Seasonal Recipes: February 2013
Thyme Supperclub rekindles an old love affair just in time for Valentine's Day, with cheese! Cheesecake with Pomegranate February is probably my least favourite month of the year. It’s dark, cold and depressing yet without any of the excitement of the festive winter months, or the optimistic fresh start of January to brighten those bleak days a little. February is a month that calls for comfort food of the highest order. And yet, what comfort food? If you’re anything like me, [...]
Riding Berlin’s U6: A Visual Journey
Alt Tegel Borsigwerke Holzhauser Straße Otisstraße Scharnweberstraße Kurt-Schumacher-Platz Afrikanische Straße Rehberge Seestraße Leopoldplatz Wedding Reinickendorfer Straße Schwartzkopffstraße Naturkundemuseum Oranienburger Tor Friedrichstraße Französische Straße Stadtmitte Kochstraße Hallesches Tor Mehringdamm Platz der Luftbrücke Paradestraße Tempelhof Alt-Tempelhof [...]
Drawshooting by Alex Bodea
John Seemer finds charm aplenty in Alex Bodea's unique 'drawshooting' technique... To call Alex Bodea another 'street artist' in Berlin would be a misnomer - though not entirely inaccurate. While most street artists today continue to vie for uncovered walls and self-directed attention, Alex Bodea seems more content with acting like a passive flâneur; unexpectant yet aware, allowing the streets of Berlin to make their mark on him. And it's there, in the randomness of the city's streets, [...]
A Snowy Weekend In Berlin
Paul Sullivan enjoys a snowy weekend in Berlin by jumping randomly on and off the S Bahn with his camera... A snow-topped Planetarium in Prenzlauer Berg's Ernst-Thailmann Park. The distinctive tower at Ostkreuz was used to store water for the many steam trains that used to pass through the station. A view across the S Bahn tracks to the Rummelsburger See. An obligatory abandoned building. A view of the Rummelsburger See with the Jugendschiff Freibeuter on the left and the [...]
Tegel’s Abandoned Boeing 707
Ian Hawkins uncovers the curious tale of Tegel airport's abandoned Boeing 707... Tegel Airport’s Boeing 707. Photo by Ian Hawkins. If there’s anything I’ve learned about Berlin, it’s that everything has a history. Everything. And if something looks a little out of the ordinary, that’s because it is. We’re trying to explore as much of Berlin as we can. A few weeks ago we went for a walk around Rehberge and Tegel Airport. The walk took us to the far western end of the [...]
Hans Fallada’s Anti-Fascist Fiction
Jonah Raskin takes a broader look at the novels of celebrated German author Hans Fallada... Hans Fallada: anti-fascist author In The Diary of a Young Girl—one of the most touching books ever written about life under fascism—Dutch teenager Anne Frank observed, “Extraordinary things happen to people who go into hiding.” Published in 1947 with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt, Frank’s diary awakened the world to the daily lives of Jews hoping to escape concentration camps [...]
The Wednesday Chef: My Berlin Kitchen
Luisa Weiss talks about her new book, My Berlin Kitchen, and reveals some of her favourite local foodie spots... Luisa Weiss, aka The Wednesday Chef For me, the idea of 'soul food' is connected to those specific meals, flavours and smells that extend beyond the mere pleasures of the palate to embrace memories of family and home. My own (admittedly odd) example is the combination of fried egg, cheese, mayonaise and sweet pickle relish my parents used to make for lunch on Sundays: the [...]
Fassbender & Rausch
Aarti Mehta-Kroll finds a chocolate Reichstag and a charming cafe at one of Berlin's oldest chocolate shops... It was back in 1863 that Heinrich Fassbender opened a confectionery store at Mohrenstrasse 10, whose chocolates would eventually be regarded as fine enough to supply the royal court. In 1918, Wilhelm Rausch, the son of a chocolatier, also set up a shop in Berlin that was so successful that he opened seven more - the business was later managed by his three children. In 1999, [...]
David Bowie’s Berlin
Neil Stewart looks at the Thin White Duke's time in Berlin and the dark records he made here... The Man Who Fell to Earth, 1976 – from the V&A exhibition David Bowie is It’s the most famous salute in rock. Returning to London’s Victoria Station in May 1976, after a spell in Berlin, David Bowie, world-famous, stood up in the back of his open-top Mercedes and saluted the crowd: his right arm extended unbent, his hand flat palm-down. Though he’s since denied this was a Nazi [...]
On se left you see se Siegessäule
Brian Melican finds erudite humour in a book by German comedian and former tour guide Tilman Birr... A few weeks back, I came across a review of a book called On se left you see se Siegessäule: Erlebnisse eines Stadtbilderkärers whose title intrigued me enough to procure it. As an Englishman who has learnt German, just the moniker on its own was enough to bring a wry smile to my face: read in German, the title gives you the typical accent of a German trying (and failing) to master that [...]
