Fish with Whiskey

I guess anyone who knows me won't be too surprised to see that one of my first Polish posts is about Pączki.

These delicious, sweet, perfectly-fried-fluffed-and-filled delicacies, pronounced more like 'pOnchki' than 'pac-see', are Poland's version of a jam-filled doughnut (or Berliner).

But let me tell you friends, the word doughnut just doesn't cover it.



When we arrived in Warsaw, one of the first questions I asked the magical Google machine was 'where can I get the best Paczki in the city'.

As luck would have it, it turned out that my beloved had chosen a hostel directly between two of the most famed bakeries in town. I'm sad to say that we never made it to A Blikle- I guess now I have another reason to return to the Capital, but we did manage to feast on some of the exceptional product from Cukiernia Pawłowicz.


Paczki dough is not at all sweet, but instead has a fairly distinctive 'yeasty' flavour. Often in addition to the filling flavour, the little dough balls are garnished with some sort of candied fruit peel, or, in the case of this fine and fluffy fellow below, flavoured throughout with orange.



Add a slightly tart traditional rose jam to the centre of a perfectly risen dough and produce a completely crispy outer shell with some sort of synergistic marriage of light frying and glaze... and then sprinkle on yet another layer of texture, complexity and rich almondy flavourings... and you have a beautiful beast.

Fun fact, apparently the addition of a bit of alcohol to the dough prevents absorption of too much oil!
Oh yeah, and did I mentioned that all the doughnuts were somehow, magically, always warm?

Did you want to see the inside?




And the surprise player?

There are many great things about life in Australia, and being Australian.

You get to lie to inform people about drop bears. You get to surprise your foreign friends with Vegemite (and now, even Vegemite chocolate). You rarely have to cancel holidays because of rain.

But one of the crappiest things about being Aussie, is how far Aussie-land is from everywhere else.

Add to the 24 hours+ of plane travel to europe, a 7 hour time difference, and crippling fare prices, and you- the Aussie expat living in Berlin- will have a somewhat difficult time convincing friends and family to just 'drop by for a weekend'.

Which is why we're always grateful when friends and family manage to make their way across oceans to keep us company...

And to help us discover some of the great things about life in Germany.

One of those things being, as my uncle quickly discovered, the cheapness and abundance of raspberries:


Before I get onto the furious blogging about our trips to Poznan and Warsaw, I thought I'd share with you some photos of us frolicking, and of course- eating, with the family, at our local farmers market in Berlin.


^I actually am not sure if these are sold as bird feeders or people feeders. I guess the former?













^Here's looking at you, kids.


^Great food in Berlin often is Turkish Food in Berlin... and let's not forget the Turkish Coffee:










^You guys, Cheese! Convincing enough to lure you for a visit yet?


Ok, so I'm going to end with Andy and my aunt looking swanky as anything in front of one of Berlin's most famous tourist sites- the East Side Gallery.