I
used to be fun, and not just any old fun mind you—I used to be really fun. Modesty at its finest, I know. But I really mean it. I was pretty much in charge of fun on
Saturday mornings in the Liu household.
No one granted me the position.
Instead, I took it upon myself by taking control of the remote.
I
don’t know about you, but growing up, my ideal Saturday morning began at 7 with
the beeping of an alarm, a shake of a shoulder, and a click of a remote. “WAKE UP”, I’d bellow at my sister as
obnoxiously as I could, repeating myself until I heard some slight shuffling
and murmuring from the bunk above. “Lizzie
McGuire is on!” I’d prop myself on my
side, my hand supporting my head, and lay this way, fixating my gaze on the
television screen for hours on end.
Honestly, had my teachers been able to sustain my attention the same way
Saturday morning cartoons had, I honestly swear that I would have been a much
better student…Really, the only thing capable of breaking my concentration was
the inevitable grumbling of my stomach, begging for mercy, pleading and praying
for sustenance. This usually occurred
sometime in the middle of a Jackie Chan
Adventures episode at around 10:30 by which I’d roll myself out of bed and
saunter over to the kitchen.
Seeing
as time wasn’t a limiting factor on weekends, I generally opted out of the
usual Honeybunches of Oats. Instead, I
headed over to the pantry my mother kept stocked with Nongshim Instant Ramens. I’m telling you. The recipe for an ideal Saturday couldn’t possibly
get any easier. A bowl of Nongshim and a
sprinkle of ABC Family, a dash of Disney, and you were all set. Hastily, to minimize the amount of Jackie I
was missing, I grabbed the Styrofoam bowl, peeled off the lid, dumped in the
seasoning, filled the bowl with the boiling water, grabbed a fork, and
powerwalked my way back to my room. It
was perfection. I was fun.
As
the years passed, I found myself trading in a few hours of early morning
cartoons for a few extra hours of shuteye.
I broke tradition, sacrificing a bowl or two of Nongshim around the
television for breakfast for a plate of eggs benedict around the dining table for
brunch. Times change, habits change, and
recipes for ideal Saturdays? Well, they
tend to change with it. People, however,
not so much… I used to be fun, and I still am.
In fact, I’m pretty much in charge of fun on Saturdays. No one granted me this position. Instead, I took upon myself…by taking
control, and arranging for a beautiful brunch at Anna Blume!
Located on Kollwitzstr. 83, 10435 Berlin, Anna Blume is one of the most popular places in Berlin for a traditional German-styled brunch.
They open from 8am-2am everyday of the week, but I'd head there early on the weekends to avoid the inevitable queue that tends to form around brunch time!
No bread in this world even comes to the perfection that is German bread...especially German pumpernickel or Vollkornbrot.
A traditional German brunch consists of a rather generous spread of fruit, bread, meats, and cheeses. There was lox, sun-dried tomatoes, a few rolls of cold cuts, beautiful balls of butter, olives, jams and jellies, cream cheese and herbed cheese spreads...I really could go on and on...it was rather overwhelming!
Following brunch, we hit up St. George's English Bookshop on Wörther Straße 27, 10405 Berlin, Germany.
It was the most charming place.
I could get lost in a place like this for hours...
You know you've officially grown up when you'd trade in a morning of cartoons...
...for brunch and a few solid hours in a book shop.
Regardless, it was a solid Saturday. So if you're feeling up to switching off the Disney next Saturday morning, please feel free to grow up, roll out of bed and join me for a morning of brunch and books! It's a recipe for success--a recipe for the ideal Saturday!
Tschüss,
Kimmy
