Pudica's Food Corner

Trader Sam's Grog Grotto (Orlando, Florida)

As mentioned in my previous post, I had the pleasure to visit my friends in Florida a few months back. When I arrived in Orlando, my friend M. and I had planned to watch the Disney fireworks from the Polynesian Village Resort. Afterwards, we wanted to try out a tiki bar that was located at the Polynesian Resort and that I had read about - Trader Sam's Grog Grotto.

I read about this "whimsical" bar on some of the Disney blogs and it looked and sounded like fun. I like tropical themed tiki bars, the cocktails and atmosphere. This place was also supposed to have some "interactive" cocktails that made it special. I was actually worried as it said there often are long waiting times, but we were lucky and got a spot right away.

The Backstory:

This tropical little bar is tucked away in one of the hallways next to the lobby of the Polynesian Resort. For me, it seems that the place is half hidden, you really need to look for the door. And when you open the door, you kinda step into a complete different world...

Trader Sam's tiki bar originated 2011 in Disneyland (California) under the name of "Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar". It was inspired by the Jungle Cruise. Trader Sam was the head salesman in the Amazon, known to always be ready to trade two of his heads for one of yours... He was also an expert in head-shrinking potions and mixology... They opened up the counterpart of the tiki bar in Disney Word in 2015 - Trader Sam's Grog Grotto. The bar is kinda small and cozy. It has lots of tropical themed decorations and overflows with ancient artefacts and tropical treasures. There are tiki statues, shrunken heads, and even nautical equipement as a reference to 2,000 Leagues Under The Sea. It is a little overwhelming but the atmosphare is great. And the bartenders are making it even more special. There are some drinks that come in souvenir cups, but the price can be a little steep. Also, there are certain cocktails that conjure mystical events....

Special Cocktails to be aware of!

Uh-Oa! - This is a very special drink and is supposed to be shared. It will arrive "on fire", and there are little cups on the side of the mug with cinnamon. You can use the cinnamon and throw it in the flames of the drink to create sparks... Also, when someone orders the drink, the lights get darker and the Tiki Goodness of Disaster awakens...
Krakatoa Punch - There is a huge picture of a volcano on the wall, behind bamboo bars. It looks like you are looking out of a window and see a volcano. When someone orders the Krakatoa Punch, the picture comes to life, it gets darker, a storm starts and the volcano erupts. But don't get distracted by the wall picture! The bartender use that moment to take out their water pistols. So, don't wonder if you FEEL the storm coming :)
Nautilus - There is a swim ring on the wall behing the bar, in form of a duck. When someone orders the Nautilus, the bartender puts on the swim ring and a little Nemo hat and "swims" through the bar.
Polynesian Pearl - Here, the lights get darker, special music starts and a huge shell in the back of the bar starts to open up... The bartender grabs in and pulls out a Pearl Cup for the drink :)
Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum - This one is simple, but fun. The bartender starts singing "Tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki rum" while bringing the cocktail.

I have to admit, when we visited the bar it kinda was already a long day, we had already tried out the Hangar Bar at Disney Springs and we were a little tired. For that reason, we also "only" tried Sam's No-Booze Brews. Those were delicious as well. And while sipping our innocent cocktails, we were able to enjoy the atmosphere. Many other people ordered one of the special cocktails and we experienced the errupting volcano, the bartenders swimming through the bar, spraying everyone with little water pistols, singing "Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum" and more. I cannot clearly say what my highlight was... The erupting volcano was fun, but the bartenders being ridiculous was even better :)

The Shrunken Zombie Head

However, there was one little event that night, that was great: A couple came in and wanted to by the souvenir cup of the Shrunken Zombie Head, a very strong rum cocktail that has three different kind of rums in it. They actually only wanted the cup, not the drink, but the bartenders were not supposed to sell the cup without the drink. So, the couple asked us whether we would take the drink (for free) if they bought themselves the cup. We just couldn't say no to that :)

The Hangar Bar vs. The Grog Grotto

In my last post, I mentioned that earlier that day we had gone to Disney Springs and as a storm started we sought shelter in "Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar" - a slightly whimsical bar with a nice Indiana Jones' themed backstory and lots of little gadgets in the bar. The Hangar Bar is actually often compared to the Tiki Bar due to the same "whimsical" overflowing and detailed decoration.

It was fun to try out both of those two bars. I can see why they are often compared, however, there are also enough differences that you would not get bored if you try out both, like we did :) The food shall be better at the Hangar Bar. We did not eat at the Tiki Bar, so I cannot say anything about their food, but the snacks at the Hangar Bar were delicious! I would recommend to try out the Hangar bar rather in the afternoon and the Tiki Bar definitely later in the evening. Best to bring lots of energy to soak it all in :)

Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar (Disney Springs, Florida)

A couple of months ago I had the pleasure to visit my friends J., M, & N. in Florida again. That was before all the hurricanes hit that coast... I landed in Orlando where my friend M. picked me up and as we still had a few hours before our evening planning (disney fireworks at the Polynesian Resort), we headed over to Disney Springs. We did a little bit of shopping but then we could see a storm coming up...

However, it turned out great for us. We ended up watching the storm over the disney springs lake from a nice patio with some great cocktails and food.

The world of Indiana Jones...

A year ago we walked through Disney Springs and my friend J. told be about this Indiana Jones' themed bar - Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar. The seaplane pilot Jock Lindsey actually had only about a minute of airtime in the movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark", however, this bar has an entire backstory and lots of mementos of his adventures. To quote, it's a "1940s airplane hangar turned dive bar - home of Indiana Jones' sidekick and pilot Jock Lindsey". It is said that Jock Lindsey discovered this waterfront property in 1938 as he flew with Indiana over Florida on the hunt for the Fountain of Youth... It is such a cute little bar with so many interesting details everywhere - books, trophies, photographs, gadgets, props, airplane gear, other aviation equipment... It looks a little bit like you are on the original movie set... Check out this great disney blog for more details and pics

Here are a few of those details:

The ceiling fans are made out of airplane propellers.
The bar is out of concrete with oil spills everywhere making it look used and real.
There is a huge map in the back of the bar, detailing the adventurous routes of our pilot throughout the world.
A full antique diving suit with copper helmet is hanging from the ceiling and a huge diving bell is there as a separate sitting area.
Also, there are lots of references of Jock's pet snake "Reggie", of its empty cage, and even a drink is named after it.

The Menu...

The menu is also really cute, it's designed as a "pilot's log book" with lots of little anecdotes of the travels and adventures, and the drink menu is arranged by country... As in rememberence of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" we ordered some COOL-HEADED MONKEY cocktails to start with from Jock Lindsey's adventures in India. There was a dinner scene in the movie where the heroes were served monkey brain as a local delicacy for dessert. It came in a cup that actually looked like a real monkey head... Our drink also came in a monkey head cup which commemorated this nice movie scene ;) We also ordered some Happy Hour Appetizer that were just delicious: JOCK'S LOADED NACHOS and BELLOQ'S BACON FRIES - yes! Fries with Bacon, I couldn't say no to that and it was very tasty. And as a fun fact: Belloq was the name of one of Indiana Jones's rivals, a french archaeologist who also scoured the globe for antiquities. He first appeared in "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

Last year we did not try this bar out just walked by, but this time it was perfect. We needed a place to seek shelter from the storm and actually, we were a little hungry. And what a better way than to start my first day in Florida with a little cocktail at an interesting bar with my great friend! She actually also got some great news at that moment, so perfect timing for a little celebration. We decided to sit on the outside patio with a view over the lake, watching the storm firsthand :)

What an adventure - Highly recommendable!

Berry Puff Pastries

Those shapes look amazing, right? A diamond, a pinwheel and a flower shape :)

Who doesn't like a nice flaky pastry treat for breakfast? I saw those on pinterest (refering to a post from TASTY in BuzzFeed). It came with a nice video. They looked delicious because they combined the flaky puff pastry with a creamy filling and berries :)

I was super surprised to see how easy and simple these where!!!

Really, you only need some frozen puff pastry, a very simple cream cheese filling (only add sugar and some vanilla/lemon flavor), and a few berries. The secret lies in the folding process. If you follow the steps, it is also super easy and does not take a long time.

So, please, give it a try. It also tastes good the next day if you keep them refrigerated.

Ingredients (for 12 pastries):

225 g cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice - freshly pressed (or: 1/2 tsp lemon aroma)

12 puff pastry squares (8 squares 9x9 cm, 4 squares 10x10cm) - thawed
Berries (2 big strawberries, 16-20 blueberries, 20 raspberries)

Preparation:

Preheat oven at 200 degree Celsius (400 degree fahrenheit).

The Cream Cheese Filling:

Mix the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon in a bowl till smooth.

Strawberry Diamonds (4 pastries):

Cut the puff pastry into 4 squares (9x9 cm).
Fold the pastries and fill them:

Left pictures: Take one square, fold the square into a triangle. Cut the triangle at the bottom along both sides (with about a 1/2 cm border), make sure they to not touch at the top.
Middle picture: Unfold the triangle back into a square.Take the top flap and fold it down to the bottom edge until it touches the cutline, not further.
Right pictures: Take the bottom flap and fold it toward the top edge. Now you have a diamond shape.
Lower pictures: Place 1 Tablespoon of cream cheese filling in the middle and place 1 strawberry half on it.

Repeat with the remaining squares.
Bake for 15-20 minutes till golden brown and puffed. Take it out and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Blueberry Pinwheel Pastry:

Cut the puff pastry into 4 squares (9x9 cm).
Fold the pastries and fill them:

Left picture: Make a cut from each corner towards the center. Do not touch the center! Stop about 1 cm before.
Middle picture: Start on one side of the square, take on corner flap of the side and fold it towards the center. Press the tip a little bit into the center.
Right picture: Then go to the next sides of the square and repeat. Now you have a pinwheel shape.
Lower picture: Place 1 Tablespoon of cream cheese filling in the middle and place 4-5 blueberries on it.

Repeat with the remaining squares.
Bake for 15-20 minutes till golden brown and puffed. Take it out and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Raspberry Flower Pastry:

Cut the puff pastry into 4 BIG squares (10x10 cm). These are supposed to be slightly bigger than the diamond and pinwheel shapes.
Fold the pastries and fill them:

Left picture: On each corner of the square, make a cut parallel to the edges to both adjourning sides (leaving a 1/2 cm border) towards the edge center of the sides, stopping about 1/2 cm before the center. It is important that the cuts do not touch in the center edge of each side, but that they do touch in the corner.
Middle picture: Place 1 Tablespoon of cream cheese filling in the middle of the square. Place 4 raspberries on it, facing the corner of the squares.
Middle picture:Take one corner flap and fold it toward the center of the square, over the raspberry. Slightly press the tip of the flap into the cream cheese.
Right picture: Repeat the folding with the remaining sides. Now you have a flower shape.
Lower picture: Take the 5th raspberry, dip the bottom in the cream cheese filling and place it on the center on top of the overlapping flaps.

Repeat with the remaining squares.
Bake for 15-20 minutes till golden brown and puffed. Take it out and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Print this recipe:

Food Photography: Lighting & Reflectors

Food Photography

Well, where shall I start? :) There are many complex parts to food photography including the food itself (food styling and composition), camera settings and equipment, and photo editing process. I will not go into more detail on these topics, but if you want to learn a little bit more, there are very nice books ("Plate to Pixel" from Hélène Dujardin and "Food Photography for Bloggers" from Matt Armendariz) and web videos /trainings (e.g., video2brain offers a nice section of online videos on food photography and can be tried out for 10 days for free) available.

Working with Lighting & Reflectors

Last week I had the pleasure to meet with two professional photographers from "H2N Photography". They work in different areas of photography including wedding and architectural photography but also food photography. They inspired me to go a step further with my food photography and learn a bit more about lighting and light equipment. They even lent me some reflectors and an external flash to practice. While working with the external flash light turned out to be a little bit more complicated, I will now present the results of my first try outs working with reflectors :) A big thank you to Grit & Marco!

Lighting is a big topic in food photography, so big actually, that I have shyed away from it until now... If you try to get into this topic, you will learn about natural light, artificial light, flash lights, reflectors, diffusors, etc.

The best light source is of course the natural light, but let's be honest, who has that kind of perfect light everytime we want to take a picture of our food? I unfortunately not, quite the opposite actually. I only have "perfect" natural light a couple of hours each day, and only when it is not cloudy outside. This of course is even more reduced during winter times... this means we do need to use artificial light sources. I do not like to work with flash lights, but my normal indoor lights are not that nice either. So, another option are so-called softboxes that have a white screen in front of it and come in different seizes. So far, that was all what I have considered regarding lighting.

However, today I will go a step further. I will work with simple white styrofoam boards as reflectors and diffusers.

My little Setup

Equipement: camera tripod, softbox, styrofoam boards (reflector/diffuser), SLR camera, lenses, external flashlight

I wanted to see and show the effect of the white styrofoam boards that worked as reflectors/ diffusers, so I keept the actual food simple. I used a few cherry tomatoes that I had in the fridge ;) Furthermore, I used my tripod and the same camera settings (ISO=100, shutter speed=1/30, aperture=f/4.5), so that I could take the same picture of the food in different lighting settings and compare the pictures. For the lighting, the main light source was the window (backlight). As it was a cloudy day and not very bright, I also used a softbox on the left side of the food. Then, I experimented. I used a styrofoam board as a reflector on the right side and additionally another styrofoam board in the back of the food between the main light source and the food, so that it worked as a diffuser for the main light source but also as a reflector for the artifical light from the softbox.

To sum up, this was my setup:

Back: Natural light - window as main light source
Left: Softbox - artificial soft light
Right: Reflector - styrofoam board opposite to the softbox, reflecting the light
Back: Diffuser - styrofoam board between natural light and food, diffusing the light

Here are the pictures (2 Examples):

First picture is done with only the natural backlight and the leftside softbox light. As you can see, the little tomatoes show a lot of dark shadows and contrasts, especially on the right side.
Second picture has the styrofoam board added on the rightside as an reflector for the softbox and the natural light. Now you can clearly see, how much brighter the picture is. The tomatoes are well lit from each angle, none are in a shaded place anymore. However, the back of the picture is pretty washed out from the natural light source.
Third picture has a styrofoam board added on the back of the food, between window (natural light) and the food. It therefore works as a diffuser. The back of the picture is suddenly much more visible, not washed out anymore, and the tomatoes are not quite as glossy. Everything is clearly recognizable but a little darker than before, but still brighter than in the first picture without reflectors/diffusers.

This shall only show the effects of a reflector and a diffuser. It does not say, that using both of them increase the picture quality. What you need really depends on what you want to photograph and what outcome you like more :)

Picture 1: Backligh window + leftside softbox

Picture 2: Backlight window + leftside softbox + rightside reflector

Picture 3: Backlight window + leftside softbox + rightside reflector + back diffuser

Example 1 Summary: Left: Natural Backlight + leftside Softbox // Middle: added rightside Reflector // Right: added back Diffuser

Picture 1: Backligh window + leftside softbox

Picture 2: Backlight window + leftside softbox + rightside reflector

Picture 3: Backlight window + leftside softbox + rightside reflector + back diffuser

Example 2 Summary: Left: Natural Backlight + leftside Softbox // Middle: added rightside Reflector // Right: added back Diffuser

Adventures in Bavaria (Germany)

As part of our annual little birthday trip, we spent a few nice days in Bavaria this year, down at the Chiemsee. For one day, we explored Salzburg in Austria (only one hour away), but the rest of the time we explored Bavaria and its gorgious nature around the Chiemsee area.

Nature Highlights:

The Mountain "Hochfelln": This was my personal highlight as I did not expect much from it. I thought it wouldn't be more than a fast roundtrip with the cable car and maybe some nice lunch in between. However, the views from up top and the surrounding nature was just gorgious and so different. There were two complete different parts: Up on the top, there were amazing views and even some snow. Half way down, where we ate lunch at the "Bründling Alm" (alpine tavern), it was completely different with lots of green hills and meadows.
The Swamp/ Moor "Nickelheimer Filze": This was another unexpected highlight. Beautiful landscape for a short hike.
The Gorge "Gießenbachklamm": This was a little strenghous, climbing up all the way to the top walkway (about 200 steps, 60 meter above the river)... But after walking alongside the ravine of the gorge for about 600 meter, the landscape changed and became this beautiful field of meadows and a river. We ate lunch at the "Schopper Alm", another alpine tavern.
The Islands of Chiemsee: There are two islands on the Chiemsee lake, the "Herreninsel" with its castle (a homage to the French castle Versaille) and the much smaller but very beautiful "Fraueninsel"with its cloister, lots of craft shops and cafés.
The Farmhouse Museum Amerang: An open-air museum with lots of beautiful farm houses and craft buildings from 500 year ago. Again, very unexpected and quite nice.
Our own Air B&B Farmhouse: This was another highlight. We had a nice view over the mountains on the one side, and a gorgious view over the lake from the other side. It also had a small pond and lots of farm animals. There were even peacocks that came visiting us on the balcony :)

Bavarian Food Highlights:

Alpine food (mountain food)

We experienced authentic alpine food at the alpine taverns "Bründling Alm" (on the mountain "Hochfelln") and "Schopper Alm" (at the gorge "Gießenbachklamm").

"Bayrische Brotzeit" (Bavarian breadboard snack time, typical mountain/ alpine food): It's considered a "light" snack and commonly consists of a breadboard with a fresh bavarian "Brezn" (pretzle) or farmer's bread served with some cheese, "Obazda" (a cheese spread made out of camembert cheese with paprika seasoning and caraway seeds ), smoked sausage, onion, chives , radishes, etc. We had such an "Alm Brettle" (alpine breadboard) at the "Bründling Alm" (alpine tavern) at the mountain "Hochfelln".
"Griebenschmalz Brot": This may also be considered part of the "Brotzeit" (breadboard snack time). "Griebenschamlz" is lard with fried porkskin pieces in it. It can be used as a spread for bread, with some salt and pepper.
Spinach dumplings alongside stuffed ravioli: Dumplings in a wide variety are also famous for Bavaria.
"Hüttennudeln": This is a pasta dish, it can come in different versions including a combination of ham, vegetables and cheese. The name "Hütte" (hut) implies that it is served at alpine taverns as these may also be called huts.
Salad with "Schwammerl": I was amazed by this simple little salad. "Schwammerl" are mushrooms, these were nicely seasoned and fried. The salad was accompanied by some really tasty Bavarian potato salad.

Fresh Fish and more at the fisherman's hut "Reiter"

"Steckerl Fisch" - fresh fish such as trout grilled on a stick
"Bayrischer Kartoffelsalat" - Bavarian potato salad, made with broth, vinegar and oil, served alongside fresh salmon trout in beer batter

For the sweet tooth

Homemade "Strudel": Marillenstrudel (Apricot strudel), Apfelstrudel (Apple strudel), Topfenstrudel (strudel with softened cream cheese)
Rhubarb "Datschi": The word Datschi comes from "detschen" or "datschen" which means "push in", we had a rhubarb datschi, so the rhubarb was pushed in the dough, but plum datschi are common too. We ate one at the "Haus am See", a restaurant right at the lake.
"Lindentorte": This was a fancy cake with several thin layers of sponge cake, butter cream, and marzipan. There was also some alcohol in it. It was a house cake, named after the place were we ate it (Hotel Linde).
"Apfelringe im Teigmantel" (battered and deep fried apple rings): We did not try them, but we saw them at almost every food place on the island "Fraueninsel".