Yes it’s holiday season again. I feel like it hit really early this year. I heard Christmas music at Bloomies before Halloween! This year I’m so happy to be surrounded by all the amazing holiday paraphernalia. Pumpkins all over the place! Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, hams, you can’t miss it at any grocery store. Everyone gets into it. Starbucks with their special drinks, Dunkin Donuts with special holiday flavors so I figured it’s time for me to experiment with some pumpkin goodness.
We all love pumpkin pie. Those spices mixed with that rich pumpkin puree, mmmm mmm just reminds me of Fall. After 3 batches, I finally perfected the recipe for these scrumptious spiced pumpkin cookies. They’re more like muffin tops. Cakey and spongey like a moist muffin with a delicious maple icing on top. Perfect to fill the cookie jar for this holiday season!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: baking, food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: baking, cookies, cooking, desserts, food, holiday, recipe, recipes, sweets, thanksgiving
{7 comments}
Momofuku Noodle Bar in the lower east side of Manhattan is one of those places that actually live up to the hype. I’ve read about it, heard about it and now witnessed the amazingness that is Momofuku. You tend to forget about the hour long wait and over anxious crowd after you sink your teeth into one of those pork buns. Or so I’m told, I had the vegetarian friendly shiitake mushroom buns and yes they were definitely worth the wait. Guess a couple of soju cocktails help as well!
Another reason why I love this place, they are vegetarian friendly and more than happy to accommodate my non-pork-belly eating ways. But carnivores, don’t worry, the pork is amazing. Vini absolutely loved his pork belly ramen… in fact, I think his exact words were, “I think this is better than the one I had in Japan.” Now that says a lot!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: NY Eats, Reviews
Tags: asian, food, Japanese, New York
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I used to think Mexican rice was this completely magical and impossible dish. Every family has a slightly different recipe and I seem to keep mixing the wrong ingredients in all the different recipes I’ve collected over the years. I just couldn’t perfect it. Sometimes I put too much spice, sometimes it’s too much broth and sometimes it’s not enough water. Really it took me a while to get it right and I cook Mexican food a lot! More so than any other cuisine, even Chinese actually. So after years of experimenting, here is my version of Mexican rice. It’s incredibly simple and incredibly delicious.
I found out where I was going wrong all these years. I kept trying to make a mix of Mexican rice and Spanish rice… two totally different dishes. Mexican rice, as I have known it growing up, has always been a tomato based rice that is pretty mild in taste compared to Spanish rice. It’s buttery and flavorful alone, but the key is how well it pairs with beans and the rest of your Mexican meal. I generally cook enough Mexican food to feed the block so this rice recipe makes a whole pot. Hope you like it!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: cooking, food, Mexican, recipe, recipes, rice, vegetarian
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People have been saying you can’t really find great Mexican food in New York. Actually, let me rephrase, you can’t find cheap good Mexican food. There are a few taco trucks around and some Chipotle’s here and there but that’s not the same. So I decided to make carne asada!
Carne asada is usually skirt or flank steak. I usually ask the butcher to trim off the fat and cut into 6 inch sections. It’s basically marinated and then grilled. For a good carne asada, it is ALL about the marinade. In LA you can find grocery stores with your skirt steak already marinading. A little tougher to find here. But I have a blend of flavors that are so delicious you’ll want to drink it! You’ll want to marinade the meat for at least 6 hours (best overnight!) to make sure the flavors are all in there. Grill it and there you have it, carne asada. Enjoy!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: cooking, food, meat, Mexican, recipe, recipes
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I’m starting a new series of posts called “NY Eats” for all the delicious places I come across in New York. Don’t worry, I’m still cooking and posting all my culinary adventures. But since New York has so many yummy eateries, I figured I’d better start writing them down before I forget. I already have a gigantic to-eat list filled with both famous and not-so-heard-of places, I can’t wait to try them all!
So for my first post of the series, I present to you my foodie friends, Asiadog! Delicious Asian inspired toppings on a hot dog. I absolutely love hot dogs. Well to be precise, veggie dogs. It’s hard to find veggie dogs but Asiadog not only serves veggie dogs, they top it with delicious toppings! And for you carnivores, they have beef and chicken franks as well as an organic option. Now for the toppings… my favorite was Vinh, Vietnamese pickled
carrot and daikon with cilantro and jalapeño. It was so good, I went back for seconds! They have other options like kimchi, curry, bbq pork, and Asian slaw. You can find Asiadog at Fort Greene Flea Market in Brooklyn on Saturdays, among their other locations (see website). I had mine at a special edition of the Brooklyn Bridge flea market on Sundays…. special guest: Martha Stewart!!!!
Don’t even get me started on how excited I was, hot dogs + Martha Stewart sighting, seriously made my day! I am loving New York! 
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: NY Eats, Reviews, food, mmmm
Tags: New York, Reviews
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Here it is, my first dish in my new kitchen! It wasn’t as bad as I thought, luckily I chose to make something that I had all the ingredients for. Whew! So a basquaise dish is traditionally a peppers and onions red wine reduction with lots of peppers, the key ingredient is piment d’Espelette - paprika, along with garlic and thyme. Usually the traditional French dish requires some ham or bacon for that rich salty flavor but I did a version that was vegetarian friendly and oh SO delicious. I served a vegetarian dish with roasted asparagus and a meatier fishy version with halibut.
You can make a basquaise out of other things as well… that’s just the chunky peppers and onion sauce. You can put chicken or fish on top of it and it will go perfectly. I opted for roasted asparagus for a vegetarian dish but grilled eggplant or zucchini would go nicely as well. I added grape tomatoes to my version for that added burst of flavor when you bite into one. A basquaise sounds difficult but it really is easy and it tastes amazing! Hope you enjoy it!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: cooking, food, french, recipe, recipes, seafood, vegetarian
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Ladies and gentlemen, I am officially back! After the craziness of moving from Sydney to New York, I am finally settled in. Well as settled as I can be, I am no longer sitting on a cardboard box and my fridge has more than just a bottle of water. Although, I am still missing my cooking toys that are now somewhere in the ocean between Los Angeles and Sydney. Hopefully they’ll make it here before the holidays!
New York has been amazing so far - I eat and eat and eat. Our first week was mainly filled with pizza, bagels and occasionally a cupcake here or there. We have been ordering food or eating out every night. Needless to say, I cannot wait to cook my first meal! This past week started off with a 4 hour expedition at Bloomingdale’s kitchen department. That was followed by a couple hours at Williams-Sonoma. Then somewhere along the way I found myself downtown at Sur La Table. Even when I was book shopping, I came across a copy of the first English edition of Larousse Gastronomique, food is everywhere I turn! So what if I don’t have a bed, dresser, desk or chair…. I have a kitchen! Stay tuned for some culinary experiments from my new home in New York!
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: Other, random
Tags: life, New York, random
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Packing up and selling all my belongings has got me in a bad mood. I haven’t been able to cook dinners lately or bake things or just eat normally. I looked at what’s left in my pantry and what’s left of my cooking toys… I have just enough to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. YAY! Finally something that won’t stress me out and something delicious to post! Can’t think of a better way to cheer myself up, peanut butter + chocolate.
I’ve been meaning to make peanut butter chocolate cookies for a while now, I think that’s why I have 2 extra tubs of peanut butter in the pantry. Luckily no one has bought my cookie sheets or mixing bowls yet. So a little whisking here, a little taste testing there… and we have peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Since I’m a sucker for ice cream sandwiches, I had to try these in ice cream sandwich form. I think they might better than my usual snickerdoodle option! It might be a while until my next cooking experiment post so I hope you enjoy it!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: baking, food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: american, baking, chocolate, cookies, cooking, food, recipe, recipes, snacks, sweets
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Dear beloved readers,
First I’d like to say, I sincerely apologize for the recent lag of posts. Second, I have BIG big big big news! I have been running around like a crazy person the past few weeks because, drum roll please, we’re moving to New York! Ahhh!!! It’s taken me a little while to make the announcement but I’ve been really swamped. We had a short but lovely snow holiday in New Zealand where we ate, drank and snowboarded ourselves silly. Then came back to Sydney where I spent this last week putting most of my possessions (including my cooking toys) on sale and arranging for the big move. Whew! I’m exhausted just recapping all of that.
I’m ecstatic about the move even though I’m incredibly stressed about it. We only have 3 more weeks in Sydney before we start our journey home. As of this week I will have no cookery so my culinary experiments will be on hiatus until I get settled in my new home in the Big Apple. Until then, I plan to post some of my last-time Sydney food adventures, some of my long awaited fast food runs while stopping through LA and I might even have some guest bloggers lined up! So stay tuned and happy eating!
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: Other, hearts, random
Tags: adventure, New York
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I love potatoes. I think I could eat potatoes at every meal. Hash browns, mashed, roasted, baked, fries, home style, soup, endless possibilities really. My favorite combination is garlic and potatoes, mashed or pan fried. Today I bring you, roasted! Roasted garlic with seasoned roasted potatoes, a perfect marriage of flavors. Roasted garlic doesn’t have that harsh don’t kiss me kick and actually adds a nice sweetness. So good just squeezed on top of a slice of crusty bread too!
You could really pair this as a side dish with any meal but I had it as my main dish for dinner. What can I say, I really love potatoes! And it’s technically Winter still, I’m allowed to have an entirely starchy dinner! I usually love a huge dollop of sour cream with potatoes, but this dish is so flavorful, you really won’t need anything else but a fork! Hope you like it!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: baking, food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: baking, cooking, food, potatoes, recipe, recipes, vegetables, vegetarian
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