The last few weeks of summer have been pretty hectic. I was in LA for a few weeks with a couple trips to Vegas thrown in there. Then I was back in New York just in time for the weather to go from 75 to 60 and back to 80 again. What’s going on mother nature? And why have you taken all the pumpkins with you? How am I supposed to make pumpkin pie and pumpkin cookies and pumpkin cupcakes with this shortage?
As the very last trip of the summer, Vini and I went to Minneapolis for my dear friend Annie’s wedding reception. We only had 2 days but we were so pleasantly surprised with all the foodie finds. We got in early, hopped in the rental car and started our midwest adventure.
We started at Brasa Premium Rotisserie. It was like southern bbq with a cuban twist. Vini had the slow roasted pork plate with rice and beans. I ordered a ton of sides for us to share including: cornbread, masa cake with cheese (it was like an inside out pupusa), apple and cabbage slaw, jalapeño cream spinach, and the salad special, curried chickpeas. It was all SO delicious. Unfortunately, I only snapped a shot of our Dr. Pepper bottle. When the food came, we chowed down so fast I totally forgot to take a picture!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: travel
Tags: America, Minneapolis, travel, trip
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I love paris! It’s my favorite city in the whole world. Of all the times I’ve been to Paris, this was by far the… coldest. I’m talking gloom, snow, and ice. The last time I was in France in late November, I wore a jeans, t-shirt and a jacket. This time, I had on every piece of clothing I could layer on (about 4 before cutting off my circulation), a coat, scarf, double socks and boots. Besides that, it was also quite magical and delicious. Who can say no to butter and bread at every meal?
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: hearts, mmmm, travel
Tags: adventure, holiday, travel, trip, vacation
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Mmmm Barcelona. I think I ate the whole city. This was my second visit to Barcelona, I had a done a weekend trip there back in college when I studied abroad in London. This time, there was much more eating and way less drinking. I had my list of must-visit and must-eat’s and even though we didn’t get through the entire thing, we did some serious fooding.
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: hearts, Other, travel
Tags: Add new tag, adventure, holiday, life, travel, trip, vacation
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I know… I’ve been missing in action for a while. I’m not going to give a long list of excuses but there’s been lots going on! First, I have a new job, well it’s not that new anymore but it’s still exciting and I am loving it. I no longer need to spend half my time commuting! Woohoo! Which leads me to the second news, I moved! Just to a different part of Manhattan but I’ve got a bigger kitchen now! I have been cooking non stop since moving in. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to take pictures or post any new recipes. Guess this means I’ll have to remake everything to post it! The next big news is that I bought a new camera! I’m very excited to start blogging again and hopefully take beautiful photos of my creations.
This is the first year I am not cooking Thanksgiving, well at least for the past 3 or 4 years. This year we’re going to Barcelona and Paris! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I get to spend 2 weeks planning, a week shopping and then 2 days cooking. I would never trade that in… unless it was for a trip to Paris! So stay tuned for my next travel posts!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Au revoir!
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: hearts, travel
Tags: adventure, life, travel, trip, vacation
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I was really excited about my 100th post, so much so that I made alfajores to celebrate. I have been meaning to makes these for quite some time. I’ve always wanted to try Matt of mattbites.com‘s version because his photos look so scrumptious I want to eat the screen! But of course I can’t find store bought dulce de leche here so I had to make my own. I did it the cheater way 
simmering a can of sweetened condensed milk submerged in water for an hour and 45 minutes gives you delicious dulce de leche. I’ve always wanted to try that method! Sure the can could explode and I could possibly suffer burns but that’s the fun right? Okay to be honest I was scared the whole time. But the key is to keep the can completely submerged so it doesn’t explode. I used the biggest pot I could find and filled the entire thing with water… just in case!
So Alfajores… a delicious latin treat with two biscuits and dulce de leche in the middle. And then of course powdered sugar on top! I actually really liked the biscuit by itself with just a little sprinkle of powdered sugar. They’re a little cakey and not your usual cookie crunch. Almsot like a little pancake… in fact the house smelled like pancakes the whole time. Mmm I’m going to have another one now.
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: baking, food, mmmm, Other, random, recipes, travel
Tags: baking, cookies, cooking, food, latin, recipe, recipes, snacks, sweets
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One of the touristy things to do… take the old tram up to the peak for a fabulous view of the city. Well, unfortunately, it was all covered with fog by the time we got up there. We got some great shots of the fog though!
I did this tram/peak thing when I went to Hong Kong about 15 years ago. It was actually one of the few things I remembered from the trip. Perhaps because my mom and I had one of those touristy picture-on-a-plate things made from up there. I think it still sits on her dresser.
The peak was completely redone a few years ago and now has a shopping mall attached with some gourmet restaurants and fancy pants dessert places. It’s pretty much expected that in Hong Kong, anything worth while will have a shopping mall attached.
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: Other, random, travel
Tags: adventure, asia, asian, chinese, holiday, Hong Kong, random, travel, trip, vacation
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This is by far the cheapest way to see Hong Kong – on the Star Ferry. There’s 2 decks – the older lower level and the newer upper level. They’re pretty similar, one has air con in the Summer and one doesn’t and it’s only like a HK40 cent difference. You can ride from one island to the other for about HK$2 that’s like 60 cents!
Although I didn’t have the best luck on the night view on the way back… rocky seas make for rocky pictures!
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: Other, random, travel
Tags: asia, asian, holiday, Hong Kong, travel, trip, vacation
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I don’t even know where to start, there’s food everywhere. There’s little stalls for baked potatoes, fries with toppings, fishballs, stinky tofu, fruit smoothies, coconut drinks, crepes, I can really go on forever. But there’s one that I wanted to highlight. They’re called Little Chicken Eggs in Chinese but they’re more like funny looking waffles.
This is the famous one and it’s located here:
No idea how to find it! It’s around the corner from the Wan Chai station. You can try asking around there, or follow the waffle smell! You’ll know when you’re there when you see a huge line and pictures of Chinese celebrities eating these waffle things.
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, Other, random, Reviews, travel
Tags: asia, asian, food, Hong Kong, life, random, snacks, sweets, travel, trip
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There’s several different types of Hong Kong breakfasts. 1 – traditional congee with various other savory dishes like Chinese donuts, rice noodles things, and turnip cake. 2 – sweet buns, pineapple buns with a huge slab of butter, milk tea, milk coffee or both milk coffee and tea. 3 – yum cha or dim sum. I’m sure a 4th includes McDonald’s. They love McDonald’s in Asia – not just HK, all of Asia! More on McD’s later!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, Other, random, travel
Tags: asia, asian, breakfast, brunch, holiday, Hong Kong, life, random, travel, trip, vacation
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Boy was I in heaven. There are plenty of vegetarian restaurants around Hong Kong. Might not have very much luck with street stalls but restaurants are open pretty late and you’re bound to find something. And there’s a street market in just about every area. Most markets have a section that sell fresh fruits.
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, Other, Reviews, travel
Tags: adventure, asia, asian, food, travel, vacation, vegetables, vegetarian
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