Winning the Pants Battle

We're not big on clothing around the house, however we do have to put on pants if we want to go anywhere. The Beckley in me won't allow pajamas as clothing. One little Biggs in particular, requires a lot of incentive to get out the door. In addition to parks, these are our usual lures to "blow the stink off".

Sweet Treats: Ice Cream and Donuts

Our first visitor in Berlin, Ms Neysa Bell, found Oak & Ice. We instantly liked the vibe of the place and the kid area was a perk. I later met the owner who told me he fashioned the cafe after Portland's famous Salt & Straw. 

I took Hugo here on one of our Mommy dates after he started back at Kita without Crosby last August.

The teachers at Kita told me he was harassing the babies at Kita and thought that it was due to some subconscious jealousy of Carmen. After watching Hugo with Carmen during this current wave of Corona preschool closure, what once perhaps was jealousy, I would say is actually just baby love. An excerpt from a recent morning snuggle conversation:

Hugo: "I want two babies. Carmen and another baby."

Crosby: "I want a 100 babies."

Hugo: "Is the baby store open?"

Mommy: "No, it's closed." 

Our rule used to be that we did not have ice cream at home so that we would at least leave the house to go to one of the ten ice cream shops, 20 locations if you count that the convenience stores also have ice cream and the grocery store across the street, within a three block radius of our house. As of this writing, my current favorite ice cream is Dodo gelato up at the top of the map. Papa gave us an ice cream maker for Christmas, so now it's just crazy around here. Ice cream* all the time. 

Avocado Ice Cream = Breakfast of Champions

She insists on feeding herself. 

*Lot's of yogurt and not much sugar in these recipes = Mommy's revenge ice cream.  

Favorite Bakery: Zeit für Brot

The advantage of having kids that wake up early, is we beat the lines at our favorite Bougie bakery. Zeit für Brot is famous for their cinnamon rolls or schneke which we learned means snail from this post. 

Throwback to the days where dining inside was an option and Hugo was not mobile.

Fast Food: Burgers and Fried Chicken

We probably eat fast food once a week. Again, the "ice cream rule" applies here too, we rarely have fried food at home; we have to leave the house for that. Being Biggs, of course we have a spreadsheet ranking of all the restaurants around our house. When we first moved here we ate a lot of döners which is meat carved off a spit with veggies in delicious bread. Döners are to Germany as the burrito is to the USA.  Something similar to döner exists in Turkey but in a wrap instead of bread, just like tacos evolved into burritos in the USA. There are at least ten döner options within a couple blocks of our house.

This one isn't our favorite, but it was open at 10 am, which is too late for avoiding lines at Zeit für Brot.

Once finding a solid burger at Burgermeister, most other options faded away.

Hugo "Check out meine Burger" Biggs

The Pizza Next Door

There is literally a pizza restaurant in our building, but there is also one across the street which is both cheaper and more friendly. We lazily ordered online from across the street and realized the mark-up to be 20% if we don't pick it up. Thus, we put this pizza guy to work.

Getting Outfitted: The Tailor

One of the pleasant surprises of moving here is the affordability and proximity of a great tailor. As a point of reference, it costs $7 and less than a week to get a pair of pants hemmed. Once I figured this out, I started bringing our closest tailor all sorts of random projects - like sewing a bunny tail back on this gem:

Or sewing in side stretchy panels into Carmen's outfit and shortening Hugo's tail:

I forgot to put this crowd pleaser on the map - the butcher that gives away free sausages for the kids. It's one shop north of Zeit für Brot. 

Another new favorite that I accidentally cropped out off the map - kaisersmarm (cut-up pancakes with fruit compote) and schnitzel available for pick-up right by Kollwitz Saturday market.

Throwback to two weeks ago when we were aloud to meet with another family for Kaisersmarm:

A new lockdown started today where we can only meet with one other single person. Sigh.

Something for Everyone: Bubble Tea

I know bubble tea was cool almost 20 years ago, but for me it's making a come back. Our local bubble tea place also has blue ice cream (for the boys) AND waffles (for Carmen). 

Just put on our snowsuits and we're ice cream ready.

They have a Sunday special of a hot dog in a waffle which we must try sometime soon, but we usually end up at our next local on Sundays....  

Sunday Food Trucks: A Sabbath Saver

Sundays are our "no-plan, no-cook, no-real clothes until Zoom church" day. They also used to be the day we didn't leave the house, but we found that one little Biggs needs to move around to preserve everyone's sanity. The Sunday Food Trucks are an easy option for both food and movement. 

We look forward to the days we can take family and friends to our favorite places around our hood and...ahem... also recruit them to assist in the pants battle.