THE AMAZING ROYAL KEBABHAUS

A few weeks after moving to Munich, I stumbled upon a vegan manifestation at Stachus. It was a fantastic thing – there was a stage with performers, many educational flyers, and much, much, delicious food. That’s when I ran into the vegan döner stand from Royal Kebabhaus.

It looked kind of like a regular kebab, only with made with seitan. I was not hungry whatsoever at that instant, so I just grabbed a flyer and promised myself that I’d go to the actual restaurant soon enough. The moment came last Saturday.

Like in a cartoon, a light bulb when on in my head as I tried to figure out where to have lunch with my omnivore boyfriend. “I KNOW”, I said as I reached for the flyer in the drawer, “here!!!!!!1!” (I swear I said it with such enthusiasm that makes one mistype exclamation marks). “Ok………”, he replied. It was a date.

The restaurant is located next to the Hauptbanhof, on Arnulfstraße 5. We got there at around 2pm, and the place was packed – it has clearly been featured in some vegetarian guide I haven’t read. Luckily, we found a spot inside. It was cozy and the staff was really nice. I was a tad disappointed to see that they don’t serve only vegetarian/vegan döners and dürums, as you can get the “real thing” there as well. But the veggie dürum truly delivered. Aw man, I’m getting hungry just looking back at the pictures.

I got the dürum by itself for 5,50 EUR, but you can get the menu (with a drink) for 6,50 EUR. It’s a really good call if you’re looking for delicious, fast, healthy veggie food – and it is also super central, so there’s no excuse not to make your way over there.

Royal Kebabhaus
Arnulfstraße 5
Metro: Hauptbahnhof

GIVING THANKS

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite adopted holidays (along with numerous Jewish ones). After having been abroad for so many years, I have come to realize that is there is an unfortunate lack of tradition in Brazil. Or at least that is the way I was brought up.

Even though my family is catholic, I wasn’t baptized because my parents wanted me to be able to choose my religion once I felt ready, for which I’m incredibly grateful. And yet, every year I’ll hold on to Christmas tightly (completely out of habit, and not at all out of belief), as well as to wearing white on New Year’s Eve. The truth is, I crave for tradition really badly.

I have been celebrating Thanksgiving for the past six years, ever since I went to an American college. As part of an expat family of friends, I have learned to appreciate this opportunity to give thanks. I do know the history of the holiday, and I believe that gratefulness should be a daily habit – but as humans we have a tendency of forgetting this. If you are reading this, you’re already an incredibly lucky individual – you’re literate, with access to a computer. And I welcome you to join me in an exercise of gratitude.

I couldn’t possibly list all things for which I’m grateful, but if I had to, I’d know where to begin.

My parents. My mom is my best friend, and my dad is my number one idol. Every other thing for which I am grateful is either directly or indirectly thanks to them. I was taught German from age 3 because they understood the importance of learning foreign languages, and now I live in Munich. I got to go to the American University of Paris because of their capacity and willingness to save up their hard earned money just for me. There, I met some of the most special people one could hope to encounter in a lifetime, amongst which my loving boyfriend – a guy willing to move to a country which language he doesn’t speak just to be with me, leaving behind a steady career and many friends. I love him so much.

I am thankful for my grandmother having turned 97 yesterday. I am thankful for living in an apartment that is big enough for us to host Thanksgiving for the first time. I am so thankful to work where I do, and to have started a career in advertising. I am thankful that my boss let me take the day off yesterday, so I could spend it with my boyfriend preparing cornbread, stuffing, deviled eggs – all for the first time. In fact, my boyfriend prepared his first turkey from scratch too – even though I didn’t have any of it (neither did I help him in the preparation …), our guests sure seemed to love it.

Speaking of which, I am very thankful for having shared this meal with people who I couldn’t even have hoped to meet 3 months ago. Overall, I am thankful to all of our friends (old and new) who continue to make Munich feel just like home.

And the list surely goes on infinitively (I continue editing this post every time I think of something that I just can’t leave out).

Happy Thanksgiving (weekend)!

What are you thankful for this year?

PICKING LEAVES LIKE A HIPPIE

It took me a while after moving to a country with seasons (there isn’t really a such thing in Rio), but I finally appreciate fall.

Now that we’re hosting Thanksgiving (for the first time!), I’ve been obsessively looking up DIY tutorials and ideas on Pinterest. I’m having trouble picking my favorites, but decided that whatever I ended up putting together, it would require some fresh falls leaves.

I love it when all that’s left before the snow are the ghostly naked branches. The patterns they form against the sky are phenomenal.

Now I have a bag full of leaves and can’t decide what to do with them. I’m leaning towards these Kinfolk artsy falling leaves. Suggestions?

ABOUT MOVING AND MY INABILITY TO KEEP THIS BLOG ALIVE

I haven’t written in so long, it upsets me deeply. I have no excuse for it other than a big move aligned with total negligence.

I guess I should call this blog Tofu Schnitzel now that I moved to Munich. It happened a couple of months ago, for work, and it’s has been hands down the best experience of my life.

I’ve had so many instances since I moved here in which I had a quick, ephemeral “I should probably write about that” moment. From the price differences in comparison to Paris, to the ridiculously amazing vegetarian options in most restaurants (including vegan options at frickin’ OKTOBERFEST). Life is pretty damn good if you’re a vegetarian in Munich.

Living abroad is not exactly a walk in the park though. My first day at work began with a 1-hour meeting in (you’ve guessed it) German – a language I don’t exactly master. That was literally 15 minutes after I walked in the office. Just imagine how much fun I had at the immigration office.

But in all fairness, Germans are exceptionally cool people (yes, even at the immigration office). You just want to hang out with them. In under two months, my boyfriend and I became locals at a handful of cool spots close to our place. The whole “staff here is so nice, we should come back” idea will get you broke in Munich. Long story short, as long as you avoid the tourist traps, you can’t go wrong.

Little nonsensical anecdote: We went to a house party for Halloween, where the hosts were serving Ikea hotdogs. I politely declined, figuring I’d just stick to the Halloween treats if I got hungry. At around 3am though, when the beer had gotten to my head and my stomach took the lead from my brain, something amazing happened. It’s like my vegetarian senses kicked in and I could sniff the scent of soy somewhere. And because Bavaria is the place to be, of course there was a pack of veggie sausages waiting for me on the counter. I made my way through the mass of young adults dancing to “Everybody” by the Backstreet Boys and got my hand on those puppies. I stuffed them in the hot dog bun and BOOYA; Ana for the win.

So at last I guess I’m back, and I’m excited to share the best (and worst) of my experiences as a Münchnerin. To be continued.