Bumbag Motel

The day of new years eve was most pleasant, stocking up on delicious wines, beers, tasty treats and, of course, fireworks. German food was on the day time menu with some ‘Maultasche’ (large pasta parcels) with Sauerkraut on top, as well as sparklers and fire crackers. Our old flatmates Christina, Alp and Inga came round for the evening and cooked us up a cheese fondue with roasted vegies – great shared dining and indulging. Coats on, courage levels high as we marched into the street and to the top of Victoria for the countdown, non-stop explosions, smoky air and bottles of wine popping along the way…

We had the delightful company of (from left) Tegan, Guthrie and Felix staying with us over new years, and here we are also dining with some of their friends from working on the boats. Our most favourite pizza place ‘I Due Forni’ in Prenlauer Berg is the venue: huge, fantastic pizzas, 1 litre carafes of wine, bustling diners and waiters and writing from many of our fave bands on the wall brings all round joy – and Cam made it all happen! Earlier in the day we explored P Berg with Glühwein from a dairy and Felix stocked up on beers which he gleefully found he could easily carry in his new jacket – joy!

hope everyone had a brilliant xmas! we had christmas celebrations german style on the 24th. early start at our friend Torsten’s apartment in Neuköln, where we decorated the christmas tree, enjoyed many sparklers, Glühweins and fine German beers. All topped off with a mighty feast with nut roast and roast vegies for us vegetarians and pavlova for dessert. Delicimo times! the feasting continued on xmas day with trifle for breakfast, roast vegie mania and mint sauce. got to enjoy a day lounging about home and having skyp-a-thons with the family in NZ, Australia and Nick in London.

After two months of contracts keeping Cam busy and inside, we got to head out together before xmas and new years festivities began. Cam gave himself a haircut and sported a grey skivvy in celebration, although we are now in agreement that this was a one time only event (photo below). Chilly temperatures and early darkness had us dining with young families in a cute and delightful Indian restaurant on Bergmannstrasse. That also meant that I had plenty of the evening left for dessert making – I whipped up a a creme brulee, perfect way to use up the egg yolks leftover from the pavlova!

so…these are all photos of food because Sunday was a most excellent food day. Above is my spinach and goat’s cheese quiche, I tried to make a ‘holly’ decoration in the middle, but have now decided that it’s a Y-wing fighter from Star Wars. Below is one of the Yo-Yo’s I made for Laurel’s “cookie exchange and Gingerbread house building” afternoon – and beside that is, yup, my gingerbread house (didn’t quite last the S bahn ride home). Also got a brilliant Glühwein recipe so no more store bought excuses!

had a wonderful final saturday before xmas with former flatmates christina, inga and alp around for lunch – have to say I made my best poached eggs ever for ‘eggs florentine’. Inga, Christina and I then went to the Weihnachstmarkt at Dahlem Domäne which is a museum and still functioning ecological farm. Was very cute and German, we sat and listened to a lady play harp while another told fairy tales all in medieval costume. We continued the big kid theme by decorating our own glass xmas balls – here we are in our painting gears, and Glühwein. More of Christina and Inga at the market below, and Inga lamenting the paint on the hands. Was a delightful day, topped off by a lovely evening at my friend Rae’s for  potluck dinner!

Weihnachtsman?? Nein! That is just cam bringing in our xmas tree (Weihnachtsbaum). Nice to have a real tree to decorate, though more decorations need to be added – perhaps created. At the moment the decorations from the oconnells of the past few years are adorning its branches – hurra!

lovely dinner time at Pete & Frankie’s on Sunday night. great to see a healthy and 6 month pregnant Frankie and a happy Pete who is about to have a solo show in Florence. We have a somewhat stunned Pete & Cam below, Frankie got the smiles going as she cut the delicious quiche she made. I was super stoked to get hooked up with some delectable cookie recipes from Frankie too – hot tip = use crushed nuts instead of flour.

the cookie cutter obsession continues – taking it to the next level with colourful xmas toppings. I think Raiane, Cam and I enjoyed pretending like we were 10 years old with our primary colour patterns – though will be making my own icing next time for that sugary hit, and use a new recipe – as current one is not so exciting. More cookies to come I’m sure (accompanied by Glühwein – natürlich!)