This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.


I was recently asked to try out the Panasonic Lumix TZ10, Panasonic's new compact camera. Combining my food-blogging and Sandra's mad photography skills, we're really giving this camera a work-out! To test out some of its features, we took it on a little road trip... to our favourite dumpling place in Box Hill!

Best Food Gallery
599 Station St
Box Hill VIC 3128
(03) 9897-1448


The camera has double hand-shake correction. This feature allows you to take night shots at slow shutter speeds without blurring.

Station Street (Best Food Gallery is on the right!)

It also has a built-in GPS, to make it easy to sort holiday photos. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to organise a round-the-world holiday last month, but we still managed to try out the GPS.

The below photo is of the display screen, clearly showing that the picture was taken in Box Hill!

It also has 12.1 Megapixels and can record movies in HD without loss of image quality.

However, the feature that really impressed us was its great zoom! It has a 25mm ultra wide-angle 12x optical zoom. Now, that technical jargon doesn't mean a lot to me, so let's see the zoom used in a practical situation... how can we see what's in the fridge?

1. Here's a photo taken with no zoom. (I added the red square to show you where I zoomed into).

This photo was taken from the far corner of the restaurant.

2. I hold the camera in the same spot, and zoom in all the way...

Ta-dah! Lift, Sprite, Coke, Fanta and Lipton Ice Tea!

Having such a powerful zoom in a compact camera is also useful if you want to have a sneaky peak over at what the neighbouring tables are eating without looking too conspicuous, hehe.

Respect to the well-heeled and manicured ladies next to us eating braised pork belly with noodles and pan-fried dumplings!

The above photo was taken using the "Intelligent Auto" setting, and as you can see, it is slightly grainy. I've noticed that the IA setting sets the ISO quite high, which results in some graininess, but also allows you to take sharp pictures in low-light. Useful for dimly-lit restaurants! However, if you have a steady hand, I'd recommend turning the ISO down a little.

As a pretty un-technical person, I like all the funky scene modes the camera has - there are 29 scene modes, including night portrait, candle light, film grain, pet, and the most important one... food!


Left to right: Xiao Long Bau, Cubed chicken with peanuts, Shanghai fried noodles





Even if you don't switch to food scene mode specifically, we noticed that Intelligent Auto automatically switches on the macro if you move close to your subject. (It also switches to night mode automatically if you take photos outside at night!)

I found the auto-macro feature to be useful for taking this photo of the inside of a hot Xiao Long Bau! Less time fiddling with the camera, more time eating delicious, delicious dumplings!


Overall I think it's a great compact camera, with lots of good features for food bloggers who don't necessarily want to lug around the SLR every time they go out to eat! I especially like the zoom and the Intelligent Auto! I'll be testing it out more extensively over the next 8 weeks as part of my normal blogging. I'd be interested to know what you all think of the photos!


As part of the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 campaign, Nuffnang is hosting a giveway, giving a lucky reader the chance to win a Panasonic Lumix TZ10, which normally retails at $650! All you have to do is answer the following question:

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to try out Mockingbird, a trendy little tapas and cocktail bar on Fitzroy street, next to the George cinema. It's been open for a few years now, but I actually hadn't heard about it until I was invited down. The answer was, of course, yes. Y'all know I love cocktails, and I very rarely head out to St. Kilda, unless it's for a show or concert (recently saw [title of show]). Or some wicked cheesecake and Gugelhupf!

Mockingbird Bar
129 Fitzroy St
St Kilda, Vic 3182
Ph: (03) 9534-0000
Website

We arrived at about 7pm last Friday, together with Thanh and Ling, and took some pictures out on Fitzroy St before heading in. Have a look at more of Sandra's fabulous shots on her Flickr!

The owner George took over the site a couple of years ago, and renamed it Mockingbird, in honour of his late mother, whose favourite novel was To Kill A Mockingbird.

These shots of Atticus Finch were brought over from the USA by a regular customer.



Red velvet curtains and soft lighting create a warm and welcoming atmosphere, which is enhanced by the use of scented candles. A nice touch.



They have a good cocktail list, including some classics and some signature cocktails, and the food is a mixture of small plates and main meals.

We started off with a round of cocktails... (and I must stress I didn't have these all to myself; we shared them between the 4 of us!)


Espresso martini - Vodka, tia maria, frangelico, shot of espresso

I thought the espresso martini was fabulous! It simply tasted like strong, sweet brewed coffee, with a fabulous creamy foam on top. I'm quite sure it was a lot more alchoholic than it tasted, hehe.

Back: Caramel Martini
Front: Manhattan Cosmopolitan - Vodka, cointreau, chambord, cranberry juice, fresh lime juice
Not pictured: Atticus Finch - Dark rum, sloe gin, peach schnapps, fresh lime juice

The caramel martini tasted a bit like Baileys - a good choice for those of us who like creamy cocktails.T he Atticus Finch looked quite similar to a Cosmo, with a lovely peach flavour (like Japanese peach water - momo no tennensui).

For food, we started with a Mockingbird tasting plate, which included a range of different charcuterie and other treats. FYI, for all the items we tried, I got the prices from the menu - however, George may have altered the quantities from standard-size to serve our group of 4.

Mockingbird tasting plate - Antico Rosso chicken parfait, hand-pressed sopressa, mussels in strawberry (an unusual combo, but it worked!), wagyu bresoala, taramasalata, pancetta, cornichons and olives - $24

I particularly liked the taramasalata, finding it fresh, rich and creamy. The chicken parfait was also a highlight. (Must learn to make my own!) The tasting plate came with a serving of warm pita bread, which was very soft and had a delectable charred taste from the pan.

Warm pita bread

In my opinion, cocktails are best accompanied by deep-fried morsels...

Mozzarella and herb arancini with beetroot sauce - $6

Beer battered Moreton Bay bugs tails with caper mayonnaise - $24

The moreton bay bugs were extremely fresh, and crispily fried, topped with a classic tartare-style sauce, and little fish eggs, capers and red onions scattered about. Mmm.. I could have eaten a whole plate of those to myself!

We had a couple more drinks in between courses.. (well, it was a Friday night!)

The below drink, the Lychee and Passionfruit martini, is what we would describe as a "typical Sarah drink", combining 2 of my favourite ingredients.

Lychee and Passionfruit Martini

George generously provided the recipe for the cocktail, which I will share with you now, in the hope that someone will make it for me. *Hint hint*

Mockingbird's Lychee and Passion fruit Martini

1 oz lychee vodka
1/2 oz lychee liquor
1/2 oz passionfruit liquor
two barspoons passionfruit pulp

Mix ingredients (except the pulp) in a Boston glass, shake and double strain on a cocktail glass. Add the two barspoons of passion fruit pulp.

Another Mockingbird special is their "twisted mojito" - like a regular mojito, but with vanilla vodka. I think the warmth of the vanilla worked really well against the freshness of the mint and the lime.

We shared the following main, which looked deceptively simple - just chicken and polenta - but was absolutely amazing! My favourite of the night.

Half-roasted chicken on truffled polenta with jus deglaze - $28

The chicken was juicy and had crispy skin. I don't normally like polenta, but this version was delicious. It was decadently smooth and creamy, and I think it had more than a touch of butter!

And to finish off... a couple of creme brûlées.
Creme brûlée with espresso ice-cream and burnt orange ice-cream - $11

Who doesn't love the tap-tap-crack of a creme brûlée? Mockingbird's version had a thin and crackly sugar top, and a smooth custard. No little vanilla-bean flecks, but it was a good version nonetheless. The ice-creams were both very grown-up flavours - a strong espresso, and a slightly bitter burnt orange.


From the outside, Mockingbird looks like a standard cocktail bar, and whilst they certainly do have great cocktails, I was just as impressed by the food they serve. A lovely spot for a quiet drink, a snack or something more substantial.

Sarah and Sandra dined as guests of Mockingbird, with thanks to George Lentzos.

I was quite surprised when I went through my old neighbourhood and saw that the cafe "The Meeting Place" had closed down, and was going to be replaced by an Italian cafe. For most of my childhood the site housed a hairdresser, and later on it was bought over by a nice couple from the country and became The Meeting Place. They ran it for a little while, but, bless them, I don't think they were very keen on the whole cafe business. I once asked the lady what time they opened on Saturdays, and she replied, "Aw yeah, it's meant to be 8 o'clock... if I can get up in time!"

They sold the business to a family from China, who ran it for quite a few years. They did the standard suburban cafe stuff - decent coffees, sandwiches, cooked breakfasts, and quite a few cakes and biscuits (all bought in). They were friendly and worked really hard to establish their cafe, and business seemed steady, even if customers weren't breaking down the doors.

A couple of months ago I drove past and saw the windows all boarded up, with a sign "Pure Italian... cafe coming soon!" I'm not sure what happened to the Chinese family who worked so hard there, but I wish them all the best!

Pure Italian
249B Belmore Rd
North Balwyn
VIC 3104
(03) 9857-3961

I visited Pure Italian with my parents on a Saturday afternoon a week or so after they'd opened, and it was absolutely chockers! I didn't even know we had this many people in North Balwyn! We popped in at about 2pm, and got a table straight away, but it was super-packed and there was a steady stream of customers coming in for the rest of the afternoon.

We started off with lattes, which were a little hot and strong for my liking, but otherwise pretty decent. (You can imagine that many of the locals in the exciting area of North Balwyn like their coffees hot hot hot, hehe).


They had a menu up on the wall, with items like pan-fried prawns on parmesan polenta ($17.50), lentil soup ($9.50) and pan-fried scotch fillet with roast potatoes & mushrooms ($17.50). They've also got a cabinet up the front with things like arancini, salads, cakes and biscuits. Some Italian gourmet grocery items are available (think olive oil, pasta etc.), and they also sell loaves of bread from the Abbotsford Convent.

My parents ordered the risotto with forest mushrooms ($15.50) to share.


It looked quite nice, and had a good mushroom flavour, but unfortunately the rice was way undercooked. I don't mean al dente, I mean actually undercooked - the grains of rice were hard and still chalky on the inside. Oh well. We didn't send it back, partly because I did not want to have that al dente / undercooked argument. (Although I actually think they would probably have been fine about it if we had complained - our waitress was super-friendly and the owners are really nice!)

I did better, ordering an eggplant fritelle from the cabinet.

It was basically an eggplant fritter, crumbed and fried and dusted with parmesan. I love eggplant, and I really enjoyed this! The salad that came with had baby spinch, fetta and beetroot, with a nice little crunch from the sea salt in the dressing.

As I mentioned, they do have some biscuits and cakes up at the counter, but as we had a Swiss roll waiting at home, we decided to give them a miss. I must make a visit back to try the cakes. The new owners have put a lot of thought and effort into the new venture and have created a place that is clearly a hit with the local neighbourhood. Well done, and I hope they (and the crowds of customers) stick around for a long time!

Mmm... super carb power!

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur - moving offices, heaps of social engagements and a nasty bout of the flu. So obviously my normal cooking routine has gone out the window, in favour of canapes, dodgy non-Japanese Japanese takeaway and other not-so-fabulous options.

Now that things have calmed down a bit, I'm making a concerted effort to cook and eat a bit better! I realised that one of the main barriers to my cooking most nights (and this comes from a girl who obviously, loves to cook!) is having to actually choose what to cook. Sounds silly, I know, but often on a weeknight I'll have the time, but won't be able to decide on what to make. And by the time I've dithered about it enough it's 7:30 and I then I'll just go and get some takeaway.

On Tuesday at work, I thought: enough! I decided to make something that I've wanted to for ages, but never got around to - Nigella's double potato and halloumi bake, from Nigella Bites.

I decided on the recipe during the day, bought the ingredients on the way home from work, prepared it when I got home, and BAM! Dinner was on the table in an hour. Even managed to have a shower and do the dishes while it was cooking.

It's ridiculously easy. Just chop up a couple of potatoes (both sweet and normal), a capsicum, a red onion and chuck them in a tray with a bit of oil and some unpeeled garlic cloves. It goes in the oven for an hour. For the last 10 minutes or so, you turn the heat right up and cover the lot in thin slices of halloumi, letting them get all melty and crisp.

I also made a simple cucumber salad to go with...


... and a fried egg for Sandra.

This was a super-comforting dinner, but surprisingly not too heavy! I think it helps that there's no meat, and that the cheese is sliced very thinly. I love the warm Autumnal colours of the dish, and the contrast between salty (halloumi), bland (potatoes) and sweet (sweet potatoes, red onion and capsicum). I sprinkled over some chopped chives for a colour contrast and some extra flavour, which I think was a good move. Absolutely fabulous. I must return to my Nigella books for more cooking inspiration!

The first time I ever had Germ Knödel was back in Berlin in 2006, on the recommendation of my friend Dan, who described them as "oh my god the yummest thing ever, they're like buns filled with jam and covered in custard!". They weren't easy to find, but I eventually did get one, at a stall in Berlin where they were screening the World Cup final, and they were just as good as Dan described. (Now I realise they were probably difficult to find because they're more Austrian than German.)

After I came back, I kind of forgot about them... until a few weeks ago. At a recent dinner party held by the fabulous Alae and Kristine, we decided we all had to get together sometime and watch Sissi, a classic romantic Austrian film about Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria. I think there was a vague suggestion of combining the movie night with a birthday dinner I'd promised to cook for Kristine, but that idea was quickly quashed by my yelling, "No, no! I'll make an Austrian-themed lunch to match the film!!!!!"

And here's the menu I (eventually) decided on...


An Austrian Lunch for 5

Wiener Schnitzel
Bratkartoffeln
Cucumber Salad
Germ Knödel mit Vanillesoße


My main challenge was finding powidl, the sticky plum stew that is traditionally used as filling for Germ Knödel. And, as I only did my shopping on the morning of the lunch (oops), I wasn't able to make the trek out to Balaclava, North Fitzroy or St Kilda, where some lovely Twitter folks suggested I might find it. I decided to try my luck at the local deli, thinking that I could make Buchteln filled with dried apricots as a back-up if powidl wasn't available.

But luck was on my side - my local deli had powidl AND Pflaumenmus, the German version of powidl. You can guess which one I bought.

The Pflaumenmus is dee-licious, I've been having it on toast with cream-cheese.

I couldn't find Germ Knödel in any of my German recipe books, so I googled one. I used this recipe, but I steamed the dumplings instead of boiling them. You'll see that I baked some too, but more on that later. Afterwards, I realised that "Germ Knödel" is the Austrian-German word for "yeast dumpling", but in German-German they're called Hefe Klöße. I actually already had a whole bunch of recipes for Hefe Klöße in my books. D'oh! (Or as Homer says in German, "NEIN!")

Not that it was a bad thing, because the recipe I googled produced the most wonderful dough...
It started off raggedy and messy, but a good 10 minutes kneading (with the dough hook in my Kithchen Aid, of course), produced a super-smooth and pliable dough.

I divided it into 10 pieces, and then filled them. I flattened the balls (heh) slightly, added a spoonful of Pflaumenmus, pinched the circumference to be thinner and then squished it closed around the jam. I rolled them around lightly in my hands to smooth the outside.

I was surprised by how easy this was; the dough came together without any trouble and no jam leaked out. You can see below how smooth the 2 filled balls (heh) at the front were compared to the ones at the back which hadn't been filled yet.

Then I let them rise while we ate lunch. In case you're wondering how all that food magically appeared, we cooked and prepared it in all the gaps when the yeast dough was resting and rising. (Sandra was head Schnitzel-fryer).


The cucumber salad was pretty much the same as the filling for the cucumber sandwiches from my recent tea party, just in thicker slices. We served tomato sauce, mustards and lemon wedges with the schnitzel as well.
Inspired by the fabulous Figelmüller in Vienna.

After lunch was finished, we put the Sissi DVD on, and I finished off the Knödel. Look how much they rose!

They did deflate a little bit as I transferred them to little squares of baking paper and then into the steamer, but they rose back up after being cooked.

Level 1 of the steamer...

Level 2 of the steamer was a hastily improvised tea-towel (it's the way Austrian housewives do it!)

And then, I put a larger pot on top to trap the steam in. Yes, this is what many recipes suggest to do, but I don't think it was the most stable arrangement...
Don't try this at home, kids!

I think a wide Chinese bamboo steamer would be a much better option, as it would be more stable, and it would keep all the steam in.

I only managed to fit 5 of those giant Knödel in my steamer contraption, so I brushed the rest with butter and baked them (this was, again, a suggestion from one of my googled recipes).

While they were steaming, I whipped up a Vanillesoße to go with (from scratch, I don't do packet custard). And as you can see in the top photo, I sprinkled them with a mixture of icing sugar and poppy seeds. The one I ate in Berlin was plain, but I think the poppy seeds and sugar topping is a traditional Austrian thing.

We paused the DVD, brewed a pot of coffee, and I brought the Knödel out on a board, and the custard in a jug. Then we dug in.

Ta-dah!

Let's look inside...

And this is what the baked ones looked like.

I loved them! Especially when swathed in rich custard. The dough was fluffy like a char siu bao, and not overly sweet. It really soaked up the custard sauce well. Both baked and steamed versions had their own charms - the baked ones were like a baked donut! As for the steamed Knödel, the ones in the bottom level of the steamer were nicer. The top level wasn't airtight (or steam-tight, as it were), and they developed a very slight skin on them. I have since invested in a 10-inch bamboo steamer, so I won't have that problem next time. Not that anyone noticed! They went down a treat. After the lunch, we had a couple leftover, and I enjoyed them as toasted breakfast buns the next day.