Category: foooood

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foooood in germany

madame zucker

it feels like it hasn’t stopped raining since we came back from portugal, in the end of june. gloomy days, cold and wet, as if it was back to school weather already. it makes us shy away from summer foods and turn to warmer comforts instead… like hot chocolates, cappuccinos and pancakes!

madame zucker is a breath of fresh air in these parts of neukölln. berlin cafés tend towards the shabby side, but not here. the mismatched white & red furniture is fun and light, there are wooden floors, red polka dot table cloths, a fresh flower in every table, low-volume music… it all seems to say “you’re too tense, relax here for a bit, have fun”. the word gezellig comes to mind :)

and then… we might have a slight obsession with pancakes, crêpes and the likes – it’s one of the first things we look for when we move. nothing beats a good breakfast for comfort, right? it’s my favourite meal of the day.

we’ve had other pancakes in berlin, but they were “cakey”, or drenched in cheap chocolate… do people really think they can replace nutella?! fools!! so it took a few tries until we found madame zucker’s pancakes, which were hiding just around the corner from our house, tucked away on the middle of an unexplored menu. behold this banana beauty:

it’s perfection! :) yes yes, they also have cakes, croissants and the typical german brunch fare – although why anyone would settle for less than exquisite pancakes on a cheat day is beyond me, but apparently some people (*cof* boyfriend *cof*) like variety. bah!


madame zucker, on wildenbruchplatz 5, is open everyday from 10am to 8pm. now you know :)

Categories
foooood

slow carb breakfast frittata

one of the things that was hard for us in the slow carb diet was the prescribed 30g of protein for breakfast… you start looking at the labels, and unless you want to eat steak, chicken breast or protein shakes for breakfast, your options look rather grim.

that was until we discovered the almighty frittata!

frittatas are cool. they take little active time to cook, keep for a day in the fridge, are filled with protein and if you can get your hands on egg whites from a carton, the waste is minimal. we love them! :)

we use a variation of mark’s sausage & egg breakfast bites for ours. you need 8 eggs (we use 7 egg whites + 1 full egg), about 250gr of minced meat and whatever else you want to add (mushrooms, spinach, sundried tomatoes, etc).

cook the raw veggies and the meat until they’re done. mix it with the eggs, then pour it all on a greased pan. put it on the oven in medium heat for 20 minutes or until everything is well cooked. plim!


if you break the frittata into 4 equal parts, you’ll get about 20gr of protein in each part. add some lentils and ham to top up the proteins, some avocado w/lemon juice and voilá! problem solved!

Categories
foooood in germany

cupcakes…

…make our cheat days a lot sweeter! :)


these little beauties are from cupcake in krossenerstraße 12, friedrichshain, 10245 berlin.

Categories
foooood in slovenia

fried cheese!

(there are some things left to be said about slovenia, so this is a backtracking post about one of those things, which someday will be moved back to a time that matches our stay there.)

fried cheese with fries. it’s one of those dishes that you can always get in any restaurant in slovenia, like a safe option for vegetarians and picky eaters alike. it’s as common as eggs with fries where i come from, and yet, we had never heard of it before.

when our friends first suggested it on a roadtrip through the slovenian mountains, we couldn’t even imagine how it would be possible. small mozzarella sticks are one thing, but whole slices of cheese? we had our doubts, so we stopped on the first roadside restaurant we could find to correct our ignorance. and of course, they had fried cheese – along with bear goulash and other local specialities.

i think something might have clicked when the first forkful of delicious melted cheese hit our tongues. soft and chewy cheese and crunchy breading… that was a moment when i realised “wow, i could eat this forever and never get bored!” it was so good and irresistible we had it 2 days in a row. :)



yum yum! :D

Categories
foooood in slovenia

burek!

the first days in a new city are always exhausting – particularly on a city this huge! we’re not used to the scale of berlin, and often miscalculate the time it takes from a to b, ending up walking kilometers… the days are filled with bureaucracy: bank accounts, credit records, proof of income, proof that previous rents have been paid, registration… so it’s been slow, and so far, we know very little about the real berlin. i can’t wait for us to find a house and start enjoying this new city.

but meanwhile, how about some loose bits of slovenia to take our minds off this? i know just the thing…


…burek! :D

we were introduced to the deliciousness of burek in slovenia, but later discovered they are popular all throughout the balkans and turkey. it consists of layers of flaky pastry filled with cheese, spinach, meat or apple. although this is probably the most popular street food in slovenia, we’re not big fans of the ones that you can buy on the street, because they are usually soggy with grease… but if you can get frozen ones at any supermarket and do them on your oven, they take 40mins or so in medium/high heat. when the outer shell gets brownish, they should be cooked all the way through. the insides will remain soft and melt in your mouth… and the cheese is a sort of cottage cheese that tastes really good with the pastry.



mham! just looking at these photos is making me really hungry! and given the number of turkish people in berlin, we should be able to feed our addiction from here as well :)