Fleur's in Moeraki

Rick Stein was right.  Fleur's is a fantastic eatery off the beaten track in a little beach shack near the Moeraki boulders.  We had scrumptious seafood chowder with a saffron bread:

The Moeraki platter was full of delicious morsels including pate, whitebait omelette, salad, lamb skewers, gerkins, onion pickles and cheese:

Some German tourists were placed on our table and questioned whether we were fat or just strong (in German - thinking we didn't understand), but we had dessert anyway!

I had the chocolate pudding with a self saucing centre, raspberry smear, nutty scatterings and vanilla ice-cream.

Bubbles had the Tunisian orange and cardamon cake with pecan ice-cream - exquisite!

Deja Moo in Oamaru New Zealand

Our morning of steam punk was topped off with a delicious Deja Moo ice-cream in Oamaru:

Bubbles tried pineapple lump flavour coupled with apricot (beautiful):

Denheath Custard Squares eaten at the source in Timaru New Zealand

Bubbles and I had a delicious stop on our way from Christchurch to Oamaru.  We wanted to see the home of Denheath's famous custard squares (now exporting to the world, including Korea!).  We were not disappointed in Timaru:

They were advertising the cycle tour "Alps to Ocean" and encouragement to cycle around Timaru.  It would be the perfect way to burn off all the deliciousness.

The cafe also served delicious carrot cake:

Impressing the English with breakfast at the European, Spring Street

After years of loyalty to Cumulus, we decided to try the European for breakfast.  The occasion was an overseas visitor, so old-world Melbourne was the ambience we wanted to show off.  They didn't disappoint and check out the way they served the banana bread:

You can order caviar, but I think the smoked salmon, asparagus, poached egg and rye toast is even better!

If you have a gluten intolerance, there is nut bread with avocado:

And classics such as eggs atlantic are also delicious (even if it took 10 minutes to bring out the side of spinach - anyone can forget after all):

We thought about having an ice-cream afterwards, but were too full!

Maxibon by Moonlight

On Saturday night we went to the Moonlight Cinema in the botanic gardens.  It was hot so we thought we would indulge in an ice-cream before the movie began.  They had Connoisseur and Maxibon.  My date had never tried Maxibon and I said I would eat anything he chose.

The chocolate coated side (compound chocolate) is better than the soft biscuit side.  It might be the crispy bits in the chocolate that make it more tasty or texturally exciting.  The chocolate itself if fairly generic and the vanilla is quite plain.  A little sickly sweet compared to fresh ice-cream made by one of the artisan ice-creameries we have been frequenting.

At least the movie was good.  We saw "Labour Day" with Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet.  Josh Brolin's character is terrific (even though he plays a criminal wanted by the police).  There is a lot to be said for a man who can make a nectarine pie, fix a stair, repair a car's engine and show a poor stooped kid the canopy of leaves above his head.

Soft biscuit side

Two Cheesy Monkeys in Sydney

Sara and I had late flights home from Sydney, so filled in the time by tasting the latest flavours at Messima in Victoria Street Darlinghurst.  

I had exquisite cheesy monkey (because I love cheesecake) with superb italian nougat (I adore nougat and there is nothing like a bit of nut in a sweet ice-cream) piled into a waffle cone: 

Sara tried 4 flavours, but was disappointed by the caramel yoghurt.  

She loved the silky rich dark chocolate (so smooth) and mint choc-chip (big flakes of chocolate).

Lucy's home made raspberry ice-cream

Lucy made raspberry ice-cream with less sugar and lots of fresh cream whipped for hours and then frozen overnight...

She served it up with wafers and fresh blackberries from Alex's garden for that WOW factor: