My favourite ice-cream and gelato shops in Melbourne December 3rd 2014

My favourite ice-cream and gelato shops in Melbourne December 3rd 2014

I adore ice-cream and gelato and I am also a Libran.

"Why a Libran?" you may very well ask.  As a child I found it difficult to make up my mind with menus.  The more people would pressure me the harder the decision was.  You see we did not go to restaurants as a child!  So my menu was what was on offer in a shop.

Later as an adult the real menus had the same impact.  Too many choices.  We are spoiled with choice.

So I have made a conscious decision: that when I go out to restaurants I will always go for my favourite flavours of lemon, lime, passionate, raspberry.  But if a Lemon Meringue or Rhubarb Pie was on the menu, then I would choose one of them. These flavours bring back so many memories of my mother's (Eunice) version.  Otherwise, I would search the menu for ice-cream or gelato.

I have tried many ice-creams and gelatos in my 55 years.  I would be remiss in not mentioning three of my favourite outlets:

Halados Jauja in Lygon St and Will's Batch in Bentleigh are my two favourites in Australia and in fact in all of my travels.  I have only tried Messina at the Night Noodle Market and would put this in my top three.

At Halados Jauja, make sure you are brave and try the taste of the Durian flavour.  It is renowned for its pungent odour but tastes delicious.  I look forward to trying their Ice-cream Appreciation Masterclass one day.  Of course I tried their lemon and raspberry and was won over.  There are so many flavours to try and sadly they are a good half hour trip away from home.

While closer to home is our branch of Will's Batch which has very pleasant staff and pristine hygiene.  They offer a frequent purchaser's card so make sure you have this in your wallet or purse as the litre, two litre and five litre tubs are sensational value.

Here they offer their famous Christmas Plum Pudding and it is very smooth and creamy and has a full bodied flavour without being over powering. Since 1997,  I have cooked at least four large plum puddings using a recipe from the 1850s and Will's Batch  ice cream certainly has the flavour of a traditional Christmas pudding.  My 5 litres are on order to accompany my pudding for Christmas Day.

I highly recommend that you treat yourself regularly to their flavours.  Liquorice with generous chunks within the ice cream is so luscious and decadent.  We regularly buy this to share with our neighbours. My other favourite flavours in their range of ice creams and gelatos include their lemon, raspberry, raspberry ripple, passionfruit, lime and choc mint.   I also adore their Butterscotch Crunch with lovely crunchy surprises.  In fact their menu is so extensive I have not explored all of their flavours (as yet!)

I have only tried Messina once and look forward to trying them again when I am over Collingwood way.  I shared their Happy Taste Bud Time and the Street Hawker with my partner.  Both were delectable and full of interesting and complementary flavours.  I also love the way they use cookies, syrups and macaroons in their tubs.  Great value too.  The queue at the Night Market was very long and we were surprised at how they moved the line so quickly.  The staff had a military-precision in constructing their meticulous works of art.

Each of these three ice-creameries are my favourites and are reasonable priced for high quality product.

Coming a close fourth is the Ice Creamery near the Princess Theatre in Spring St.  It is in the same building as the Spring St Grocer.  On their website you have to explore to find the colour that matches their ice-cream section.  They also have the best Cheese Cellar with an exceptional knowledgeable cheese monger.   Do ask to try Napoleon's favourite cheese! Epoisse.  This is to die for. Yes it is expensive but it is worth it.  The Cheese Cellar is down the spiral staircase in the centre of the shop.

Happy tasting.

My first post: April 29 2014

April 29th 2014:

This is my first post.  I am teaching myself how to blog.

I am saddened by the death of Gailene Stock who was a principal dancer at the Australian Ballet.  She taught us classical ballet on Fridays at the old Fitzroy studios where the Victorian College of the Arts School of Dance originated.  She was such a gorgeous teacher and so generous and warm with her encouragement.  Condolences to her daughter and to Gary Norman.

 

Italian Masterpieces June 16 2014

Italian Masterpieces June 16 2014:

I went with my friend David to see the Italian Masterpieces at the NGV and spent about two hours viewing this incredible collection from Spains' Royal Court, Museo Del Prado.

The audio guide is worth the extra $8 as Vince Colosimo narrates the "Overviews" to each room of the gallery and also other specialised talks with themes for each room. I learnt many interesting facts about the era, paintings and history surrounding the works.  Without his narration the exhibition would only be about many paintings that I do not particularly like.  Religious paintings are not my favourite genre and thankfully Vince's narration brings them to life.  Mind you there are more than religious paintings in this collection.

Do check out a painting that has Meryl Streep's double standing behind a man.  For the life of me I cannot recall the name of the painting but it is tucked in a corner of about the fifth room.

I would love to learn about the cloud hovering in the large coliseum painting. The coliseum looks as if it has been cut-a-way to show us the inner performance in the centre.  But it is the detail of the audience that intrigues me as every person has been painted with exquisite detail and seems to have a reason for being at the event.  Each person is not just a filler but integral to the dynamics of the work.

More so, I want to know about the light that this "drone" shaped cloud provides to the painting.  Has this cloud provided the reason for the cut-a-way to reveal the main arena?  If only we could ask the artist!  Sadly we can only speculate.

Forgive me for not providing details of the paintings or the artists or the history.  Let Vince provide his superb narration.  Even with some of the audio levels changing, his narration was engaging, informative and clear.

Talking with David about the large painting with elephants we both agreed that the people in the background seemed to be an afterthought.  These people seemed to be painted behind a gauze scrim in a theatre that provides a haze, which is similar to the look of the film "Picnic at Hanging Rock."

The sixth room has still-life and flower paintings.  To think that four out of five paintings by a particular artist is in this room is incredibly breath taking.  Check out the other still life paintings.

It is a worthwhile exhibition and I would recommend a Monday afternoon for viewing as it seemed to be quiet.  The great aspect of our NGV is that you do not have to travel to Spain to see these works.  The winter and summer series by the NGV is such a part of Melbourne's culture.

There was a group on a tour and the tour guide I felt was rude when I was viewing a cabinet and basically pushed me aside for his tour group.  I think the group noticed how rude he was. 

I do want to see the "Art As Therapy" free tour. This is a self-guided tour and will be on my next visit to our NGV.

South Wharf walk on Sunday May 25th 2014

 South Wharf walk on Sunday May 25th 2014:

We went for a long walk around Melbourne via St Kilda Road and  through South Gate to continue along South Bank towards South Wharf.  The weather was a sunny and warm autumn day.

We highly recommend the views over Melbourne if you have not done this walk.  It is terrific to see the way the wharves have been opened up with cafes, restaurants, shops and other activities. 

At the South Wharf is the new Hilton Hotel and the DFO shopping outlets.  We have driven there before and the parking is not cheap, though you do get a discount voucher when you purchase from one of the shops.  These discount vouchers reduce the parking fee.

There are new bridges that have really opened up the South Bank to the North Bank of Melbourne.  I would like some of the bridges to have a more prominent sign that names the bridge.  What we thought was the Jim Styne's Bridge, I think is the Seafarer's Bridge.  The Jim Styne's Bridge, I think, has not been completed as yet.

The whole Docklands region has really developed over the years. Do check out the views of Melbourne. What I loved was the blending of the old buildings with the new architecture.

The view back towards the Arts Centre Melbourne with the "Polly Woodside" in the foreground and the new "gold" tower being built next to Crown was terrific.

We walked back via the North Bank then went up Queens St and Collins St to revisit the Royal Court and the Royal Arcade.   You should have seen the queues of tourists waiting to go for afternoon tea at the Hopetown Tea Rooms.

We ventured up Collins St to our favourite coffee shop.  Sorry we are not saying which as it will then be impossible to get into.  But you know?  Many of our friends say it is not hard to find a good cup of coffee in Melbourne.  The pursuit of many Melbournians - is finding an even better coffee!

 

Confusing blogs with a website

Confusing blogs with a website May 5 2014:

Maybe I am confusing a blog with a website as I want so much on these blogs.  I would love to be able to archive each of the pages under the different headings.  For example, the posts that I write about Catherine Ryan Hyde on my RAYMOND'S BOOKS blog, I want to be able to file them under her tab.

 

Learning how to blog - insightful experience

Learning how to blog - May 4 2014:

Insightful experience

Learning how to blog and create a website has been an insightful experience.  It has helped me to become even clearer about who I am as a person.  We are more than words.  We can create a difference in this world. 
First we have to start with ourselves.  We always have the opportunity to improve but we must be ready to make the changes.
I have had to deal with so much change in my life over the years that I get offended when a few people "project" on me that I do not deal with change well.  That is crap I cope with change very well and people need to respect that not everyone reacts to change the way that they do - we all process change in a different way.

Thank you Google Help and Susan Adams May 3 2014

Thank you Google Help and Susan Adams tutorials May 3 2014:

Thank you Google Help Videos and to Susan Adams for your short videos to help me create my Blog.  I am persevering with trying to learn a new thing each day.

The Google Help Videos are short and very specific to different topics.  I do want to check out more of their videos to expand my skillset.  The challenge will now be to find an index or table of contents of their videos.

Susan Adams, thank you for your clarity of direction and calmness of manner.  The only thing that I wanted was occasionally you would click onto something, for example "COMPOSE" and you had to watch her every move for navigating.  Usually though, Susan's direction is very specific and tells you what to press or to type next.

Her website is worth checking out also.  I am really impressed that she has a section asking for improvements.  I will do that when I get more experience.

The aspect that I have been trying to resolve is the TAB locations and creating new pages etc.  I worked out that I kept creating a larger FOOTER in my page layout.  I do not know if changing it to a "Sitemap page" as a footer will work but I will give it a go.

 

Learning how to BLOG May 1 2014

Learning how to BLOG and how to create a WEBSITE May 1 2014

Today I have been teaching myself how to create a website.  I find it frustrating at times and I am lucky to have good contacts who can assist.  I do not like to ask people for assistance because they have the skill set as I do not like to take advantage of people.  I did research about a course at Holmesglen TAFE and it is very reasonably priced.  But then I thought , just persevere and try to learn from the different websites and videos on here.  I was very impressed with some short videos about Blogging for beginners by a JOHN555.  So thank you for your assistance.

I just wish that GOOGLE had more videos on creating a WEBSITE as I prefer the authorised versions as against the "community" support.  Do not get me wrong as I appreciate the "community" aspect of teaching.  But it is like "self service" with so many aspects of life these days.

I may do a course after trying it for myself.  I will record my journey and hopefully learn a thing or two!