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.  

How to: Too Good to Go

The Germans or maybe the Swedes or maybe REI coined the phrase "There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing." While this sentiment is enough for me to get out the door, the kids need some major convincing to get their daily 60 minutes of exercise or "blowing off the stink" as I call it. Our normal go-to locations for "winning the pants battle" are mostly off the table during austerity measures but thankfully there is the Too Good to Go App. I found this handy video that explains the concept. In summary, the app connects businesses with extra food (that they would otherwise throw away) with customers who are happy to rescue food for 30% of the original cost. More simply put, Too Good to Go is civilized dumpster diving.

In general, you search restaurants/bakeries/hotels based on your location and pick-up time window. I set the radius to one kilometer. When you find something interesting, you reserve and pay on the app, and then pick-up during listed time frame. The time frames can be anywhere to 10 minutes to all day. The description will tell you what you need to bring with you - sometimes just a bag and other times also your own containers. Below are some ways I use the app.

Run the Kids:

Yesterday the boys biked, Carmen and Paul scooted, and I ran to a new-to-us cafe for croissant sandwiches. One hour of exercise: check

New Neighborhood Exploration:

After dropping off Crosby at a birthday party, Carmen and I changed the map radius to see new Too Good to Go options. We ended up going to Latin American market near our house.

We were hoping for chips or enchilada sauce but we ended up with some very interesting items and a beer. My attempt at making Brazilian Tapioca samosas were edible.  

Live Vicariously through your Friends:

I'm never going to eat at 9:45 but when Shanni does cheaply it still feels like a win.

Cheap Date Idea:

We used Too Good to Go a lot when we were doing the walking challenge with Paul's college friends during our last parental leave in the summer of 2020. I'd pick a location for a too good to go meal that would be a long walk during the time period our babysitter was at our house.

I used this strategy last Thursday. The first stop was to first pick-up some croissants:

The key is to make sure to google the bakery to make sure it's not a convenience store. This place is fancy and small portions. Just a snack to keep us going. 

The next stop was offering beer right by an apartment for sale that we wanted to check out anyway. The apartment location wasn't a win, but the beer "surprise bag" was a doozy.

This is a classic case of me missing something every German knows to be true:

The description says to bring 3.10 Euros for deposit. I thought paying a deposit is kind of lame as I didn't have to bring deposit for the other beer pick-ups. However, likely every German knows that 3.10 Euros is the price of the deposit for a 20 rack. The last beer pick-up I did only had five beers. Thus, I ordered a double on this one. Thankfully the tram stop wasn't far away. Work out: check.

Fill-up the Picknicmeister's Lovetank

The first time I went to Oderburger Hotel with Too Good to Go, the buffet was left out for us to take what we want. Crosby and I took the pound of butter which likely explains why now all of the food is on a cart:

Hugo was my pick-up helper this last round:

The key to a good hotel buffet pick-up is to buy all of the portions available. It would just be weird to show-up and have to split it with a stranger. Also, we opt for packaging a lot of small jars so we don't end up mixing all of the sauces. 

Just a little picnic in the hail. I was happy to stick around but nap time was calling.