May 18 - Delightful Dinner

  Not much on this morning.  I got my laundry in and put on another load.  It's getting to that chilly time of year where it's not enough to dry under cover; I had to re-hang the dry laundry up inside on the clothes horse to warm up before laying it away.  I chatted away with Mr Smart online while I waited for my next load of laundry to be ready for hanging out.  When it was ready I rugged up and headed outside to hang it up.  By the time I was finished my fingers were almost completely numb.  Damned socks!  I should've just bought more of them.

  Time marched on and eventually it was time to head off to dinner with Mr Smart.  I headed over to his place and from there we journeyed in to Fitzoy to our old favourite, Cafe 58.  There was a bit of a wait before we could get seated, it was a bit funny really, they had just watered the large pot plant at the top of the row of seating and water had leaked along the grouting in the floor tiles and soaked the floor.  Van and his staff ran around like Keystone Kops looking for a cloth or a mop to wipe the floor dry.  Eventually the deed was done and we were seated and perused the menu.


  The menu at Cafe 58 is full of old friends and it's always very tempting just to stick with the same delicious choices but the last time Mr Smart and I ate there, with Mum as I recall, I had noticed something that I wanted to try.  For once it was a lot easier for me to choose!  While I waited for Mr Smart to make his choices I munched away on the prawn crackers.  They are an evil snack, and I probably should have had the waiter take them away sooner especially since Mr Smart doesn't help because they are too chip-like.
  For entree Mr Smart and I shared a serve of curry puffs with sweet chilli dipping sauce, one and a half puffs each to be precise, along with some of the bed of little puffy noodle pieces.  For main course I ordered coconut prawns.  A hot pot of prawns, mushrooms and snow peas in a creamy coconut sauce topped with shredded fresh coconut and strips of red capsicum, served with rice.  It was delicious!  I shared a little of it with Mr Smart in exchange for a taste of his sweet and sour pork.

  After finishing a delicious meal in good company, Mr Smart suggested that perhaps it was early enough in the evening to catch dessert at the nearby cafe Shocolate.  I wish I could remember the name of this thing because I forgot to take a picture of the menu and it's not available on their website unfortunately.  It was very impressive though, and extremely delicous.
  I remember that it was a dark shiny sticky dome filled with a dark chocolate orange mousse on a thick yummy brownie base, and the curl of chocolate on top of it had gold leaf on it, and the chocolate sauce on the plate was covered in edible raspberry coloured sparkles.  Poor Mr Smart had to be content with just his coffee.
  Jess