About

VANILLA LATTE is a blog dedicated to food & travel with occasional random stuff thrown in. It is managed and written by me, Maggie Ha.


{read more}

RANDOM PHOTO

www.flickr.com
{see more}

CATEGORIES

RECENT POSTS

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 31Aug09

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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!

(more…)

Big news! 30Aug09

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!

Roasted Garlic Potatoes 13Aug09

Roasted Garlic Potatoes

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!

(more…)

Miso Orange Glaze Cod with Shiitake Pea Brown Rice 5Aug09

Miso Orange Glaze Cod with Shiitake Pea Brown Rice

I’ve been meaning to make a Japanese dish for a while. After my visit to Japan last year, I feel like I wouldn’t do the cuisine justice… food in Japan was simply amazing! How could I even try to imitate? I keep thinking, what would Blake like? Blake is a good friend of mine who lives in Japan… he has some of the best eateries at his doorstep so I have to make sure if I’m gonna do something Japanese, it better be good and he better like it!

I’m no sushi chef, so slicing raw fish a certain way with specific knives for different types of fish and cuts wasn’t exactly going to be my first attempt. I wanted to stay far away from ramen because if I’m going to do it right, I’d have to cook the pork broth for days. I don’t quite have the tools needed for takoyaki. I was starting to think it was a lost cause, but I’ve finally got a Japanese dish worthy of a post! Miso orange glaze cod with shiitake pea brown rice.

Ok so technically, it’s Japanese inspired. I’m a little iffy about the rice being anything Japanese but oh well! It looks pretty and taste great! The glaze itself is delicious with any protein that doesn’t require long cooking… fish is perfect, soy patties are great too. We had this served with some Japanese pickled vegetables and cucumber and of course miso soup. I mean, I tried to make it authentic! Hope you like it!

(more…)

Latest Latte

Soy Latte @ Joe Art of Coffee

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.


{read more}

  • Inspiration

  • Yummy