Merkez – Mediterranean Food

It was late in the evening and we were hungry – fresh out from the FITS comedy show. So, we decided to head over for some hummus, because I love hummus. I’d been to Merkez before – back when I was on the Dukan diet we went there because you can order just a plate of meat, which was perfect. But now it was quite the opposite that I was hoping to have!

 

I had the plate on top and the boyfriend had the falafel above – both were very yummy and well priced. They made my plate up specially for me – lots of hummus and no meat. The staff were all very friendly too.

In the heart of a slightly dodgy area, it’s always nice when you can go to a nice place with good food like this. I often find that the yummiest restaurants have the dirtiest looks to them – but while this place isn’t dirty, it looks very much like every other greasy kebab shop on the street and so can be overlooked. However, I say it’s worth having a look inside. There was enough for vegetarians, enough for wheat free people too (though it’s hard to look at hummus and not take a chunk of bread to dip into with…)

You can find Merkez at Münchener Straße 33, 60329 Frankfurt am Main

Thoughts on Vegetarianism

On the first date with the boyfriend, we went for sushi, and he sat down and told me that he’s vegetarian. I’ve never dated a vegetarian before so I freaked out wondering what the etiquette is and ended up ordering the same veggie sushi set as him, even though I love fish based sushi so very much.

As we got to know each other more, and when it was obvious that we would end up together, I made the decision to be vegetarian when I am around him – if I was the veggie one, I would think it gross to kiss someone who had just eaten a load of meat, and also I don’t want to make him feel uncomfortable so it just made sense to me. What’s more, at home I rarely buy meat and the only time I eat it normally is when I’m out for a burger or some German food.

Since making this decision, I’ve seen food in a new light. Checking food labels all the time is kinda a hassle and finding that things I thought were clean actually having animal products in them makes me sad – things like Worcestershire Sauce and kimchi. I’d say that overall, Frankfurt is pretty good with vegetarians but still sometimes there are places with only one or two options. That kinda sucks too, especially when I’m restricted by my gluten allergy as well.

But when we cook together, it’s amazing. I’ve learnt that there are two types of vegetarian food – one type that pretends to be meat with all the fake mince and fake bacon and whatnot, and the other type that is just meatless by nature. He’s been teaching me lots about cooking the second type of food, though when I cook for myself I still like a good slab of pineapple curry flavoured tofu to replace the chicken I would have had otherwise.

I enjoy this new way of eating and I don’t feel like it’s a negative choice, or that he is forcing me to do this. However, I have been surprised by some people’s reactions to this small change. People turn their noses up at food I’ve chosen because it has no meat in it, even when it’s still veyr yummy. In this day and age where I can go to a bakery in Germany and get gluten free bread and where there are whole supermarkets dedicated to people who have special diets (Denn’s… you are heaven!), it should go without saying that you can live as vegetarian and still really enjoy food. But it seems that even now people sometimes treat vegetarians like they are just being that way to be difficult. It’s pretty shocking, really.

The only worry I have is that some day, I’d like to take the boyfriend to Japan and show him my “hometown” and all the places I used to go – Japan uses fish stock in pretty much EVERYTHING. So it will be a challenge like no other. But we’ll see. Maybe it’ll still be do-able…

Spring in Frankfurt!

Spring is a good time in Frankfurt. The dark days of winter are finally over and the Germans start to very VERY VERY excited about things. One of the things they like to get excited about is spargel – asparagus. You would not believe how excited these white sticks make the locals…

This was the area outside department store Galeria this morning – a man on a mic, lots of official veggie people, SO many people crowding round to get their hands on asparagus… and a bored sound man eating a sausage sandwich.

But this is what we came for – the green sauce festival! Green sauce is a big thing here in Frankfurt and so we wanted to check out the festival dedicated to this herby, eggy sauce.

There is a closed off section that I think wasn’t open when we went. There are a handful of stalls outside, though, with 3 different green sauces to try with eggs, potatoes and sausages. Sushi circle have some special green sauce themed sushi variaties (none of which are vegetarian friendly) so there are a few things to check out there!

 

Our potatoes, eggs and sauce was so yummy we forgot to take a photo before we dug in! The sauce was pretty sweet and creamy. I much prefer it when it’s chunky and herby but it was still very yummy! The festival is lasting through to next weekend so check it out at the Roßmarkt in Frankfurt!

The Train

It was a weekend that had had a lot of football in it. I didn’t know much about it, but I heard the people cheering from the boy’s apartment – he lives in the “party” area of town, where there are lots of hen parties and people just going out getting drunk.

The walk to the nearest station had been tricky all weekend – there were more rowdy people in the streets than normal and the amount of graffiti on the shops’ walls in the area had doubled overnight.

I was getting a Sunday afternoon train back home, and the walk to the station wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I ducked past a group of 6 women in tutus taking photos with young boys who were leering at their breasts.

Getting on the train I managed to find 4 seats free so I sat in the corner. At the next stop, however, there was a large group of football fans – mainly men – that got on the train and were followed up by a couple of policemen.

They piled in around me. One young lad of about 18 sat next to me, making his friend nudge him and shout “waaay heeeeey!!!” Opposite me sat another young guy with his girlfriend.

“Offenbach!! Offenbach is shiiiiiiiit!!!” shouts one guy sat in the next set of seats. “Offenbach is shiiiiit!” reply all the other fans. A couple of men start a song to the tune of Waltzing Matilda, and they start bouncing up and down to the tune as everyone joins in.

Another guy in the next set of seats has the loudest voice of those around me. He seems to be really caught up in the excitement and is yelling at the top of his lungs. He also gets up to bounce to Waltzing Matilda, but then shouts “Kassel!!! Kassel is shiiiiiiiiit!”

No one replies with yells as they did with Offenbach. One thing Frankfurters can unite with is their dislike for neighbouring Offenbach, but apparently Kassel is spared the same loathing. The guy looks embarrassed and sits back down. More shouting starts and so he soon perks up when he can join in again.

While the shouting is going on, the girlfriend opposite me is wincing at the noise. We catch each others’ eye and give a look of understanding – “yeah, these guys are morons”.

Luckily the train pulls into the main station and the football fans and I go our separate ways. The girl and I nod at each other one last time – “good luck with those guys”. And she is gone in the jumping, yelling crowd.

Piknickbank, Frankfurt (omg is that hummus?)

 

We had a busy Saturday running around town buying toasters and things to cook that evening. We planned a lovely lunch at Piknickbank, a Moroccan cafe/restaurant we went past once, and it was the perfect end to a busy afternoon.

The place itself is like a back-to-front Tardis – it’s much smaller on the inside than it seemed from the outside. Luckily we got the last table for two but other people were made to wait in the rain for tables.

The waitress was fairly aloof but she replied to our German in German and so she was all right by me.

I had the large Piknick Teller which wasn’t quite as large as I had imagined, but still filled me up. Boy had the vegetarian tajine and though he said I had ordered the best thing, his meal was very good too (though had hidden olives! Grown-up food alert!!) My hummus was lovely and the carrots were so good I am going to try to recreate them at home next week!

The other people there were surprisingly not young hipsters, but older, middle class groups. I don’t know what it says about the place but it was interesting anyway!

I hope to go there again soon – we both said we wanted to try all the things on the menu.

You can find Piknickbank at Weißadlergasse 7, 60311 Frankfurt am Main

Take That’s “Back for Good” is Terrible

Last year I wrote about how I think that “Little Saint Nick” is a really stupid song. Well guys, I have another one. It breaks my heart, but Take That’s ‘Back for Good’.

Now, I love Take That. I begged my mum to get me Take That bed sheets when I was younger. She didn’t let me because they were way too expensive. But it’s only as an adult that I listen to Back For Good and realise that they would not have made the ideal boyfriends.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s take a look at the lyrics!

(For those who don’t know this song, or need reminding, find the music video HERE)

I guess now it’s time for me to give up 
I feel it’s time 
Got a picture of you beside me 
Got your lipstick mark still on your coffee cup 
Got a fist of pure emotion 
Got a head of shattered dreams 
Gotta leave it, gotta leave it all behind now 

Charlotte says – wow, you’re emotional. Maybe something really bad happened to you?

Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it 
I just want you back for good 
Whenever I’m wrong just tell me the song and I’ll sing it 
You’ll be right and understood 

Charlotte – So… what you’re saying basically is “I’m not sure what I did to upset you, but whatever it was I didn’t mean it and take me back now plz because I’m sad”.

Unaware but underlined I figured out this story 
It wasn’t good 
But in the corner of my mind I celebrated glory 
But that was not to be 
In the twist of separation you excelled at being free 
Can’t you find a little room inside for me 

Charlotte – So you figured out that she was pissed at you, but you still felt chuffed with yourself? She went off and was happier without you, and now you are sad.

Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it 
I just want you back for good 
Whenever I’m wrong just tell me the song and I’ll sing it 
You’ll be right and understood 

Charlotte – tell you the song? So basically “put words into my mouth and I’ll agree to them and then we can get back together”? That isn’t a healthy relationship!!

And we’ll be together, this time is forever 
We’ll be fighting and forever we will be 
So complete in our love 
We will never be uncovered again 

Charlotte – I think you’re getting a bit delusional now.

Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it 
I just want you back for good 
Whenever I’m wrong just tell me the song and I’ll sing it 
You’ll be right and understood 

I guess now it’s time, that you came back for good

And so, as you can see, it’s not a pretty picture. I’m glad these boys grew up to understand women so much more (yeah scrap that…)

It’s amazing how, when you listen to songs you know and love and actually hear the lyrics…

New!

I thought it would be nice to include some little drawings on this blog and I also needed a new mobile so I have a swish big one that also allows me to do little doodles. I’m just getting started on it but hopefully you’ll enjoy this kind of thing too!

And I hope it’ll encourage me to do more posts because I seem to be lagging recently…

Heroes Premium Burger Frankfurt

The other week I went with some friends to Heroes Premium burger restaurant in Bornheim – and you know how much I love burgers!

I LOVED the inside of the restaurant – the walls were full of comic book boxes and the staff were sufficiently geeky/hipstery for my liking. The burgers all had awesome names too (even a Luigi burger!!) and they had a lot of vegetarian options so I can’t wait to go again with the boyfriend. My German speaking friends asked if my burger could be wrapped in leaves instead of having a burger bun and when it came the patty was just sat on top of a salad but hey, at least it was wheat free!

The burgers were really tasty, and the chips came in a scoopable shape which made them perfect for trying out all their excellent dips.

Like I said, I can’t wait to go back again because it really was great – so I’d recommend it to all of you of course!

Find Heroes Premium Burgers at Leibnizstr. 13 60316 Frankfurt am Main

Trying New Things – Standup Comedy

Recently I wrote about how I don’t feel so brave any more and how it was stopping me from doing things in my life. I think that various things that happened in 2012 were still playing on my mind and I really wanted to get rid of them. I wanted to be able to do whatever I like without my brain telling me I’m not good enough.

So I went and did some standup comedy.

I’d been going to the open mic nights for a while to see a friend of mine perform, and the guy who runs the night kept on telling me I should have a go. I came up with a short routine and asked my comedian friend to come over for a dummy run. I was terrible. I was nervous. My brain was telling me no one would find my funny, that I was just a pretender, that I wasn’t good enough. The words stumbled out of my mouth and I sucked.

I thought that was that but my friends kept on nagging me. I thought that maybe if I spoke about anecdotal things, it would be much better – it would be like talking about my experiences with a friend. So I made a new routine based around weird things that happened to me while I was using OK Cupid.

I told no one but the organiser that I was going to perform. A few people I knew were there, and a few of my friends also happened to be there. But I got up on the stage and went into auto pilot. People laughed. They laughed at my jokes. They laughed at times when I thought there were no jokes, and they stayed silent during times when I thought I had said something particularly funny, but they laughed. They liked me.

And so I did it. No one died. And I learnt that I am much stronger and braver than I had previously thought. And that me demons were gone.

And it was awesome.

Critical Mass Bike Ride

One sunny Sunday my flatmates told me there’s a big bike ride happening in Frankfurt, and would I like to join? I love bike rides so I said I’d join up with them after my Japanese – English meetup. I’m so glad I did.

You see, this wasn’t just any bike ride, this was a Critical-Mass bike ride. Critical-Mass are a group who like cyclists’ rights, and according to German law, when there are lots of bikes together on the road, they can forget the crappy bike paths occasionally laid out for us and act like a car. One massive car. That is made up of 100 cyclists.

The seasoned members (for there is no leader – otherwise that would be a protest and the police wouldn’t be happy) do their best at blocking cars when we get to junctions so that everyone can pass through without being mowed down. I saw some pretty hardcore moves by them, often milimetres away from crashes.

But what is it like cycling normally in Frankfurt? Well, it’s ok. I’ve seen worse. But it’s certainly not an ideal situation. Where I live on Kaiserstraße I can get into the centre of town on a nice bike path leading me right there. But at other parts of town you have the choice of joining the scary, honky traffic or being a nuisance to the pedestrians and biking on the path. One part in particular, around the Metropolis cinema, is my worst nightmare. There are bike paths in certain places here too, but none of them seem like safe routes to take.

So this bike ride was really amazing for me – to be able to bike along the roads freely without worrying about cars getting aggressive is a real treat.

And the best part? It happens every month! Twice a month, in fact! You can join this bike ride from Alte Opera on the 1st Sunday of each month, from 2pm. And again they have another one the following Friday.

For information about Critical-Mass, check out this link, which is in German.