Pascuals in Europe Pt. II

One of the major disadvantages of living abroad is that you see your family on average once per year, depending on how far away you are from them. I've accepted and lived with this fact for a few years now, but saying goodbye after spending time together has not gotten easier. It never does. Who likes goodbyes, anyway?! I hate 'em. But so ist das Leben.

I'm thankful and blessed to be able to have spent my summer hols with my family in Europe just this past month. In 2012, we visited Rome and Paris together. This year, on Mama Pascual's request, we visited London, Amsterdam, BS and Berlin. The obvious highlight for me was showing my family the city where I live, Braunschweig aka BS, and Germany in general. After all, I've come to call Germany home. Though it felt absolutely surreal while my family was in town, I loved every minute of it. Now whenever I talk about my life, they'll actually be able to picture it, which makes me genuinely happy beyond words.

Berlin ― Summer 2013

Thanks to my lovelies in Berlin, the past two times I visited my favourite city, I had cozy & centrally-located digs to crash at. Lucky me! The summer we've had in Germany has been ammmmazing thus far. We've had really hot & humid days and I was the only one not crying about it. Germans aren't into extreme heat, punkt. Anyhoo, here are some fun snapshots from my recent weekend getaways...



Vegan brunch buffets, swimming on the wrong side of lakes, cheersing at the Berliner Bierfest, flat-warming parties, snacking and chillin' in parks, random graffiti sightings, Mauerpark karaoke sessions... this summer will mos def go down in history. It was also my 2nd official summer in Germany and I'm beginning to feel more at home here! In comparison to last year, now I feel more comfortable with the language, the culture and the way things work in general. Having said that, there are still heaps more countries I'd like to live in! :/ Nja, so ist das Leben. #foreverwanderlusting #expatlife

I'm still hurr!

Holy smokes, I've been MIA for over a month on the bloggy tip! My sincerest apologies, folks. Work just got crazy for a minute but now that most of my students are on holidays, things shouldn't be as hectic. I'm still here, I'm still inspired and I don't plan on quittin' this blog thang anytime soon. It's just too much fun!! ...spotted this sign while visiting friends up in Berlin last weekend. Slightly amusing?

Freestyle Chocolate Tour Berlin

Before my recent 5-day jaunt in Berlin, I had researched and made note of chocolate shops I wanted to visit. Here are some of the things I tried: Dark Chocolate Ice Cream from Art en Chocolat, some kinda truffle with crispy gold-coloured flakes on top from Werkstatt der Süße, and a nougat-filled macaron-looking mini-sandwich goodie from Schokogalerie.



Hands down, the ice cream was my fave of the three. It was far from creamy and had more of an intensely bitter flavour. I can't even remember what the truffle tasted like so it couldn't have been all that (though I've heard that Werkstatt der Süße does have some amazing cakes). And the nougat-filled goodie was interesting because both the top and bottom pieces were similar in texture to meringue. The lady working at Schokogalerie told me that it was a Michel Cluizel product that had been sent in from France. Mm-hmm. Let me just end off by saying (in the words of Ates), "Chocolate is my life!!!!!!"

Berlin 2012

The one & only Erika America and her fiancé Mike visited Berlin last week and since I live only two hours away from Berlin, how could I not meet up with them?! Boy, did us 4 have a ball of a good time! Yup, we were a group of 4 because my André surprised us all and showed up unexpectedly on the 2nd day! Best surprise of my life!!!!!!!

We ate at my favourite hummus joint in Prenzlauerberg, hit up the Currywurst Museum, spent a day biking around Potsdam checking out crazy castles... we bar-hopped in the Rosenthaler Platz area and ate Turkish gozleme at the Maybachufer Markt... and when the engaged kids & André had to leave, I spent an extra two days in Berlin exploring Tiergarten (where I randomly stumbled upon an annual gay festival) and the Kreuzberg 'hood by bike. I also embarked on my quest to find an affordable but decent hairdresser (successful) as well as a cheap sushi joint (semi-successful). Ich habe viel Spaß gehabt!

Laugenbrötchen mit Mohn und Sesam

It's my absolute fave type of bread at the moment. Before your very eyes is a Lye Bread Roll (Laugenbrötchen) sprinkled with sesame seeds (Sesam) and poppy seeds (Mohn). Here in Germany, baked goods made from lye are very popular. North Americans would know of only one baked good made from lye: pretzels. But here, they have heaps more baked goods made from the same batter as pretzels! As you can imagine, all lye-based products are slightly salty (which makes them so damn good). Thank God Leda introduced me to Kollwitz Bäckerei, the café (Prenzlauerberg, Berlin) where I enjoyed this sandwich. Mozz & tom is a classic, but just Nutella instead would've also been good.

The Döner Phenomenon in Deutschland

You could be in the middle of butt#$@& nowhere in Deutschland, and some random Döner joint would probably be right around the corner. You North Americans will be intrigued to know that there are more places to get Döner in this country than McDonalds locations! (it seems like that, anyway) The bottom line is, Germans cannot get enough of this fast food. It's cheap, it's tasty, and of all the places I've been to so far, it's always been decently good.



What the eff is a Döner?! Well, all I know is that in Toronto, we call 'em "Shawarma" or "Kebab." And none of the "Shawarma" or "Kebab" I've had in Toronto have ever come close to the Döner I've had in Deutschland. A Döner is usually no more than 3-4 EUR, filled with shaved meats from a rotating spit (i.e. chicken), topped with veggies such as tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage and red onions, and served in a pita-like flatbread. Some Döner joints will toast your Döner in a sandwich press thingy, resulting in a Döner that is beautifully textured and crisp on the outside. Miam miam.

Having tried a Döner in Berlin, Hamburg, Münster and in Braunschweig, I've come to believe that wherever you go in Deutschland, a decent Döner can be had. Of course, variations do exist. For example, some places offer garlic sauce or hot sauce as options. If you've never tried a Döner before, here are my 3 recommendations: 1. Make sure your Döner is toasted (preferably in a sandwich press thingy) 2. Ditch the hot sauce (if this is your first time trying it, you wanna try it in its most original form, don't you?) 3. Wash your Döner down with a bottle of Ayran (best... sheit... ever. seriously though.)

Hühnerhaus Berlin ― "Most Moistest Chicken Ever!"

...just had to take a minute to praise the bestest, juiciest, most moistest chicken ever! Hühnerhaus is an absolute must if you ever visit Berlin. I tells ya, 'nuff locals reach this joint because it's THAT good! You can easily rip the chicken apart with your fingers... the pieces are so flavourful, so succulent... love that it's such a no-frills, low-key place too. Thanks for the food-y tip, Julian. Kreuzburg, holla!

BERLIN 2011: GEIL/GRIMY

I don't know where to start in the attempt to tell you how geil Berlin was. Five days (18-22 Oct 2011) wasn't even long enough to absorb all the city had to offer. Highlights: ODing on falafels, our day-long bike tour through grimyass Kreuzburg, the Holocaust Museum, early morning currywurst missions, and steaming hawt bowls of fisch suppe at Julian & Leda's (much love, you guys!).



Here's a screenshot of photographs I cropped for the Berlin 2011 flickr album. When assembled in this way, these nien photographs are a decent representation of the city's streets-y kinda vibe I had the privilege of experiencing. Hands down, Berlin has been the most multicultural and the most cosmopolitan German city I've visited thus far. PS. Yes, that's me admiring the BERLIN WALL!!!