David comments - As the appalling weather experience in the US disappears into the dim, murky distance now that we are enjoying the glorious sunny summer in Auckland, I thought that I would review the various food and drinks that we have consumed. Friends of ours have commented previously that they know where we have been not by the places we have mentioned but by the food and drink we have consumed. Well, here goes.

The flight out and the upgrade to Club was, obviously, a bonus as was the smoked salmon mouse and lobster & prawn salad that was served. This was accompanied by a glass of champagne and two glasses of a rather nice Chateau Rully (white Burgundy). I opted for cheese and biscuits and was served with a large glass of port. No wonder I slept well on that flight. In contrast, Linda does not do alcohol on planes and she eats more frugally.

In Las Vegas, we were very disappointed with the food offerings at Caesar’s Palace, although we had a lovely Mexican meal at La Salsa and takeaway coffee/orange juice/muffins/toasted bagels from Payard went down well. The dinner buffet at Bellagio, though, was sumptuous, including smoked salmon, aii poke (chilli raw fish from Japan) and other forms of sushi for my first course and kobe sirloin beef (matured for 24 months) plus pepper crusted rib eye steak for my main course. The desserts, crème caramel, bread pudding, sugar free chocolate and ice cream also slipped down well. We were eating too much, as happens in the US, so Linda and I shared a lovely breakfast of fruit, yoghurt and granola plus toasted bagels, cream cheese and more smoked salmon at Planet Hollywood.

Our one night in Los Angeles was spent eating great burgers at Hooters, where the waitresses were rather shapely. The next day’s lunch was spent at a Jewish deli, where I had pastrami on rye and Linda ate a half sandwich of corned beef (salt beef) accompanied with chicken soup and the biggest matzo ball she’s ever seen.

Apart from the wine on the plane, I stuck to beers in the US, drinking Fat Tire and Sam Adams in Las Vegas and, would you believe it, Guinness in Hooters (very sad). Linda mainly drank marguerites.

Now that we are in New Zealand, though, our consumption has taken on a different hue. We ate at ‘Di Mare’ in Parnell (a suburb of Auckland), a steak and seafood restaurant, which has a Greek chef and a Brazilian hostess. It is definitely family run and we would recommend the restaurant highly to anybody who comes to Auckland. Linda had a half dozen oysters, followed by fish of the day (Gurnet), which was lightly fried and accompanied by a salad. I had calamari, but not fried in bread crumbs and it was delicious. My main course of spaghetti and meat balls was also superb. The meat balls were more like rissoles and were highly spiced, but there was far too much spaghetti, so ask for a half portion of pasta if you eat there.

We have also enjoyed good lunches at Devonport with Debbie, Mark and the family and at a Thai restaurant in Auckland. Tonight, though, we are going to a seafood cooking school where we will be taught by a chef for an hour and then we will prepare and cook our own meal based on this tuition.

Of course, we have had some wine in New Zealand, but it is rather expensive by the bottle at restaurants and so we have been buying it by the glass. So far, nothing stands out particularly. On the beer side, though, I have discovered Mac, a local brewery and Mac’s Gold and Black Mac (a dark beer) have gone down well. We met a Czech girl who was not impressed by Kiwi beers, but agreed that Mac was good.

Finally, I just thought I'd include this picture of me with an Elvis impersonator in Hollywood - we told him that I did a better impersonation at a recent Murder Mystery party we held. He was not impressed!!