Berlin Reified | Food, design and life in Berlin

Da Baffi (Italian in Wedding)

 

We worked in Kate's studio all morning and then it was time to take a break. She told me a new Italian place had opened up a week ago so we rode our bikes up Müllerstraße. When I stepped into Da Baffi, I smiled. The lilies' shadow on the wall had the crispness of cut paper. The golden light filtering through the front window!

The friendly Bolognese man behind the counter explained he and his partners had considered locations in Friedrichshain and Mitte before they settled on this former hairdresser's shop in Wedding. It was, on that afternoon, empty, and oh so full of charm.

When I looked back on these pictures in subsequent days, a hesitation haunted me. A few years ago I would have posted them immediately, jubliantly. A new Italian place in Wedding! Exciting! Having seen how this story ends in Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain and now Neukölln, the innocence of delighted discovery is alloyed with unease.

Nevertheless, Da Baffi, with its good food, solid style and winsome staff, now open for dinner only (lunch wasn't profitable enough) from Tuesday to Sunday.

Da Baffi, Nazarethkirchstraße 41, Berlin-Wedding (map)
Open Tue-Sat 6:30pm-10:30pm
Tel. 0175 692 65 45

Birthdays in review

Do you remember this post from last year? This year was much the same. My one birthday photo is too out of focus to share, but how lucky am I that Kristina took a lovely series of our afternoon in the garden? I almost didn't even have a party, but on our way home from our foraging excursion Suzy tempted me by offering to make me a cake, and who could resist that? (It disappeared too fast to capture, but you can have a peek here.)

Then yesterday, S turned three. Above is her cake half-made, later topped with a cloud of whipped cream plus more cake, cream and berries. Now off to make lavender shortbread to take into work, and a second cake for her to take to her kindergarten.

Ripe to bursting

Oh, people, people! Imagine a plum ripe to bursting and you would imagine my life. S turns three on Saturday; I go back to work part-time on Monday (I've been on maternity leave from my position for the last three years); my in-laws arrived on Monday, the same day as a lovely young woman who will help me bring a row of schemes and projects into being.

Little and often, my friends and I murmur to each other when we can only find a half-hour to sit in the sun before we're rushing on to our other things. So let it be little and often here too in the days to come.

Gooseberry fool in the making

A gray morning to be photographing gooseberries, but I'm too eager to begin topping and tailing to wait for better light. Gooseberries still seem more familiar out of children's fiction than everyday life, but browsing in Jane Grigson has inspired me to attempt a fool this morning. Perhaps with a splash of elderflower cordial? If you have tips, tell me now!

The tablecloth, by the way, is one of s-wert's inimitable designs.

May in Berlin II

My favorite urban tableau has been the construction site in front of the old-school ice cream shop on Stargarder Straße. Rather than being cordoned off, the beams, pipes and ditches became impromptu seating and playground for families licking their cones. (I felt I became German the moment I let S balance along one of these water pipes.)