Saturday 5 November 2011

Miscellany

While in Berlin I found this really cute pumpkin pot with plant - goodness only knows how I got it home in one piece but I managed!  It was so unusual I had to have it and can you believe it only cost €2.50 in a florists??!!!














The Galleries Lafayette Berlin have a good food department and they had a lovely basket of squashes - they looked lovely and colourful:-

I never knew potato soup and sausage could be really nice but I was proved wrong when we stopped off for a quick lunch in one of the shopping malls off Friedrichstrasse this one was delicious and garnished with spring onions and bacon - just right for a chilly day!
I find Sundays difficult in Berlin (and Paris) if you don't want to sight see or do a museum, as most places are shut unlike here in the UK where we have more of a 7 day week culture - so what on earth to do on a Sunday morning before your flight home?  Luckily the receptionist at our hotel recommended us to go to the Ritter Sport chocolate shop off Friedrichstrasse - there you can go around their museum of chocolate which traces the "life" of chocolate from the plant to the finished product.  Downstairs you can buy the Ritter Sport chocolate bars at very good prices - a huge 2kg goodie bag was offered for a fabulous price (I can't remember what now but it was good!) and you can have your own chocolate bar made -you pick milk or dark chocolate then choose your fillings - you have to wait 30 minutes for it to set but then you can collect your personal bar of chocolate - it cost about €3 I think.
Of course no trip to Germany is complete without a trip to a coffee and cake house so we went to our favourite in Berlin - the Opern Palais on the Unter den Linden - the pics speak for themsleves!
Champagne Torte

Yoghurtsahne Torte

Lemon Meringue









Some of the Opern Palais cakes to choose from!















The food halls at KaDeWe also have a pretty impressive selection of sweet treats ranging from the traditional German cakes to Parisien and Viennese offerings.  Their bakery is also rather fabulous too!


















Lovely breads and rolls.















8 comments:

  1. Now I am really getting homesick.... ;)

    A lot of the pictures are of things which are quite hard to come by here (unless you live in the major cities).

    Like .... a fabulous range of baked goods.
    Like ... great flowers at an affordable price.

    The Konditoreien can be as good as any in Paris. For less fancy food potato soup is hard to beat, I still make it once in a while, especially if I have been outside all day it truly warms you up.

    Ritter Sport was one of those childhood treats and I remember when the mini RS were introduced.

    I am totally with you on the "shop on holiday and worry how to get it back at the airport" scenario. I bought a cast iron chandelier at an antique shop and it was a minor miracle to be allowed to get it on board.

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  2. What a darling pumpkin pot , and bravo for travelling back with it plus plant .
    I have returned from many trips with suitcases full of plates and pots on the way back , and nothing ever broke .

    Great cake photos , the yogurt torte sounds lovely .

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  3. Bienchen - Sorry if I made you homesick! Yes I agree there are just some things you can only get in Germany - brings back my childhood memories visiting family there - it is like the Saturday morning produce markets - the markets here are nothing like the French and German ones! And if you see something you want just get it as you say and worry later LOL! SA:-)

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  4. Estrella - glad you like my pot! There si usually a way to getting most things home - my most problematic one is the annual bottle of Brachetto wine from Italy when I go to Carnevale - I curse the day they stopped allowing non duty free liquids on board. Anyway I googled how to bring wine home in a suitcase and now I have a wine bottle travel "kit" and I have not lost a bottle yet LOL!! SA:-)

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  5. ahhh, SA, always a treat to read your blog - even when NO scarf is involved :-). that pumpkin pot is cute, though the sailor in me does find the lighthouse sittin' next to it even cuter!

    some years ago, when i set up the berlin LSO, i commuted for 7 months every monday to B. and every friday back home (apprx. 700 kms). always found quite nice little things so often i opted for the last train on friday night instead of the plane - no arguments with their staff LOL.

    and ALWAYS treated myself with the best poppy-seed-cake i have so far eaten in my life - from the MIB at the bahnhof zoo. the yellow-covered cake one in the 'opern palais' photo could possibly be a 'bananen-buttercreme-torte' - to die for, but you have a bad conscience for about a week afterwards. enough calories for a prize-fighters regular meal.

    hugs, ellie

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  6. Ahh Ellie I can understand the German shops always have lots of lovely trinkets but the lighthouse is from Poland! The cake you like is a Cointreau liquer cake ooh la la! Bet it is yummy too. Glad you enjoyed the post, SA :-))

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  7. Lucky you, that you had another cake at the Opern Palais. Such a pitty, that they close after New Years Eve. It was such a great place Unter den Linden to enjoy sweets and coffee.

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  8. Windows of Vienna - I know sad news - I'm not sure if it is just closed for a refurbishment or closed for good? They do have other cafes in the city but none quite the same as the Opern Palais! Which cafe should I visit in Vienna?! Frohes Neu Jahr! SA:-)

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