Category Archives: Kai

The Pizza Masterclass

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Keeping kids engaged during lockdown isn’t so easy. But it forces us to explore outside our known boundaries and try some new things. I had planned an evening with my friend Jo, and since it turned into a Sunday evening we expanded it to a family affair and with that the pizza masterclass was born.

The good news from an activity standpoint is that there are activities spread over mulitple hours: creating the raw dough, preparing the pizza canvas, designing the pizzas, baking the pizzas, and of course eating the pizzas. And through it, we also learned: yes, yeast is a fungus like mushrooms, it likes to eat sugar and enjoys warm temperatures, and when you bake it into the pizza crust you don’t really taste it.

With the first campaign successfully under our belt, I am ready to further explore the potential of what pizza making can be (I am thinking steak calzones next!!).

Escape from the Corona Virus

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So the orders came down state by state in Germany, and then finally Berlin was in lockdown mode. Sort of. You could only leave the house for essential trips, e.g. grocery shopping, but also for exercise (with social distancing observed). With 3.7 million people living in Berlin, many parks inside the city can get quite crowded especially with perfect sunny days. So we decided to explore outside the city. With the help of the hiking guide Komoot, we were travelling to places we’d never been before. We are still getting the hang of things — did we send the right navigation destination to the car (on occasion we used GPS coordinates!), how long can the boys go before they self-destruct, how much food and drink do we need to bring (more is better) — I would say that we did a pretty good job for newbies. The hikes were interesting enough to keep the boys engaged (especially with picnics in the middle), easy enough to allow some distance, and far enough outside the city to keep our social distancing intact. I am hoping that this pandemic ends while still keeping up our family treks.

Urban Adventures Part 1: Paris

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The boys had a big 2 week break from school sandwiched around a 4-day Easter weekend. So early in the year I had started to ping some friends in France about swapping apartments. Turns out that France only has one day off (WHAT, the French are actually working more than the Germans!), but as Benoit and Giovanna has just added an extra floor in their house, they suggested we just come and stay together with their 3 daughters: Stella (14), Luna (12), and Gaia (7). So will a base in Paris set we started planning. It was a long drive, and given the German’s love for roadtrips I decided to take a day before and a day after the holiday — otherwise you are guaranteed to be stuck in traffic for hours. Even still, it was a long trip (over 800km) to make. So we decided to add an extra bonus: a stop at Euro Disney on the way.

Travels out were smooth. Left early, and with the exception of an overturned trailer the driving was fluid and uneventful. We decided to stop in Metz on the way — I read about a Japanese exhibition at the Pompidou branch in Metz (it turns out it was an evening performance, but was fun anyway). A nice bistro lunch and some museum sightseeing and then we were off to Euro Disney.

We decided to stay at the Radisson Blu Hotel there — mainly because it was much easier to cancel there in case something came up. We were quite happy there. Got upgraded to a nice 2 room suite, received a nice welcome gift (water, beer, and local mustard), and had a good time playing in the swimming pool. Some room service dinner, a nice bath, and then catching a healthy sleep before Euro Disney.

We managed to pack and get down to the shuttle with a few minutes to spare. We arrived with the first crews at the entry to the park and surprisingly they let us in before the 10:00am opening time. We decided to first try queuing for Big Thunder Mountain, since Teo could ride also. After 40 minutes as we arrived at the front of the line, there was a problem with the ride. 20 minutes later they shut it down. It was a sad way to start to day, but at least when we left they gave us a ticket to comeback anytime.

We then got FastPass for PeterPan and decided to have an early lunch. This worked out well as we beat the rush, and then got FastPasses for other rides (at least I thought we did — the ticket written in French actually said I couldn’t get a FastPass for another hour). At this point light rain started, and so we decided to use our FastPass for Thunder Mountain before it got heavy. The boys loved it! At this point we split up — Kai and I went to Space Mountain (twice!) while Teo and Chika went again for Thunder Mountain. We then switched boys, and Kai rode Space Mountain (2 more times) and Teo rode Dumbo and then Pirates of the Carribean. We wrapped up the day with Peter Pan and the Dumbo Flying Elephant. All in all, with all the challenges and the weather, a great 1st time experience for the kids.

Then it was off to Paris. The drive was relatively short (under an hour) and we arrived. That evening we went to a local beer garden for some tasty beverages and middle eastern food. The next day I took Kai with Beniot to join Gaia’s soccer practice. It was great to see how he could fit in with people from other cultures, even without speaking the language. We then went to a local marketplace for lunch — fresh oysters, sauvignon blanc, frites, and sausages. Then we met up with Remy and Mariko and their children for a super dinner at their chic flat, complete with amazing cakes, more oysters, fresh roast of beef, wine, and probably some of the best cognac produced in the world.

Sunday we were meeting Remy and their crew again at a young peoples science experience (all hands on). Gaia joined us, which was a crash course in having 3 children. Not ready yet. Very cool exhibitions, and amazing hands on experiences — especially the television studio simulations. That night Giovanna and the older girls prepared homemade pasta cannelonis. Was super delicious — I made sure there was no leftovers.

The last day was a busy one. We started with a chocolate Easter egg hunt in the garden for the kids. Then we had to meet a different Remy
for coffee (we finally founds some sun in the Palais Royale). After a quick Uber, we were at to Stephane and his girlfriend’s new flat. Super cool redesign, lovely food (including rack of veal!), and more wine of course. Then a walk through the Marais followed by a bus tour to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, the lines were too long so we had to head back for a Japanese dinner with Ben and Gio’s family, with Remy joining too.

The next day was a train strike, so we started off early. We made it without too much hassle, and were able to make it to Strausborg for lunch. Chika found a great lunch bistro, followed by additional pastry hunting tour through town. Finally it was time to go back to Munich.

A great adventure — lots of hard work, but great rewards.

Adventures in Italy Part 1: Lake Como

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So it may be a bit presumptuous to start off with Part 1, but since we had such a great time on this Italy trip I can undoubtedly state we will be back for sure. It was Easter break holiday for schools and since we had already planned major long haul trips to Japan in summer and USA in fall we therefore decided to try an extended driving trip. Chika drove down with the boy on the Wednesday evening and then on Friday morning we drove to Lake Como. Our trip over took us through the mountain passes, what Chika then coined the “spaghetti” roads which has so many turnbacks, everyone but me had was getting carsick. On the bright side, the alps were gorgeous, the sun was shining, and the boys fell asleep allowing us to make the whole trip non-stop. We arrived late afternoon at our accommodation (up another winding road off the lake, but only 5 minutes off the main road). The view of the lake and the mountains was fabulous. We had a simple 2 bedroom apartment — it worked out great to allow the boys to have their own room, but we all could get together for nice breakfasts on the terrace with views of the lake.

On the second day. we went to see our friend Manu who lives close to Como center, and stopped on the way at a park in Lenno where the boys fell in love with the dandelions. After meeting up in the city, we had great meal at a lovely restaurant on a quiet square with some of the best tiramisu we’ve ever had.

On the last day, we decided to stop at Villa del Balbianello. We even took a short boat ride there to at least get a short time on the lake itself. Amazing garden and house developed by a cardinal in the 17th century. Will need to go back for the full tour. Afterwards we ended up skipping the tourist pizza and went straight to La Fabbrica Del Gelato for a different lunch. Chika and Kai even had seconds after their doubles (and then Teo I think stole most of Chika’s).

Finally, it was time to drive home. After crossing the mountain passes, the weather went from 24C and sunny to 2C and snowing! On top of it, I had wanted to wait to Germany to get more gas and it seems there aren’t so many stations along the highway as in the US. By the time we reached the station it had been registering 0KM left for the last 10km. Chika was not so amused, but we made it home safe and sound. It’s less than 24 hours, but I am ready to go back again!

First NMS Award

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I had gone to school today for reading (parents are invited every Friday to reach books with all the students) and Kai’s teacher asked if I wanted to stay for the assembly because Kai was receiving an acknowledgement award — an offer I could not refuse. So proud of Kai and what a great bonus to start the family weekend.



Men in the kitchen

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While I have grown a passion for cooking, it didn’t really start until after college and didn’t really achieve anything worth writing about for some time later. But Kai came home extremely excited with one of his reading books — “It’s a recipe dad” he exclaimed. So I checked out the book and seemed simple enough, and after a quick trip to the grocery store to get a few last ingredients (actually just the cheese) we were ready. We set a date at 8am Sunday to take on the challenge.

The recipe turned out to be quite bare bones. Baking instructions didn’t really state a temperature or a time. But just following some common sense (180 degrees C) and allowing it to brown, we came out right on target.

In the tasting phase, Kai noted that these were lacking taste (the recipe was the first ever I have seen without salt.) We quickly improvised with some cream cheese and smoked salmon in the fridge, an voila — we had created world class canapes. A great new creation by experimentation. Can’t wait to do it again with the boys.

Kai 1-1-1

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Today was a great milestone for our family — our first child on the first day of first grade. The principal and master of ceremonies provided a few anecdotes in the introduction, including new things can be both exciting and scary at the same time (especially when she mentioned that Kai will be in the graduating class of 2029!). Here is to new adventures!

Mission accomplished
Waiting for the ceremony to begin
Pre-ceremony portrait
Waiting for the show
Kai’s Class
Ready to head in
Group B (Kai’s Class)

A day in Pfaueninsel

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At Chika’s suggestion, we decided to do a little exploring outside the city limits to the lake areas around Berlin to Pfaueninsel, or Peacock Island. We enjoyed a great picnic, with some lovely peacocks joining us, but the rain cut our trip short. I guess we will have to return again.

Our first ski adventure

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With a tip from Kai’s fellow classmates, we decided to book a ski vacation over the long Easter weekend at a resort in the Czech Republic.  We didn’t know what to expect — what the hotel would really be like, would there be snow, and even if the snow was there would the skiing be good?  It turned out that all-in-all is was a great facility to get this family on the path to becoming a ski family.  It was almost too simple — the ski rental was part of the hotel on the basement level and then right outside the door was a ski school and a small poma lift to connect to the larger mountain (although our mountain was not connected so some of the larger ski areas in the valley).  After a few days of lessons (in addition to a few from his stay in Japan), Kai took off literally.  I could barely keep up.  Teo also made his way onto the skiis and with the help of Chika even did a full run from the top.  I was hard to be up at the crack of dawn to go back to work again, but the pride I felt for how well the family did made it just a bit easier.