This week’s sweet treats : 25/09/2015

sweet treats

What better way to start your Friday than with our weekly round-up of some of the many sweet treats we’ve eaten this week at home and abroad. Here’s five of our favourites.

1. Au Moulin Gourmand in Cadenet, was one of our favourite places to eat at whilst Geoff and I holidayed in the South of France. It’s a family run restaurant and the food was superb, so many flavours.

2. Upon on our return we visited one of our favourite local haunts, Manna  in the High Street, Old Portsmouth. One of only a few places that bake their cakes in-house. This was banana & pineapple sponge cake – slightly different than the one we reviewed before – with a filling and topping of cream cheese and sprinkled with caramelised pecan nuts. So light and airy. Along with the Village Shop & Tearoom out at Compton in West Sussex, these are the best home-made cakes around. Well, that’s my opinion anyway.

3. We visited the new café, The Parade on Southsea Common in Portsmouth in it’s first week of opening which was at the end of August. Inside has been really tastefully furbished. Mark & Caroline Hogan who managed the Tenth Hole for a while a few years back have brought back some of the dishes, Jayne’s salad for example. I must say that I was a little disappointed with my tuna & mayo’ sandwich and was also expecting the cream cheese dip too that I used to enjoy so much.  The lumpy bumpy cake was okay but nothing really amazing. I shall however give it another visit as I really want to like it. Early days.

4. It was my fathers 85th birthday so as a family we had a nice meal at Loch Fyne in Gunwharf Quays – in between Las Iguanas and Carluccio‘s in Portsmouth – to celebrate. They had run out of a couple of the desserts on the special offer menu unfortunately so I ended up having crème brûlée again after having it almost every day the previous week in France. I suppose I could call myself a bit of an expert on it now. The review on Loch Fyne will be coming soon.

5. My children are much more adventurous than I am. Whilst Helen’s been travelling and currently working on a cattle station in Western Australia, my son, Peter jetted off to South Africa a week ago with his bike, a tent, sleeping bag and not much else. His first night in the country he stayed at an airline pilot’s family home after he took pity on the lad spending four hours (slight exaggeration I think) putting his bike back together after the flight without the correct tools, (oops, I must have given him the wrong Allen keys). A very luxurious place with private swimming pool, a separate villa and looking out over the sea not too far from Durban. Two nights later, he stays with ‘Adam the orange seller’. How kind. (I’m guessing Peter had a few oranges that evening).

Living life, loving cake

A x

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