New Zealand welcomed awesome Kiwi author Gillian St Kevern back to our shores today with freezing wind and driving rain. Luckily that gave us a good excuse to go to decadent cake shop Little and Friday to make up for it. Spoiler: we would have gone anyway.

On the left is my amazing Peanut, Caramel and Chocolate Donut. In the centre is Gillian’s impressive Double Chocolate Lamington: chocolate sponge covered in chocolate and coconut  (traditional Lamingtons are just plain sponge). Gillian was so fun to talk to, plus she gave me a gift!  You can’t really tell but she is holding the table ‘number’ for our coffees – a plastic right whale (I always try to get a dinosaur).

Side note: did you know that some species of whale lice are sex-specific? Cyamus catodontis lives only on male sperm whales; Neocyamus physeteris lives only on females and calves. Have a pic of whale lice here and here and here, but approach with caution if you are uncomfortable with amphipods. Seriously, even I wouldn’t put those images on the same post with cake. Although I almost did. I also just realised that in The Dolphins of Pern it’s probably whale lice that the doll-fins want the humans to remove, seeing as how they live on all kinds of cetaceans, not just whales. In “skin lesions, genital folds, nostrils, and eyes,” according to Wikipedia.

But back to cake. You can make your own Lamingtons and frankly they are delicious. There’s a recipe for a gluten-free version here which I found especially for Chris from Stumbling Over Chaos.

Or just come visit me down here and we can go get coffee at Little and Friday. The more excuses I have the better.