Tag Archives: Food

Le Petit Chef

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Our Menu

Le Petit Chef had been on our to do list for some time. I had originally booked for our anniversary date night in November 2021, but Teo contracted COVID so we needed to postpone. Fast forward to 2022 and we decided to change our date event into a pre-birthday celebration for our two Aries in the house — Teo and Chika. I think it was even more enjoyable as a family experience, and the entertainment gave Chika and me more time to relax and enjoy the 5 course meal (along with a bottle of champagne and a bottle of red wine). Rather than describe the event, I will let the pictures and video (photo credits go to Chika) speak for themselves. If you want to learn more about it, you can click here.

Entrance
Waiting for the show
Enjoying the lights
Immersive
Part of the show
Part of the show
Serving
After the Show
Toast

Indian Summer in Berlin

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It’s a bit sad to see that my last post was all the way back in August (what happened to September).  I even have an iPhone now, so it’s pretty poor track record which I will need to fix.  In the meantime, we have the exciting news of our new nephew/cousin William Logan Wolfson, whom I am hoping to see (and post about) soon.

But back to our story, it was a “million dollar day” (as WW#1 used to say) here in Berlin, so we needed to take advantage.  While we had originally planned a short roadtrip to the west lakes of Wansee, we hit a snag at our favorite bagel place (Fine Bagel) as all the sweet bagels were still in the oven.  We decided that there were plenty of lakes around close by, but not so many good bagels and thus camped at a local playground for the next 30 minutes until our goods were ready.  Now fully prepared for our picnic, we headed to Treptow Park and Berlin Inslet (a small island in the middle of the river, accessible by a bridge).  We enjoyed a nice picnic (with a few too many end of season bees) with our fresh bagels, and then decided on a paddleboat adventure on the spree.  We were not sure how Teo would last, but he managed to stay inside the boat thanks to Chika’s watchful supervision.

Next time, maybe we will go for the motorboat 🙂

Adventures in the USA

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What a trip!  A great week at the beach celebrating mom and dad’s 70/75th birthdays with the family, pool parties at Michael and Melanies, dim sum in Philadelphia, and much much more.  So rather than write all the details, I will let the pictures do the talking.

The grand finale sushi dinner
Dining in Yardley on the porch
Dining in Yardley on the porch
Pizza party
Lounging at the pool
Lounging at the pool
Please Touch Museum
Please Touch Museum
Please Touch Museum
Please Touch Museum
Please Touch Museum
Please Touch Museum
Chinatown
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Dim Sum
Teo and Finlay
Our beach castle
Beach castle
Dining on the porch
Dining on the porch
Riding the rides in Wildwood
Riding the rides in Wildwood
Riding the rides in Wildwood
Riding the rides in Wildwood
Kohr Brothers custard
Kohr Brothers custard
Kohr Brothers custard
Kohr Brothers custard
Beach Time
Beach Time
Beach Time
Big G comes to visit
Shopping
Beach Snooz
Beach Snooz
Shopping
Waiting for bakery to open
Waiting for bakery to open
Beach time
Down by the water
Down by the water
Lollypops at Uncle Bills Pancakes
Lollypops at Uncle Bills Pancakes
Uncle Bills Pancakes
Beach play with Sydney
Beach play with Sydney
Beach play with Sydney
Morning playground
Sleeping Teo
On the way!
Love it
Saul’s burger
Cruising by the water
Morning Playground
Kai chilling in the sun

 

Japan Visit: Short, but so sweet

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So it seemed like the major work I needed to do to get my job situation and other things were taken care of, a long Easter weekend was coming up, and British Airways was having a fare sale.  So there seems little reason not to jump over to see the family in Japan for a week.  I think it was one of the better decisions of recent times, as we all had a great time and got to all relax outside the pressures of day to day life.  And of course, there was lots and lots of eating great food.  I am already looking forward to the next trip.

 

Chika’s grandparents house/office
Isakaya
Isakaya
Chika’s grandparents house
Sushi
Sushi
Sushi
Tasty Yuba Maki
Sashimi
Making Mochi
Making Mochi
Making Mochi
Curio Expresso
Fluffy Pancake Cafe
Fluffy Pancake Cafe
Fluffy Pancake Cafe
Fluffy Pancake Cafe
Fluffy Pancake Cafe
Kanazawa
Sashimi
Squid
Enjoying Lunch with the Mrs.
Breakfast Soba

Tel Aviv and More

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It was an unexpected holiday.  There was a flash 48 hour Internet sale and there happened to be a hotel on the beach in Tel Aviv for $87 per night.  And then there also happened to be some frequent flyer tickets available.  So without much investigation we were suddenly off to Tel Aviv for 4 nights.  We started doing our homework, checking in with friends and contacts, and researching the Internet.  We read the news reports that it snowed in Jerusalem just the week before (wondering if our beach front hotel was now an out of the way destination).  Even as we were taking off, we didn’t know what really to expect.

We were more than pleasantly surprised.  Our fears of intense airport security policies were completely wrong (in fact when Kai fell asleep during check-in on the way home they never asked us to take him out of the stroller).  Weather was sunny in the 60’s the whole time.  The city and the people were incredibly child friendly — the candy hawker in the market was more upset with us than with Kai when he kept sampling the candy — “let him enjoy, he’s a kid”.

We ate well through the trip.  Our friend Babak took us to a great local hummus place built in an old synagogue.  We dined with our friend Matan a local chef’s place which could have rivaled any joint in Soho. When we sat down at the Old Man and the Sea at the Jaffa Port, with two minutes we were presented with the obligatory 20 salads (yes 20).  And they were fantastic.  And we even managed to indulge in some fine patisserie delights at a beautiful restaurant/bakery.

We decided to take a day trip to Jerusalem even though we couldn’t find a babysitter for Kai.  We rented a car which worked out fine — the traffic however was intense both ways. Both boys cooperated for the most part during our explorations in old city Jerusalem.  Kai slept shortly after arriving.  Needless to day, the old city was not the ideal place for a stroller.  Overall, it was a bit heavy on the tourist souvenirs (the entire inner city is a middle eastern marketplace) but it was good to connect with the past.  When we were flying in, the Israeli next to me commented on my first trip to Israel, “you are closing the loop that is over 2000 years old”.

It was a great trip, and certainly on the radar for a revisit.

Our Hotel — Crowne Plaza Tel Aviv Beach
The Family at the Jaffa Gate
The Western Wall
The Western Wall
The Church of the Sepulchre
Dining as Kai Sleeps
Dining as Kai Sleeps
Patisserie at Dallal
Outdoors at Dallal
Market
Market
Great Hummus
Hummus Restaurant
Creme Fraiche Pizza at Abraxas
Fresh Tomatoes at Abraxas
Kai loving the beach
Pilgrimage Completed

Kid Maintenance

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It’s scary how as your children grow, there is an ever-growing list of maintenance reviews that needs to be taken care of.  First, it was the doctor.  Then the parent reviews at the kita on progress.  And now we are in up and running with the dentist.  I have to say that I am envious of Kai’s experience.  A quick 5 minute check, no real poking or prodding, and then getting a toy parting gift.  And then papa takes you to the bakery for pretzels and foamed milk.  But hopefully Kai will be more proactive on his teeth care and not suffer the 8 visits this year that his papa had.

 

More from the Sunday Day Dates

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We are getting quite comfy with our Sunday morning routine — our friends drop their kids at our place whom we leave with Kai’s teacher, and then we head off with Teo for a relaxing brunch.  This week we decided to venture to the California Breakfast Slam.  It’s not in a neighborhood we traditionally head to, but we are growing more bold/confident in our Sunday excursions.  It is actually housed in a place which is a bar in the evening — the large communal table in the room where we sat was actually the pool table under cover.  But it turned out to be fitting environment — homey, cozy, with good portions of comfort food.  They even provided you with water without having to order it by the bottle — almost unheard of in Berlin.  Not all the eats were perfect — the poached eggs on the eggs benedict were a bit overpoached — but still a good change of pace from the traditional Berlin brunch fare.  Will venture again.

Apple Pancakes — YUM!
Huevos Rancheros
Eggs Benedict
Water without asking
Teo enjoying the vibe
The pool table in disguise
A happy breakfast

Bite Club

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Who would have believed that we would go to two food festivals in two day with offspring. But we did it.  The second time around it was just Kai, Maki, and myself going to check out Bite Club.  From a food perspective, it is quite similar to Street Food Thursdays, but the atmosphere is a bit different.  It’s directly on the spree, part on land and part on a boat.  And it happens to be next to a floating swimming pool/beach venue which tends to draw a more partying crowd.  We got there at opening at 6, so it was still a bit tame.  But by the time we left at 7 it was getting packed with long queues.  Best food of the day: pulled pork bbq sandwich on a grilled long hot dog bun with pickles and creme fraiche and crumbed bbq potato chips. YUM!