[ddot]

the plan on the official day of the apec summit was to have a summit ourselves, specifically a picnic in the park and cake.

and so i embarked on a journey to balmain armed with a box of cucumber sandwiches to meet bowb and maeve for a look-see at adriano zumbo. after hearing about the spring menu, i was expecting something bright and bold, like a fluro pink cherry and lychee macaron! we were greeted instead by a vision of chocolate and caramels, which isn’t such a bad thing really.

see.

i thought maybe it was a homage to a golden gaytime ice cream with its coating of nuts and the paddle pop stick lodged up its rear. rather, it was even more golden with a light mousse and a raspberry coulis (or was it brulee?) sandwiched between two chocolate biscuits (which was slightly softened by the raspberry) dusted in cocoa and rolled in hazelnuts. we shared this lovely by scooping it onto our plates and for the child, straight onto the spoon and into her mouth with no need for a plate.

you see, by the time we made it to the park after spending a considerable amount of time deliberating over the glass cabinets at zumbo, maeve had disrobed to only a cupcake singlet and jeans. i thought maybe she had a direct line to mother nature so i was dissapointed to see that the heavy clouds were there to confuse us as it started to pitter and then patter. so we packed up the rug, which only had touched the grassy patch for a mere 30 seconds to make a dash up the hill to bowb’s where our picnic in the park became a tea party on the balcony.

not too shabby.

there on the balcony watching the boats bob about in the water and brave souls zipping about in the water we sipped on orange and pepper tea and worked through the spread: olive and chorizo loaf, cucumber sandwiches (with gympie butter which i had salted with salt flakes), a chicken and almond sausage roll, maxiadz (above) and sugar lips (below).

oh sugar lips. its a pretty delicious thing this cinnamon sugar coated pastry. they sell it as a doughnut, but it’s much more than that. not gluey like its commercial counterpart, the dough is brioche, light as a feather. the inside is why you want it though; a lemon creme so perfect it really does need to come in a pump pack. so creamy. so lemony.

not too shabby at all.