Sweet Things Down Under

For the past two weeks I've been in Australia with my mom, visiting my sister who has been studying for the semester at the University of Melbourne.  Melbourne is a great city - full of sophistication, trendy styles, AHmazing foods and a booming coffee society. I'm not the biggest coffee consumer when I'm home. I typically drink tea and occasionally have the morning latte from the coffee shop across the street from my office. However, while in Australia we would stop for a coffee anytime of the day and I would have no objection. Melbournians definitely know how to make a good coffee. It could be due to the fact that a) it's from great coffee, or b) the baristas know how to artfully craft a good latte, or c) because I never ordered one with skim milk and the whole milk made it more creamy and yummy. Who knows, maybe d) all the above. So while I was there I took many photos of my food adventures. Below are a few of the delicious coffees I had. And I can't forget to show you the delicious cakes we often had with our afternoon coffees. (If you can't guess by now, we went from meal to meal, eating our way through the city).
The most exciting discovery was iced coffee. Now you're saying, "yeah yeah yeah, I know what iced coffees are. I get them at Starbucks during the summer." NO. You don't. On the first day in Melbourne, we were out at a bakehouse/café near my sister's apartment and due to the jet lag I didn't know what to order to drink, so my mom told them I wanted an iced coffee. And I turned to her and told her I don't like iced coffee! And she replied, "well you'll like this." And I was so tired and hungry (if you know me, you'll know if I'm hungry, I have a slightly grumpy temperament) I said, "don't tell me what I will like and not like!" Moments passed, and the coffee arrived. Oh boy, was I wrong. She did know what I would like, as most mothers do. It was not coffee with ice in it. It was vanilla ice cream, with a shot of espresso on top with a bit of steamed milk. America needs to do this. I predict it to be my summer drink. I'm going to try it at home and see if I can replicate it.
Lastly, a regular sized coffee there is small, not American-sized. This shocked me at first. It's a smaller cup if you take it to go or in a small glass if you stay and eat-in. There large sized coffees are similar to a Starbucks' 12-oz "Tall". Also, a reusable coffee mug, one you could take to a coffee shop and take to-go, is called a "keep cup" down under.

 Coffee time with gorgeous latte-art

 Iced coffee

 More coffee

 A german cake called Kugelhopf 

 Found a small van selling "Hot American Doughnuts" - we couldn't resist.

 Cakes!

 And more cakes!

 Happened upon a Dutch festival and tried poffertjes (light, fluffy, tiny pancakes made in a cast iron griddle). Ours were with lemon juice and powder sugar.

And more cakes. 

 Tiramisu cake, with candied nuts as a crust

 Iced mocha! With whipped cream. 

Oreo mousse cake - rich and decadent.

Melbourne has a large Greek population which meant lots of Greek cakes.