PERSONAL | cozy sunday out

Berlin has been very wet and cold lately (and the sun starts setting at 4pm nowadays), making it very hard for me to find the motivation to go out after work to do something interesting. Luckily there are some day-time events on the weekends for me to check out.

Today there was a special Dia de los Muetos themed breakfast market happening in Markthalle Neun, which I had been really looking forward to visiting. The decor was really festive and colourful and most of the regular Street Food Thursday vendors added a little Mexican twist to their menus.

I visited the market with my friend Ira, and we split a breakfast of buttermilk pancakes
and chicken & mole tacos. Odd combination.. but it was almost noon so it was basically lunch
and a dessert ok? :P

Later in the afternoon, I dropped by my friend Stanley's apartment in Charlottenberg.
He's been here two months already and this was the first time I was visiting. His roommate
really loves plants so their flat was filled with all sorts of lovely green things. They had a
massive Monstera hanging above the sink in the kitchen that I really wanted to take home with me.

Stanley made soup for our late lunch. I've been really into soups this past week--probably due
to the weather. Anyways, Stanley had some leftover beets lying in his fridge so he decided to
make { coconut beet soup }. The warmth from the soup really hit the spot especially since I got
caught in the rain on the way over to his. We even added this Radicchio filled pasta to the soup,
turning it into a really hearty stew. I want to try making this at home sometime when Roman
gets back from his trip.

TRAVEL | copenhagen ii

Three weekends ago Roman and I went to Copenhagen. It was his first visit and my { second }. This time I also ended up staying in Nørrebro, which, after a second visit, I still consider my favourite neighbourhood. It's pretty quiet, but it's also not without it's share of cool bars and great restaurants.

We also stayed in an amazing Airbnb. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was really really cozy. It was decorated in typical Scandinavian fashion with lots of blank walls, white furniture intermingled with warm grey tones and wooden accents--my style precisely! ;)

It's actually been a loooong while since I've taken my camera with me on travels.

Even though it's not really that heavy (I only use a 50mm prime lens), I've really neglected it
this past year. I didn't bring it with me to Vietnam, Nürnberg, or Prague and it felt really good
to take it out for a spin again.

Since I had it with me for this trip, Roman decided he wanted to learn how to use a DSLR
sowe ended up with a batch of portraits from our impromptu photoshoot. Some turned out
pretty decent and I got to walk away with some photos of me!
Which never happens btw.

On the first afternoon we did our own little biking tour of the city. Since it was

nearing the end of October we weren't exactly cycling in the most ideal conditions.
It was extremely cold and windy that afternoon, I swear I almost got blown off my
bike several times.

And because I'm not the strongest cyclist, I get tired really easily and always need small
intervals of down time in order to recharge. Luckily, just when I was starting to lose fuel we
happened to be close to { Copenhagen Street Food }, CPH's very own hipster food market.

There was also a small Wishing Tree art installation by Yoko Ono. I've seen these trees before in
Japan so I'm not particularly sure how her installation differs from an actual traditional wishing
tree, but anyways, it seemed pretty popular and the wishes were heartwarming but actually
mostly hilarious to read.

One of the places I had to revisit was Superkilen Park in Nørrebro. I went woke up especially early
that Sunday morning just to go and take photos before the park got too busy. That morning I met a
really nice lady who explained the { history of the park to me }. I really admire what the city did
for it's citizens by using art to bring together people from all walks of life.

The rest of the photos were from various points of the weekend. In the end, we had a lovely
time in Copenhagen. I would have liked to stay a little longer so I could have visited the
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art again. Although, I'm not the biggest fan of museums (to
the horror of my art school friends) but the Louisiana museum has got to be one of my
favourites in the world. Maybe I'll get to visit the next time I'm in Denmark, and hopefully
under warmer conditions. 

BERLIN | kanelbullar & gröt

October has been a crazy month--what with my german class starting, mum visiting, and a quick trip to Copenhagen--I completely forgot about this set of photos I took one brisk Sunday early last month.

All of these (except the last one) were taken in Cafe Valentin, my new little favourite spot. I originally found this place because I had made it my personal mission to find the best Swedish kanelbullar in the city and Cafe Valentin happens to be one of the few cafes that stock it.

Since my discovery in August, I think I have been back at least 3-4 times for their Swedish style oatmeal, or Gröt. They serve it in a few different flavours, but I can't seem to tear myself away from their Blau Gröt, a beautiful thing of hot oats, blueberries, cardamom, and fresh fruits. It's probably the cosiest meal you can find in Berlin in my humble opinion.