’s for some coffee and cakes. I’m not really a sweet tooth myself but Barcomi’s New York cheese cake is one I can’t resist either. The location is also great, a hidden courtyard behind Sophienstrasse. We take the cheesecake as a desert, for I cannot leave Barcomi’s without having a plate of their fantastic beetroot salad. Afterwards we just stroll around the city and visit every playground we stumble upon because that what she loves most.  And chatting of course.

Nola's am Weinberg

Because spring is really starting, because we love spending time with daddy and because we like to explore Berlin we try to have lunch altogether once every two weeks. Starting today at Nola’s in Weinbergpark or Volkspark am Weinberg. Nola’s originally is a Swiss restaurant but during the lunch they serve a typically German breakfastmenu (served from 10 – 16) containing several breakfasts, eggs, bircher muesli and pancakes. Their afternoon menu (from 12) contains everything you always find on a German menu, supplement with Swiss specialties including a cheese fondue. A bit too heavy for us so we stick to pancakes, bagels and scrambled eggs with sausages, because it’s easy to share with the little ones. We have a lovely time sitting on their big sunny terrace being waited on by their very nice girls. Afterwards taking a stroll through the uphill park Nola’s is watching over. It feels a bit like an Amsterdam park with all the people sitting on the grass enjoying the sun.

Wochenmarkt

After hearing much about it we finally went there today: Wochenmarkt at Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg. It really was worth the sunny bike ride to these beautiful old market halls if only to have a cup of coffee in café Neun at the entrance and for the wonderfulness of the old halls the market is in. We also had some lovely pies, let the girls play at the mini playground in the middle, bough flowers, Easter branches and this week’s groceries.  

If in Berlin I would definitely recommend a visit to Markthalle Neun and enjoy what they have to offer. We will definitely come back on Thursday night for street food Thursday. 

Hutspot

We returned to Amsterdam again, mainly because one of my grandma’s celebrates her birthday turning 80. Last time we were here we were so eager to see all of our friends that we hardly had any time together let alone had a nice walk through our old neighborhood like we used to do on Saturdays. This time the plan was to only stay for a couple of days and not let people know we were back. This first Saturday we really want to spend like we were used to, even in the three months we’ve left there are so many cool new places in the area.

We start off our day having coffee with my sister and her family in a brand new and very cool place called Hutspot on the Rozengracht. They already have another location in Amsterdam, but recently opened this one, because of the big hit the other place is. It started out as a place for young creatives to be able to sell their stuff, it now is a mishmash were you can either buy fancy looking sunglasses, a vintage cabinet or a stuffed parrot. In the back is a nice café were you can chill out , have coffee and pancakes while your kid plays in their teepee or plug in your laptop, order a ginger & licorice water and work for a couple of hours.

It really is a nice place to relax, if you don’t have any children under two. We manage to keep them sitting down for about half an hour by feeding them pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup, but after that there just are too many interesting things to discover. That is just a bit too much for our nerves with all the glasses, bugs, bottles and stuffed animals standing around.

Later this week I returned with just my mum and our oldest and then having coffee and lemonade on one of their couches is just perfect.

Not the very best pictures by the way, have a look on their site to get a real impression.

Das Blaues Band – Breakfast edition

Last day my sister is here, she takes the train in the afternoon so the plan is to have a big lunch (with definitely their beet root salad and some cheese cake for desert) at Barcomi’s deli, but unfortunately it has both rained and frozen tonight so the streets are beyond slippery. On our way along Alte Schonhauserallee we see about six people falling down really, really hard within five minutes or so. This makes us decide to enter the first place we walk by that serves lunch which happens to be Das Blaues Band.

In the back of the place are some nice little benches with low tables which are perfect for our entourage with the three small ones who are really hard to tame these days. We settle down, tie one of them in a high chair and order three of their breakfast asap (with coffees of course). I have to say that this was a very successful operation. We ordered their pancakes with bananas, one Englisch breakfast and one Scandinavian breakfast. We actually manage to keep the kids happy for more than 45 minutes with all the pancakes, sausages, smoked salmon and bread rolls. With a very patient waiter who we were very happy with.

Bonanza

Today should have been all about visiting several flea markets in Berlin. We choose four of them to visit (Arkonaplatz, Mauerpark, Ostbahnhof and ending up at Boxhagenerplatz) by bike so we would travel fast and would actually be able to visit them all, but today was cold. And I mean really, really cold. The master plan was to not get cold to the bone but warm up every hour at least to try and stay warm.

So after Arkonaplatz (where I bought 4 lovely breakfast plates) we went to Bonanza to warm up. Nice little coffee place with just a few tables and high chairs. It’s all about coffee and they really make great coffees. Or at least cappuccino’s, my sister ordered a lungo but I guess it then is better to take a regular filter coffee which they also serve. The green tea and pistachio cookies they sell on the side are also very, very good. I also bought a bag of coffee beans for we are still looking for good roasted beans for our machine at home and unfortunately weren’t able to find good ones yet. Hope they are good, but doubt we will find as good beans as by Brandmeesters in Amsterdam.

After Bonanza we went to the Mauerparkmarket, where indeed are a lot of tourists but nonetheless I found it to be a pleasant market with some nice second hand stalls but we also bought an illustration by two Japanese artists and some handmade wool-lined children gloves. After half an hour at the Mauerpark we really did give up our flea market journey but not before we have some fantastic homemade ravioli in sage and butter (one of my favorite dishes and here they really know how to make it) with Heisse Zitrone (hot lemonade) at Teigwaren, in the Oderbergerstrasse again, to warm ourselves for the ten minute bike ride back.

Kiezkind

Today is a wonderful, almost warm day and we want to go and explore some secondhand and children shops in the neighborhood.  After visiting a few shops in Marienburgerstrasse it’s time to have lunch and mainly let the children have their time  out of the strollers. We end up at Kiezkind at Helmholzplatz which turns out to be an excellent choice!

The really cool thing about this place is that they have a big indoor sandbox! The girls cannot believe their little eyes. Also very cool is that they have excellent coffee, great sandwiches and everything to also make the little ones happy from melted cheese sandwiches to mango lassies children’s size.

Only downside was when we decided after an hour that it was time to move on with our shopping trip and the girls had a completely opposite opinion. Luring them outside by sowing them the dozens of small bikes and cars outside only worked for a moment because we didn’t have anything to lure them away from the bikes. Anyway, we had a great time drinking our coffees while the girls had a really great time in the sandbox. We will most definitely come back here more often. Great place, lovely people. Thank you Kiezkind for this wonderful concept, it’s been a while since going out for lunch was this relaxed.

Am Friedrichshain

One of the nicest parks in a big city in Europe as far as I'm concerned, or at least for dog owners it is. There is absolutely no need to miss the Vondelpark when your in the neighborhood of this park, it's way bigger, has way way more playgrounds and also nice places to eat an ice cream with the kids, have a paste with a beer in the summer (unfortunately not now) or a bulky breakfast at Schoenbrunn.

As in many big parks in cities it is prohibited to let your dog of the leash, but what really stand out in the park and actually in all of Berlin is that everybody - in parks as well as on the street - lets their dog run around free. The Berliners really control their dogs very well, it's quite amazing to see. Also because there are a lot of dogs in Berlin, more than I have ever seen in any other big city. And it's not the smallest dogs they have here. In Amsterdam out dog, Sjakie the Weimaraner, is quite a large dog. Here he's just mediocre, or even quite small on average. I'd say we really need some German training for our dog!

Bakkerswinkel

At the wonderful Westergasterrein you can find the Bakkerswinkel in a little house on the other side of the bridge near van Limburg Stirumplein. Decorated beautifully, a lot of space and a great environment. One of our favorite places on the Sunday morning, they open at 10 which is the best time to enter, just before the families with their children arrive around eleven and it gets really crowded. First a stroll with the dog and then a big breakfast at this place. The westergasfabrieksontbijt with eggs and ham is when you're really, really hungry, but I would recommend sharing a bakkersontbijt and then order some additional scones (with cranberries for example) If only so you can try all the different jams that are in jars on the tables, like the lemon curd, pineapple and basil or just raspberry.

 

La Mallorquina

Taking a break to visit Madrid for a couple of days because the husband has to go there for work. Packed my sunglasses, shorts, sunburn...not necessary at all! Madrid this time of year is just like Amsterdam in the fall: raining and 10 degrees. No worries, enough to see and do and every sunbeam is a reason to take a walk.

Our apartment is in the middle of the center, right near Puerta del Sol. Perfect to be if you didn't book a place that includes breakfast, because on Puerta del Sol you've got La Mallorquina. A small pastry place, downstairs is the shop where, but upstairs is the breakfast room. Packed with people, but with a high turnaround, so you don't have to wait to long for a table. The waiters are just running around carrying trays with breakfast. They don't have a menu, so first have a look downstairs or just order napolitanas, which they have in a cream version or a chocolate one. Croissants, Orange Juice and some Café con Leche and your good to go.