Cappuccinos, a corgi, and the hot sauce test
Lessons from last week
Finish not when you feel like it, but when you reach your destination.
Quite a katonah-y lesson that’s come out to play both on and off my yoga mat. Instead of pumping out an ambiguous number of kapalabhati breaths, it’s been fun to set myself a number and stop only when I’ve reached that count. As someone who likes to do things as I feel like it, setting a destination pushes me beyond my boundary of safety — showing me how much further I am capable of going. Feeling is very well good and great, but I’ve realised that there’s more to life than just feeling. There is doing. The latter actually makes things happen. Maybe all this spring has put me in a yang-state of mind, but I can’t say that I’m too fussed about it.
Cappuccinos have one shot of espresso, and a flat white has two.
Last week I befriended a La Marzocco coffee machine and a lovely barista named Jane. Together, they taught me not only how to swivel and swirl mico-foamed oat milk, but also gave me a crash course in confusing coffee jargon.
I had always thought that a flat white was flat due to a lack of foam on the top, but turns out this is due to the extra shot (that a cappuccino doesn’t have) taking up real estate that would otherwise be inhabited by milk (in a cappuccino).
My heart swirl is still a bit lopsided, but maybe that’s a lesson to learn for another week.
Getting a table at a restaurant is much easier with a dog.
Double the luck when you’re asking for a table outside. A and I have spent the last week dog sitting a gorgeous corgi by the name of Matcha, and needless to say we spent much of our time sitting out at the best table at a handful of hard-to-get-a-table-establishments.
Like walking around with a baby, having a dog made us a magnet for all kinds of interactions. I had never shared so many passing tête-à-têtes as we pranced around the city. Turns out it’s not just the sun that softens the Germans.
City chicken has really good rice.
For those of you who don’t know, City Chicken is a Berlin-based establishment that is known for making really delicious fried chicken and rotisserie chicken. It’s rivalry between Risa Chicken is quite heated and often debated.
Up until the first of May, 2024, I had considered the two equal. Both have pretty good fried chicken, really good rotisserie chicken, below average fries, and hummus and garlic sauce on offering.
However, the rice at City Chicken has left me with no other choice but to take a stance. Long grain rice has always been a disappointment to me. Coming from Japan, it’s not in my nature to engage with it, but when I have I’ve always regretted it. City Chicken rice, rewrote this script. Flavourful and aromatic, this rice seduces you into getting into bed with it. It’s so delicious, there must be chicken broth or drippings invited to the party during the cooking process— there is no way that this rice is vegan, yet I’m okay with that. Thank you, City Chicken, for dressing up long grain rice in the gown that she so rightfully deserves.
The hot sauce test.
Coined by A, we marvelled at the realisation post-brunch: an expectations blown out of the water kind of brunch. We celebrated Sunday by dining at Love Deluxe, a brunch place that takes the concept outside the bounds of avocado toast. We got our table (outside, of course with the dog) placed our order and watched the world go by as our stomachs rumbled. He ordered the porchetta sandwich and I ordered the the fried rice and eggs (side of pickles + greens). We ordered pancakes to share (and you should to). As we waited, I spotted a bottle Valentina hot sauce all alone at an empty table. Hot sauce is always a good idea in my book, so I invited her to sit with us. The food arrived, and boy oh boy… it was good. My coconut rice was fluffy and flavourful, his sandwich was dripping down the sides of his hand, which is the telltale sign that something is delicious. The anchovy mayo alone was a one way ticket to flavour town, and don’t even get me started on the pickles…
The food had cast us both under a spell, a very very well seasoned spell. One that demoted everything not on our plates take second seat in the orchestra — even the hot sauce.
Everything was finished, and Valentina remained uncorked because the food was so delicious, it didn’t need a supporting role. The hot sauce test speaks to how flavourful the food really is. Needless to say, Love Deluxe passed with flying colours.
This is the time of the year that reminds me why I stay in Berlin.
Once it’s warm enough to stop worrying about catching a cold every time one leaves the house, the city really does become quite liveable. Things become less primal and more enjoyable. From the good food, great parks, and the birds dancing in the background at all hours of the day: it’s nice to be reminded of how great this city is.
Biking around Berlin is the best way to see the city, because you can feel how much there is out there, yet how easy it is to reach it. Berlin folds into the pocket quite nicely.
It is undoubtably a city of extremes, but there’s a beauty in the simplicity of how the amount of sunlight directly correlates to one’s experience in the city. The depths of winter here are quite dark, literally and figuratively. Yet on the other hand, when the sun comes out to play, so does everyone else. Everyone in Berlin is in the same arena, and I enjoy watching the people bloom alongside the tulips and the trees.