StewBlog

Found a very nice little cinema in Hackesher Markt to watch The International. The action begins right here in Berlin with a scene in front of the Hauptbahnhof in which a rotund man violently vomits before dying. Nice.
I was interested to see, on my way out of the cinema, a set of voting buttons sponsored by Zitty. I hit the 3 (out of 6) button for this film as I thought it dragged on a bit from the half way mark.

Well, the snow here has scuppered plans of flying to Düsseldorf this afternoon. Instead, Lufthansa are kindly going to buy us ICE train tickets for the 14:50 departure out of the Hauptbahnhof direct to Leverkusen... I have used one of these trains only once before and only for a short journey, but it was most comfortable, so I'm actually looking forward this. I believe they have a top speed of over 250kmh as well! I'm thinking beer, cards, iPod afterall, it is a 5 hour journey...

Decided to try another Indian restaurant round my way this evening. I'd passed Khushi a few times before; it's pretty much half way between here and Magnet so Laura and I dropped in for an very nice lamb madras, sag paneer, and all the usual trimmings...

Magnet were hosting a band called Boutique Rouge. I particularly enjoyed three songs from their set even though they sang everything in German, so my understanding was patchy at best.

The Caipirinhas were awful in Magnet so I have to remember not to order those again... Brrrr!

The sky is full of snow here in Berlin and it doesn't look like easing up any time soon!

1. Well done Duffy! I think she's great so I'm pleased she cleaned up.
2. I can't believe Coldpay got nothing at all, but I don't think they'll be bothered.
3. What was going on with that set design?! It looked naff!
4. Why did Kylie change dresses so much?
5. Was the chemistry just not there between the big man from Gavin & Stacey and Kylie?
6. Why wasn't it just a little bit longer?
7. Thoroughly enjoyed The Pet Shop Boys medley.
8. Sarah Harding was pissed again - No surprises there.
9. Best Nomination speech goes to... Brandon Flowers.
10. I'm pleased to report that The Hoff is still 'The Hoff'.

So, this Karneval business over here is all new to me but I've been given a bit of a heads-up on what it's all about... Apparently it all started back in October/November last year but more over in the Rhineland. The culmination of this lengthy festival on the coming weekend is celebrated especially vigorously in cities such as Köln, Düsseldorf and Leverkusen. So, that's where Tom, Milan and Stephan and I are flying on Friday night to soak up a bit of Karneval atmosphere, in fancy dress of course...

I'll be keeping track of this over the next few weeks leading up to our flight on 5th March to enjoy vast fields of fresh Canadian snow...

I'm pleased to see that there is a deluge of the white stuff forecast for next week!

Not to sure about this but there's a group of us going along to the Laugh Olympics in the Kookaburra Club this evening to find out what all the fuss is about... We're in for an evening of improvised comedy, apparently!

Stumbled across this Asian/Japanese place on wild goose chase... Not as good as Sasaya but not bad at all. The seaweed was great as was the yakitori. I also had a very nice sake served in a wooden box...

Whilst I don't drink Whiskey this is still a wonderful little bar on Kollwitzstrasse. They have a pretty extensive cocktail list and the whole place is decked out in a retro 1950s style which seems to be popular round here at the moment.

In a great game of football, Hertha Berlin beat Bayern Munich 2-1 to go top of the Bundesliga! The goalkeeper, Drobny, was outstanding making three wonder saves. The enormous Simunic marshalled the defence superbly and got a head or a foot on almost everything sent into the box. The celebrations ensued at the stroke of the final whistle with Andrey Voronin at the centre having taken both goals very neatly.

Just saw this article in the Guardian about a bar that I spent a very pleasant evening in last year. The branch nearest me is called Fra Rosa and is on Zionkirchplatz... Apparently they do a nice Speghetti Bolognese so I will have to pay another visit

Found a great bar in my 'hood last night called Intersoup on the corner of Schliemannstraße and Stargarderstraße. We're talking 50s furniture, cool bands, thai soup and cocktails...

Have just voted for the new Fish & Chips Walker's flavour crisps which I tried at the weekend after Leon and Yukari presented me with a large box of all six new flavours on Friday night. I am 'fairly' confident that they will come out on top when the winner is announced on or around the 2nd May this year...

Builder's Breakfast were awful - Too eggy.
Chilli and Chocolate is a daft idea - Either crisps OR chocolate, not together.
Onion Bhaji - Don't even like those things.
Cajun Squirrel - I want to see squirrels running up trees, not covered in cajun spice.
Crispy Duck Hoisin - Untried as yet...

I would be interested to hear anyone else's opinion on any of the new flavours too...

Leon gave me a few bottles of this gorgeous stuff at Christmas. It was brewed by Badger as a one-off special last Halloween. Unfortunately, they have stopped making it now but I had a couple of bottles left in the fridge when I got home at the weekend. It has a smooth sweetness from the pumpkin but still a touch of maltiness and bitterness in there with a faint Christmas spice aftertaste - Fantastic stuff! Might see if I can get hold of some on eBay this evening

So, most of my long weekend back in Canterbury was spent trying to clear out the house. I didn't realise that it would be such a devil of a job really. I have to look at every single item that I own and make a decision on which of the following piles it should go in...

Loft
Parent's loft
Bin
Recycling bin
Berlin
Charity shop

...and you have to be ruthless! Anyway, I'm a bit of the way through but I need to go back once more in a few weeks to finish the job off.

It will be very nice when I have finally cleansed myself of all unwanted stuff and have a completely empty house again... for someone else to fill up!

A pint of finest Kentish beer is the perfect pre-curry aperitif as far as I'm concerned, so it was without hesitation that I suggested we meet up in The Parrot a good half an hour before our table booking at the Kashmir... The usual array of goodliness was ferried out from what imagine is a tiny kitchen somewhere in the bowels of Canterbury's finest indian restaurant...

Have decided to spruce up the blog, so with a little help from a standard template and a few changes here and there, a new design shall henceforth complement my inane ramblings...

Comments/suggestions welcome...

Having been informed of a proxy server called Dave, which spoofs a UK IP address, I am now able to stream live feeds from approximately 15 UK TV channels via TVCatchup. At first I thought 'This is great!' but I had forgotten just how bad TV is, such that at any particular time of day there is rarely anything remotely interesting being broadcast. Therefore, I will reserve this activity for Match of the Day and the occasional comedy.

After the snow, that appears to have wreaked havoc in England at the beginning of the week things seem to be back to normal now. Fingers crossed for a timely landing at Stansted this evening. I have hired a 'Renault (or similar)' with which to make the journey back to Canterbury so we'll see what presents itself later this evening. I noticed whilst I was booking the hire car on-line that one can also hire a Bentley. My 'Renault (or similar)' comes to about £110 for the long weekend whilst the Bentley was over £5000 - gulp!

Must remember to book us into the Kashmir on Friday night for a nice curry as I haven't had one in AGES!

One and half hours and counting before I should leave...

I bought a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in German at the weekend so I'm hoping that as I learn a bit more that I'll be able to read the thing, with much assistance from my German-English dictionary, no doubt. I figured that I know the story really well and having read lots of Roald Dahl as a kid I'm familiar with his language and writing style so it should make the translation in my head a bit easier... I've only managed to read about 4 pages so far though as I have to look so much stuff up, but I will persevere. One thing I noticed is that they have renamed two of the characters such that Augustus Gloop becomes Augustus Glupsch and Mike TV becomes Micky Scheißer!

So, this Wednesday evening I will make the trip back to Canterbury for a long weekend of DIY jobs and house-clearing... With Thursday and Friday off that makes a nicely short week.

In other news, I have my last two German beginner classes this evening and tomorrow evening. I have already fired an e-mail off this morning to register for the next set of classes as I seem to be getting on pretty well with the lessons.

Well, what a fabulous Sunday evening out. Our dinner at Monsieur Vuong's was superb! I'm itching to go back already having sampled their Vietnamese spring rolls followed by a wonderful green curry topped with the freshest salad and a great smoothie: banana, maracuja, mint and pineapple. Dropped into White Trash Fast Food on the way home for a beer listening to the Sunday Coconut groove DJ and later, a skiffle band playing very mellow stuff.

About to set off here for dinner... Can't wait to tuck into fresh Vietnamese spring rolls!

Forgot just how good this series actually was until I caught an episode the other day via the wonders of the Dave proxy server and TVCatchup. Am now downloading the entire first series to enjoy this evening with a nice takeaway...