Goodbye to Berlin

 

 I picked out the title long ago after those wonderful Christopher Isherwood stories which describe a very different city. I've often regrretted not having been able to live in the Paris of the twenties or the immediate post-war period or New York in the seventies but with Berlin, I think I managed to catch it at a wonderful time back in 2007. Wedding and Neukölln were still seriously uncool, rents were cheap, the little bars and nighclubs by the Spree seemed there to stay and the property developers and tourists hadn't yet discovered it fully. Berlin is still a wonderful city but it's changed a lot. When I made my decision to leave about a year ago, it didn't seem so harda nd besides, it's rather like reaching 30, you know it will happen one day but never imagine it will really come around. Perhaps I was even a little sick of the city but in the past few weeks I keep going to places I love and thinking how much I'm going to miss all of this. Just taking the U2 line from east to west when it goes overground for a bit and you look towards Potsdamer Platz or seeing the Regierungsviertel at night from the S-Bahn - these are moments that will always give me a kick. This coming Saturday then (at 11:35am if you want to be really exact), I'll leave my home here and Berlin will continue to exist without me, just as it did all those years before as our paths were moving ever closer together. I know that cities don't belong to anyone but it felt good knowing that I had Unter den Linden or the Volkspark Schöneberg at my fingertips. Originally I had made a list of all the thing I wanted to do in my last weeks but I quickly abandoned that, knowing that the stress of the move would make it impossible to do that much and also that I didn't want to accomplish absolutely everything here because that would leave nothing to come back for.

Porridge and scones at the charming Hudson's cakes in Kreuzkölln

Check out the clotted cream!

The best cuppa

Wandering around Neukölln

 I feel very lucky  to have been abe to spend half a decade here, to have been a part of this and know that it will always have a special place in my heart. Back in Febraury I went to a Twin Peaks marathon screening with a good friend at a recreation of the Black Lodge and David Lynch's red room at a tiny bar in Neukölln. A thick layer of snow lay fresh on the ground but inside people came past with big slices of cherry pie and steaming cups of coffee and I chatted to some of the people around me, mainly artists. I though about how that represented everything I love about Berlin - the easiness, the excitement and something special which you just can't put your finger on. There's no easy way to say goodbye, in fact I prefer Tchüss which isn't quite as final. A big thanks to all of you for being so patient with me and give me so much support. It would have been so much harder without you. The next time we meet, I'll be writing from another part of the world.

Nice headwear in Neukölln

Returning to the zoo in West Berlin

A sand cat

The lion sleeps

Berlin's panda

The oriental entrance to the zoo

Coffee time at Café Buchwald

Baumkuchen or tree cake - a butter layer cake topped with chocolate

Outside the Akademie der Künste in Tiergarten

Schloss Bellevue, where the German president works

The rose garden in the Bürgerpark in Pankow

Danish pastries (from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess)

I've been wanting to post this recipe for such a long time but somewhere alog the line, things got in the way. It might look like a lot of work but actually not much effort is needed for fresh pastries which are probably the best you'll get unless you live in Denamrk that is. In fact the pastry and filling can be made ahead and popped in the freezer until you need them. I don't mean to be biased but my friends told me of all the cakes i've made for them over the years, these were the best!

1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk at room temp
1 large egg at room temp
2 1/4 cups white bread flour
1 package rapid rise yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into slices

Almond filling:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons banched almonds, toasted
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons icing sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg white

Clear glaze:
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Sugar glaze:
1/2 cup icing sugar
1-2 tablespoons warm water

1. Beat egg, water and milk together, set aside. Put flour, yeast, salt and sugar into food processor and pulse to mix, add the cold slices of butter and process until the butter is cut up, empty into a bowl and add the milk mixture. Fold together, cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator overnight or up to 4 days.

2. To turn into pastry, let it get to room temp, roll into a rectangle, fold into thirds turning it afterwards so that the closed fold is on your left. Roll out again to a rectangle and repeat the steps above 3 times. 

3. Cut in half, cover and put in refrigerator for 30 minutes. To make the almond filling, toast the almonds, then process with the icing sugar until finely ground. Add the butter then process again, then the almond extract and egg white.


4. Roll out pastry into a large square and cut into 9 equal squares.

5. Take each sqaure and put a tablespoon of the almond mixture onto the pastry.  Bring up the opposite corners and pinch together, then flatten the pastry slightly.


6. Place on baking sheets and brush with the egg glaze, leave them to rise until they have doubled in size (about 90 minutes) 

7. Preheat the oven to 350, cook for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

8. To make the clear glaze heat the water and sugar to boiling and then brush on pastries when they have cooled a little. 

9. To make the sugar glaze, add the water to the icing sugar a little at a time to make a runny icing.  When they have cooled drizzle over the sugar glaze. Velbekomme!