Weihnachten season

David took this video of the Weihnachstmarkt near Alexanderplatz:

And my group from work celebrated this season with an Advent breakfast at a historic mill and restaurant. Three weeks more work until vacation! 

Double Bears

I've mentioned that these bears are all over Berlin, and here are two examples. First, a bear advertising the "surf and turf" restaurant behind it..

And then, a bear holding up a hotel sign:

There are a few that I keep meaning to photograph... hopefully soon!

For the spare room

We ended up renting a really big apartment, and our first load of furniture actually left us with a spare room. It housed our boxes for a while, and then it turned into my sewing room. We finally got to IKEA today and here is the furniture for it:

Among other odds and ends, there's a couch and a dining room set in there. We also tried an independent delivery service instead of IKEA delivery, and it worked super well. 

Assembly progress so far: 9/23, mostly the easiest stuff.

Ferris wheel

When they talk about Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas markets), they aren't kidding around. This one, viewed from my train home, is a full carnival including a Ferris wheel.

I wish these were artistically blurry, but they are instead just sort of unfortunate taken from the train blurry. I will try a video next time I have the opportunity. 

Pumpkin pie!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Thanksgiving is so not a thing here that David and I kept forgetting about it. I spent half my afternoon writing emails to collaborators in the US, then deciding I should just not send them until tomorrow.

We're going to a Thanksgiving potluck tomorrow though, so tonight I made a pumpkin pie:

I really appreciated how well the pumpkin pie matched our stand mixer. 

I am proud to say this pumpkin pie did not drip!

It looks certainly looks homemade (imperfect)! In the background, you can see onion gravy (our collaborative project) and David will make some mashed potatoes tomorrow. Yum.

Enough tomatoes

David and I both we grocery shopping tonight. I stopped at the biomarkt for some produce and cereal, and he went to the giant Kaufland to stock up. These are the best "canned" tomatoes we've found so far. They come in little juice boxes. I think this will last until we head home for the holidays...

Travelers

This statue of a traveling family was right outside the freidrichstrasse station. I couldn't stop and take a better picture because I was already running late when I walked by!

Snow and street art

We've had a few flurries of snow in the past day, and some of it was sticking to roofs and grass and bridges. You can see some of it in my view from the train platform in the morning.

The morning looks a bit bleak, but the sun did come out for a glorious hour before sunset today.

Early plane

The cheapest and easiest option for returning from Paris involved an easyjet flight just before 8 am. Apparently these European budget airlines are not all that in to jet bridges. I took this while shivering on the stairs down to board our plane.

Paris from Le Sacré-Couer

We took a walk through Monmarte and ended up with this lovely view of Paris. We skipped the steps: we took the metro to the top and side streets down through the neighborhood.

Eiffel Tower

After dinner, we spontaneously trekked across Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. It was so pretty.

David took an absurd number of pictures that I am encouraging him to post here soon!

Notre Dame

When we got off the train near our hotel, we'd found ourselves right be Notre Dam. David took a nice picture:

And then some selfies:

It is exhausting to work a full day and then travel. 

Weekending

Two weeks ago, we excitedly bought tickets to go to Paris this weekend, leaving tomorrow after a full day of work. After the attacks last weekend and after spending the last two days in bed with a head cold, the prospect is somewhat more daunting than it was before. But I'm packed and tomorrow I will post on the road!

Herbal tea

Neither of us are usually tea drinkers, but the combination of the electric kettle and intense head colds (first David, now me) has dramatically increased the popularity of tea in our household. I tend to stick to herbal.

Self-cleaning kitchen

This sign appeared in the kitchen at work. I looked at the English translation and thought "even google translate can do better," so I typed it in to check. It turns out that's probably exactly what Google translate did to the text. 

Of course, I got the general idea and was tidier than usual while microwaving my soup.

Nut bar recipe

Today we stayed home and rested, so no pictures of anything from out and about. Instead of taking another picture of the drying rack, I decided to take a series of pictures as I made nut bars. These are my breakfast every morning - I eat one on the train on my way to work. You may notice that they are pretty hefty, but they are my *whole* breakfast and usually keep me full for the next four hours.

The recipe is based on a bunch of different recipes I googled. My goal was to have a relatively high ratio of protein to sugar while still having bar that holds together. I kept trying "homemade Kind bar" and "paleo nut bar" and "protein bar" but the end result is not any of those things.

Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups whole raw nuts (walnuts, cashews, pecans, and/or almonds)
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp coconut oil
4 Tbsp honey
2/3 cup oats
1/3 cup dried fruit
1 egg white

First, preheat the oven to 375. Then chop the nuts until the largest pieces are about as big as half an almond and the smallest pieces are close to a powder. For these bars, it's nice to have a variety of nut piece sizes.

Then put the coconut oil in the pan... 

Add they honey, and heat until they become liquid: 

Add the nut mixture, the sunflower seeds, and the oats. Mix and roast over medium heat for a few minutes until the mixture is coated. 

Turn off the heat and add the dried fruit (here, chopped apricots, but I usually use cranberries). Let the mixture cool for a minute, and separate the egg. 

Add the egg white to the mixture, quickly mixing it so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and get fried. 

Spread the mixture on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Smooth the sides so they are even; any nut piece sticking out on the end will likely not stick to the bars. I usually put a layer of parchment paper on top the bars, then use a cutting board to press down and compact the whole thing. Below, pre and post compacting:

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges brown. The goal is to bake them enough so that the bars stick together, but to avoid burning the edges. I left mine in a bit too long: 

Let it cool for at least 15 minutes, and then set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The longer they sit, the easier it will be to cut them up without them coming apart. I cut this recipe into 8 or 9 bars, depending on how solid they seem - this time, I went for 8 because they didn't spend long enough in the fridge and I knew they'd come apart a bit. Make sure you use a sharp knife (that will cut through nuts) to cut into bars:

I wrap mine in foil:

And set aside any of the extra nuts to eat with cereal later. I recommend storing them in the fridge (or freezer).

Hope For Peace

Around noon, I got an email from my choir director asking if anyone would be willing to join a small group to sing Le Marseillaise in front of the French Embassy this afternoon. I agreed to go - I wished (and still do wish) to do something to show support for the victims of yesterday's attacks. David came with, and he took today's pictures.

The French Embassy is located by Brandenburg Tor, on Pariser Platz. As we approached, it became clear that the square, which is usually full of tourists, was playing host to a sort of impromptu vigil. The mood was somber, and police and news trucks were all around. I didn't expect the crowds when I headed over, but maybe I should have. 

The embassy itself was blocked off, and people were gathered by the barricades, gathered to light candles. We formed a small circle up by the front. As someone had pointed out that the words to La Marseillaise are rather warlike, some of us felt more comfortable simply carrying the melody. I think we'd originally expected people to sing along, but instead the silence seemed to grow more profound. After we sang it through once, a single voice continued from the crowd - either a repeat or the next verse, and we joined again near the end.

And then the singing was over. I felt this sense of expectancy from the crowd, like we had got everyone's attention by singing, like we had asked a question - but we didn't provide an answer. I had no idea what it was, so David and I cut out of there. Now, after thinking about it all evening, I wish that we had continued - not with a repeat of La Marseillaise, but with a song of peace.

Because I have profound sympathy for the victims of the attacks, and that was what I meant to show. But I feel there's a dark side to national anthems. I don't think that nationalism is the answer to stopping terrorism, and I don't stand with France if her next move is to close her borders to refugees. And I am worried about a resurgence of Islamophobia - a resurgence of racism. I am worried about the hate and war than might ensue. Let us all hope for peace. 

Coffee machine

My office at the AIP is about a 20 minute walk from the nearest coffee shop. If I forget my cold brew (or run out), the main option is a coffee machine in the lobby of one of the buildings. It is pretty terrible. I usually go for the bohnenkaffee weiss. I tried the choccoccino once and regretted it.

I have no plans to try the soup. 

Fensterputzer

Our office was visited by window cleaners today. Apparently, every year they spend about a week at AIP cleaning the windows. They were super efficient.

Note the serious science happening on my laptop...

On a run

I spotted this collection of street art and murals on a run today. I moved in to take a better picture, but then my phone started complaining that it's out of space. Oh well.

A plane?

I took a different route through charlottenburg to my choir director's house and found this model(?) of a plane.  I'm not sure if it's art or a playground or what! 

Ode to Joy Flash Mob

Today my chorus did a flash mob of Ode to Joy at the Mall of Berlin. Since a picture wouldn't really capture it, David took a video of the performance and put it on youtube:

Mailboxes

I stayed home from touristing today - I'm still recovering form jet lag and a busy work week. Maybe David will post some of his scenic photos instead.

I was pretty intrigued by these mailboxes... it sort of looks like the building provided the sheet of wood, and each tenant attached their own:

Touristing in Charlottenburg

We were playing tour guide this weekend, and ended up seeing a few sights in Charlottenburg. The Rathaus Charlottenburg caught my eye:

As did this bear:

Statue at night

Spotted on the way out to dinner. This statue is part of the old Cold War era apartment buildings that dominate our neighborhood.

The crane

I didn't manage to get a very good picture of it, but this morning, I was surprised to find a giant crane in front of our building at work. It entirely removed the doors to the dome over my office, and as long as it was light out, there were workmen outside our office attaching loads of wood to the crane to be hauled up to the dome. Apparently they'll be working on it all month...

Fall at the AIP

From work this morning. Plenty of autumn leaves and a statue in repose.

Under the stairs

In a far fancier building than the one we live in, even the undersides of the stairs are decorative.

Florida Eis

Maybe there's something I don't know about Florida and ice cream, but for whatever reason, I find the idea of Florida Eis thoroughly unappetizing.