Sunday, June 28, 2009

Berlin! Ice Cream and Wiener Time



Taste Of Berlin: Wiener Time! Wonderful Berlin, Germany. Packed with sordid history, high fashion, excellent Turkish food, major art, gorgeously green in Spring and Summer, 70 cent beer at the corner store, delightful cheeses and the best hearty, grainy bread... While in Berlin on our recent trip to Europe, we stood in a large line of eager tourists and Germans alike, under a bridge in the middle of the city amongst speeding cars, graffiti and tons of fat pigeons... to get a taste of a "famous German national dish"... CURRYWURST!! While we inched closer to the front of the line, I saw people poking their little wooden two pronged forks into sliced fried white sausage slathered in blobs of ketchup, mayonnaise and curry powder, with a side of fries of course!

Line of people under the bridge. "Under the bridge downtown... "

Don't even DREAM that Konnopkes Imbiss doesn't have their own awesome website!!!

These ladies take serious pride in providing some serious wiener time. They have this doo-hickey (let's call it a "wiener chopper") that you stick the fried wiener in, pull down a lever, and CLOMP!! Perfect wiener slices every time. See those little slices in the pic above? Then one woman blasts the mayo on and the other the ketchup, smiling and chuckling away with speed and efficiency. They have probably worked there for 23 years and will work there forever, likely. And they're stoked. I love that. All you need in a job is friends, pay, free wiener snacks and a sense of pride in your work.

The finished product: Currywurst mit Pommes!


RT and I with our fried national treasures.

The marzipan version of Currywurst, at KaDeWe department store!!!

The cutest little ice cream shop across the street from the apartment. Fraulein Frost!

My delicious and delightfully fresh ice cream cone: vanilla bean, and fieldberry. So good. RIch had coffee, and hazelnut; Sandra had strawberry basil. I tried them all, and all were great!

The menu at Fraulein Frost. A simple, sweet little shop, totally inspiring for a young cupcaker like myself.

Do you know the joy of Frühstück? German breakfast? So wonderful, wonderful. A platter of delights, it should really translate into. Slices of meat folded or laid out just so, a few types of good cheese, often some yogurt, a hard boiled egg and the chocolate and hazelnut spread Nutella, accompanied with a basket of fresh breads. You can mix and match your meal! Mini open faced sandwiches! Roll a slice of meat and eat it! Dig into your egg! Spread some Nutella onto your bread! Spread some of your egg onto a slice of bread, add some cheese and meat and your thinly sliced cucumber! What a great, great thing! Enjoy with a coffee, and basically your day is set.

Berlin was a real blast. And to buy an apartment there is ridiculously cheap. So I am hoping we will be back many, many times.

xo

Monday, June 22, 2009

TASTE OF AMSTERDAM




Dankuvel! My hubby and I just returned from a bonkers trip to Amsterdam and Berlin, where we visited some awesome friends, and awesome cousins for a real trip to remember. Food mania! The main tourist area of Amsterdam is what I christened to be the "munchie capital of the world"... all the junk food you could ever want packed into one certain area full of tourists, marijuana smoke, pigeons, ladies of the night (and day) and people whizzing by on bicycles or mopeds. Sprinkled donuts, chocolate dipped waffle, ice cream, fries, vending machine hamburgers-- this area had it all! We had a wonderful time hanging out and staying with the host and hostess with the most and mostess-- Rich's cousin Bryan and his fine lady and fiancee Danielle. We had tons of fun and tried to eat lots, of course-- so here is a rundown of some of the things we saw, experienced or ate...


I just love this packaging! Bright red, and look at those delightful little cubes and mini forkettes!

Pink fondant iced party cakes! Dutch boob implants!

Meal of champions at the airport: icy Heineken and wiener time for me! It was a decent dog.

Please note the coin in the picture for size reference: that is ONE LARGE DUTCH NUTCAKE!


World Of Plonkers always has something cookin' eh? What next?? Only in Amsterdam?


Beautiful Vondelpark, where Rich and I spent an afternoon dozing and taking pictures of each other riding bicycles!

Pretty much some of the top fries I've eaten. Recommended by our wonderful cousins in Amsterdam, this tiny shop "Vleminckx" sounds like a an old troll huffing cough medicine then horking on the side of the road, who knew it would such deliciously delightful, freshly cut, crunchy soft and salty fries with amazing sauces, such as green peppercorn (my fave, I had it twice!) and peanut satay sauce?? Thanks Danielle for the sauce recommendation!!

My hubster with our two "mittel" sized cones. Screw the "kleine" size, we're going big!

Sauce on fries. Wonderful stuff.

This stuff was love at first bite. Speculoos! Peanut butter with an extra twist-- cinammony sugary goodness! Cousin-in-law Bryan gave me two jars to take home, and my heart BROKE when they were taken away from me at airport security!!! They were in my holiday gifts carry-on bag, and apparently peanut butter is a VERY DANGEROUS GEL. Wahhhh! I am still bummed!!!

The bestest hosts, cousin-in-law Bryan and soon to be cousin-in-law Danielle!

Cool cousin Bryan brought home a rather stellar Dutch apple pie!

Delicious! Served with berry frozen yogurt too.

Sniff sniff-- smelling the roses. Amsterdam is truly pretty, just like these flowers!

FEBO: Hot cheese party sticks! From a vending machine even!

Yes, we had to try it. Hot shwarma burger inside a little Bladerunner-esque warming oven/vending machine? Why not!

Counting coinage... "do I have enough for a cheese patty burger?"

"Why yes, I did have just enough! Come on out, you little rascal!"

Deep fried cheese in a patty format, soft bun, bits of shredded iceberg lettuce... definitely worth 1 euro 50!!!


Yay Amsterdam... we hope to visit you again soon... next up, Taste of Berlin... !!!

xo Lyndsay

Monday, June 1, 2009

Are You Dying With Pained Out Amazedness??



Cakes By Destini created this bonkers cake/cupcakes combo for her nephew's 6th birthday!! Holy smokes. The attention to detail is sooo awesome...! Little hot dogs with grill marks, little corns and delicious looking mini burgers?? And watermelon sugar cookies for loot bags? Destini, you're killing me, lady! With your amazingness!
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