This Monday, Andy’s parents flew in from Perth, so we’ve been meeting up with them after work every evening, to try to show them some of our favourite places.

Of course, many of those places happen to serve good food.

On Monday we went to the Big Smoke, meeting them at Zoo and then walking along the Ku’damm to a fairly decent French restaurant to tuck into some tasty food. In an unplanned coupling, the ‘girls’ went for truffle linguini with Pfifferlinge, and the ‘boys’ steaked it. Pfifferlinge translates to chantarelle mushrooms, and the people who know much more about these things than myself have noted that they are the first of the mushies to appear as the seasons change.

And appear they have!: every restaurant we’ve passed in the last week has had at least two or three Pfifferlinge dishes.

You all know how I feel about mushrooms. The Reign of the Spargel seems to be wanning, and the Pfifferlinge (plus the strawberry and its assorted berry friends) are rising: I think I could be very, very happy indeed in July!

Anyway, I was very lax/too busy stuffing my face with various species of fungi, and managed to miss all the food action, so we’ll have to move onto Tuesday: in which the parentals visit us at work and in our humble abode.

I’m not sure if any of you remember the photos of me squatting (in a non-vulgar sense) on a frozen lake on winter? This is that lake. It looks happier now. Speaking of squatting:

Did I tell you I love grasses? And they are native (probably) here, so Mother cannot scold me from pulling off the seeds and throwing them in the air triumphantly.

Back at the apartment we pulled out our Ikea table to fit 4, and loaded it with salad, speck, schmand, rosemary-garlic potatoes, broccoli and pork….

… and did what families do best: ate more than should be physically possible.

On Wednesday and Thursday we managed to couple the eating with a visit from Rob, who had ducked into Berlin for a few days. We extended across the continent, from French to Turkish- and heartily took to the eating of delicious stews and tasting plates at Knoffi.

I really love the atmosphere in Knoffi, they have strings of dried eggplant hanging form the ceiling, a massive cabinet filled with olives and artichokes and chickpea salads and hundreds of dips and pastes, and every corner is stuffed with baklavas and oils and various wares from that part of the world.

It’s everything a little horder like me could ever dream of!

My tasting plate- tapenade, stuffed vine leaves, homous and a chilli-creamcheese paste, plus artichoke salad and chickpea salad, and some various vegetables, and all served with a massive basket of turkish bread.

To walk off some of the food, we did a short wander around Kreuzberg, including through Viktoria park, which holds a large memorial at the top of the hill and is otherwise filled with flowing streams, windy paths and big grassy areas ripe for the picnicing.

Thursday was Italian, at Potsdam’s Pfeffer and Saltz- where they make their own very tasty pasta and rather delicious pizzas.

Mine had air-dried cured ham, fresh tomatoes, rucola, and thick shreds of some sort of strong and tasty Italian cheese.

Of course, the food required yet more walking, so we headed through the Innenstadt, through the park, over the bridge, and back to Schlaatzstrasse, to show off the apartment to Rob.

These blue ones were just amazingly vibrant, and there were whole garden beds filled with seas of different blues!

And on Friday it was time for a taste of Asia: we wandered around Kreuzberg for a bit….

… then made our way to Cuno, near U-Schlesisches Tor.

And ate what I think is easily the best asian food I have so far had in Deutschland. We had fresh prawn vietnamese spring rolls, satay chicken, fried vegetable spring rolls, maki rolls with duck and mushroom, papaya salad and a crispy thai beef salad, some delightful fried fish in a spicy red curry sauce, and superbly cooked duck in a mango curry.

… and then had to walk a bit more…