A long weekend in Berlin

Hey people!

Last night we just got back from a long weekend in Berlin, where my man and me visited Lilith. I didn’t take that many pictures and all in all we just spent (almost) four pretty relaxed days, just hanging out together and eating delicious vegan food 😉 So I don’t have that much exciting stuff to share with you. But I think that by now pretty much everybody knows that Berlin is sort of a vegan Mekka these days…

Besides from eating a lot, my man and I went to see and hear Pearl Jam at Wuhlheide, which is sort of a small stadium in the periphery of Berlin. It was our first PJ concert and we were blown away 🙂

the stadium slowly filling up.

Not only was the location beautiful, the band played for pretty much three hours straight (at the beginning of the concert Eddie announced that he didn’t know at what time the sun would set, but that they would keep playing until it was dark).It seemed like everybody in the crowd (17.000 people!) knew all their lyrics by heart and sang along the whole time. I was also amazed by the energy the band conveyed and the beautiful atmosphere they created.

But back to the food part 😉

Before we headed to the concert venue, we stopped at Vöner to pick up some early dinner to munch on.

(picture by vöner)

I had some simple (but nicely seasoned) fries with onions and vegan cheeze. My man had a vöner. Both were good grub 🙂 But we both agreed that the vöner (the vegan döner meat) could have been a bit more crispy. The yoghurt sauce was pretty good. Unfortunately I totally forgot to take some pictures of the food, but I guess you all know what fries and döner look like 😉

Apart from devouring quite some vegan icecream (for instance at Eisbärliner at Boxhagener Platz, at Veganz Friedrichshain,  (vegan, organic soft ice) and at Caramello in Wühlischstraße (which is all organic and many ingredients are fair trade!)) …

… we also went for another vegan brunch. This time at “Oh là là” a french vegan café/restau on Mainzer Straße in Friedrichshain.

We started off with some sweet stuff…

… (glutenfree) toast with jam, mini cupcakes with lemon whipped cream, mousse au chocolat, chocolate-cornflakes clusters, yoghurt and berries and a huge café au lait.

Also on the plate: pineapple-curry tofu bites and tzaziki cucumber pieces (both equally delish!).

The sweets were followed by some zucchini spaghetti à la bolognese, some pesto risotto, some pea and onion stew and a couscous salad. (sorry for the bad quality of the picture).

My third course were two types of fresh salads (carrot-peanut-coriander and mixed greens), more risotto (this was sooo good) and tofu stew.

The finish was another mousse au chocolat 🙂

The brunch had a nice variety of sweet and savoury dishes and since it was all glutenfree it didn’t feel too heavy on our stomachs, even though we felt pretty stuffed after having tried everything on the buffet 😉
The café is also very cozy, with cushioned benches on one side of the shop, a mix of old and modern furniture and light and friendly wallpaint. With sunny weather it is also possible to sit outside 🙂

Next time I’m in Berlin I’ll definitely go back there for some of these…

Oh and also important, the people working there were a bit stressed out, because it was such a busy morning but they were still very nice and friendly!

I only have one point of critique and that would be, that I’d like the food to be not only vegan but also organic.

Have a beautiful week!

 

Alles Gute für unsere Lütte – Part 2 of our vegan birthday present post

Happy Sunday and a happy birthday to you JamJam!

I am fashionably a bit late with my post, but since our little one was born on a Sunday I think that this post is not too displaced 😉

As Lilith already mentioned our little sister turned 22 yesterday and Lilith and me had a little birthday giftbox collaboration.

So this is what the box looked like that I sent to our little buddha. Since my package would be on the road for a longer time (I sent it from Amsterdam) the little treats I made for JamJam had to be bit more durable. I also remembered that she mentioned during our last get-together, that she often doesn’t have enough time to properly eat at work and that sometimes she has to stay at work (she works at a veterinarian) longer and then comes home with her stomach at the level of her knees (sorry, that’s a German expression that I translated, but I think you get what I mean). I’ve been wanting to make my own cereal bars for a while, but somehow always lacked some ingredients or shied away from the whole process because I thought it would be pretty messy, with all the sticky oats and stuff. Anyway, I found quite a simple wholesome recipe in a book that features several vegan snacks and treats for “on the road” and decided to finally give it a try and to put the end result into JamJam’s birthday package.

My plan was also to post the cereal bar recipe here, but to be honest they did not turn out exactly the way I wanted them to be. They do taste great though! They are chock-full of seeds and oats and nuts, not too sweet and really a perfect snack for these moments when you’re on the run and don’t have time to sit down for a real little meal. But I have to admit that when I packed the giftbox I was afraid they would not reach JamJam in their original shape since they are pretty delicate and crumbly. They would make a great crispy granola though… But before I post a cereal bar recipe here, I want to make sure that the bars can be just carried along in one’s purse without ending up as granola. So, sorry, no recipe today 😦

I’d still like to share two more things, that I put into JamJam’s giftbox, because I think they are pretty amazing vegan and eco-friendly products that I’d like you to know about 😉

I’ve been having this tin of solid perfume for more than a year now and whenever I used it in JamJam’s presence she told me how good it smelled. So I figured it was about time that she got a tin of it herself. I had originally bought mine at dophert, which by now is not only a vegan catering company run by two lovely ladies, here in Amsterdam, but also evolved into a little café-traîteur-shop-thingy, where they sell not only delicious vegan comfort food and almond lattes, but also vegan goodies from their former webshop, including this perfume. But I have also seen this brand’s perfumes at other shops which sell eco-friendly beauty products. What I like about the perfume is not only its wonderful smell, but also that it is easy to carry around in my purse, because it is solid and sits in a little tin. But above all I like that the ingredients come from cruelty-free environmentally responsible resources. *yay*

As the cereal bars I made are more on the healthy side, I also put a box of “lovechock rocks” into the box. Growing up and living together with JamJam used to involve the fact that I always had to hide my stash of chocolates and other sweets, because she would otherwise eat pretty much all of it, when I was not at home… Now I chuckle, while I’m typing this, but as a kid I was not so amused. 😀 anyway, what I want to say is that I cannot give a gift to my little sister that does not include a little treat, because she simply loves that kind of stuff. But as her older sister I did of course opt for something sweet that is still wholesome and almost healthy in a way 😉

I love the lovechock chocolates because they are all vegan, made from raw cacao and only sweetened with coconut blossom sugar, which is said to be easier for our bodies to deal with. And most importantly, I really love their dark chocolaty taste. I also like that their ingredients are all organic, eco-friendly produced and their packaging is made from sustainable resources and can be thrown on one’s compost (even the “plastic”!).

With this I would like to finish today’s post. I wish you a lovely sunday (hopefully with some vegan cake or another cruelty-free treat) and again happy birthday to you JamJam! big hug and kisses, j :-*

Please note: This post does purely reflect my personal views and opinions and has not been sponsored by any of the companies that I mentioned above.

 

Kaffee und Kuchen beim Bric à Brac in Bremen

Moinsen!
Als wir (also Lilith und ich) vor etwa zwei Wochen bei unserer Familie in Bremen waren haben wir, kurz vor meiner Rückreise nach Amsterdam und ner kleinen Runde durchs Viertel, einen Abstecher ins Café “Bric à Brac” am Wall gemacht. Das kleine Café war mir schon eher bei einem anderen Bremenbesuch aufgefallen. Damals hatte ich mit unserer Mama gleich gegenüber vom Bric à Brac bei “Emmi die Suppenbar“, nach einem Besuch der nahe gelegenen Kunsthalle, eine leckere (vegane) Suppe gegessen. Da wir aber gerade von einem späten Frühstück bei unserer kleinen Schwester Miri und ihrer süßen Katze kamen (die sie erst vor kurzem von der Katzenhilfe Bremen aufgenommen hatte), war uns eher nach ner Tasse Kaffee als nach einer warmen Suppe 😉

Miris Kätzchen wurde erst vor kurzen kastriert. Darum musste sie noch diese Halskrause tragen.

Diese Bilder hat Miris Mitbewohnerin gemacht, die Kunsttherapie studiert.

Das Café ist auf den ersten Blick winzig. Quasi in eine Ecke neben dem Eingang zum ehemaligen Polizeigebäude am Wall gequetscht. Als wir den kleinen dreieckigen Raum betraten, der neben der Küche, Theke und Vitrine auch eine kleine Sitzecke beherbergt, machten wir uns etwas Sorgen, ob wir überhaupt noch einen Sitzplatz bekommen würden, denn alle Plätze schienen bereits besetzt. Doch auf unsere Nachfrage bei der Bedienung hinter der Theke, stellte sich heraus, dass etwa schräg gegenüber vom Café, im Lichthof des Gebäudes, noch Tische und Stühle stehen, die sowohl zum Bric à Brac als auch zur Suppenbar gehören. Erleichtert bestellten wir unsere Kaffees. Auf meine Nachfrage hin, ob es auch möglich sei einen Cappuccino mit Sojamilch zu bekommen, schüttelte die Bedienung bedauernd den Kopf. Er könne mir aber statt Sojamilch etwas Dinkel- oder Reismilch aufschäumen… 🙂 Während wir auf unsere Kaffees warteten hatten wir Zeit die herrlich aussehenden Kuchen und Torten in der Vitrine in Augenschein zu nehmen. Die Schildchen ließen leider nicht erahnen ob darunter auch ein paar vegane Köstlichkeiten waren. Doch nach einer weiteren Nachfrage stellte sich heraus, das beinah die Hälfte der Leckereien vegan waren. Obwohl wir noch etwas voll waren von unserem Frühstück, entschieden wir uns dennoch dazu uns ein Stückchen rohköstlichen “Käse”kuchens mit Himbeertopping zu teilen. 🙂

Der Kaffee, der im Bric à Brac gemacht wird, ist übrigens 100% biologisch, fairtrade und sehr lecker. Je nach Wunsch kann man ihn auch etwas kräftiger bekommen 🙂 Die Rohkosttorte war außerdem ein Gedicht. Superlecker! Cremig und fruchtig.

Bei meinem nächsten Bremenbesuch werde ich ganz sicher wieder auf nen Kaffee (und etwas leckeres dazu) im Bric à Brac vorbeischneien 😉

Kennt ihr das Bric à Brac? Habt ihr noch Tipps, was man dort unbedingt probieren sollte? Oder vielleicht noch weitere “vegane” Brementipps?

À bientôt!

 

 

 

product review – Vivani chocolate bars

As I promised, things continue in a chocolate kind of way over here…

Via an announcement by roots of compassion on facebook I learned about these brandnew vegan rice-milk chocolate bars by Vivani. Unfortunatley I had already ordered some vegan stuff at roc just before I left for my family weekend in Germany and at the time I placed my order they did not have these chocolate bars in stock yet. But before I got on my train back to Amsterdam I went to an organic shop in Bremen to stock up on a few thing I cannot get in NL – and found these bars! 🙂 I could hardly wait to get home and try them!

There are actually four flavours: White Nougat Crisp, Dark Nougat Croccante, Black Cherry and Almond Orange. Since they didn’t have the Black Cherry variety at that shop I only tried the other three. First of all I have to say that I usually only eat pure (really) dark chocolate or raw chocolate. Since I became vegan my tastebuds have changed quite a lot and I do not like the sweet milky flavor of (real) milk chocolate anymore and most rice milk-based chocolates I find too sweet. So I was a bit sceptical about these rice milk chocolate bars.

I just loooove nougat. But since it can be difficult to find vegan nougat chocolate I was even happier to find these bars. Both the dark nougat croccante and the white nougat crisp bar have a gorgeous “nougaty”, “hazelnutty” flavor.

I’m usually not that much into orange flavoured chocolate. but my man is. So I shared the almond-orange bar with him on a movie night.

My conclusion:

Since roots of compassion is selling these bars I trust the ecological and social promises of Vivani.

I actually liked all three flavours that I tried. As already mentioned I’m not a big fan of orange flavored chocolate, so the dark nougat croccante and the white nougat crisp were my favorites so far. But I liked the orange-one, too and my man was delighted about it aswell.

I very much liked that the chocolates really melts in your mouth. The perfect chocolate to devour by putting it piece by piece on one’s tongue and letting it dissolve there (almost) by itself.

They are sweeter than the regualar dark (and raw) chocolates that I usually eat, so I needed to be aware of the unusual sugar rush and restrict myself from eating all bars at once (luckily they aren’t too big with their 35grams). Still I didn’t find them too sweet. But they are definitely a treat that shouldn’t be eaten on a regular basis 😉

I am happy that there now some good and tasty vegan chocolate bars on the market 🙂

Have you tried any of these chocolate bars yet? What did you think? Share your opinion in the comments!

And what do you think of these kinds of product reviews anyway? bullshit or helpful?

Cheers!

Judith

P.S. Note: This post has in no way been financed or supported by Vivani or ROC. I bought these chocolate bars myself and all opinions expressed are my own.