VANILLA LATTE is a blog dedicated to food & travel with occasional random stuff thrown in. It is managed and written by me, Maggie Ha.
Another film about cooking? This one is a documentary about high school kids in Philly trying to get a scholarship to college… culinary college that is. And a teacher that’s incredibly intimidating (see trailer below!) but somehow through her unconventional teaching methods, inspires these kids to go for their goal. It’s out in the US in some places, but I have no idea how long it will take for it to come out here in Sydney!
It’s great having visitors in town, it means I get to entertain and cook some of my favorite dishes. Last night I made my roast chicken with rice pilaf and served with orange and fennel salad. I’ve been meaning to post my rice pilaf recipe for a while now… I finally remembered to take some nice pictures of the rice!
Rice pilaf is one of those amazing dishes that are so easy to make and never fails to please. It all depends on the rice though. You’ll have to experiment to find your favorite type. I use Uncle Ben’s Long Grain White Rice. Not the instant rice, not the 2-minute microwave rice, and definitely not the boil in a bag… it’s the regular original converted white rice. What’s special about this rice is that it’s parcooked so it doesn’t stick.
I’ve tried this with regular white rice, it tastes great but it doesn’t have that crumbly rice pilaf consistency. If you don’t have the Uncle Ben’s handy, basmati rice or long grain white rice will be fine. I’ll make sure to provide the different measurements for regular long grain white rice and this special Uncle Ben’s.
Cauliflower cannelloni doesn’t exactly sound very exciting, but believe me, it’s delicious. Great way to squeeze in your veggies as well! I saw this dish on one of Jamie Oliver’s shows… I cannot seem to find the recipe online so I’m not quite sure how accurate I am. I got the main parts of it down but I may have added a bit more here and a little less there. It all came out great anyway!
The shredded Parmesan cheese on the top with the mozzarella made the entire house smell like pizza. I loved the added crunchy texture the toasted cheese adds to the ooey gooey sauce. You almost forget that you’re eating cauliflower! The filling is actually cauliflower, broccoli and broccoflower boiled and then cooked down with olive oil, chilies and anchovies. You can make it without anchovies for a vegetarian option.
I have another cannelloni recipe that’s a bit more low fat but hey we’ve got visitors in town and Vini’s been begging me to make this for a while. Low fat will have to wait! I’ll post that recipe at a later date. In the meantime, hope you like this one!
I’ve mentioned sriracha before. What I haven’t mentioned is that the factory is near my hometown and every time I drove by I can smell the garlicy chili sauce through the car vents. 
MMMMM Most people think this sauce is Asian - Vietnamese or Chinese usually. Well, technically it’s American. From San Gabriel to be exact. The NY Times wrote an article about it… I gotta say, I’m so proud that it’s made from my hometown.
It’s a great read. Go to the article here.
Image from Robert Yager for The New York Times
I wasn’t quite sure what to name this dish. It’s a little Asian, a little tangy, a little crunchy, but most of all a whole lot of YUMMY! I love red cabbage slaws. My favorite would be the Szechuan slaw that comes with the Vegetarian Focaccia Sandwich at CPK. YUM. I guess you can say this was inspired by it, it’s not quite exactly the same but close!
I’m still very much on my health kick, so this dish is good for you AND vegan! I need to make sure I keep posting all my vegan recipes before I forget them! I’ve got another vegan red cabbage slaw recipe that I’ll post at a later date. For now enjoy this yummy one!
I was sorta on a pasta kick lately because I was training for the half marathon. I think I take carbo loading a little too seriously. It’s the one time when I have a good excuse to eat lots of pasta, so why not! I’ve been using bucatini a lot lately because a.) I bought quite a few boxes and b.) I love the thickness/strawness! You try to slurp but you can’t cause it’s hallow! Great alternative to spaghetti!
Anyway, this recipe is really quick and pretty healthy. Well, at least I tried to make it really healthy. I only used a little bit of cheese in the pesto. I guess the only thing that’s “bad” is the extra virgin olive oil… which most cultures will say that it’s good for you! Such a quick and simple dish, it’s perfect for dinners during the week. Hope you enjoy it!
It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned Anthony Bourdain. I absolutely love him even though he hates my kind … the vegetarian kind that is. I find his humor insultingly hysterical and man this guy loves his pork! Anyway, these lunch bags are hilarious. The artist, Sam Morrison, has other funny ones like “his and her” lunch bags and Dharma Initiative ones - any Lost fans out there? You can buy some here and view more of his work here.
A movie about food, about cooking, about blogging … WOOHOO! I can’t wait! I’m sure it’ll be at least a year before I can see it in Australia but perhaps my next trip home will fall around the same time it’s in theaters. In the meantime, I think I’ll be cooking something French real soon. Yay!
Oh and coincidentally I came across this quote:
“I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.” - Julia Child
Ooo baked spaghetti! Kind of like lasagna or baked ziti but not really at all. I’ve been meaning to make this for a while. I can’t quite remember where I saw this done, perhaps it was on Martha’s show, or just one of the delicious photos on tastespotting.com. Either way, I remembered the basics, cook spaghetti, make toppings, bake.
So I improvised a bit, it still came out tasty. I think if you add more sauce, it turns more lasagna. If you add more ricotta and mix it around, it’s more ziti like. I kind of kept mine more on the vegetable heavy side, still on my health kick ya know. I also used bucatini pasta, it’s spaghetti with a hole in it, they’re basically like straws. If you stick to spaghetti I think it will keep it’s shape a bit more, the bucatini wanted to wiggle around a bit more. Try it out!
Wow I was so excited last night when I was featured on the homepage of Foodbuzz again! This time for my enchiladas recipe in the Top 9 section. I started out at #5 - at least when I first saw my recipe there - but then buzzes came in and I made my way to #1!Woohoo! Thanks to everyone that buzzed me! Your support is very much appreciated and I hope I can continue making things that you all like. Thanks for the support!!
It’s been a little difficult finding delicious good coffee in NY after being spoiled in Sydney. None of that brewed stuff, I’m talking about espresso based coffee. I finally found a local spot on the Upper West Side that has good coffee, Joe the Art of Coffee. Although, it’s not quite like the ones I have in Sydney, it’s pretty close. I give it a 4/5, an extra point for the mere fact that it’s the only good coffee in my neighborhood.
