Love Letters #1 - Berlin summers, zero-waste desserts and punk rock resurgence
Love Letters are short odes to all the things that made my heart glow lately ❤️🔥
Overgrown Berlin summers
Berlin’s trademark grit undergoes a metamorphosis every Summer that has captivated me since I first visited the city. Flora takes charge. Trees burst with leaves and weeds sprout from every surface. The grass on the patches of lawn along the Frankfurter Allee creep up as high as your knees. No other city I’ve seen has the same level of untamed charm as Berlin in summer. It reminds me of the disheveled beauty of the uninhabited cities one passes through while playing The Last of Us.
I’m not sure whether the government here doesn’t have budget to tidy up the city or if it is intentional: either way I love it and never want it to change. In contrast, many other cities have a curated energy: rosebushes in formation, mown grass, trimmed hedges, a neat path leading to a public bench. In Berlin, weeds and wildflowers grow in the most random of places, intermingling with sunflowers growing in the middle of the street and graffiti soaked walls. There’s something so visually pleasing to me about the combination of the overgrowth, graffiti and industrial-chic. I emerge from the harsh winter and understand, again, why this place has me hooked, even if I have to dodge dog shit and broken glass with every step I take.
Singing into your hairbrush
I’ve been rinsing and repeating vintage Avril Lavigne since January. There’s something very punk rock about 2024 and I am here for it. Years of non-stop work during the pandemic have collided with turning 30, and so my friends and I now find ourselves leaping into major life decisions (aka the big three of marriage, home, kids). Getting older fills life with a necessary structure, which is perhaps why punk’s rebellious spirit is so irresistible to me right now. I’ll always have a sweet spot for those minimal chords and catchy, sing-into-your-hairbrush melodies that make punk so special. There are many new female artists like Jenna Doe and CARR breathing life into a genre which I feel has been pretty stagnant for the past decade. Their music reminds me of heady summers where all I had to care about was myself and my friends and gossip about who kissed who, when I had no money but didn’t give a fuck, and spent hours shopping in Music World buying singles for a fiver.
Sitcoms aging well
Have you ever watched The Nanny? I have no memory of watching this when I was younger, but I was introduced to the show by my partner a few weeks back and now I’m totally obsessed. The ingredients are everything you could possibly want from a sitcom: early 90s New York, huge hair, jaw-dropping fashion, a distinctive Queens accent, slapstick humour.
What’s incredible is how well The Nanny has aged for a show filmed in 1993. It’s so woke. There’s an episode in which Fran is mistaken for a lesbian, and she really doesn’t care. It’s not a big deal to her at all. She’s not offended, despite her character being extremely straight. I think that’s actually quite impressive in retrospect, as usually being mistaken as gay was at the very least the butt of the joke if not an insult in other sitcoms from the same era. Cut to shows like the Gilmore Girls, filmed almost a decade later, which are rife with ableism, fat-shaming and the use of ‘gay’ as a slur. It’s so refreshing to watch a lighthearted, charming show that is not offensive yet also free from the chokehold of political correctness. I 🩷 The Nanny!
Zero-waste desserts
Once I googled if it was dangerous to eat too many chickpeas because I’m so obsessed with these little beige beans. But did you know that you can use the water from canned chickpeas to make a stupidly easy and delicious zero-waste dessert? All you need is Lindt 70% dark chocolate (which is UPF free) and a lemon and you’re ready to go 🤠
Here’s the method:
Gently melt 1.5 bars of dark chocolate and allow to cool
Drain a can of low sodium chickpeas and keep the liquid. Add the liquid (known as aquafaba) into a large bowl with a squeeze of lemon.
Use an electric whisk to beat the aquafaba for roughly 8 minutes until soft peaks form. Alternatively, perish by using a hand whisk for much longer. You should be able to turn the bowl upside down completely - if the mixture stays put, it’s done.
Gently fold in the cooled chocolate into the whipped aquafaba in three batches.
Pour the combined mixture into ramekins, mugs, small bowls or whatever you have and leave to set for 4-12 hours.
Eat!!! Preferably topped with organic strawberries if you have some 🍓
If you’re into sourdough and looking for a new way to use up your discard, look no further than brown butter sourdough chocolate chip cookies. Yes, they are as incredible as they sound. Often forgotten, brown butter is such an elevated ingredient. I am a firm believer that chocolate chip cookies are one of the greatest baked goods ever invented, and so combining cookies, sourdough and brown butter feels like culinary rocket science. I used this recipe from The Boy Who Bakes, it’s a lengthy one but very worth the end result.
Celebrity memoirs that don’t suck
I’m usually not a memoir person, but ever since reading Educated last year, I’ve reconsidered genre. As a 90s kid and early 00s teenager, pop culture has imprinted itself on me in a way that I can never fully escape, so I have delved into a few celebrity memoirs recently - and boy am I pleasantly surprised! The first one that really impressed me was Paris: The Memoir. I’ve been a huge fan of Paris Hilton ever since her Simple Life days and will fight anyone who claims she has no talent. To me, she’s the epitome of shrewd businesswoman as well as a hugely talented character actor and entertainer. Her memoir delivers. I can’t think of anyone else with more experience with the dark side of being famous than her. Her reflections on the grim celebrity culture of the early naughties are so visceral. She’s a privileged person, yes, but she’s also led a very difficult life. From her horrific experiences in the corrupt troubled teen industry to the onslaught of abuse she received when her ex-boyfriend released their sex tape without her consent, she has had a rough ride. To me, she’s a feminist icon who embodies many of the traits I admire in strong women: resilience, charisma and independence. Top tip: listen to the audiobook, which she narrates herself. That’s hot 💅
Another memoir which I devoured in mere days is Down With The System by Serj Tankian. SOAD are one of those rare bands who never really left my orbit since I first heard them. I find myself returning to their music again and again, the songs simultaneously nostalgic yet also taking on new meanings as I move through different phases of my life. Serj is an extremely interesting guy, and I really enjoyed how this memoir blended history, politics, activism and pop culture together. Serj was born in Beirut to Armenian parents who had fled the Armenian genocide. The unstable situation in Lebanon led the family all the way to Los Angeles, where they set up a new life. After exploring several different career paths, Serj ends up becoming invested in music at a relatively late age (only starting in his early 30s). Fast forward a few years and he is the lead singer of System of a Down, one of the world’s most successful metal bands. He recounts the dynamics of the nu-metal scene in LA in the early naughties, which on reflection was a truly fascinating period for music. Perhaps it was the energy of the millennium, but along with SOAD, so many incredible bands like Linkin Park, Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot emerged from the woodwork during those years. Serj also focusses on what happens after you achieve global success, and how his work as an artist and activist changed over the decades. Such a brilliant read. Once again, Serj is the reader of the audiobook so I highly recommend listening instead of reading if that’s your thing.
Music World! 💙
I just love your writing, especially the way you describe Berlin here - it really transports you there....