A caged saint in Saarbrücken

Poor saint is caged in Saarbrücken. However, I'm not entirely sure that he's not a monkey (look at his face and tell me that doesn't look like a monkey) so maybe that's the reason for the cage.

Restaurant Review: Mei Thai, Saarbrücken

Mei Thai Original Thai Food
Kappenstraße 14, 66111 Saarbrücken

0681 3908202

A friend and I visited Saarbrücken this winter and stopped by Mei Thai for lunch. This small restaurant is tucked away on a side street in the pedestrian/shopping area. It has a bit of a diner-y type feel; the inside is nothing fancy but it is functional.

We both ordered pad thai and I ordered some spring rolls. I wasn't super impressed with the spring rolls. I have had almost the exact same ones at different Thai restaurants in Germany and I would not be surprised if they were frozen, premade ones. They don't taste bad but they're not great, either.

I was more impressed by the pad thai. It was decent and tasted similar to the pad thai that I've eaten in the US, made by chefs who are actually Thai.

Prices were moderate, our server was pleasant, and we received our food in a timely manner. I'd say it was a decent enough experience; nothing was mindblowing but it was tasty enough.

Visiting Primark in Saarbrücken

On Saturday a friend and I took a trip to Saarbrücken. I needed some boots for an upcoming trip and we also wanted to visit Primark, an Irish clothing store that is similar to Old Navy in its offerings (inexpensive sweatshop stuff). I popped into the Frankfurt store once but was so frustrated by how busy and crazy it was that I popped right out again. This time, I planned better and we had a more peaceful visit.

For any newbies to Primark, I would suppose it is a good idea to prepare yourself first. Seriously. Blogger Charlotte from Sherbet and Sparkles wrote a helpful guide here. I had read this before my trip to Frankfurt so when I checked out that Primark, I kind of knew that it would not be enjoyable to visit on a Saturday afternoon. Thus, I knew that my next Primark visit would be early, not too long after opening.

We arrived at the Saarbrücken Primark around 9:40 am. I marveled at how pleasant it was to move freely through the store and for the most part, not having the other shoppers slam into us. We enjoyed ourselves, oohing and ahhing over the velour-lined fleece leggings. I absolutely had to buy some; wearing them is what I imagine being a teddy bear must feel like. Or maybe not, since their velour is on the outside? Hmm...

A display of animal-shaped mittens and hats captured our attention for way too long. I was deliberating over which pair of mittens to buy when I solved the issue by choosing none of them because I remembered that I hate wearing mittens. I should have thought of that sooner.

Following that, we lost ourselves in hilarity. There were escalators throughout the building; the main floor to the next floor had a normal sized escalator but between the next levels there was an escalator for a height of seven stairs! It seemed so ridiculous for such a short distance (and of course we rode it, giggling all the way).

Really? An escalator for this short of a distance?

I then managed to get semi-stuck in a sweatshirt while trying it on. It didn't help that it was a cowl neck sweatshirt and I couldn't breathe for an interval. Even worse was that once I could breathe again, I was doubled over, laughing because it was so ridiculous. I finally got it all together and my friend helped extricate me from the sweatshirt.

We then found an even more "charming" sweatshirt:

How special is this? We both lived through the 80s and remembered when people would cut off the sleeves of sweatshirts (but we were both too young to know why this happened). This Primark sweatshirt is awesomely retro and has the cut off sleeves, just like in the 80s...but then has additional sleeves sewn back in. Even though I'm an adult now, I can't explain this phenomenon. Is it an Irish tradition, perhaps?

After the strange sweatshirt, we hit the jackpot: a whole wall of weird adult-sized footie pajamas that were also costumes. Oh my awesomeness. If I didn't panic when I wear such things, I would have really had to hold back from buying one. I missed out as being Spider(wo)man, Super(wo)man, Santa Claus, or even a tiger. Darn!

We felt that our opportunity to shop in a less hectic environment was waning so we scooted downstairs to pay for our choices. It was in the nick of time, too; more people had flooded in during the forty-five minutes when we were shopping. We were pretty excited about our purchases: awesome velour (and non-velour) lined leggings and a cowl neck sweatshirt (that actually fitted me). Then we got the heck out (we both realized that we don't enjoy shopping a lot, even factoring how much fun we had with exploring the store).

Restaurant Review: Arizona Diner, Saarbrücken

Arizona Diner

	Grossherzog Friedrich Straße 16-18, Saarbrücken

Some of our Bekannte in Saarbrücken had a craving for American food so they suggested a visit to Arizona Diner. We joined them for a dinner in the cheerful diner.

The restaurant is cute and looks like an actual American diner from the 1950s with aqua blue accents and black and a white checkered floor. The outside features a movie marquee where information about events is posted.

The menu is reasonably big with typical American diner food: hamburgers, French fries, hot dogs, omelets, and even American desserts such as a banana split. There are also some American junk food favorites such as Ben and Jerry's ice cream, Reese's peanut butter cups, and Dr. Pepper for those who miss such things. For those who like Mexican food, which is very common in the US, there are quesadillas, fajitas, and chili con carne.

I ordered an omelet with "toast." I use quote marks with the "toast" because I was served a hamburger bun, toasted and cut in two. I was really disappointed by that as no American would ever consider that toast. Plus, it's not difficult in Germany to buy "American toast," which is typical American sandwich bread.

My omelet was disappointing too. Instead of being served more like a crepe with the filling of cheese and mushrooms folded inside, it was basically a plate of scrambled eggs that didn't look appetizing at all. It didn't taste that great, either. My 5.50 euro meal was disappointing.

My unappetizing omelet with what I don't consider "toast."

 My friend ordered a hamburger platter and said that was good. I tasted a French fry and it was okay; it was the thick cut style but it was super salty.

So, I'd say that the diner is cute but I wasn't impressed by the food.

Restaurant review: Kerwan Restaurant, Saarbrücken

Kappenstraße 16
66111 Saarbrücken

I ate here earlier this year, in the spring, so this review won't be incredibly thorough and I'll stick to the major remembrances.

First of all, I was rather desperate for some Lebanese cuisine at that point since besides Mexican food, it's my favorite. Lebanese food is in short supply where I live. I arranged a trip with a friend to Saarbrücken to see the castle and have lunch at Kerwan so I could get my "fix."

We sat outside in a pleasant side street where the restaurant is located. I didn't go inside the restaurant, so I can't comment to that. Service was slow and somewhat inattentive, which is unfortunately not rare in Germany. It is always surprising to me when a waitress will take an order from one table and then actively ignore her other table that hasn't been checked on in quite some time. I'm not sure if I ever will become accustomed to this.

Anyway, I ordered an appetizer platter with hummus, baba ghanoosh, and some falafel. It was all okay. It wasn't as delicious as some of the things I've eaten in Dearborn, Michigan, but that bar was set high so I won't hold it against Kerwan too much. However, the one thing that was incredibly odd was that we were served a bread that was similar to panini bread instead of the traditional Middle Eastern pita bread. It was a strange experience! I prefer pita bread.

The odd, grilled bread.

My friend ordered a platter that was basically a big pile o' meat. He said the meat tasted good but the salad was not to his liking as it appeared to be lacking any type of dressing. This is unusual for Germany, as usually the salads are just drenched with dressing.

The pile o' meat platter that I am too lazy to edit so it's the right orientation.

I would rate this experience as so-so. It was very difficult to get our waitress's attention as she was not very attentive. The food was mostly okay and the price was moderate. However, I can't say that I would rush back.

Just not feelin' it but Tony the Tiger is

This picture isn't good because I took it at night on a cell phone, but believe me, its content in real life is totally AWESOME. This is from the upper floor of the Primark store in Saarbrücken. Primark is kind of like an Old Navy/lower end H&M and has inexpensive clothes. I saw one in Frankfurt but it was a complete madhouse so I didn't even try to do more than poke my head in.

Anyway, at this Primark, there is a PAIR OF ADULT SIZED TIGER PAJAMAS (or is it a costume?). Oh my goodness, they were completely awesome. I wanted to buy a pair but alas, the store was closed. Then I remembered what happened the last time I wore some footie pajamas, so maybe it wouldn't be realistic to buy a pair.

However, I do still want to visit Primark. Maybe the Saarbrücken store won't be so busy?

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On not feelin' it: I don't know what's up, but I just haven't felt like writing lately. I've been tired and I have tons of things to catch up on, both at home and with writing. I finally finished the art class I was taking and received the grade today: an A. I was excited to have a week off from class, and it has been a busy one. I'm having around 20 people over this weekend for a party so preparations for that have taken up all week. My next class starts this upcoming week so I'll say goodbye to freedom again.