ein Kuchen, durch den die Sonne dreimal scheint

Lately my favorite treat is grabbing a Butterbrezel on my way to the library. This is a big soft pretzel, cut horizontally and filled (generously) with sweet European butter (yes, it's different). YUM! The Butterbrezel is more of a Southern German thing, and it took me a long time to discover it. And we have this really great bakery/café around the block, Brezel Bar that has the best pretzels. They also make Brötchen (rolls) out of the same dough, and make Laugencroissants, plain or drizzled with white and milk chocolate. (Is your mouth watering yet?)  I came here with Jessica, too, and she got little mini-pretzel pieces rolled in different seeds (sunflower seed, poppyseed, etc).

If you're in Berlin, they also have a good breakfast option, and it's a nice (but quite small) place to sit and read or have coffee.

Legend of the origin of the Brezel: A baker was challenged to bake a cake through which the sun shines three times: „Back einen Kuchen lieber Freund, durch den die Sonne dreimal scheint, dann wirst du nicht gehenkt, dein Leben sei dir frei geschenkt.“

http://brezelbar.de/

Gemütlichkeit und die Konditorei

A friend sent me this video (00:00-4:15), which is really excellent. Unfortunately for those of you who don't speak German, it's auf Deutsch.  It's about Germany's wonderful Konditoreien, traditional pastry/torte shops, narrated by a French woman who has been living in Germany 24 years. (The video is from ARTE, the French/German channel.) She talks about how gemütlich [cozy] they are, the different kinds of Torten, and how so many different types of people enjoy them...and how they are unfortunately getting harder and harder to find, because they are being replaced by "American chains" (ie Starbucks).

Cappucino, Milchkaffee, Espresso, Kaffee...

This is a pretty little coffee I got at the French place at the Markthalle. Coffee is interesting here...From my general impressions, I think the "coffee to go" trend has really picked up in Germany during the last few years. In the US it's pretty common and you even see people with portable coffee mugs, which I rarely ever see here. (If it's "coffee to go," it's in a paper cup.) But my impression is still that people take the time more often to sit down at a café to finish their drink.

Brewing at home: In the US, you can grind your own beans at pretty much any grocery store and it's pretty common to buy whole beans and grind your own at home. I don't know how many people own coffee grinders here (we don't have one in the apt), but here it's hard to find places to have beans ground. Makes me wonder what people are drinking at home?

Also interesting what kind of drinks are "trendy"... I used to hear people ordering Milchkaffee (German version of café au lait), but now (young) people seem to drink Latte macchiato.

And coffee machines are much more common. Sometimes you have these vending machines for coffee drinks, which are not as common in the US.

a funny thing happened on my way to the library

 My bike ride to the library this afternoon happened to go past this bakery I have heard lots about and wanted to check out..."How convenient," as Michael said...

You order from a little window in the door, and sit outside. It was chilly, but I was warm from biking and bundled up, as were the 5 or so other people who were there when I was. Also, I heard some others coming and going, taking cake home, and someone ordering a torte for some event. It's a little treasure, this place!

This is what I got: Swiss Hazelnut-Kuchen. Delicious. Seriously.

Straßencafés

 

im Café

I just got back from the Fulbright Orientation in Göttingen and I'm drowning in emails to catch up on, so here is just a picture from last week. :)  One of the things I love most in Germany are the Strassencafés. This one is right outside the market hall on Bergmannstraße.