Cheesecake

Well Saturday is cake and coffee day and another break from tradition (BombGuy and I prefer cake at Cafe de Paris in Hokitika) but as we were meeting friends it was off to the Bonzai in Greymouth for this once a week assault on our insulin system.  Ok so the Bonzai definately needs to sort out its web site and really dated interior but they do great cake that you just can not get anywhere else in Greymouth and add to that the prices are very inexpensive its a boon for the cake loving individual.

BombGuy and I stared into the cabinet and the usual discussion insued.. what are you having, what are youuu having????  We both went for cheesecake (we loove cheesecake, very high on our must eat list). In this instant it was a non baked number topped with a hearty layer of chocolate and ganache decoration on your classic malt biscuit base.  We opted in on the whipped cream (nom nom!) and well the verdict?  Absolutely perfect for a basic classic cheesecake. Nice creamy texture, with a slight lemon twang, biscuit base was just right for attacking with a spoon, no chainsaw required although chocolate was a wee bit too hard and caused the cake to explode sideways when attempting to insert a spoon. The portion size was just right, just enough to make you feel seedy (no breakfast) but not enough to send you into the starfish position wishing you eaten fruit instead.

We capped it off with a double shot flat white with caramel syrup, which in hindsight, was overkill but hey we only do this once a week!

So very nice basic cheesecake gets 4/5.

 Cheers,
The Brunette.

James Speights - deCIDERly good

Summer's coming, not that you can tell by looking out the window here in the murk capital of New Zealand. Its Labour Weekend and all over the country barbeques are being dusted of after a long winter of being ignored, sausages are quaking in fear of the incineration that lies ahead and bottles of booze are being opened in celebration of the summer to come.

The Supermarket beer chiller was pretty much empty last night when BombGuy and I rocked in with a friday night cider in mind. Long Weekend, Greymouth Street Races and the imminant Rugby World Cup Final had all taken their toll on Countdowns meagre stocks, so scoping around we spotted a small pile of Speights Cider lanquishing quietly in a bottom shelf, so the decision was made that we would break from our ususal and give it a try.

Verdict:  Well if the small pile of empty bottles lurking by the rubbish bin was anything to go by, which its not, It was really quite good. This was a pleasant surprise as we've tried quite a lot of cider and usually we've been disapointed and always fall back on our favourite when the need arises.

Crisp, clean and refreshing sum it up. Light and very drinkable, not too sweet and went well with the chinese I whipped up for tea.  Ours wasnt chilled and the flavour was really good, and well balanced, and if anything is going to give away a poor drink its not being chilled when its supposed to be will do it every time.

So 4.5/5 - Give it a go at your next Barbeque! Good work J. Speights :-)

Cheers,
The Brunette.