Berlin Reified | Food, design and life in Berlin

In the country

After too much work and whirlwind we needed a weekend away. S cycled through the puddles, befriended the farm cat and did her best to go down a slide that had been engulfed by an apple tree.

I thought Brandenburg would let me pretend Berlin had never changed but the people in the garden cafe were speaking Spanish, English, Russian. It's not a bad thing, of course, but it surprised me.

We sat in the sun and pulled pears from the boughs above our heads. We ate Zwetschgen by the dozen, shared bowls of pumpkin soup and bought loaves of bread baked in a clay oven. When the bread went hard, we added milk, eggs and elderberries plucked by the lakeside, then baked the mixture for a nursery supper. It's so definitely autumn now.

On the last day, S shared her morning Milchreis with the cat. We said goodbye to the horses, then it was time to take the S-Bahn home. I'm dying to return soon with friends. Friends, will you come?

Biohof Ihlow, Ihlower Ring 14, Ihlow-Oberbarnim (map)
Tel. 033437 89789

Cafe Aroma for Sunday brunch

I'm generally not a brunch person (those curling slices of salami! those sweating squares of anonymous cheese!). But, researching a guide, I had a long conversation with one of the women who run Café Aroma. She told me this restaurant-cum-Italian community center was the first gathering place for the Slow Food movement in Berlin, and a Sunday brunch pioneer back in 1987. Today, they take pride in sourcing their meats and vegetables from small producers in Brandenburg and Italy. It was enough to get me onto a train to Yorckstraße last Sunday to give their spread a try.

Do you wish I had a better photograph of the food? I do too, but I was too busy tucking in. But you can make out a few of the highlights. To the east is the Savoy cabbage doused in a creamy sauce and stuffed with mashed potatoes. In the southeast, a shell encasing a just-right spinach-ricotta filling. In the northeast corner you can glimpse one of the several arancini I devoured over the course of the morning. I'd never tried one of these saffron-yellow, breadcrumb-covered risotto balls before, and even though they were a little salty, I still find myself longing for them. €12 might be a little more than brunch elsewhere, but oh, it's worth it to be saved from the scary cold cuts.

We had planned to walk down to the Naturpark Schöneberger Südgelände afterwards, but the frigid air made long walks forbidding. We walked west on Großgörschenstraße instead.
(David says this angel in the churchyard photo is too trite, but I can't resist.)

S played peek-a-boo by the Grimms brothers' gravestones, and then it was time to go.

Café Aroma, Hochkirchstraße 8, Berlin-Schöneberg (map)
Open Mon-Fri from 6pm, Sat from 2pm, Sun from 11am (brunch only til 2pm)
Tel. 030/7825821

Alte St. Matthäus-Kirchhof, Großgörschenstraße 12, Berlin-Schöneberg (map)

A day in Birkenwerder

When we woke to sun and temperatures above freezing, we knew we had to seize the moment.

We rode the S8 north past windmills and fields to the town of Birkenwerder.

When we left the train station and walked north along the train tracks, the scenery was not so promising.

After a stop at the Wintergarten in the Gasthaus am Boddensee we were revived enough to cross the Autobahn and walk up the hill to Briese.

I had heard this nature reserve was worth a visit.

My heart lifted when I spotted water through the bare trees.

David and S stood on the rickety bridge and played Poohsticks while I explored the water.

The beaver dam was a thing of wonder. I'll come back to the Waldschule when it re-opens in March to learn more about the forest.

Free for the taking & Pick-your-own apples

I couldn't resist this spray of leaves on the wet pavement.

I have had dreams of apple chutney for presents so when Kristina asked about apple-picking I wanted to know too. I thought first of Mundraub, because this database of neglected fruit trees is everybody's darling. And when we went to Brodowin a couple of years ago there were apples everywhere, neglected on the low boughs. (You can take the regional train to Chorin and see what you find in the woods behind the ruined chapel.)

Brandenburg is apple country and there are plenty of pick-your-own farms, but after speaking to several I realized it's a bit late for apples, particularly in a year when the harvest hasn't been the best. Still, the Obsthof Deutscher in Werder has Gala, Elstar, Boskoop and Jonasgold apples to pick through Sunday, October 24th. I might turn, instead, to the chicken man at the market who always has the tastiest apples alongside his bargain organic eggs.

Otherwise, here are a few places to bookmark for next year. Do you have a favorite to add?

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Neumanns Erntegarten, Heineberg 2, Potsdam-Bornim (map)
Tel. 0331 501651 or 0170 8368646

Obstgut Marquardt, Potsdam-Satzkorn (map)
Tel. 033208 57718

Obsthof Lindicke, Am Plessower Eck 1, Werder (map)
Tel. 03327/45624

SL Gartenbau, Perwenitzer Chaussee 2, Oberkrämer-Vehlefanz (map)
Tel. 03304/39940

Obstbau Zaspel, Helenenauer Weg 2, Blumberg-Elisenau (map)
Tel. 03338/45524 o. 0172/4149186

Obstgut Müller, Dorfstr. 1, Altlandsberg-Wesendahl (map)
Tel. 03341/ 215856

A day in the country (Blankenfelde)

A bit sunstruck still, just back from Blankenfelde and its Tag der offenen Höfe. The open day itself was underwhelming but I was pleased to pass this facade bearing the typographic traces of a Tante-Emma-Laden; such signs were once so common in my neighborhood too.

After sandwiches and tea at Steckenpferd we wandered through the Stadtgut Blankenfelde. This former manor, now an intergenerational commune, had beautiful jars of rhubarb-strawberry jam for sale and a huge puddle for children to splash through in their Wellington boots. I loved the ramshackle treehouses behind the kindergarten.

Steckenpferd, Hauptstraße 35, Berlin-Blankenfelde (map)
Open Tu-Fr 10am-1pm & 3pm-6pm, Sa noon-6pm, Su noon-5pm

Stadtgut Blankenfelde, Hauptstraße 28, Berlin-Blankenfelde (map)
Open to visitors every third Saturday from 3pm

A walk around the lakes (Grunewald to Schlachtensee)

I took the train to the Grunewald station and followed Auerbachstraße until it turned into a cobblestone path leading to Lake Hundekehl. 

I crossed the woods and emerged onto Lake Grunewald. I was tempted to stop at the Forsthaus Paulsborn but followed the Lange Luch instead.

When I got to Krumme Lanke the clouds broke and the leaves went gold.

By the time I reached Schlachtensee, S was ready to play so we stopped at the Fischerhütte. She spun around the playground carousel while I tucked into tea and cake. We strolled along the southern bank of the lake, and then it was time to catch the train home.

Forsthaus Paulsborn, Hüttenweg 90 am Grunewaldsee, Berlin-Grunewald (map)
Tel. 030 / 81 81 91 0
Open daily from 11am

Die Fischerhütte am Schlachtensee, Fischerhüttenstraße 136, Berlin- (map)
Tel. 030 / 80 49 83 10
Open daily from 9am

Park Babelsberg, Glienicker Park & Pfaueninsel

Now I know this cold weather is an insult to everything we cherish in the month of May, but you must forget it's only 11°C and prize the light instead. The blossoms are still clinging to the trees, and isn't Saturday the perfect day for a grand day out?

Take the S-Bahn to Babelsberg station and walk north on Karl-Liebknecht-Straße, stopping for tea-to-go along the way. Take a left at Grenzstraße and enter the neglected gate to the Park Babelsberg. You too might climb the hill and pause under the sycamores in the clearing, delighted to find such ample space for the taking. Keep the water to your left and follow paths and attractive vistas at will: the scenery conspires to lead you to the Kleines Schloß. It's a sweet restaurant with pretensions, and you, like me, might find the results mixed, but what luxury to sit with the water before you and the green lawn, and the willow bobbing in the wind, while the waiter shows himself to be attentive again.

From there, you might follow the coastline to the little bridge over Lankestraße, then head northwest, the water always at your left, as you walk past the Glienicker Brücke and up the quiet path that curves along the Schloß Glienicke. The path knits its way past an attractive Biergarten before bringing you to Pfaueninsel. There I boarded the 218 bus, pink-cheeked, and made my way home -- but that was in April. You might be tempted to take the ferry over to explore the Luise: Queen's Island World exhibition and Olafur Eliasson's Blind Pavillion, which I'm dying to see. If you go, will you tell me how it is?

Kleines Schloß, Park Babelsberg 9, Potsdam (map)
Opening hours here (I wouldn't dare try and summarize all this)
Tel. 49 0331 705156