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foooood in germany

berlin burger international

it’s this tiny place in the corner of sonnenallee with pannierstr. you order on the counter and wait for them to howl your name while trying to secure a place in the few biergarten tables outside on the sidewalk. your eyes wander hungrily up and down the table, to the neighbour’s plates. these are grown-up burgers, they slip from their hands and squirt ketchup everywhere as they try to eat them, an inevitable mess in the making. you smile in anticipation and wait some more while you watch the passers-by and briefly consider moving to this street. there’s that croissant place, the cakes place, the paleo place, the turkish market around the corner… pretty neat street, not bad at all.

you’re pulled out of your reverie when a strange sounding version of your name is shouted from inside. a few heads turn, eyebrows knitted. was it their name? nah, you’ve been here long enough, it’s probably yours. so you stride in, grab the bounty and plenty of napkins. just look, aren’t they a beauty? so you pull back your sleeves, press the bun into the burger with both hands, close your eyes and dig in.
every bite is like a blast of flavours in your mouth. the veggies, the meat, the sauces. it’s… really intense, and you’re torn between enjoying it slowly or inhaling it with superhuman speed.

after the first couple of times you’ve learned to drop the fries and soda… tempting as they might be, your taste buds can’t handle that much stimulation in a meal. just the burger is just right, and it ends all too quickly. now where did you put those napkins?

berlin burger international

berlin burger international
pannierstr. 5
12043 berlin – neukölln

open monday through saturday, 13h-23h

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links and ideas

the woody allen method


Updike and Oates are extreme examples, but there’s something to be said for what might be called the Woody Allen Method: Good times, bad times, you keep making art. Many of your productions will hit; some will miss; some will miss by a lot. But there’s no time for the flatulent gas of pretension to seep into your construction’s sheetrock. This is how Trollope, Balzac and Dickens worked. Each would have agreed with Gore Vidal, who once declared of those who moan about writer’s block: “You’re not meant to be doing this. Plenty more where you came from.”

from Dear Important Novelists: Be Less Like Moses and More Like Howard Cosell.

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in germany

words of wisdom

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foooood in germany

ökokiste – our organic vegetable box

i’ve always liked the concept of the “vegetable box“: once a week, a box stuffed with seasonal vegetables from a local farm is delivered to your doorstep. the veggies that get included are chosen by the farm and the selection is different every week.

so when i learned that they had it here in berlin as well, it was love at first sight. the maerkischekiste.de website is all in german, but with some help i was able to navigate it, and order our first box. it arrived this wednesday, bright and early:

it included tomatoes, cauliflower, lettuce, peppers, dill and cucumber, all fresh and luscious. we’ve already done some asian cauliflower fried rice, used the peppers and tomatoes on ratatouille and sprinkled the dill on grilled salmon. come to think of it, i don’t think i ever bought fresh dill on a supermarket before, so in a way it’s nice to don’t have so much control over the grocery shopping. the surprise vegetables are a good motivator to learn new recipes! :)

i wonder what next week will bring?

Categories
in germany

magical U7 stations

both with designs by r. rümmler, from the late 70s.