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dosaandmoreberlin · 2 years

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Understand the Various Food Cultures and Healthy Eating with Dosa and More

Everybody loves eating food. Some eat for energy, some for their goals, and some people just enjoy a good meal that tastes amazing. Food is a great unifier, as it has been unifying so many different cultures. Food culture represents a culture’s tradition, blended into dishes.

Some Dishes bring childhood nostalgia, and some dishes remind you of a special occasion or moment in your life. Food culture helps us relate to and understand each other’s culture, in so many ways. Dosa and More, an Indian restaurant in Germany is one such place promoting the mingling of various food cultures. It is places like these that help people understand international cuisines and cultures better.

To the book, food culture is the connection, belief, and experience that we share with food and the food system, incorporating cultural heritage and even ethnicity. But is just not limited to this.

Food Cultures around the world

Food cultures are distinctive, and some of them are famous around the world like Indian. Good Indian restaurants in Berlin, Dosa and More and various others in different parts of the world are the best advertisers and promoters on international food cultures. Some cultures don’t even have their specific regions but are very significant to the local community. Food cultures are affected by many different factors, mainly their profile, ingredients, and spices.

The USA has a distinctive food culture, as the geographical area is very big, thus resulting in different food cultures in different states. Local spices, availability, and demand are defining factors of the corresponding food culture. Same with the famous Indian food culture. The North Indian food culture is vastly different from the south Indian food culture, because of the regional differences.

Food culture was founded because the food was a big part of celebrations, religious holidays, birthday celebrations, and many special occasions. Food cultures make us human, who we are.

Global Food culture important components: -

Food culture involves sharing food with your loved ones, family, and friends.

Food is used as an important part of cultural celebrations and special occasions.

Food made always uses unique local ingredients, making the dish rare and with distinguishing flavours.

The food is valued and a connection is made.

Food is valued, it is not to be manipulated but to be shared and celebrated.

Food supports the land where it is grown and thus making it a very important part of this civilization.

Healthy food and Cultural foods

Health is wealth. It is as important if not more than any experience or need. Often, a single way of healthy food chart is presented, but the ingredients and dishes are sometimes not available in the region due to terrain, climate, altitude, and even knowledge. So how can we eat healthy if the ingredients are not available? You can.

Cultural foods are also healthy. The traditional dishes can be tweaked a little to make them very healthy. Some cheap Indian restaurants in Berlin like Dosa and More provide a variety of healthy dishes which are nutritious, unique and can be added to the diet charts without worrying about the logistics.

What is healthy eating? What can be defined as healthy?

A human, whether male or female, has different nutritional needs, be it micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals, or macronutrients such as protein, fats, and carbohydrates.

A dish or food is healthy when it is made using ingredients that are rich in both micro and macronutrients. And also, different dishes have different nutrients. That is why a balanced diet is important for achieving your daily nutritional goals.

For example, Oats are rich in the complex carbohydrate and in vitamins. But if you only eat oats throughout the day, then it won’t be healthy for you. As you also need other macro and micronutrients. The type of ingredients depends on what your requirements are. If you want to lose weight or gain weight, the quantity and ingredients change for what is best for your body currently.

So, knowledge of the ingredients and how to cook the dish using healthier cooking oil options can make your traditional tasty dishes healthy.

Healthy eating habits in different food cultures

Every country has its food culture. As said different due to many factors, and some even practice different eating habits.

1. Britain: Dinner in Britain can also be referred to as lunchtime food, sometimes also referred as tea or supper, depending on the time of consumption.

2. India: It is known worldwide, that Indian eat food with their hands. Some people think that this practice is only limited to the rural areas of the country. But most people in the urban areas also love and enjoy eating with their hands. Before eating, just wash your hands thoroughly, and always eat with your right hand, as eating with the left is considered unhygienic and disrespectful.

3. China: Chinese food and chopsticks are also famous worldwide. People use 2 sticks, to consume food and yes, if you are just starting to eat with a chopstick, it is one hell of a challenge.

#Indian restaurant in Germany #Good Indian restaurants in Berlin #cheap Indian restaurants in Berlin

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spicevillageeu · 2 years

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How Can You Help Your Favourite Online Asian Grocery Store Grow

Everybody in the world is now having and making dishes from various international cuisines. The frequency of a person abroad having Asian dishes has increased manifold especially after the opening of various multi-cuisine restaurants and grocery stores. These restaurants and grocery stores not only promote the sales of Asian groceries but also encourage people to expand their horizons when it comes to food. Unlike earlier people nowadays are more open to trying new cuisines and dishes not only at restaurants but also at home. Asian cuisine has become one of the most popular dinner or party themes worldwide.

The online grocery shopping concept lept into our lives as soon as the pandemic hit the world. Even though lockdowns were lifted it was still unsafe to move out and everyday tasks like grocery shopping were life threatening. In just an instance the world shifted from basic local store shopping to the model of shopping for groceries online. This also gave birth to the concepts of multi cuisine stores like Germany’s best online Asian shop, Spice Village. These stores then brought about a change in the customer shopping pattern and experience altogether. Online shopping is more convenient and with the right store, the best way to purchase your favourite groceries, brands and products regularly.

There are various multi cuisine stores and shops all over the world. One can easily find multiple Asian supermarkets in the USA, UK, Germany and all other major countries and states that are home to Indian and Asian immigrants. Every year there is an increase in the number of students and work aspirants moving from their hometowns in Asia and India to parts of Germany. Superstores like Spice Village help these immigrants feel at home with authentic brands and products from their homeland. This not only helps them settle in a foreign country quickly and more easily but also helps others there to experience the flavours and aroma of various Asian countries.

Being an Asian store in Germany is a tough and complicated task. Your growth as an international supermarket entirely depends on the experience of your customers at your online store, the products they purchase and if they are a first timer would they like the cuisine or not. As a supermarket like Spice Village, the staff puts in a lot of effort to make the experience of every customer the best and satisfactory. The sole duty of the staff members of an online store is providing a good, hygienic and convenient experience to the customer. To do the same, employees of an online store take care of the website as it should be well segregated and user friendly, ensure the correct information is provided to the customer, pack their order correctly and hygienically and ensure that the products reach them in due time and safely.

The relationship of an online store like Spice Village and its customers is a two way thing. The customers need to help and support the online stores for them to be able to continue providing quality products at a reasonable price. Asian shops in Berlin like Spice Village provide a wide range of premium quality ingredients, groceries, brands and their products from India and Asia at very cheap prices loaded with deals and discounts. Spice Village is a store that offers discounts, free shipping in Europe as well as same day delivery on Tuesday and Friday only in Berlin. Although the variety of products and brands of ingredients and groceries available at Spice Village is the best thing about this online store in Germany.

As a customer one can do a lot more than just purchasing from online Asian grocery stores. The frequency of people making Asian food at their home is still less because either they can't find good ingredients and groceries or the stores selling the groceries they need are very costly. As a loyal customer of online Asian grocery store here are a few things you can do to support your favourite store and help it grow:

1. Expose guests and closed ones to Asian cuisine more often. Try and incorporate more of Asian dishes like snacks, beverages, etc in your everyday meals and parties.

2. Leave honest reviews and comments on the store's website. Google reviews also play a very important role. So be honest and let other customers read about your experience.

3. Check out the website of the store even if you don't want to purchase. Every time you open the website and scroll around its ranking increases on google which will make your favourite store more visible on the internet.

4. Interact with them on their social media platforms. This helps them increase their reach on social media platforms and help other customers trust the website and store better.

Spread using word of mouth. There is no better marketing tool than this one. If you really want your favourite online Asian store to grow, talk about it to as many people as you can.

#online Asian shop #Asian supermarkets #Asian shops in Berlin

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berlinaura · 4 years

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Oh how the laziness has taken over. My school motivation has completely disappeared and the only thing keeping me going is the fact that the work I have to do are group works. I am allowing myself pass classes with minimum effort right now.

On the week after my birthday party my Finnish friends were in Berlin. I was at school on one day of that week. We drank 4 days in a row (okay I had to take one chill day in between because I had the throw up kind of hangover). We went to some bars and Mauerpark flea market on Sunday.

The next Monday I had an intervietw for an internship in Berlin. I was stressing over the interview for the whole night and got only 1 hour of sleep. I felt like a shaking zombie. Nevertheless, the interview went alright in my opinion. They made me speak some German and wanted to hear why I applied for the position. That’s basically all they asked me. They promised to let me know their decision by the end of the week but so far I have heard nothing from them (now it is Monday again and exactly 1 week has passed). That is alright because I also got a job offer from Finland and I am pretty sure I am gonna accept it no matter what. The tasks and salary are too tempting and unfortunately outweigh Berlin. I also got another interview for an internship in Berlin and even though I have basically made up my mind, I am gonna do the (phone) interview for practice.

Last Thursday me and my friends were at Escape room. It was a birthday gift I recieved from them and it was so much fun! I have never been to an Escape room before so I had no idea what to expect. We took one called “Puppeteer” and the idea was to escape from a puppeteers workroom before he makes us into puppets. We had a creepy ass robot baby, quietly saying “take me with you, take me with you...” that we had to carry from a room to another. We did so well and only needed “1,5 hints” from the game master. And even got 2 spare minutes in the end! I definitely want to try this game again.

Afterwards we went out for a couple of drinks and to analyze our game. Suddenly we got the best idea ever: we are going on a road trip in February, after exams! It didn’t take long and suddenly we already had a route planned, From Barcelona to Montpellier, from there to Lyon and ending at Genf. I have been wanting go on a such adventure for ages and now I can’t wait until the exams are over!

On Friday me and a friend went spontaneously for drinks to an Indian restaurant called Amar. I found my new favorite drink “Touch down”. One thing I love about Berlin that the cocktails are often so cheap and good and you can get them from normal restaurants. It feels kinda luxurious but at the same time it only costs around 4 euros each. Also, they were super strong and only a few cocktails got us drunk and talk about deep stuff. I wish I had one right now...

On Saturday I tried my best to concentrate on school work. I didn’t proceed at all. I ended up playing Mahjong and taking a nap. In the evening I had a super fancy sweatpants, tv and frozen food -kind of date. The best way to relax after a hard week, am I right!

On Sunday me and friends decided to check out an Asian restaurant called Umami. Their food was delicious. Always when I try food like this I try to analyze which ingredients they have used so I could redo the dish at home but I never end up doing it.

The next week was nothing but school work from the morning to the evening. I have three presentations coming up, one paper to write and of course exams and normal homework. I feel like I am learning so much and these courses are actually beneficial for me but at the same time I feel like there is no point in stressing over grades and stress over studying. I think I have found a nice balance in working hard during week and then being super lazy during the weekend.

After one Thursday we went to have a drink to a bar to plan our Spain/France roadtrip. After 30 minutes we had already booked flights to... SCOTLAND! No idea what that trip is about but I can not wait for the exams to be over now. We are going to visit both Edinburgh and Glasgow. Hopefully the weather is not going to be a classic February gray rain weather, though.

On Friday 31.1. we were supposed to have a house party but decided to do a pub crawl instead. Somehow our group grew to 10 people and towards the end of the evening we were having a hard time to fit into the places we wanted to go to. The first one, multilayerladen was the stereotype of a hipsterish Berlin bar where people sat on swings, Mary Poppins film was projected to the wall and rusty shopping carts were used as a decoration. They made a delicious and affordable Gin & Tonic though so nothing to complain there. Then, naturally we ended up at Que Pasa to order their 3,5€ cocktails and read palms. Then towards the end of the evening our group started to crumble. At the last place we found fun pinball arcade machines, had conversations about language grammar and smoking and then finally left the extremely crowded yet cozy place (Clash).

I had the laziest fucking Saturday yesterday and I plan to spend my Sunday exactly the same way. I already slept for 13 hours and now I plan to play some sims, maybe bake something and maybe in the evening do something for school. If the stores were open, I would have wanted to go thrift shopping today, it seems like the perfect day for that but unfortunately I have to leave that for the week.

Recently I have been feeling melancholic because I know my exchange year is ending soon. It is hard to enjoy fun moments when you know you are going to leave these people soon and go back to your normal life. I should accept that this semester is just a temporary part of my life and I won’t feel the same after a year. I know that after being in Finland for a couple of months, I am already used to it and don’t feel so dead inside anymore :D Also, I can always come back after graduating. Literally, who knows what I am going to do. At least now if I ever think about moving abroad, I know I’ll manage and fear isn’t holding me back.

#berlin #erasmus #exchange year

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artsistory · 5 years

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Ouch my Toof! (7.22.19)

Well it’s monday, which means it’s time to finally see a dentist. Brandi and I woke up super early to try and make a same day appointment. There’s a dentist one block away that opens at 8 so we thought we’d pop in there to start. They had no availabilities but they gave us some useful information and we realized that we’d probably just have to pay out of pocket to get any work done. The bad news is that the NHS is so popular and cheap that you have to wait a long time for appointments, but the good news is that even tho we have to book as private and pay out of pocket it’ll still probably be more affordable than in the US. Basically my strategy was to google “dentist near me” and call every office until I could get an appointment. I ended up finding one for noon so when the time came we got on the train and ventured waaayyyy out (even further than our air bnb) to go.

The dentist was very nice and she started my root canal procedure that same day. I hope it works! I’ll have to come back on the 30th to have it completed.

So my mouth was real ouchie and I had a lot of anxiety leading up to the appointment so I didn’t take my ‘wakey’ pills. Naturally that meant that I accidentally took un unplanned nap that afternoon. If we were in a nicer air bnb I might have spent the whole day recovering inside but Brandi and I hate this place so much we had to get out! So Brandi took me to, what turned out to be, my favorite place in the world.

This cereal restaurant!! It’s actually hard to find a lot of fun cereals in the UK so they have this great place where they try to import as much as they can! Of couse, being americans, we can find a lot of this stuff at home.

But it was still fun to try cereals you might not want a whole box of! I got Oreo Os and Powdered Sugar Donette Cereal! Brandi got a cookie dough explosion bowl that had a ton of cookie cereals and also just some dough?

It was great! They also had mixed drinks so we tried one with a captain crunch rim! Brandi took this pic and it’s a pretty good portrait of the pure joy I was feeling.

We had to check out the back before we left and it was all so cute! You could even sit on a 90s themed bed! Obviously I went for Space Jam.

There was still a lot of stuff on the menu I wanted to try (fruity pebbles crusted fried chicken????) but Brandi wanted to also get some Curry since we were actually at Brick Lane which is famous for their Indian food! Look! It’s the Brooklyn of London! The Kreuzberg of Paris?? The Christianshavn of Berlin... Whatever there was graffiti.

As it turned out, Brandi was full from cereal and had a little tummy ache from the sugar? She’s weak. So we just wandered around a bit instead of getting curry. We somehow wandered into a movie set? The made a whole block look cool and old!!

Neato!

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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years

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This Egyptian Grain Bowl Is the Pantry Wonder-Dish We Need Right Now

Anny Gaul

Koshari is filling, flavorful, easy to make, and basically perfect

Last September, the Egyptian fast-casual chain Zooba opened a branch in Lower Manhattan. Among Egyptian classics like taameya and hawawshi, one of the most popular dishes on the menu from the start has been koshari — a centuries-old grain bowl that’s suddenly found itself an unlikely global “it” food. Manhattan’s Zooba is just the latest in a series of hot spots in cities like Cairo, Berlin, London, and New York that are serving the ancient staple to an entirely new and very eager customer base.

The appeal of koshari is easy to understand. It’s both filling and delicious — a mess of complex carbs and protein muddled with a range of acidic notes. A base of rice, lentils, chickpeas, and macaroni is shot through with sauces that meld tomato, hot pepper, vinegar, and garlic, and the whole thing is topped with crispy fried onions. But while it’s a fast-casual trend around the world, in Egypt, koshari is better known as a historic national dish, one that gracefully straddles the divide between street food and home cooking.

It’s also the perfect food for pantry cooking in an age of stay-at-home orders and two-hour supermarket queues. With a long history as a hardy, adaptable, filling meal of choice among traders and travelers, it’s designed to provide maximum nutrition and flavor from cheap, accessible ingredients and local trimmings. If you have an assortment of starches, pulses, and alliums on hand, plus some vinegar and tomato sauce or tomato paste, then koshari’s delights are within your reach.

“Egyptians have a long history of hodgepodge cooking, stuffing carbs with even more carbs — and we aren’t the only ones.” — Egyptian novelist Nael El Toukhy

Koshari’s history has always been something of a mystery. One thing most Egyptians agree on is the dish’s connection to khichidi (sometimes spelled kitchari), an Indian dish that is also built on the winning combination of grains and pulses — a catchall term for the edible seeds of legumes like beans and lentils. But how did it get to Egypt?

Most popular accounts cite Britain’s occupation of Egypt, which began in 1882 and was accomplished with the help of Indian troops. While it’s perfectly plausible, even likely, that Indian soldiers brought khichidi with them to Egypt, they probably weren’t the first or the only such link in koshari’s history: Centuries of earlier, sometimes indirect, connections between Egypt and India likely also form part of the dish’s evolution. As the powerhouse rice-and-lentils combo traveled along the pilgrimage and trade routes that have connected South Asia to Arabia to Egypt via the Red Sea for centuries, it absorbed new ingredients and flavors along the way.

Today, traces of rice-and-lentil dishes dot the ports and coastal regions that long tied Egypt and India together. The crews of dhows — short-range sailing vessels of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean — once ate a dish made with rice, lentils, ghee, and hot peppers, according to one traveler’s account from the 1930s. Food scholar Sami Zubaida recalls a weekly meal of rice, lentils, tomato paste, and garlic during his childhood in Baghdad, adding that the dish was also well-known in Iraq’s port city of Basra. It was Zubaida who pointed me in the direction of several 19th-century British accounts that placed koshari — or something very like it — along the east coast of the Arabian peninsula as well as in Suez, an Egyptian port at the northernmost end of the Red Sea. An East India Company official stationed there in the 1840s described the locals eating a mixture of lentils and rice cooked with ghee and flavored with “pickled lime or stewed onions.”

Zooba [Official]

Two versions of the Koshari served at New York’s Zooba pre COVID-19, now available for takeout and delivery

In 1941, Egypt’s most famous cookbook, known as Kitab Abla Nazira, included two koshari recipes, one with yellow lentils and one with brown lentils. But before its canonization in a cookbook written for middle-class housewives, koshari was likely best known as a local street food. British public health authorities granted a license to a street vendor peddling “rice and macaroni” in 1936. It’s a vague archival detail, but I like to think it may have referred to Cairo’s first recorded koshari cart.

The addition of pasta and tomato sauce to koshari was a testament to the considerable influence of the Italian communities in Cairo and Alexandria at the time, which infused everything from the local diet to its dialect. (Modern Egyptian Arabic is peppered with Italian loanwords for everything from a Primus stove — “wabur,” from “vapore” — to the check at a restaurant, “fattura.”) Pasta and tomato sauce offered cheap ways to stretch koshari’s portions even further.

Contemporary koshari is commonly served with as many as three different dressings: a tomato sauce, a local hot sauce called shatta, and a garlicky, vinegar-based dressing called da’ah (pronounced with a glottal stop in the middle, like “uh-oh”).

Even today, koshari is never just one thing. Within Egypt, variations abound: Yellow lentils are associated with Alexandrian koshari, while Cairene koshari typically features brown lentils. Many home cooks told me how they’d tweak their mother’s or grandmother’s recipes, swapping in whichever pulses or pasta shapes they prefer or adding more spice. Sometimes elements of the dressings are combined, like hot pepper added to the tomato sauce, for example. There are variants topped with an egg or a smattering of chicken livers. Cairo Kitchen, another fast-casual Egyptian restaurant specializing in homestyle meals, introduced brown rice and gluten-free variations of koshari. And further afield, Koshary Lux in Berlin serves up koshari with jasmine rice, beluga lentils, and caramelized rather than fried onions.

For now, the signature neon lights of Zooba’s Nolita dining room are switched off, just like the lights on the Nile party boats in Egypt they’re meant to resemble. Until they light up again (it recently opened for takeout and delivery!), the world’s original flexitarian grain bowl is easy enough to make yourself.

Anny Gaul

Koshari is less about one ingredient than the right mix of textures and tastes.

Build-Your-Own

The robust grain-and-pulse genre provides a handy template for building a grain bowl from whatever’s on hand. For some good jumping-off points, try Meera Sodha’s twist on kitchari; Maureen Abood’s take on koshari’s Levantine country cousin, mujadara; or novelist Ahdaf Soueif’s koshari recipe. But koshari doesn’t so much require a hard-and-fast recipe as it does a list of stuff to put in a bowl, and a mixture of contrasting textures and tastes is more important than any one ingredient. Here, then, is a basic guide to building your own koshari-inspired pantry grain bowl.

Step 1: Form a base

The foundation of the dish should include at least one grain (rice, pasta, or in a pinch, bulgar, freekeh, or even couscous) and one pulse (lentils, chickpeas). Today’s koshari typically includes at least two of each (chickpeas, lentils, rice, and pasta), but you can always keep it simple, like many earlier versions of the dish, with just rice and lentils.

Aim for short pastas, such as elbow macaroni; for longer pastas like vermicelli and spaghetti, break into pieces before cooking. Most koshari recipes call for a grain-to-pulse ratio of at least 2 to 1. Increase the ratio to stretch the recipe into more servings; decrease it for a lighter meal.

The culinary teams at Zooba and Cairo Kitchen suggested that preparing multiple ingredients in the same pot is the secret to rich, homestyle flavors (also fewer dishes!), so feel free to cook your lentils and rice together.

Step 2: Sauce it

Sauces and dressings can make or break a grain bowl. If you have a jarred marinara-style tomato sauce — ideally something with tomatoes, onion, and garlic — on hand, warm it up and stir it right into your koshari or mix in a bit of your favorite hot sauce first. If you only have tomato paste, improvise a substitute by stirring in some hot sauce and olive oil.

Then you need something with a little more garlic and acid. Whip up a quick dressing with some crushed fresh garlic and cumin steeped in white vinegar (traditional) or lime juice (nouveau). You can also start with a basic citrus vinaigrette and experiment with layering other dressings on top, like a drizzle of pomegranate molasses or a balsamic glaze. A squeeze of fresh citrus never hurts.

Classic koshari is topped with crispy fried onions, which you can replicate with whatever alliums you have on hand, some oil, and a microwave, one of my favorite hacks. Reserve the oil and toss it with the pulses and grains, and add a dollop of butter or ghee for even more richness. For a crunch that doesn’t involve frying things in hot oil but still feels Egyptian, try dukkah, an Egyptian seed and spice mix.

Step 3: Customize

From there, you can pepper in some caramelized onions or add your favorite pickles, fresh herbs, greens, or a soft-boiled egg. Follow the lead of dhow sailors with some hot chiles or pickled citrus.

Step 4: Eat for days

Koshari’s reliance on so many shelf-stable ingredients makes it great for cooking from the pantry, but it can also make the process of preparing it daunting. Pace yourself and split the preparation over a couple of days, remembering that most grain bowl ingredients can be building blocks for multiple meals. If you’re planning a pasta dinner with a green salad on the side, make some extra tomato sauce and a garlicky vinaigrette to dress your koshari the next day. And as you well know, crispy onions make anything better.

So the next time you look to your own pantry for dinner inspiration, borrow a page from koshari’s long, global tradition of piling together sturdy nonperishables with the zingiest trimmings on hand — for a combination that has been satiating sailors, traders, street vendors, and home cooks for centuries.

Anny Gaul is a food historian, blogger, and translator. She’s currently a fellow at the Center for the Humanities at Tufts University.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2SZaQbK https://ift.tt/3buf55u

Anny Gaul

Koshari is filling, flavorful, easy to make, and basically perfect

“Egyptians have a long history of hodgepodge cooking, stuffing carbs with even more carbs — and we aren’t the only ones.” — Egyptian novelist Nael El Toukhy

Zooba [Official]

Two versions of the Koshari served at New York’s Zooba pre COVID-19, now available for takeout and delivery

Anny Gaul

Koshari is less about one ingredient than the right mix of textures and tastes.

Build-Your-Own

Step 1: Form a base

Step 2: Sauce it

Step 3: Customize

From there, you can pepper in some caramelized onions or add your favorite pickles, fresh herbs, greens, or a soft-boiled egg. Follow the lead of dhow sailors with some hot chiles or pickled citrus.

Step 4: Eat for days

Anny Gaul is a food historian, blogger, and translator. She’s currently a fellow at the Center for the Humanities at Tufts University.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2SZaQbK via Blogger https://ift.tt/2WQJTIt

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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alexsmitposts · 4 years

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Welcome to the middle ages of the XXI century

In the first half of the 14th century, Europe was gripped by the"black death". Drowning in prejudice and ignorance, the cradle of enlightenment quickly found the culprits. Witches and wizards burned with a blue flame, then the black cats got. The Jews also got a lot of money. When in the 1320s in Anjou, one of the Jews allegedly found a letter with proof of a plot against Christians, from the German lands to Gibraltar swept a monstrous wave of lynching of Jews, then looters stole their property. In some regions, the authorities have officially decided to exterminate Jews as a kind of prevention against the plague.

During the plague epidemic of the 1770s, which came to the capital of our country from the Northern black sea region during the Russian-Turkish war, a riot broke out. Archbishop Ambrose of Moscow, well aware of the danger, forbade prayers at the Bogolyubsky icon Of the mother of God, which was considered healing. Ambrose even started collecting donations for the treatment of patients. But the maddened mob beat the Archbishop to death.

It would seem that this is not true for a long time. But looking at the behavior of humanity, it is even more ridiculous to ask the question: what conclusions will humanity draw? In General, none, except for a monstrous scale of vanity. The brave new world of the end of the history of Fukuyama came, and then suddenly such an unexpected natural (natural?) a gift in the form of a coronavirus. And it began…

The conscience deficit pandemic in the " new Europe»

In Europe, due to hysteria in the media, a real hunt for medical masks has begun. In Poland, a batch of 23 thousand medical masks intended for doctors in the Lazio region in Italy was blocked. While the bureaucratic obstacles were trying to be removed, the Italians accused the poles of stealing medical cargo, which is also difficult to call humanitarian, because it was fully paid for by Italy.

A little later, after the sad Czech and Polish experience, the Italian authorities, importing medical masks, decided to bring them through the port of Rotterdam. However, when the cargo arrived in Rotterdam and the German distributor unloaded it for delivery to Italy, the Berlin authorities requisitioned it.

As you know, French Guiana is home to the Kourou spaceport, which is jointly operated by the European space Agency and the French National center for space research, with all the necessary infrastructure. So, from this very infrastructure, or rather, from the warehouse, unknown persons managed to steal 40 thousand medical masks. The mode of the object did not affect the theft process in any way.

The US is also keeping up with Western trends. So, if someone can order medical drugs or protective equipment from abroad, then most likely, the "cradle" of the sanctity of private property and an open free market will take your purchase immediately upon arrival on the territory of the country.

New Sanzhary was only training

But our Ukrainian neighbors went the farthest, for whom the shameful incident in the style of "burn the witch" in Novy Sanzhary was, apparently, just a training session. Baiting people who are suspected of being infected, hunting for medicines, fighting on public transport are just the backdrop for much Wilder things. So, in the Ternopil region, the body of a 68-year-old man who died from coronavirus was Packed by doctors in garbage bags and thrown out on the street. Details were later told by the daughter of the deceased, Anna Polishchuk, who was stunned by the horror. According to her, the doctors threw the lifeless man out into the street, closed the doors of the hospital, and relatives without protection had to carry the man in a bag to the car and even drag him on the ground.

"Crown, crown!"- children shouted and threw stones

But all the wild things from the West are somewhat refined. No" good old " bonfires, street fighting, at least not yet. But the so-called developing countries have gone disproportionately further. Petty theft and speculation, of course, are included in their "menu", but the citizens of these countries did not have time to swim in the fat of a good life.

After the coronavirus hit India, the Indians launched a real persecution of tourists, including those from Russia, who were on the territory of the country. Tourists, these" cash cows", suddenly became objects of universal hatred. Tourists are thrown out of hotels, the local population, seeing foreigners, reacts very aggressively, and the authorities are in no hurry to stop these actions. And in some regions of the country, the authorities not only condone this, but issue official instructions to expel tourists from hotels.

There were more frequent cases when Indian citizens shouted" crown, crown " and spat at foreigners or threw stones and sticks at them. In this case, the country is completely closed. The movement of trains, buses and even a taxi suspended. Indian States overlap the internal border. On the streets of some Indian cities, the police and voluntary "vigilantes" restore order, so there have been cases of law enforcement officers attacking "whites" who tried to buy food or escape from the closed country.

It comes to ridiculous tragicomic situations. So, some tourists who decided to gather in India ancient refined wisdom, as is now fashionable among a specific public with a pierced nose and a tattoo on half of the body, were blocked in ashrams-the abodes of thinkers and philosophers. The Indian sages, no less wisely, told their "disciples" that if they went out into the street, they would not be allowed back in. This means that, at the risk of not getting to the airport, the "enlightened" will find themselves without housing, since almost all hotels are closed.

In Thailand, which has served as a tourist Mecca for many years, the coronavirus has also forced authorities to impose a strict quarantine. Closed cafes, restaurants, numerous clubs, shopping centers, etc. But shapeless herds of infantile tourists, sweetly cherishing their own egoism, continue to gather together to once again arrange a feast during the plague on the picturesque beaches. The local police did not hesitate to disperse such gatherings with batons. Not too happy and the locals and, oddly enough, the primates that tourists fed. Now macaques literally attack passers-by, demanding food. It is difficult to say what is more wild in this…

When did people start going wild?

It would seem that the outbreak of aggressive inadequacy, theft and selfish betrayal of former "brothers in the free world" is entirely due to the panic over the coronavirus, fueled by the media. But this is only one side of the coin, so to speak, too superficial a judgment. One outbreak, for all its scale and fueled by the press, could not lead to such individualization of both countries and individual areas, as well as specific individuals.

There is a strong impression that at some civilizational moment we simply turned somewhere wrong. In order to increase the desperate race of consumption of goods and services, humanity was able to convince of the sanctity and inviolability of the right of eternal hedonism and gluttony at the highest level. Kilotons and terabytes of advertising convinced individuals that they were worthy, and that was all for them.

Society in this construction lost all meaning and even importance for the individual engaged in constant consumption of the final product. Moreover, individuals, considering themselves strong and independent, began to hate and despise this very society quietly, and sometimes loudly. This was especially the case for such a social formation as the state, which owed absolutely everything to free individuals until their death.

The author does not have any sympathy for the pleasure-hungry tourists who, despite such a difficult time, rushed over the cordon, buying cheap last-minute tours. Especially to those tourists who, under the guise of learning the culture and "wisdom" of other countries, only tease their egos, following the fashion and separating themselves from the short and non-progressive, in their opinion, society. And it's not even a lack of personal responsibility, but selfishness. After all, they did not even think about the danger they could pose to society upon their return. Why should they? After all, these progressive individuals despise society.

And now the countries are closing. And the infantile howl of people who realized themselves as citizens and part of society so timely for themselves, announced the information field. The paradox is that society cannot turn away from such people, because this will lead to its own devaluation. But it is not only possible to draw proper conclusions about the depravity of educating people in such a parasitic consumer approach to life itself, but it was necessary yesterday. And all this applies not only to tourists, but also to those who only yesterday earned money from them, those who now speculate in masks, those who are engaged in information and political speculation…

In this light, there has been no civilizational leap since the middle Ages. The realization of this, however, is buried in large-scale advertising campaigns, when politicians after another terrorist attack took up their pens and sang: "We are the world" or "We are not afraid".

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cheesywhiskers · 4 years

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Berlin was so cool, and so MUCH that I don't know where to start writing about it, but it's getting farther and farther behind, so I'll just start with food. Everyone likes food, right?

This place is vegan paradise. Surprising, right? But true. There were so, so many purely vegan restaurants. The non-vegan ones almost all had prominent signage to let you know that they had vegan items. And, um, meat is “fleish”- literally “flesh”. Ground meat is hackfleish, hacked up flesh, while pulled meat is “rindfleish”. This is endlessly funny to me.

We had dinner with a friend from Seattle while we were in Berlin, and in trying to figure out where to meet, she said "There are no German restaurants here!" Which, ok, by definition they're all German, but it seems like none of them serve German cuisine as a specialty. There is a huge variety of cuisines available, Indian and Sushi being ones I remember to be very common. However, this is really the country where Doner Kebab is king. We've seen Doner Kebab everywhere on this trip, it's definitely THE fast food choice in towns we've visited. But in Germany, it was as common as coffeeshops in Seattle. So, what is it? In the US, we'd call it middle eastern food, shawarma or gyro. The core offering is a protein (usually meat shaved very thin off a huge rotating skewer), tzaziki sauce, and salad in a pita or flatbread wrap, with fries on the side. Some places we've seen also offer pizza. In Germany, the salad was often augmented with a couple kinds of sauerkraut. The protein options always include chicken and a lamb/beef blend from the skewers, but also might include falafal, halumi, or seitan. It's freaking delicious and dirt cheap ($5 for a wrap that's a meal), and fast. I've eaten a lot of it. Halumi is my favorite protein, unsurprisingly.

While there weren't restaurants that advertised "German food", the bakeries and attached cafes offered what I think was the most traditional German cuisine. And waffles! I think waffles might be the national food. I went on a junk food run to the hippie grocery store and came back with three varieties of packaged waffles, from a selection of probably twenty. SO MANY WAFFLES. The food cliche that is true about Germany is gummies. They really must eat a lot of them, considering how many were on offer in grocery stores. The photo above is of a wall of Haribo. It was adjoined by an equally sized wall of gummies of other brands.

We were in Germany from Dec 19 - 31, prime holiday season time. Bars were offering all sorts of seasonal hot drinks, and I got into the spirit. News flash: mulled wine is good? Every Christmas Market offered a variety (Gluhwein in Germany, Vin Chaud in France) and it was great, like hot sangria. A startling difference between Germany and the US was how many bars and restaurants had open flames: lovely candles, as centerpieces or just alone, not in glass jars, on tabletops. And the tables are very close together. And I am fat. It was kind of harrowing, to be honest. But also charming and cozy, when sunset was at 3:55pm.

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twistednuns · 4 years

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August 2019

India // It’s incredibly hard to sum up my feelings about India and Nepal. It was a truly incredible trip. And so exhausting. It was enriching, interesting, hard, disgusting, educational, everything. This is not the place to talk about my experience at length so I’ll just write down some nice moments I collected along the way //

on the go // the huge corner toilet at MUC airport departures / Rischart coffee / the smell of the Emirates airline NOIR lotion they offer in their bathrooms / cherry-flavoured Skittles // Delhi // brightly painted buses and tuk-tuks / eating at AB veg restaurant in Hauz Khas, inredibly delicious and cheap / being lucky enough to choose the hostel in Hauz Khas village; meeting Dominique, Christie, Ayush, Samar and Julia / all those talks we had about linguistics, education systems, the future, politics, travelling, home, friends, experiences with magic mushrooms, Hannah Arendt, travelling (…); talking to Christy about her past, family, criminal record / Mosambi juice / Nici constantly flirting with me, trying to seduce me. She told me I’m posh, assertive, regal and I know myself very well. Making out with her was fun but honestly… not worth the drama. / Mosambi juice / a consultation with a renowned Ayurveda doctor - I loved talking to her even though she wasn’t able to tell me anything I hadn’t known already; sometimes it’s nice to get the confirmation that what you found out on your own is exactly the right thing / eating momos and Kathi rolls, the best Thalis / parties on the rooftop until the sunrise interrupted us; grilling whole fish, saying goodbye to Julia, singing along to Louise Attaque and Cher songs / riding rickshaws through Delhi; extra fun: squeezing 5 people in and listening to club music / the sheets smelling chalky with a hint of grape sugar / dancing at Raasta / petting cute street doggies / a cooking class with Mansi and her family in North Delhi - delicious food and really nice people, I fell in love with the mum / eating at Social (that building is just amazing) and strolling through the little alleys and stores at Hauz Khas village with Christie; she showed me the place where she got her linnen dresses and we talked to a jewellery store owner for quite a while / the spice market, climbing up a building and watching the men flying their kites, tasting some street food and spices, realiszing that there is a market street dedicated to a single group of things like the shoe market, the jewellery market etc. / the Brit Brats sharing their joints; tripping to Bayonne / the hidden merchant streets with colourful wall art around the entrances / PANEER (!) / stand-up comedy with a female comedian / elevator selfies / learning about the development of Indian scripts and letters/characters in Sanskrit in the National Museum; erotic sculptures, very detailed paintings depicting badass, tiger-hunting ladies / I saw a peacock. Cows, chipmunks, pigs, horses, monkeys, goats, guinea pigs, bunnies, cats and dogs, bats, herons, boars, caterpillars, centipedes, horses, donkeys (…) / finding the perfect triangular earrings with gemstones at the Dilli Haat market; getting some nice dresses, too / living on water and mango juice, feeling very light and clean, having an empty stomach all the time / Gandhi Smriti, retracing Mahatma’s last steps before his assassination / feeling human again after a few days in bed - I love the power of make-up, bananas, fresh clothes and those pink little Pepto-Bismol pills the Canadian lady gave me / Delhi central station; just WOW. It’s places like that which make you realise just how many people there are in India. //

Rishikesh // the man helping me with the bus to Rishikesh; the kindness of strangers / “I thank the Lord for the people I have found” (Elton John - Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters) / emotional bus rides: crying for no reason, letting go, for the first time in a very long time; emotional turmoil, softening up; leaving people and whole countries behind / seeing the huge Shiva ceremony at the Ganges from the bus / my yoga teacher training, getting to know the other students / learning about a magic trick against bad posture / instant karma / the view from the rooftop, watching the sunrise over the lower Himalaya mountains / the simple, vega, ayurvedic food they offered at the ashram / visiting the temples with the apprentice yogi and his scooter; walking up 13 stories in the blazing sun, receiving a blessing and some red string around my wrist; taking part in the Ganga ceremony at sunset / the Beatles Ashram; it’s just this amazing place with incredible street art, and those ruins, the meditation caves and eggs on the rooftop… climbing up there was one of my highlights in Rishikesh / close second: visiting a meditation cave at the Ganges, a bit further up in the mountains; a monk had spent 15 years in that cave practising meditation / all the beautiful shops around town focussing on yoga accessoires / putting my feet in the Ganges #blessed #moksha / learning about my aggression during silent yoga / all the animals around town: horses, donkeys, cows, monkeys and whatnot //

Varanasi // taking the night train for the first time; I shared my little compartment with a family and three little children but they were surprisingly dramafree and actually quite cute / a sunset boat trip on the Ganges, seeing the ghats, the ceremonies, the moon rise / the little alleys behind the ghats; the stores, the surprises / Marnikarnika Ghat was really impressive; it’s the cremation place and I saw dead bodies for the first time / accidentally discovering the Dirty Chai Cafe (chocolate peanut butter shakes and fresh, cold mint lemonade), finding a Kamala Das poetry book on the shelf / spending an afternoon with the German journalist (so weird how the atmosphere shifts when you’re accompanied by a man there; also our dynamic made me feel so glad to be travelling alone, to only be responsible for myself, to be independent); sharing a banana and water surrounded by goats in Hanuman Ghat; the view over the river from his room; him gently stroking my cheekbone / buying two saris in a little corner shop / my jewellery quest (unsuccessful) / eating fresh fruit salad after hardly eating solid food for days / checking out that little park on my last day, the air buzzing with dragonflies / watching the sunset from the hostel’s rooftop, filming a slow motion video / India brings out trauma and deep emotions; the people kept staring at me for whatever reason; I kept having disturbing dreams about my dead father and grandmother; and the mob-video Christy showed me didn’t help either (the whole village carried a man through the streets, eventually beating him up because he couldn’t pay off his debts) //

Nepal // the first view of Nepal from the bus windows - how much greener, how much emptier it is than India / meeting some nice people on the bus - an American, a Brit and two Frenchies; grabbing dinner in Kathmandu with the latter / watching the sunrise at the border between India and Nepal / sitting next to the mayor of small town council on the bus ride; communicating with hand and feet / the Kathmandu valley is such a gorgeous sight / I got lucky with my hostel; Yakety Yak was a really nice and quiet place to stay; they even had laundry service and a shelf with free books - I read two or three of them because I behaved like a good (home)sick German abroad: bed, Haribo, carbonated water, trashy literature / visiting Bhaktapur, a gorgeous small town in the Kathmandu valley / watching the latest Tarantino movie at the cinema; the tickets were incredibly cheap / walking up the hill to the temple and the monastery, enjoying the incredible view over the surrounding hills; meeting two ladies from Austria, they live close to my old university town; walking to the centre through back alleys, stopping at a rooftop cafe, ordering three drinks at once (liquid diet) / that one jewellery store near the Pokhara bus station - I found some gorgeous brass rings with precious stones for little money / the busy square, the markets / hanging out in the hammock in my hostel in Pokhara, overlooking the lake / watching the skydivers land / the ayurvedic cafe and the other place serving smoothie bowls by the lake - it’s such a fantastic moment when you finally feel hungry again and eat a little solid food after fasting/suffering for a few days / two incredibly weird guys from Latvia and Berlin who provided a nice, mellow ending for my shitty day and even made me survive the mosquito attacks / meeting my travel agent who actually took me out dancing and gave me a ride on his motorcycle to the bus stop; he even gave me some fruit for the ride / By the Way starting to play while waiting for Vietnamese food / hunting down a place that sells semi-precious stone columns in Kathmandu; negotiating with the old lady selling them; getting some brass souvenirs for my friends and family / the view from the airplane - seeing the Himalaya for the first time; I pity people who’ve stopped looking out of windows //

Coming home. I’ve NEVER felt happier entering my apartment after a trip. Being alone. Truly alone. Silence. Three rooms just for me. My bed. Having all my stuff back. Toiletries! Nice body lotion. My favourite perfume. Going to the supermarket. Unpacking all the jewellery, clothes and knick-knacks I bought. Taking care of my plants.

Making a huge batch of my favourite ratatouille / pasta sauce.

Visiting Manu in hospital. Cheering him up a little bit.

Finally receiving my black and white analogue photos. I loved the shot of Andre looking like he’s being kissed by a dementor. And Lexi looking dead cool at ADBK.

Pizza party at Grano with Lena. Eating sorbet out of a lemon.

Riding my bike through the forest on a sunny morning. Stopping to take pictures of the beautiful light, the yellow flowers. Spending too much money at the garden center. Driving home, IKEA bags full of plants.

Inventing my signature manicure: a little black dot just above the nailbed.

Having an evening beer outside at Sofa So Good with Andre.

Stumbling upon Konsti. The one who ghosted me years ago after a beautiful summer spent kissing in lakes because his therapist had told him so. Well, we talked for a few days, but guess what - he just ghosted me for a second time. Fool me one - shame on you. Fool me twice - shame on me.

#things i love #august #2019 #august 2019 #personal #present perfect #india #nepal

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packratblog-blog1 · 7 years

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Yangshuo, People’s Republic of China 🇨🇳

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter once claimed that Yangshuo was "the most beautiful place on Earth." I find it really hard to imagine how anybody could disagree with him, I mean, he was definitely the most roundly agreeable 'Leader of the Free World' that there's ever been, so he's got that on his side.

Carter and his wife Rosalynn visited China in the early 80s and spent part of their time, much like Jade and I did, cycling around Yangshuo county's serene countryside. On a perfect morning as the sun hung low in sky, we woke up early and set off to rent bikes and ride out into the Yangshuo countryside. The main cluster of hostels, restaurants and bars that make up this tiny town's central core, takes a little while to break out of. Although early in the morning, it took us about twenty minutes to get away from the crowded pavements crammed with street vendors and roads packed with tour buses and taxis. Once at the edge of Yangshuo town, a line could be practically drawn across the road; go back towards town or go on towards countryside views that will melt your mind.

Obviously we chose to go on.

As the road wound further out into the pristine, seemingly endless and untouched countryside, the traffic died down and we were by ourselves. We wound our way along the empty roads in the early morning silence, eventually our path started to run parallel to the Li River and we stopped for a water break. We realised after a few minutes that we were in the exact spot that is printed on China's 20 RMB notes (the national currency). Surrounded by the flowing water of the Li and the towering limestone karst peaks that jut out of the surrounding landscape is actually very difficult to take in. As I've experienced when travelling before, this sometimes when something looks so filmic or surreal, it's not easy to accept that your standing in it or that it's right in front of you. It's happened to me in Berlin, when I first touched a section of the wall, it happened in Vietnam when I crawled through the Cu Chi Tunnels complex and in Cuba when I drank Mojitos in Ernest Hemingway's favourite old haunt. Yangshuo joined that list at this very moment, it looks like a purpose built film set, but it's real. The Chinese have good reason to be so proud of Yangshuo, because it's so unique, so beautiful, so quaint and so easygoing.

Back in Yangshuo town, life moves a little quicker...only slightly more so though. The aforementioned cluster of nightlife, eateries and hostels that dominate the narrow pedestrian strip known as West Street is a one stop spot for anything you really need to enjoy your stay on this town. Depending on the time of day or night of your arrival in Yangshuo, West Street can be somewhat overwhelming, and if you arrive in the evening (particularly at the weekend), it can be hard to know which way to turn to get decent food and drink. In the spirit of what I've just said, I hope the following can help a few of you out there!

PLACES TO VISIT: - As Yangshuo isn't a huge place, it's not really split up into smaller areas or districts. One tip on this though: don't stay on West Street if noise is a factor for you. We stayed at a fantastic hostel that while labelled as being on West Street, it wasn't, instead it was located on a nearby street and cut down on a tonne of the noise and craziness. I don't want that to make me/us sound old and boring, the truth is that noise isn't a massive factor that bothers me (anyone who's stayed in hostels will be pretty tuned out to it!), but I realise that Chinese trance until the wee hours might grind on some people's nerves. So if you're looking for some semblance of quiet and seclusion, go for accommodation just off the street. I can't speak highly enough of Yangshuo Travelling With Hostel, check it out if you're in town!

FOOD AND DRINK: - Gan's Noodle House: This place is excellent! It's nothing special to look at, and would be very easily overlooked. This was recommended to us (I can't for the life of me remember who by), as a good spot for some simple, straight up, traditional Chinese food. The place seems to be operated by, you guessed it! A guy named Gan, who crafted some great, unfussy local fare. Gan's of course is well known for it's noodles, and I must say the noodle based dishes were brilliant. The real treat here though were the dumplings, we tried (over a couple of visits), a bunch of the different varieties, cooking styles varied from frying to steaming, as did the fillings, with pork being the standout. On top of all this, it was cheap...backpacker cheap.

- Kali Mirch Indian Cuisine: Okay, let me start by saying that while Indian food happens to be my all-time favourite, we weren't actually seeking it out when we came across this place. That being said, we were both so glad that we came across it, because it can definitely hang with some of the great Indian restaurants I've visited in my time. Run by a family who came to China a few years ago from Northern India, everything they serve is just sheer happiness on a plate. Every flavour in the dopiaza was applied brilliantly and the saag paneer was just a flavourful, perfectly textured marvel...I really could have eaten there every day.

- Street food vendors on West Street: The beauty of street food is that it's hard to rave about anyone in particular! There's a lot of really cool street food here, everything from giant spring rolls to Korean-style fried chicken, and the best part is that it's not only tasty, it's mega cheap!

- German Beer Bars: There are a bunch of German owned and operated bars and restaurants on West Street. While I can't speak for the meals they serve (as we never ate a sit down meal in any of them), they do reasonably priced German beers (in stein glasses no less!) and they serve these great little portions of currywurst that really do taste the real deal. On top of that, most of them have rooftop beer terraces, which are perfect for an easygoing afternoon in the sun.

OTHER TIPS: - Just one major tip before I sign off, and it concerns getting to Yangshuo, and with this I'm hoping I can save a few people some hassle. Online, getting to Yangshuo is made to sound easy peasy lemon squeezy. But to quote 'In the Loop', it's actually "difficult, difficult, lemon difficult." Yangshuo is most easily accessible from the city of Guilin, which can be reached by rail from all over the country, which is very much the easy part as the Chinese rail network is really dependable and efficiently run. Now, most sites online explain that to get to Yangshuo, just get the 'Yangshuo' bus from outside of Guilin North railway station or Guilin South railway station (whichever one you get off at). The sites (including very popular travel sites that I won't name), state that the buses leave from right outside the stations and leave approximately every twenty minutes. That's the first part of it that's simply not true. We arrived at Guilin North to be told by the station information kiosk that the buses now only run from Guilin South, and that we had to get the local public bus there and then change. Now to me, that's a slight spanner in the works, but it's fine, it's only a twenty minute ride between the two stations and the bus ran on time. Now comes lie number 2 from the reputable travel pages. Many of the sites say 'Watch out for the fake scamming women who are selling tickets for the Yangshuo buses...they aren't real ticket vendors!' Well, when we arrived at Guilin South there was no designated bus stop for the Yangshuo bus and no ticket office as the Internet had led us to believe. Instead we were faced with lots of these ladies trying to sell tickets, exactly the kind the sites tell you not to trust. Luckily for us, a policeman was passing us and I asked him where to get the Yangshuo bus. He pointed us to one of the ticket ladies who in the end, did a really great job. She flagged down the bus (which doesn't say Yangshuo on it at all, it's just a small, unmarked local bus), gave us the standard rate on the tickets that we'd read about online and we made it to Yangshuo within half an hour). I hope this helps a few people, as a lot of websites make getting from Guilin to Yangshuo sound really straightforward and as if the buses are well signposted and official, it's really not, but as long as you know that, you'll be fine! Don't let this put you off, it's a very minor annoyance that's ultimately very much worth it to see such a phenomenal place.

Happy travels, more posts coming soon!

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tomandharriet · 5 years

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An Indian assault course

If you were trying to design a week in India which aimed to scare off any visitor, it would most likely follow the path we took at the beginning of our second stay in India. A good old bout of Delhi belly aside, I think it’s fair to say we took everything India had to throw at us in our stride the first time around and came out in awe of the place. This next week proved to be a lot more challenging and it all began thanks to Tom’s second booking mishap, which featured an accidental 15 hour stopover in Chennai - all in the name of a cheap flight!

We arrived into Chennai at 5am and caught a taxi to a hotel, of sorts, not too far from the airport. They had kindly agreed to let us use a room for the duration of the day. In the darkness of the night, what we didn’t realise until we woke up slightly disorientated at 1pm, was that we had arrived in an area which felt less developed than the slum we had toured around in Mumbai! Even that had it’s trickle of tourists wanting to visit it! We ventured out to find some food and ate probably the only bad curry we had in India, from a takeaway kitchen which presumably serves other parts of the city with deliveries and wasn’t expecting sit down guests at lunchtime!

We just about got ourselves through the day and eventually arrived into Delhi late at night. Excited based on how much we had loved Mumbai, we were pretty much instantly hit by an ever present wave of disappointment, in the form of heavy air pollution which lingered in the air. Thanks to a tip from Joel & Alecia, we were staying in an area called Hauz Khas (or House of Cards as Harriet calls it) and this was the only real saving grace for Delhi in our eyes. It had a bit of a Berlin / Shoreditch does India feel to it and we enjoyed its liveliness and some great restaurants. And that’s about as far as the compliments for Delhi can go. Oh, the modern art gallery and national railway museum were two good ways to pass time when. Ok that’s all the best bits covered. Pollution aside (which is a pretty big ask to try and forget about) we just didn’t like Delhi. The people lacked the warmth we had encountered everywhere else. Someone tried to scam us when we got to the train station, which set the tone! The landmarks were busy and underwhelming. And when we thought we’d come up with a great way to forget about it - even our night at a jazz club turned into an absolute failure. We had our most expensive (and worst) meal in India there, which was a gluten free pizza, presumably gluten free as the base was seemingly made from cardboard. And any hope of the music saving the day was lost when a bumbling German walked on and started introducing his experimental sci-if jazz band, which we couldn’t hear for all the young Indian crowd who were clearly at the jazz club, just to tell people that they had been to the jazz club. It really was like a scene from the Fast Show jazz club. In hindsight we now find the whole thing very entertaining, but we definitely weren’t laughing at the time! To top it all off, we found out that one of our favourite DJs was playing on the night we left Delhi - and it was too late to rearrange our plans.

We’ve come to realise that so much of traveling is about expectations and that experiences can vary greatly, hinging on little more than chance. And due a bit of luck and not expecting much from our time in Agra (other than the Taj Mahal itself) we were pleasantly surprised. In fact you hopefully won’t have to hear too much more negativity from us again. Delhi definitely felt like the only low point we’ll remember. Arriving into Agra was a literal breath of fresh air. With a warm welcome, we were soon enjoying a late dinner on a rooftop which apparently overlooked the Taj Mahal. It was dark so we had to take his word for it then. We woke early, got near the front of the queue and excitedly entered the grounds, waiting for our first glimpse. During the winter months, there is a mist which rolls off the river behind the Taj and creates a truly atmospheric backdrop. As the sun warms the air, this mist dissipates to reveal the Taj in all it’s glory. With such high expectations, we were delighted that the Taj Mahal didn’t disappoint and we spent a couple of hours exploring this vast marble wonder and its beautiful grounds. Yes it was busy, but deservedly so. And once you’ve seen one riddiculous selfie pose here, you’ve seen them all - so we parked that in the back of our minds and just enjoyed it for what it was.

We had heard from a nice English couple that Agra fort was also worth a visit, so we headed there after breakfast and after a bit of uncertainty, we decided to take our first self-chosen tour guide of the trip. Going on nothing more than the outfit he was wearing, we felt like we might be in good hands. Tom’s first impression was that, a bit like Santhosh back in Alleppey, the guide, Kumar, is probably the type of guy who rides a Royal Enfield. We later found out that this strange hunch was infact true. Hiring Kumar turned out to be an excellent decision, as he really brought the place to life with tales of the Maharajahs who had lived there and the invasion attempts which had outlined it’s history. We decided to go along with his recommendation of a visit to an embroidery shop and again we’re pleased we did - they too had a fascinating history, displayed in a mini-museum of their own shop, including many orders from the British royal family and and some beautiful examples of work. Obviously we were also brought here as he works on a commission basis - so hopefully the Christmas tree decoration we purchased helped him out. Even if it was the cheapest thing in the shop! We spent the remainder of the day doing a bit of Christmas shopping for our families and relaxing on our hotels rooftop, which did indeed come complete with a view of the Taj Mahal. Reflecting on a short but sweet visit to Agra, we received a text update to inform us that our night train to Varanasi was running late. We didn’t realise at that point, that we’d end up getting into Varanasi nearly 7 hours behind schedule.

When it comes to the competition for India’s craziest place, Varanasi comes first, with daylight in second place. Our words alone won’t come close to describing everything that Varanasi encompasses, but in short, we’re glad we went, but definitely won’t be going back! It really is a place you’ve got to see to believe. Stepping out of the station felt like going back in time. Varanasi, built up on the banks of the river Ganges, is one of the oldest cities in the world and is regarded as the holiest of 7 sacred cities in Hinduism. The consequence of this, to put it bluntly, is that many Hindus come here to die. And cremations happen out in the open, as bodies are washed in the Ganges before families cremate them at the side of the river. It’s also seen to be good luck to shave your hair off before visiting Varanasi - but unlike many visiting Indians, we passed on this one! Dead bodies aside, Animals roam more freely than anywhere else we’d seen in India, in fact its the only place we had to jump out of the way of a bull beginning its charge. There were goats roaming everywhere and the overwhelmingly tame and loveable street dogs we’d grown accustomed to elsewhere, were visibly aggressive here. Oh and there’s lots of naked people who cover themselves in white paint and get angry if you encroach on their spot during the evening religious ceremony, a Varanasi must see.

Our favourite experience was a sunrise boat trip, which was preceded by a religious ceremony which seemed to be a dress rehersal for the daily evening show we had already seen. Made particularly entertaining by our boat skipper who had skipped bed and come straight from a wedding, on this tour you get the best view of Varanasi’s many ghats (step baths into the river) where locals come to wash and brush their teeth in the same water that you can see families washing the bodies of their loved ones. That evening, back at our hostel, we got into a very interesting conversation about the ethics of photography, a particularly apt topic in a place like Varanasi. It was prompted after seeing a gaggle of tourists photographing a sleeping homeless man by the river and we were speaking to a travel photographer who often has to consider where ‘the line’ of acceptable photography is. We didn’t exactly reach a conclusion, but it’s a conversation which has been food for thought ever since, particularly when visiting remote towns or places with cultural traditions which feel a million miles away from ours and which need treating with sensitivity and respect.

This stretch of India had undeniably tough parts and at times felt like a test of our love for this country. When we found out that our online ticket reservation to leave Varanasi had been unsuccessful (we won’t get into the complex ticketing system) we were faced with the prospect of having to unwillingly extend our stay in Varanasi. At the station we got talking to a couple from London who were on their honeymoon. They looked pretty shell shocked, having flown straight into Varanasi and now having similar problems with trains. But talking to them about their route through so many of the places we’d already been to and loved reminded us just how much India has to offer and how you’ve just got to take the rough with the smooth. It turns out Varanasi is notorious for train delays and an incredibly patient lady who was dealing with a never ending queue of tourists desperate to get out, eventually found us a solution from a relatively local train station. The good news was that we would be leaving later that evening, the bad news was that we had to go back to Delhi!

Food

It’s difficult to pin point exactly what the key differences were between Sri Lankan and Indian curries. We found Sri Lankan food to be much richer in flavour, whether that be down to Sri Lankan’s using more oil or coconut milk in their food or just due to the difference in spices from each country. Sri Lankan food was great but it did start to become quite an endurance towards the end. It’s safe to say we were really looking forward to eating Indian food again, we had really missed it.

Our first meal back in India kicked off to a pretty epic start at a wonderful restaurant, nestled amongst all the higgledy-piggledy buildings of Hauz Khas in Delhi, called Naivedyam. Naivedyam is the offering of food to god just before pooja begins. They quoted in the restaurant that “we in the hospitality business believe that the ‘consumer is god’” and that very much carried through to the whole experience and service of this meal. Even before ordering we were served a hot and spicy lentil drink called Rasam, some poppadoms accompanied with a fresh tomato chutney and a coriander chutney along with ice cold water served out of some very fancy silver jugs. Put it this way, it was like all the service and food ‘freebies’ of a Michelin starred meal at the cost of a boots meal deal.

Tom didn’t hesitate for a minute to order his absolute favourite, masala dosa. Harriet on the other hand went all out (shock) ordering a Naivedyam Tiffin Thali (basically an Indian breakfast thali), which included.....wait for it; a mini toppi dosa, rasam vadai, idly, umpa, curd rice, lemon rice, aloo subji samba, coconut chutney, tomato chutney, pakoda, pickle and kesri bhath (a sweet dish that Harriet may or may not have realised halfway through her meal). The food just kept coming and coming and being refilled if Harriet got anywhere close to finishing anything. Although triggering one hell of a food coma, it was a great fast track way to sample all of the traditional breakfast food, especially the bits we hadn’t already tried. One stand out had to be the rasam vadai, which was essentially like a small light and fluffy savory doughnut. Perfect for dipping in all of the wonderful array of chutneys. It was no surprise we squeezed in two more visits in our short stay in Delhi.

The next part of our trip involved A LOT of traveling on trains, meaning our diet pretty much consisted of chai teas. Tom even tried to make a desperate attempt to leg it onto the platform to get in a cheeky round, only to find the train was moving when it was his turn to be served. Much to Harriet’s relief the desire for chai was overruled by the prospect of being split up in the middle of nowhere India.

Another highlight for the “first leg of the second part of our trip to India” was the dosa cafe in Varanasi (shout out to Alecia and Joel for the recommendation). The restaurant was so small you were made to cram together and share tables with fellow diners. We were sat with a Russian “hard core” traveller it would seem who was shocked that we were only spending 2 months in India. We felt we had to excuse ourselves for having lives to get back to after this trip. Luckily a cow trying to enter the restaurant broke the ice and she warmed up a little.

However, back to dosas, and every type of dosa you could imagine with more variety of fillings we had ever come across. But the real star of the show had to be the chocolate fudge idly served with ice cream. Basically it was the gooiest, sweetest delight of a pudding that was even more of a treat because the base ingredient was rice so Tom could enjoy every last mouthful.

Travel Jukebox - ‘Teen Dream’ by Beach House

For the second week in a row, we had an album from an artist that we had never heard of to look forward to. This time it was from Tom’s big sis, Jo, who has an excellent track record of filtering down musical discoveries and is largely responsible for turning Tom into a music snob from an early age. Jo and Nick enjoyed their own adventure in ‘the East’ several years ago at a similar life stage and it was this album which apparently soundtracked much of their trip.

The album has been a real grower, which may not sound like a compliment but it really is when it turns into an earworm of an album. It starts very strongly with ‘Zebra’ and ‘Silver Soul’ both tracks which sound so familar, despite not recognising Beach House. On first listening, maybe it was the wrong mood, maybe it was the long, hot bus journey with a driver who thought he was Lewis Hamilton, but much of the rest of the album seemed to mould into one. But with further listenings, of which there have now been many, each track has really grown on us and familiarity has given this album a real warmth, making it easy to see how it became an album to soundtrack a trip.

Beach House describe themselves as a Dream Pop duo, which explains better than we could, why their music seems so apt for traveling. In fact, this was exactly the type of album which made us realise just how difficult it is to write about music, when sometimes there’s not much more to say than it put a smile on our faces and stuck with us and there’s a good chance you’ll like it too!

TLDR; We thought Mumbai was the deep end, but that’s the baby pool compared to Varanasi..!

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dosaandmoreberlin · 2 years

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Dosa and More’s cheesiest dishes for all to try!

Cheese makes everything better and this has been proven one too many times. People around the world have a special longing for cheese and cheesy dishes. Cheese is added to various dishes to make them tastier than they already are. Dosa and More, an Indian restaurant in Germany has a variety of cheesy Indian dishes. Traditional Indian meals with an added cheese twist make them unique and a lot more interesting. These dishes at Dosa and More are made using only premium quality and authentic ingredients and are served traditionally in Berlin. Dosa and More restaurant is one of the best places to have authentic dishes and enjoy the traditional flavours of the Indian cuisine.

Dosa and More’s menu is versatile with a variety of traditional South Indian and North Indian cuisine mix dishes along with uniquely made, vibrant dishes filled with twists and of course cheese. The dishes are all available at very reasonable, pocket friendly prices and are supreme in quality and taste. The dishes at Dosa and More restaurant are what make it one of the good Indian restaurants in Berlin. People in Berlin can also get these delicious dishes delivered to their homes whenever they crave a great Indian meal. Indian food can be consumed at any time of the day and Dosa and More has a dish for all taste buds and meal times. From snacks and beverages to heavy and light meals, Indian cuisine is filled with a variety of dishes and so is the menu of Dosa and More.

Indian food is made for all, from those who like tangy meals to the ones with a taste for subtle dishes, snacks, beverages and street food dishes. The Indian cuisine tackles the flavours and choices of everyone. There are also various health benefits of having Indian food. Indian meals are all cooked on fire which makes them bacteria and virus free. Along with this, each spice used in the making of Indian dishes has its own individual nutritional value. South Indian dishes are mostly made using rava, sooji, or lentil flavour, healthier alternatives of all-purpose flour and wheat flour. These are just some of the major reasons why Indian and South Indian food is popular all around the globe. People of all ethnicities love to have Indian meals regularly because of the flavours and health benefits. With the taste, variety and health benefits, Indian dishes make for a great meal option every day.

Dosa and More, an Indian restaurant serves people with the best Indian meals. Here are some of the most delicious, unique and cheesiest Indian meals adorned in the Dosa and More menu:

1. Cheese Dosa and Cheese Masala Dosa: The crispy, crepe like Indian Dosa filled with a delicious filling loaded with cheese and served with a side of Sambar and coconut chutney is the best breakfast meal for a cheat day. Cheese Dosa is prepared using only the best ingredients and is the absolute best breakfast meal to have. Filled with health and deliciousness, cheese Dosa and Cheese Masala Dosa are Indian delicacies wrapped in spices and traditional Indian flavours.

2. Schezwan Jinny Dosa: A unique, different and delicious dosa dish. Schezwan Jinny dosa is perfect for the modern generation who always wants to try something new and different from the traditional. This delicious dosa is available at a very reasonable price at one of the best and cheap Indian restaurants in Berlin, Dosa and More. Schezwan Jinny Dosa is of a different shape than a regular dosa. It is also loaded with cheese and schezwan chutney which gives this Dosa a pretty distinctive flavour. Dosa and More’s cheesy Schezwan Jinny Dosa is a must have, picture worthy dish.

3. Cheese Chilly Uttapam: While uttapam in itself is a very healthy and filling breakfast or evening snack option, Dosa and More’s cheese chilly uttapam is a notch tastier than the traditional one. Uttapams can also be called Indian pancakes, so cheese chilly uttapam is a savoury pancake loaded with cheese and chillies. This tangy dish is cheesy and mouth wateringly delicious to have.

4. Pav Bhaji: A famous Maharashtrian dish with a cheesy twist. Pav Bhaji is made using a lot of different ingredients in various households in India, this Dosa and More dish comes with the added option of cheese toppings to make the meal even more delicious and interesting. Pav Bhaji with cheese is a healthier alternative for the cheese lovers.

Dosa and more is an authentic Indian restaurant in Berlin providing people there with premium quality Indian food. With a diverse menu, one can enjoy various flavoured meals at Dosa and More all available at pocket friendly prices. Give Dosa and More’s healthy cheesy dishes a try yourself and fall in love with the Indian cuisine and its flavours. Delightful, aromatic and delicious Indian meals and delicacies are a must try for all.

#Indian restaurant in Germany #good Indian restaurants in Berlin #Dosa and More menu

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instantdeerlover · 4 years

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This Egyptian Grain Bowl Is the Pantry Wonder-Dish We Need Right Now (1) added to Google Docs

This Egyptian Grain Bowl Is the Pantry Wonder-Dish We Need Right Now (1)

Anny Gaul

Koshari is filling, flavorful, easy to make, and basically perfect

“Egyptians have a long history of hodgepodge cooking, stuffing carbs with even more carbs — and we aren’t the only ones.” — Egyptian novelist Nael El Toukhy

Zooba [Official] Two versions of the Koshari served at New York’s Zooba pre COVID-19, now available for takeout and delivery

Anny Gaul Koshari is less about one ingredient than the right mix of textures and tastes. Build-Your-Own

Step 1: Form a base

Step 2: Sauce it

Step 3: Customize

From there, you can pepper in some caramelized onions or add your favorite pickles, fresh herbs, greens, or a soft-boiled egg. Follow the lead of dhow sailors with some hot chiles or pickled citrus.

Step 4: Eat for days

Anny Gaul is a food historian, blogger, and translator. She’s currently a fellow at the Center for the Humanities at Tufts University.

via Eater - All https://www.eater.com/2020/5/13/21254981/egyptian-koshari-grain-bowl-how-to

Created May 13, 2020 at 09:18PM /huong sen View Google Doc Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xa6sRugRZk4MDSyctcqusGYBv1lXYkrF

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tripstations · 5 years

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10 of the world’s best markets: readers’ travel tips | Travel

Winning tip: Fang night market, Thailand

Our stay in Fang, northern Thailand, coincided with the weekly Sunday night food market. From 5.30pm, tiny quails rotated on a grill while their eggs were fried in a doughnut maker, pots and woks bubbled with Thai curries, and stir fries and bamboo sticks full of sticky rice were griddled. Whole salted fish, coils of round sausages and meat skewers were all being barbecued over hot coals. Other foods were ready to go: silkworms, dried shrimps and goong ten, or dancing shrimp (raw translucent shrimps eaten alive with chilli), while green papaya salad was pounded in huge pestles … with as many chillies as you dared. Helen Jackson

Fez, Morocco

Photograph: Juergen Ritterbach/Alamy

Fez market has to be the best. It’s car-free and donkey-full. The sights, smells and sounds are a wake-up call to all your senses. Our guide Mohammed’s first words were, “Do not lose me as you will never find your way out.” The narrow streets are full of vendors and craftsmen of ceramics, leather, weaving, mending, and food, both to eat there or to cook at home. The donkeys are shod with rubber recycled from tyres to prevent slipping on the cobbles. Handcarts rule – with shouts of “balak, balak” to warn all to move aside as they make their way through the narrow passages. Thankfully we didn’t lose Mohammed and came out the other end. Kate Hendy

Every week we ask our readers for recommendations from their travels. A selection of tips will be featured online and may appear in print, and the best entry each week (as chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet) wins a £200 voucher from hotels.com. To enter the latest competition visit the readers’ tips homepage

Machane Yehuda market, Jerusalem

Photograph: Getty Images

When I lived in Jerusalem, I shopped at Machane Yehuda every day. There’s no place quite like it, a real melting pot – especially on a Friday. I had my guy for potatoes, my guy for herbs, two lovely Persian Jewish brothers I bought pots and pans from and Samir, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, who was my guy for veg. There’s something way more enjoyable about going to buy your dinner every night this way, and that something is the people you buy from. I don’t know why I like Samir so much: he’s just a really nice guy. Every time I go back to visit, I seek him out and go and say hello. Here’s to “The Shuk” keeping its fabulous food and wonderful people. • en.machne.co.il Katie Stobbs

Lau Pa Sat food market, Singapore

Photograph: Alamy

For a taste of the colonial among the gleaming skyscrapers of Singapore, head to Lau Pa Sat. The inside of this ornate building has latticed cast-iron pillars, reminiscent of an old Victorian bandstand. Outside, it is at its best at night: when the satay stalls open, the air soon fills with the enticing aroma of sizzling meat. Tables and stools are quickly occupied, and “beer aunties” roam between the crowds selling jugs of ice-cold Tiger. And, as the main market is open all night, it is a jet-lagged traveller’s dream, albeit a hot, smoky and sweaty one! Joanna Lawrence

College Street book market, Kolkata

Photograph: Alamy

This market sells a bewildering and extensive variety of secondhand books, whose origins can only be guessed at. The booksellers sit on raised wooden stalls peering over randomly stacked towers of secondhand books. I had many friendly conversations with white-bearded vendors about politics, science, religion and literature. I loved watching mothers dragging reluctant first-year university students around trying to find all the textbooks on their reading lists for bargain prices. The Indian Coffee House on Bankim Chatterjee Street, a famous meeting spot for Kolkata’s intelligentsia, provides a welcome retreat, brilliant eavesdropping opportunities and sugary coffee. Tess

Winter Night Market, Melbourne

Photograph: Nigel Killeen/Getty Images

From June each year, Melbourne’s Victoria Market runs a Winter Night Market that is at once a cheap culinary adventure around the world and an opportunity to have moments of random conviviality with locals and travellers while you queue for your halloumi fries/dumplings/kimchi/paella/froyo. It’s lively and cool but unpretentious; it’s free to get in; there’s often a band that you can listen to with your inventive margarita; and people seem to come determined to have a good time in a particular make-your-own-fun Melbourne way. It’s good for friends, solo adventurers and families of some ages (it’s hard to get around with a pram, and toddlers may need carrying). • thenightmarket.com.au Bridget

Pike Place Market, Seattle, US

Photograph: Danita Delimont/Getty

Pike Place is the source of the area’s fresh fruit, fish and flowers. All of this produce is put to good use as Pike’s is home to several independent coffee shops and restaurants that overlook the Pugent Sound. If there is a more perfect way to spend the evening than drinking a craft beer and watching the sunset over Bainbridge Island, I am yet to find it. If you are a fan of grunge music, Pike Place is massively important as it’s opposite the legendary Showbox venue and was also one of the locations in the cult film Singles. Ironically for such an independent venue, it is also the birthplace of one of the world’s biggest brands – Starbucks first ever store is there. • pikeplacemarket.org Jennifer

Turkish market, Berlin

Photograph: Manfred Glueck/Alamy

Berlin’s most charming flea market takes place next to the stunning Landwehrkanal every other Sunday. While tourists head to Mauerpark, this is where, to me, the real fun (and bargains) can be found. If you’ve ever wondered where Berliners pick up their unique clothes, answers can be found here. You can quickly assemble a new clubbing outfit from one of the many stalls where hungover Neuköllners are passing on half their wardrobe. There is also plenty of East German kitsch, straight from the attic, beautiful kids’ clothes and toys, and food from Japanese, French and Turkish stalls, which you can eat on the banks of the canal. Go late, like a local, coffee in hand. • tuerkenmarkt.de Katie

Mercado de Nuestra Señora de África, Tenerife

Photograph: Helmut Corneli/Alamy

The beautiful market building with its statues and flowers was gorgeous, but more astounding were the displays of seafood, fruit and vegetables. The colour and variety of the produce blew my mind. When you realise that this market was threatened with extinction and was saved by a group of merchants, it becomes even more impressive. Fighting the invasion of junk food and big box stores, they formed a non-profit group and eventually were rewarded by the Canarian Government and the Santa Cruz City Hall for restoring the market as a hub for the community. • On Facebook Kate Holbrook

El Mercado Central de Atarazanas, Málaga, Spain

Photograph: Getty Images

El Mercado Central de Atarazanas is the indoor food market in the centre of Málaga, selling fresh local produce. The building is impressive, with a huge stained-glass window at one end, but of equal artistic merit are the displays of seasonal fruit and veg. We watched the fishmongers at work on the latest catch and were tempted by the charcutería and olive stalls. There are a couple of bars inside, opening out on to the street but we retired to an old sherry bar, only a five-minute walk away, to toast our purchases. • malagaturismo.com Moira

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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years

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Anny Gaul Koshari is filling, flavorful, easy to make, and basically perfect Last September, the Egyptian fast-casual chain Zooba opened a branch in Lower Manhattan. Among Egyptian classics like taameya and hawawshi, one of the most popular dishes on the menu from the start has been koshari — a centuries-old grain bowl that’s suddenly found itself an unlikely global “it” food. Manhattan’s Zooba is just the latest in a series of hot spots in cities like Cairo, Berlin, London, and New York that are serving the ancient staple to an entirely new and very eager customer base. The appeal of koshari is easy to understand. It’s both filling and delicious — a mess of complex carbs and protein muddled with a range of acidic notes. A base of rice, lentils, chickpeas, and macaroni is shot through with sauces that meld tomato, hot pepper, vinegar, and garlic, and the whole thing is topped with crispy fried onions. But while it’s a fast-casual trend around the world, in Egypt, koshari is better known as a historic national dish, one that gracefully straddles the divide between street food and home cooking. It’s also the perfect food for pantry cooking in an age of stay-at-home orders and two-hour supermarket queues. With a long history as a hardy, adaptable, filling meal of choice among traders and travelers, it’s designed to provide maximum nutrition and flavor from cheap, accessible ingredients and local trimmings. If you have an assortment of starches, pulses, and alliums on hand, plus some vinegar and tomato sauce or tomato paste, then koshari’s delights are within your reach. “Egyptians have a long history of hodgepodge cooking, stuffing carbs with even more carbs — and we aren’t the only ones.” — Egyptian novelist Nael El Toukhy Koshari’s history has always been something of a mystery. One thing most Egyptians agree on is the dish’s connection to khichidi (sometimes spelled kitchari), an Indian dish that is also built on the winning combination of grains and pulses — a catchall term for the edible seeds of legumes like beans and lentils. But how did it get to Egypt? Most popular accounts cite Britain’s occupation of Egypt, which began in 1882 and was accomplished with the help of Indian troops. While it’s perfectly plausible, even likely, that Indian soldiers brought khichidi with them to Egypt, they probably weren’t the first or the only such link in koshari’s history: Centuries of earlier, sometimes indirect, connections between Egypt and India likely also form part of the dish’s evolution. As the powerhouse rice-and-lentils combo traveled along the pilgrimage and trade routes that have connected South Asia to Arabia to Egypt via the Red Sea for centuries, it absorbed new ingredients and flavors along the way. Today, traces of rice-and-lentil dishes dot the ports and coastal regions that long tied Egypt and India together. The crews of dhows — short-range sailing vessels of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean — once ate a dish made with rice, lentils, ghee, and hot peppers, according to one traveler’s account from the 1930s. Food scholar Sami Zubaida recalls a weekly meal of rice, lentils, tomato paste, and garlic during his childhood in Baghdad, adding that the dish was also well-known in Iraq’s port city of Basra. It was Zubaida who pointed me in the direction of several 19th-century British accounts that placed koshari — or something very like it — along the east coast of the Arabian peninsula as well as in Suez, an Egyptian port at the northernmost end of the Red Sea. An East India Company official stationed there in the 1840s described the locals eating a mixture of lentils and rice cooked with ghee and flavored with “pickled lime or stewed onions.” Zooba [Official] Two versions of the Koshari served at New York’s Zooba pre COVID-19, now available for takeout and delivery In 1941, Egypt’s most famous cookbook, known as Kitab Abla Nazira, included two koshari recipes, one with yellow lentils and one with brown lentils. But before its canonization in a cookbook written for middle-class housewives, koshari was likely best known as a local street food. British public health authorities granted a license to a street vendor peddling “rice and macaroni” in 1936. It’s a vague archival detail, but I like to think it may have referred to Cairo’s first recorded koshari cart. The addition of pasta and tomato sauce to koshari was a testament to the considerable influence of the Italian communities in Cairo and Alexandria at the time, which infused everything from the local diet to its dialect. (Modern Egyptian Arabic is peppered with Italian loanwords for everything from a Primus stove — “wabur,” from “vapore” — to the check at a restaurant, “fattura.”) Pasta and tomato sauce offered cheap ways to stretch koshari’s portions even further. Contemporary koshari is commonly served with as many as three different dressings: a tomato sauce, a local hot sauce called shatta, and a garlicky, vinegar-based dressing called da’ah (pronounced with a glottal stop in the middle, like “uh-oh”). Even today, koshari is never just one thing. Within Egypt, variations abound: Yellow lentils are associated with Alexandrian koshari, while Cairene koshari typically features brown lentils. Many home cooks told me how they’d tweak their mother’s or grandmother’s recipes, swapping in whichever pulses or pasta shapes they prefer or adding more spice. Sometimes elements of the dressings are combined, like hot pepper added to the tomato sauce, for example. There are variants topped with an egg or a smattering of chicken livers. Cairo Kitchen, another fast-casual Egyptian restaurant specializing in homestyle meals, introduced brown rice and gluten-free variations of koshari. And further afield, Koshary Lux in Berlin serves up koshari with jasmine rice, beluga lentils, and caramelized rather than fried onions. For now, the signature neon lights of Zooba’s Nolita dining room are switched off, just like the lights on the Nile party boats in Egypt they’re meant to resemble. Until they light up again (it recently opened for takeout and delivery!), the world’s original flexitarian grain bowl is easy enough to make yourself. Anny Gaul Koshari is less about one ingredient than the right mix of textures and tastes. Build-Your-Own The robust grain-and-pulse genre provides a handy template for building a grain bowl from whatever’s on hand. For some good jumping-off points, try Meera Sodha’s twist on kitchari; Maureen Abood’s take on koshari’s Levantine country cousin, mujadara; or novelist Ahdaf Soueif’s koshari recipe. But koshari doesn’t so much require a hard-and-fast recipe as it does a list of stuff to put in a bowl, and a mixture of contrasting textures and tastes is more important than any one ingredient. Here, then, is a basic guide to building your own koshari-inspired pantry grain bowl. Step 1: Form a base The foundation of the dish should include at least one grain (rice, pasta, or in a pinch, bulgar, freekeh, or even couscous) and one pulse (lentils, chickpeas). Today’s koshari typically includes at least two of each (chickpeas, lentils, rice, and pasta), but you can always keep it simple, like many earlier versions of the dish, with just rice and lentils. Aim for short pastas, such as elbow macaroni; for longer pastas like vermicelli and spaghetti, break into pieces before cooking. Most koshari recipes call for a grain-to-pulse ratio of at least 2 to 1. Increase the ratio to stretch the recipe into more servings; decrease it for a lighter meal. The culinary teams at Zooba and Cairo Kitchen suggested that preparing multiple ingredients in the same pot is the secret to rich, homestyle flavors (also fewer dishes!), so feel free to cook your lentils and rice together. Step 2: Sauce it Sauces and dressings can make or break a grain bowl. If you have a jarred marinara-style tomato sauce — ideally something with tomatoes, onion, and garlic — on hand, warm it up and stir it right into your koshari or mix in a bit of your favorite hot sauce first. If you only have tomato paste, improvise a substitute by stirring in some hot sauce and olive oil. Then you need something with a little more garlic and acid. Whip up a quick dressing with some crushed fresh garlic and cumin steeped in white vinegar (traditional) or lime juice (nouveau). You can also start with a basic citrus vinaigrette and experiment with layering other dressings on top, like a drizzle of pomegranate molasses or a balsamic glaze. A squeeze of fresh citrus never hurts. Classic koshari is topped with crispy fried onions, which you can replicate with whatever alliums you have on hand, some oil, and a microwave, one of my favorite hacks. Reserve the oil and toss it with the pulses and grains, and add a dollop of butter or ghee for even more richness. For a crunch that doesn’t involve frying things in hot oil but still feels Egyptian, try dukkah, an Egyptian seed and spice mix. Step 3: Customize From there, you can pepper in some caramelized onions or add your favorite pickles, fresh herbs, greens, or a soft-boiled egg. Follow the lead of dhow sailors with some hot chiles or pickled citrus. Step 4: Eat for days Koshari’s reliance on so many shelf-stable ingredients makes it great for cooking from the pantry, but it can also make the process of preparing it daunting. Pace yourself and split the preparation over a couple of days, remembering that most grain bowl ingredients can be building blocks for multiple meals. If you’re planning a pasta dinner with a green salad on the side, make some extra tomato sauce and a garlicky vinaigrette to dress your koshari the next day. And as you well know, crispy onions make anything better. So the next time you look to your own pantry for dinner inspiration, borrow a page from koshari’s long, global tradition of piling together sturdy nonperishables with the zingiest trimmings on hand — for a combination that has been satiating sailors, traders, street vendors, and home cooks for centuries. Anny Gaul is a food historian, blogger, and translator. She’s currently a fellow at the Center for the Humanities at Tufts University. from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2SZaQbK

http://easyfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/2020/05/this-egyptian-grain-bowl-is-pantry.html

#EasyFoodNetwork #ComfortFoodRecipes #EasyRecipes #GoodFood #BestComfortFoodRecipes #TastyFoodv

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keremulusoy · 5 years

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Time and the things it has brought (or has taken away) are the only things that mankind cannot reverse. But having the items from the past is just like traveling to past memories with your photo album. It’s an astounding challenge to time. It has an aspect that stops it partially, makes a shadowy trip to the past.

Whether you want to connect with the past for a reason, or to meet your needs at a more economical price, the Second-Hand Bazaar promises to take you on this journey. In this article, we will take a look at the flea Bazaars from all over the world. Interestingly, the term flea Bazaar means the same in almost every language. Although there are several theories about the origin of the word, it is thought to have its name from the flea Bazaar of “Marche Aux Puces” which was founded in Paris in the 1800s and is still going on. As you can imagine, in Turkish it also means “flea Bazaar”. At that time maybe there were fleas in some items and clothes, maybe this was just a phrase. Nowadays, some of the flea Bazaars are not only a nostalgic reflection of the past, but also become an antique Bazaar. And apart from being cheap, there are even those which grab attention with their costliness.

Visit whichever Second Hand Bazaar you want; there are two important points to pay attention to, First of all, it is worth to be cautious against the stolen products. At this point, basically, if a new and expensive product, such as a very high-end brand of tablet computers, is sold cheaply, get suspicious. The other and most importantly, if you are going to visit a Second-Hand Bazaar, try to be there early, even if you are only going to visit and see. Because if you are a tourist who is just there to see a different place, a valuable item that you might like, might have already been sold. So it is better to visit any flea Bazaar before 12 noon. Modern life has brought us the mobile phones that were changed every six months and the social media flows that we were captivated and we quickly forgot. For this reason, mankind is longing for more traces of the past. When we buy an old item, rather than meeting a need, we take a memory, a feeling. We are keeping our way home by putting a single shelter in our bag against the rudeness of modern time.

Our Tour Of Exploring World Second-Hand Bazaars Begins From Europe

PARIS, Marche aux Puces It would be wrong to imagine that the name of Paris will not go beyond any social or commercial activity in the worldThe same is true for Second-Hand Bazaars. Marche aux Puces is the most famous Bazaar in Paris. Its name is called Marche aux Puces de Saint-Ouen. Like an old Parisian aristocratic lady from past centuries. Even though he is called old, he doesn’t get old. Antiques, exotic objects, books, etc. generously offers all kinds of things, clothes and ornaments you might think of (not in the sense of price of course). Marche aux Puces is also the world’s first Second Hand Bazaar. It is open on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. For the Louvre, one of the symbols of Paris, they say that if you travel all day, you cannot finish it. So it is recommended that you spend a few days. Even though Marche aux Puces doesn’t offer the same enormous world, it’s time to take your time. On the good side, there are cafes and buffets to sit and relax and have something to eat or drink when you are tired of wandering around this famous second-hand bazaar. The Bazaar is large and also has a rich amount of varieties. From plaques for collections to military equipment, you’ll be amazed by what you’ll find. Let us note that the Braderie de Lille Second-Hand Bazaar in Lille, Europe’s most gigantic Second-Hand Bazaar, has been canceled due to security concerns in France after the terror incidents.

BERLIN, Mauerpark In this historic city of Germany, there are many Second-Hand Bazaars. The most famous of them is the one that is set up on Sundays in Mauerpark. Vintage clothing, old plaques, home accessories, you can find almost everything you can think of second-hand bazaar in this green Bazaar, surrounded by nature. There may be a pattern design t-shirt between the things you will encounter, which cannot be found on the Internet or in stores. There is also the possibility of encountering short shows in its mini-amphitheater. With the help of the lawns that you can breathe on when you are tired, you can walk around the whole bazaar taking a rest. If you consider Berlin’s famous cold, please take the Mauerpark to your visit schedule in the summer. So you can explore this outdoor Bazaar area by your heart by enjoying the sun. Once upon a time, it was on the East-West Berlin border. Berlin, which was formerly separate, was said to add sincerity to the distant city of Berlin in this aspect, which seems to merge two parts. Now it is enjoying the freedom of spreading.

BUDAPEST, Ecsari You will be pleasantly surprised to find fur hats and country-specific walking sticks among thousands of antiques and used items. It is possible to trace the traces of Hungarian culture on these stalls. Vendors from many countries around the world are also multiplying their product range. Most of the booths are closed outside the weekend although it is open all week. In Budapest, where old buildings challenge time, the Second-Hand Bazaar can bring you products that will surprise you. Like an official uniform from the Soviet era or an old toy. If you need to pay attention to the Ecsari Second-Hand Bazaar, the prices are very variable. Be careful and tour around by looking for a more affordable price of a similar product.

LONDON, Bermondsey Bermondsey antique bazaar is a recommended place for tourists visiting London to visit. Unless the weather’s rainy enough to walk out in the open. Visiting the Bermondsey antique bazaar in London, where brick houses and black taxis keep their historic touch alive, like a natural part of living in this city. In particular, tourists are curiously wandering around the bazaar whether they can find a signed poster of an old rock band or a classic piece of London culture. There are Second-Hand Bazaars all over the city in London. In this city, which has one of the largest subway networks in the world, it is not very difficult to go from place to place for a Second-Hand Bazaar or anything else. With its vintage shops and second-hand dealers, which can be seen in many places outside of the Second-Hand Bazaars, London offers different alternatives to those who want to catch the traces of the past. Bermondsey’s Second Hand Bazaar is open on Fridays from 6 am to 14 pm for those who want to discover the spirit of London.

NEW YORK, Brooklyn Second Hand Bazaar (Brooklyn Flea) The Brooklyn district of New York has many Second-Hand Bazaars to visit and explore. The most ambitious and known of these is the world-famous Brooklyn Second Hand Bazaar. Others are often called by the name of the street where they are built and if you have time, at least a few of them are highly recommended for New York lovers. For example, when you visit Artists & Fleas, you can find stylish, maybe designer clothes and oil paintings. The Brooklyn Second-Hand Bazaar seems to reflect the spirit of New York. You can find everything you are looking for. Even the things that you never looked for. And you can buy it before leaving the Bazaar, by saying “I’m glad that I came here today”.

In Brooklyn Second-Hand Bazaar, you can feel once again that New York is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. Among the products, you can find not only the things of an average American that arouses in your mind but an Indian or a Chinese immigrant’s things. It is an interesting experience to go around a Second-Hand Bazaar with the view of the distant skyscrapers. It’s like hidden treasure storage that reminds New York of much more than the statue of liberty and Manhattan. Who knows maybe you may encounter a small but delicious bite from “big apple” in this Second-Hand Bazaar.

ARGENTINA, San Telmo Under the sun of Argentina, you will meet a fun Bazaar stretching across San Telmo. The San Telmo district in Buenos Aires has a Second-Hand Bazaar that will not regret stopping by, those who go to this city. In the Bazaar where you travel between the old buildings reflecting the Latin texture of Buenos Aires, you can find very interesting trinkets and souvenirs that cannot be found in a classic shop, and you can even find old puppets and toys among antique items. It is also possible to encounter a painter who presents watercolor paintings. You can also come across a guitar concert or a tango show from street artists. After all, this is Latin America. Life is flowing in all its vitality. Many restaurants scattered in the Bazaar, offer the pleasure of exploring the local cuisine of Argentina. Besides, this Bazaar is famous for those who caught up with the different tastes of its cafes and restaurants on their way to shopping. There will also be paintings, antiques, but most of all, a Latin city and the warmth of its people, will remain in your memories from San Telmo’s crowd.

CASABLANCA, Derb Ghallef The biggest city of Morocco, known for its classic Casablanca film by the World, has a well-known Second-Hand Bazaar. The only thing you can find in Derb Ghallef is not the ones that represent authentic Moroccan and North African cult. Even more of them, such as DVD movies and souvenirs, you can come across current objects. It is open other days except for Sunday. Both Derb Ghallef and other Bazaars are a significant source of income for the Moroccan economy. This is the case for both new products and Second-Hand Bazaars. Because this mystical North African country is undergoing a heavy tourist flow. Tourists also love to buy the gift of the remote culture when they are breathing in this authentic atmosphere. Keep in mind that you have serious room for negotiation at your shopping tour in Derb Ghallef as country-wide in Morocco. Especially if the atmosphere is crowded, you can continue your shopping and sightseeing tour with the semi-mystical Moroccan atmosphere, paying attention to thieves.

Would you like to browse a few Second-Hand Bazaars from our country?

Feriköy Antique Bazaar In this Bazaar, in Istanbul Feriköy you can find nice and special pieces close to the antique quality as well as used items that you can find at reasonable prices in accordance with the spirit of Second Hand Bazaars. The prices are above the Second Hand Bazaar figures. Because this is a place that blows up antique Bazaaring with the items on their stalls. Old things and antique dealers from across Turkey also make this Bazaar in Feriköy discoverable. So you’re likely to come across really old porcelain. The Bazaar is a favorite of the intellectuals as well as antique enthusiasts. It’s like a little oasis waiting for art enthusiasts, from old records to books and original movie posters that won’t be easy to find on the internet. It’s open only on Sundays, but it’s a good choice to evaluate the Sunday.

Eminönü, Küçükpazar The content of the Bazaar opened in the early hours consists of more cheaply used goods. And it is focused on meeting the need economically. Nevertheless, you can also relax with different objects such as a pog from your childhood street games, or a glass vase that is no longer produced. You can recall a lot of items that you have already forgotten about while you are wandering around the bazaar that has an astonishing, rich product range. As it is a region where refugees are heavily located, it is possible to come across a lot of stalls opened by them. These people in the struggle for survival are among the regulars of the Bazaar as both the seller and the buyer. The Küçükpazar Second-Hand Bazaar, located near the Süleymaniye Mosque in Küçükpazar, is actually the continuation of the famous Second-Hand Bazaar established in Topkapı Surdibi in the past years. It is set up on Saturdays.

Şanlıurfa Second-Hand Bazaar In many corners of Anatolia, unique Second-Hand Bazaars are established. The Second Hand Bazaar in Yenice neighborhood of Eyyübiye district of Şanlıurfa is one of them. The Bazaar established at weekends is mainly preferred for second-hand shopping which offers much more affordable prices than stores. There is no doubt that the Second-Hand Bazaar brings vitality to the economy of the Eyyübiye district. The Bazaar, of which fame has spread to the region, is very active and lively by means of the people coming from both Urfa and surrounding districts. The Bazaar has created a source of economic mobility for low-income families. Electronic goods and many personal items, as well as plastic products, can be found here. In short, it keeps graceful surprises for those who can see. It is even possible to find vegetables, fruits, and flowers in the Bazaar. Second-hand bazaars are like looking history through a window. Their stories and the surprises they would present to us are inexpressible. So what will happen in the future? Would you say there would be a Second-Hand Bazaar of second-hand robots, slightly used single placed supersonic flying cars are sold by owners? Who knows, maybe?

I sometimes think that everything in the world, canyons, oceans and seasons has characters. On this lively planet, the cultural values, works, and cities created by humans are actually alive if you look carefully. At least they have a soul. If I could talk to the Second-Hand Bazaars, I’d say to them: “Please don’t change. Do not turn into expensive ancient Bazaars. Do not turn and that let us experience the happiness of a little trip the time, by buying the past period goods that were discarded by someone with affordable prices. If you are going to visit a Second-Hand Bazaar, as we have already mentioned, set off with the first lights of the day. Remember, the Cinderella of the flea Bazaar leaves at 12 noon

Notes

One man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure An English proverb says: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” This is used in many languages. Because it points to a common truth about man and life. Not just for the things, it says. It indicates the fact that many things we give up, despise, ignore or could not see has so much power of changing a life, our lives. These abandoned treasures can sometimes be a human, sometimes an idea, sometimes an article. A second-hand object, a piece that is left in the corner, that goes down into the world of the Second-Hand Bazaar, may be a representation of a meaningful moment in which you connect with the past.

The phenomenon of the “Thieves Bazaar” There are also second-hand Bazaars in the world such as Feira da Ladra in Lisbon, Portugal and the Chor Bazaar in Mumbai, India. Meanwhile, Chor Bazaar really means “thieves Bazaar” in Indian. Second-hand Bazaar in Delhi, India, is also famous for its spoils (stolen properties). There are some Bazaars in the World, like “Cave Creek Thieves Market” in Arizona, even their official names are actually infected with the action of thievery. In our country, some second-hand Bazaars might be characterized by the “thieves Bazaar” because of the fences (those who sell stolen things) who settles in the specific second-hand Bazaars from time to time.

California, Rose Bowl In this Bazaar in California Pasadena, you will find interesting things like garden accessories, plants, and jewelry in addition to what you might find in a classic Second-Hand Bazaar. Another good side of the work is that the stands are separated according to the types of sellers. A famous star, architect or artist can be seen in Rose Bowl any time. Because this Second-Hand Bazaar is also close to Los Angeles. If you’re passionate about movies, wouldn’t it be exciting to come across old-fashioned decor pieces? Of course, we have two small problems, such as the necessity of fitting goods that you will carry to your luggage. Entrance is chargeable. And you need to pay extra early if you want to enter early. Also, the Rose Bowl is only open on the second Sunday of each month. Still, it worths taking your chance. Who knows, maybe you can come across an original and signed a poster of an old Hollywood movie.

Tokio, Yoyogi Park Second-Hand Bazaar The vast majority of second-hand bazaars in Tokio are different from big, rich and multifarious bazaars, which are frequent in Asia, and where new cheap Chinese goods are sold instead of old goods. You can observe here the Asian spirit and parts of Japanese culture. Yoyogi Park Second Hand Bazaar is the most important of them. Going to the second-hand bazaar in Tokio means leaving with cheap souvenirs in one of the most expensive cities in the world. There are around 800 sellers in Yoyogi Park. You can buy here Geisha clothes and kimonos for less. The most enjoyable part of being on the second-hand bazaar in Tokio is the fact that you can spend a good time exploring new details of the colorful Far East Culture.

By: Hakan Sedat Gül / Photos: S.Bahar Alban

*This article was published in the March-April issue of Marmara Life.

World’s Second-Hand Bazaars Time and the things it has brought (or has taken away) are the only things that mankind cannot reverse.

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londemsadventures-blog · 6 years

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April 2018: RECAP PT 1

Ok, so I will try my best to recap most of the things that happened in April (that I remember). I may do a later TBT post going into more detail and including specific anecdotes from my TopDeck Adventures. Anyhoo, here goes;

From the 1st to the 7th of April I went on my first solo holiday. I had to leave the house at 4am in able to catch my early flight to Prague, Luckily the TopDeck app allows you to message people so I had arranged to meet up with 2 other girls who Katherine (a Canadian teacher) and Sarah (an Ohio arts student). I am only now realizing that those are the first and middle names of my sister....But anyway. We all arrived in Prague a few hours before we met with our tour group and so we found our way to our hostel and had a deliciously decadent supermarket lunch of bread, brie and berries (plus multiple ciders because its so cheap!!!!!). In Prague we did all the typical things, walked the Charles Bridge, saw the Jewish quarter with the hauntingly beautiful and creepy cemeteries. We climbed the massive hill and walked around the castle, ate chimney cakes (which are delicious AF), took photos of the Tin Church and the Astral Clock, although the latter was completely covered with a cyc showing what it would actually look like due to restoration. We also made a trip to the oh so colourful Lennon Wall. There was much alcohol to be drunk, food to eat and cobblestone to tread (a broken half of which I stole from a street in old town for my collection back home). And after almost two days, it was time to board the bus and head off towards Germany.

We stopped off in Dresden which was completely different to how I imagined it would be. I had always pictured it as some sort of country town with lots of green, fenced paddocks - kind of like the country side in the Vicar of Dibley. But it was a beautiful city. The wall that has all of the rulers of Germany on it (I forget it’s name because it’s already past my bedtime) was spectacular. And in this city, I tried my first Currywurst. It. Was. Amazing! But after our little stop, it was then on to Berlin, which is such an amazing city too. So rich with history, it was great to spend time in, but I can never imagine living in a city with such a visible historical past. We had a lovely driving tour after we stopped off at a memorial which I again am blanking on the name, and then went to our hostel which was super trendy and cool. That night, we walked the East Side Gallery before having a most delicious dinner at the Hostel. The next day we visited the memorial to the murdered jews of europe before going on a free walking tour of Berlin which was really informative. We then just spent the day wandering around. We went to museum island and ate lunch (again currywurst) on the grass as it was a lovely sunny, warm day. Then we again wandered until we found ourselves at the Berlin Victory Column, stopping along the way for icecream and a long chat about our families and lives, etc. When we left the monument, we decided to walk home. It ended up taking 3 hours, but was one of the best moments on the trip. We stopped along the way for dinner (Kebabs) and to stock up on food for the bus the next day and pre-drinks for that night. As it is open-carry in Germany, we drank as we continued home, and stopped on the steps between the East Side Gallery and the water’s edge. It was beautiful. we stayed there and watched lightning in the distance, chatted and listened to music. We eventually made our way to our Hostel, still in time for happy hour and drank a bit more before going to a nightclub just across the street. I stayed for 2 hours and left because clubs are gross - but that is another story.

As for Amsterdam. I will say, “when in [Amsterdam]”. Our free day was pretty great, just another wander day. I ate waffles (normal and stroop), went to the IAmstersam sign, lounged on a hill at Vondel Park, sat in the sun on the edge of a canal. The previous day we had gone to a cheese and clog factory, so I was still elated over getting to pet cows and eat/buy much cheese. Amsterdam is a lovely city that I will definitely be going back to - mainly because I couldn’t get tickets to the Anne Frank Museum, and that may or may not have been a big driving factor for my want to visit Europe....

But at some point the holiday must end, but with a lovely wander around London looking for an Indian Restaurant somewhere. We ended up around Tower Bridge and stayed out until about 11pm. We then said our goodbyes and I came home to a house that would be all my own for the next 5 days until the rest of my housemates came back.

The next week were still school holidays, but I spent most of my time in bed reading or netflixing as I was exhausted. I went to a Vision Teaching lunch on the Wednesday where I met a lovely, newly-arrived Melbourne couple, and together with Ethan and another Vision teacher, stayed at a pub down the street from the restaurant until like 8:30pm. On the Friday I was called in to work, which was actually alright (because it’s become a nice local school that I will now be at once a week for the rest of this term). So if you have gotten this far. Well done! I think that is a general overview of the first 2-ish weeks of April, and my school holidays. Stay tuned in the next couple of days where I will try to keep posting until I am back up to date.

#LondEmAdventures #topdecker #VisionTeaching #backposting #terrible memory

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