Sunday, September 30, 2012

More Wiesn-ing

Not put off by the crappy weather of the first day, I made more visits to Wiesn to get some of that gemuetlichkeit that comes with drinking large amounts of alcohol with old friends, new friends, and random strangers.
Unable to get into a tent on Thursday, Ele and I get some schokofruchte instead. Ummm, Ele...

On the Italian Weekend, I woke up at 6:30am to fight my wait into the Hacker-Pschorr *Himmel der Bayern* tent. Although I did entertain the following thought, *Mooey, you must have some sort of psychiatric condition to do this,* you can see that I was pretty pleased when I got my first bier just before 10am!

My breakfast - Pfannekucken soup to go with my bier.

Our place in the tent.

My first 1/2 chicken of the Wiesn!

Later I moved to the Braeurosl tent where I hung out with Swisschris, Tall Stephen (not pictured here) and Stephen's gf Severine.

Cant take me anywhere!

Despite the large amount of booze ingested, we decided that it would be great to go shoot some guns and win some toys. Here are the additions to my collection!

Anyway, I have a new Wiesn record - 13 hours and 4 litres of bier! Ein Prosit (oder vier)!

Friday, September 28, 2012

Es beginnt...

Oh yes, Oktoberfest (Wiesn) began last Saturday. Unlike last year, it was an absolutely filthy cold and raining day (14C!!!), but Ele, Ruben, David, some of Ele's friends, and I toughed it out to watch the parade and then try to get into a tent! The tent attempt didn't work and we decided to go back to a Stachus to go to a bierhalle for our Wiesn Festbiere. 
Waiting in the rain to get into the tent.

Much happier at the Augustiner Grossgastaette. Yes, I am drinking a litre of weissbier.

My jaegerbraten. LECKER!!!

Eventually we decided that - stuff it! - we got dressed in tracht to go to Wiesn, we were going back to Wiesn to try and get in somewhere! Eventually we decided to brave the cold and sit in the Lowenbraue biergarten.
Ele being pretty.

Ruben being handsome *cough*

With our biers!

At the end of the night...

HOORAY!!!

Anyway, I was really glad that I was wearing my puffa and mini gumboots that day over my dirndl. Ele had to throw her shoes out :(

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Auf gehts, Biohazard, auf gehts!

A few months ago, someone put up a poster in our building advertising and inter-departmental fussball (soccer) tournament. What followed was a few weeks of Markus pestering me saying that I should join the team because people won't tackle me since I'm so small and cute, when the reality is I'm a vicious and battle-hardened warrior. No dice. Eventually, he did manage to scrounge up enough guys in the department to field a team. Then a few days before, we found out that there would be a few trophies to win - including a BEST CHEER SQUAD!!! Well, I believe that my shrill tones and hyperactive bouncing could go a few miles there! And so, the Biohazard Mannschaft (men's team) and Anfeurer (Cheerleaders) were born!

Die Biohazard Mannschaft warms up...

and in action!

GO TEAM!!! 

Despite not losing any games and scoring the most goals in the group stages, we were unfortunately knocked out in the quarterfinals by penalty shoot-out, 7-6 (i think). Schade. But with our choreographed dances, loud cheers, and costumes, I am proud to say that we won Best Cheerleaders! HOORAY!!!
The two teams together!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

NYC shopping

And now, part 2 of the things you really want to see - THE THINGS I BOUGHT!!! Before everyone goes *Mooey, you didn't buy that much*, I'd just like to make a comment regarding that. When I travel, I like to take cash out from a machine as soon as I hit an airport. Sure, you might get slugged a non-bank ATM transaction fee, but you get the cash out at the rate and there's no commission. This would not work for my German account. Knowing that my bank is owned by Deutsche Bank, we headed there to solve the problem. No dice - the answer given to me was that I could have to RING GERMANY to tell them I was in the US and could they unlock my card. It didn't happen and I ended up having only my credit card and it's 1000 euro limit for the entire week. Bleh.

In the end, we decided to limit most of our shopping towards the end of our week there, and it was a good decision because we went to Woodbury Common! 

Happy Spu after our time at Woodbury (okay, some of the bags are mine)

I specifically wanted to buy things from NY companies because I could go to Paris, London, Milan or wherever to get European stuff. Here are my Kate Spade shoes. As soon as I saw them in the store, I did think *THEY ARE MINE!!!* It was the last pair in my size as well :D

And I also got some Kate Spade sunnies
Some tops from Loft

This is actually the rear side of a t-shirt I got from Ann Taylor. I think it's kyoots! I do love bows.

When we were at Woodbury, Spu said he got a $US300 cashmere jumper from Lacoste for...$60. I think I screamed something along the lines of *HOLD MY BAGS!!!* and ran off to the outlet. They didn't have any in my size :( but I scored these two cotton ones instead

My pair of Tigers - upon arriving home, after I'd put them on the communal shoe rack, Fabi asked, "Are they new Tigers? I was thinking of getting a pair." :O THIS IS WHY I ASKED IF YOU WANTED ANYTHING BEFORE I WENT!!!

My lightweight puffa from Uniqlo

And finally, the real prize from my NYC shopping - my Marc Jacobs bag!!! Another item that caused my head to say *THAT'S MINE!!!* as soon as I saw it!

And so to end all the NYC stuff, here's a pic of the shirtless guy of the day from Abercrombie & Fitch 5th Avenue. We had a short chat about work/travel and it's possible he's not as much of a douche as his job makes him seem!

Monday, September 24, 2012

NYC eating

But enough about the touristy stuff - here's the things you really want to see (part 1) - the food we ate!!!
My first meal in NYC - Bon Chon Korean fried chicken. It was around the corner from where we were staying. Believe it or not, these servings, consisting of 3 drumsticks and 4 wings and salad were the *small* sizes! The guy next to us was eating 7 drumsticks on his own!

The next evening while in the Flatiron district, we headed to Madison Square and got some Shake Shack. The frozen custard was alright - kinda like a softserve but more dense.

Spu digs in!

Part of our lunch from the Chelsea Markets!

Pinchy, you sure were delicious! We also had clam chowder and sashimi.

Cupcakes from Eleni's at the Chelsea Markets.

Our meal post ANHM was at at the mexican Cafe Frida on the Upper West Side, which Spu found using Urbanspoon (I think). Despite the relatively late hour (I think around 2:30pm?), they still have their 2 course lunch going. We both selected the tomato soup. It was YARM!!!

My main, the quesadillas. YARMY!!!

I can't remember what Spu's main was but it was also YARMY!

Following our visit to Ground Zero, Spu and I headed to Chelsea again to have the mac and cheese and chicaron at Coppelia - discovered by the Vandepoons!

I also had the Pan Frances (Hai Poo!)

While Spu had the...I can't remember but it was also delicious.

Coppelia itself is pretty retro cool. And the staff were super-duper nice

My shoyu ramen from Sapporo Ramen with extra corn.

Spu's ramen

Cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery!

I had chocolate with buttercream frosting and sprinkles. That's a pretty happy smile, right there!

Korean bakery in K-town was almost like Breadtop!

I made all these cakes myself!

My last meal in NYC (excluding the fruit salad I ate at the airport), a vegetable omlette and orange juice brunch from Sarabeth's Cafe on Central Park West.

I will say though, despite being in NYC for only one week, upon returning to Munich, I did say to someone that I felt as though I'd eaten absolute crap for two weeks. Hence my last meals of vegetable omlette and fruit salad, I just felt in real need of a clearing out :D