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Happy Thanksgiving (British-style)
Hello everyone! Today is Thanksgiving over in the United States of America and we here at Maison Leather and Abel thought we would hop on the thanksgiving train and rustle up some tasty food for the evening as well. Being the British ambassadors that we are, it would only be proper to make our nation’s favourite dish — Chicken Tikka Masala! We spotted Americans rushing around our local supermarket today trying to find all sorts of last minute ingredients to their meals. One group of men were running around desperately trying to find a lemon to stuff their turkey with. Luckily we didn’t have to compete for similar ingredients. Just…
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Making Felt Workshop
One sheep, two sheep, three sheep… FELT! When a local friend invited me to join her to make a felt cushion I jumped at the chance. I had no idea what felt really was and I actually thought we were going to cut material into shapes and form some colourful squares, put some fluff inside and then we would go home with a cushion for the sofa. I was completely wrong. So for those of you who don’t know, making felt is actually a really complicated and tough process. No wonder those cute felt hats cost so much. The shop owner Sabine has lessons for 3-4 people inside her shop…
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Happy Monday – Bruno Mars
Treasure, that is what you are… I hope it is a HAPPY MONDAY for you. For me it is not overly amazing. I woke up sick. And not just a minor little cold but full blown flu symptoms. I have pushed myself to get out of bed to write this but I will probably find myself tucked up again in a minute. I can say it’s a happy day as Jason is looking after me! Breakfast in bed is a grand thing… So, back to Bruno. I can’t stop listening to his music so I thought it would be only fair to let you all know. I remember a few…
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The best cheesecake I have found in Berlin Part 2
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake baker’s man, Bake me a cake as fast as you can… So this isn’t the first post about cheesecake and it probably won’t be the last (here and here). But this one needs to be talked about! Guys, this is possibly the best cheesecake I have ever eaten. And in my lifetime I have eaten (and made) a LOT of cheesecake. A lot of cows have been milked in order to feed my cheesecake cravings. In fact, I could probably write a whole book on these tasty slices but instead I will write a little blog post and tell you about my current favourite. I have devoted a…
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Happy Monday – Kindle/ Khaled Hosseini
Though the pages are numbered I can’t see where they lead For the end is a mystery no-one can read In the book of my life… Here is another Happy Monday post. My current obsession is ‘And the Mountains Echoed’. I used to be that person who would say “I don’t have a kindle as I like holding a book”. But, like so many others, once I got a kindle, there was no going back. No more lugging heavy books around. No more losing my page. No more buying bookmarks. No more finishing my book without having another ready to be started. And currently I am finding it hard to…
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Riesen Schnitzel
I don’t understand why ladies use all those creams… I just tell them to eat more… After all, fat fills out your face and so you don’t get wrinkles… His name was Karl. The words in italics above, are his words. Before he even started to take our order, he took one look at Jason and told him he would have a beer. His big round belly proved that the food was going to be good. And when the plates arrived, I understood why someone had written across the menu: Biggest Schnitzel in Europe. I didn’t know where to start. My lovely Berlin friend had texted me at just after…
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Brrrrrrrrrr
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow… Okay, it’s true: I’m English and I love complaining about the weather. Lately, my friends back home have been moaning about the cold. I have been sympathetic of course, my culture asks me to do this, but inside I am wondering if moving to Berlin was such a good idea after all. Our friends here have started wearing big winter coats. And scarves. Gloves have now come out too and hats are commonplace. Not those cute fashionable hats, but big woolly ones with pompoms attached to the top. I have seen ear flaps and at the market fur is everywhere. It…
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Happy Monday – Persimmon/ Kaki
An apple a day… In Japan, the most delicious fruit season is autumn. I had never before seen or eaten persimmons (kaki) or Asian pears (nashi) but they are like Pringles: once you start you can’t stop. So sweet. So succulent. So delicious. And OMG so expensive. I remember paying around 3-4 euros for an apple… yes, you did read that correctly. Ouch! So eating fruit in Japan was a bit of a treat. Plus, they tend to eat a slice or two instead of a whole apple, so even when I was lucky and someone else bought fruit, I still didn’t get much of it. On the other hand,…
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A Tribute to Kebabs
Try and name a couple of staple food after a heavy-drinking session… Go ahead… Thought of some? It’s probably a pretty good bet that kebabs make your list. Kebabs are well integrated into the English drinking culture and I was surprised to find out that the same is true here in Germany. I found myself learning more about it just last week after the news that Kadir Nurman, the man credited with inventing the doner kebab, had passed away at the age of 80. He emigrated to Germany from Turkey in 1960 and set up a little kebab stand in West Berlin in 1972. The mix of grilled meat and…
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Happy Monday – Butternut Squash
Soup, soup, a tasty soup, soup! It’s Happy Monday again! That means you find out what our favourite thing of this week is. In Berlin, the weather is getting cold and more wintery. I am scared… but also very slightly excited at the prospect of hibernating in our apartment and eating soup every day. The other good news about the cold temperatures descending on Germany is the arrival of pumpkins. They are EVERYWHERE. In Germany, they even grow pumpkins purely as decorations and you can buy them in flower shops! They come in all shapes and sizes and people put them on their front door steps to welcome their guests.…