The past few weeks have been packed with enough activities to ensure my 2022 starts off strong, but this week was relaxing and that is exactly what I needed. I spent most of my time throughout the week in the gym, online at work or cooking fun meals in the kitchen. Then, on Friday, the sun came out and stayed for the entire weekend. It was glorious. I spent all of my time this weekend frolicking in and out of Berlin coffee shops with friends, visiting the Ethnologisches Museum and Museum für Asiatische Kunst in the Humboldt forum, and sharing laughs over food.
JUST JOURNALIN
For Christmas this year, my sibling and their fiancé gifted me a green leather travel journal from Moleskin. After flipping through the pages at Christmas, it was immediately obvious to me that this book would become one of my favorite possessions. At the start of this week I was finally able to finish my first trip overview! The book is broken down into two main sections – short trips and long trips. For each of the different trip types there is a ‘before the trip’ section, which helps you plan out the transportation, accommodation, budget, and checklist details of your trip before you go. This week I cracked open the “after the trip” section and filled in the 4 blank pages with polaroid pictures from our time in Garmisch and an overview on our trip. This is such an amazing gift and I can’t wait to keep filling it out!
EVERYTHING CARROT PUMPKIN SOUP
This week I was inspired by the cold winter weather and decided to make a spicy carrot pumpkin soup. I ended up buying 2 pumpkins and a jumbo bag of carrots, so as I write this post I still have leftover carrot soup in the fridge. The recipe was good, but I think the soup needs a little more flavor than what I originally added. To spice things up, literally, I sprinkled Everything Bagel seasoning on top of the soup before enjoying. I’ll copy the recipe below in case you’re feeling pumpkin soup too.
Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tps ground turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 Pumpkins, chunked
1 bag Carrots, chunked
480 ml vegetable broth
80 ml oat milk
Lemon
Instructions
1. Heat up the oil and add onions. Cook until they start to smell yummy.
2. Add in the spices and garlic. Stir for 1 minute.
3. Add in the pumpkin and carrot. Stir for 1 minute.
4. Add in the liquids. Bring to a boil. Cover the pot and bring to a simmer.
5. After ~15 minutes, blend the mushy veggies into a delicious soup!
Bonus: Squeeze in a lemon. Top with Everything Bagel Seasoning.
LEMON CAKE
After making my carrot pumpkin soup, I kept the cooking train running with a lemon box cake. I didn’t make the cake from scratch, but I’m still proud of how perfect the consistency turned out. The cake was perfectly moist and fluffy on the inside, but crispy on the outside. Then, to top it off I covered the cake with white glazed icing.
HEALTHY HOME HAPPY HOME
Now that I’ve mentioned all the food I ate this week, I would also like to note that I’m still keeping up my gym schedule. I feel that I’m getting really close to being able to do a pull up. Maybe a few more weeks and then I’ll be there!
THE VISIT COFFEE and book club beginnings
I met up with Karen at The Visit Coffee Roastery in Kreuzberg for a little weekend work and to kick off our first official book club book with Vernon Subutex. Karen gifted me the novel by French author Virginie Despentes as a birthday gift and I love being gifted books…probably because my mom is a librarian. The best part of the gift is that she also bought a copy for herself in French, so we are able to start a Berlin book club. Starting a book club with friends was a goal of mine for 2022 and I love that it’s already kicking off in February!
SUNRISE RUNS
The weather this week turned out to be gorgeous. To take full advantage of the blue skies I went for a few morning runs and soaked up as much sunlight as possible. It’s interesting, you don’t realize how much your mood changes as the weather declines, but as soon as the sun is out it’s a tangible difference in everyone’s mood.
SUNNY SATURDAY CROISSANTS
This Saturday I met up with Alize and got croissants from our favorite bakery in Berlin. I don’t live above the shop anymore, so the croissants are now a treat instead of a daily norm. After catching up over tea and croissants we went back to her apartment and played with the cat she is cat sitting. Alice also gave me a ton of her old clothes and I’m excited to slowly start working the new pieces into my wardrobe. One mans trash is another mans treasure, but one women’s Goodwill pile is another women’s closet. Aka, my closet #staythrifty. After a brief fashion show we went on a lovely long Saturday walk around the canal and enjoyed the edge of Spring weather. At the end of the day I checked my watch and I had walked over 15 miles!
Humboldt Forum – Ethnologisches Museum and Museum für Asiatische Kunst
My roommate had the great idea to visit the Humboldt forum on Museum Island this week and walk through their Ethnologisches Museum and Museum für Asiatische Kunst. I hadn’t been to a museum in a while, but this experience has reignited my love for museum days. The exhibits we walked through covered the past and present cultures of Africa, America, Asia and Oceania. The exhibit was full of artifacts and artwork from different time periods and locations. It was incredible to see the progression of different styles through each of the different regions and to top it off, the entire museum was free!
GALENTINES SUPER BOWL
This week the Super Bowl fell on the same day as Galentines, February 13th. This was a funny weekend event to celebrate because these are two big American traditions that nobody in Europe cares about. Fair enough, they’re both extremely capitalist constructs, but the American in me had to at least make a charchuterie board. Our Super Bowl party turned out to be all girls, which perfectly allowed us to shift the conversations to Galentines level topics. I had so much fun celebrating Galentines day / the super Bowl with my some of my favorite Berlin chicas.
SUNSET BERLIN WALL WALKS
It’s funny and obvious to say this, but the sun can’t set if it’s constantly hidden behind clouds. Prior to this week, the weather was really grey and so that is probably why the sunsets and sunrises I saw this week felt extra special. On Sunday I spent my final weekend sunset walking with my friend along the Spree and exploring the Berlin wall. Another great end to a great week.
