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


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Red White & Blue Cheesecake 5Jul09

Red White & Blue Cheesecake

I made a cheesecake!!! A very patriotic red, white & blue cheesecake to be exact. Okay so it’s more like yellowish instead of white but you get the idea. Now for a disclaimer: I generally don’t like cheesecake. I usually only eat the crust and the little bit of cheesecake that touches the crust. So that said, I actually liked this cheesecake! Biased? Well of course because I made sure the crust was nice and thick and there was enough berry topping to balance the cheesecake-ness. :)

This cheesecake was made with a graham cracker crust, the most important part! Note, for the Aussies that read this, you cannot find graham crackers here! Although I think a good alternative would be crushed up Anzac cookies! Definitely going to try that soon. I actually had my mom ship us some graham crackers so I can make this. Well worth the extra shipping and handling. I adapted this recipe from Martha’s Blueberry Topped Cheesecake. Now this cheesecake is note quite as cheesy as a traditional New York style cheesecake and it’s also not as tough. It’s got a bit more lemon to it as well. Hmmm might be why I liked it? Hope you like it too!

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Jam Sandwich Lemon Cookies 1Jun09

Jam Sandwich Lemon Cookies

Does that sound right? Sandwich Lemon Cookies with Jam? Jam with Lemon Cookies? Well either way, it’s pretty darn good! The best part is that you can eat the cookies as is, or make them into jam sammiches with your favorite jam. I tried these with every type of jam I could find in the house. I think my favorite is the Beerenberg’s Satsuma Plum jam. The mixed berries one works well also, it balances out the lemon really well. I also used some very sticky and unique tasting Burnt Fig Jam… that one was interesting but good. Vote goes to the plum jam with a close second to the apricot! Try it out and see which ones you like!

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World’s Best Guacamole 18Jan09

World's Best Guacamole
I know it’s a bold statement, “World’s Best Guacamole”. BUT, if there’s so many places that claim to have the world’s best pizza and world’s best chili burger and world’s best coffee… why can’t I? Actually, it’s probably not the world’s best guacamole - it’s just a damn good traditional guac. And I named it “world’s best” because of Nigella Lawson. I am not a fan. She doesn’t show me anything  common sense doesn’t already teach me. Anyway, I was watching her show (I know, I torture myself) and she was doing a “latin” theme. She made a guacamole but put the most disgusting things in it… like blue cheese. Why would you ruin such a fabulous dip like that?! So, I’ve decided the world needs to know how to make a real guacamole. And I’ve had a lot of friends ask about the recipe. Rant over, recipe begins:

Ingredients:
2 ripe hass avocados (you’ll know it is ripe by pressing down around the stem, soft = good to go!)
1 tomato - diced
1 yellow or red onion - diced (I prefer yellow, but for a milder onion crunch, go with red)
1 handful of cilantro - finely chopped
2 green onion stalks - chopped thin
1 jalapeño - diced (You can remove the seeds if you don’t want it too spicy)
1 lemon
pinch of cayenne pepper
fresh ground pepper
splash of habañero hot sauce
sea salt
garlic salt

Optional:
1/2 red bell pepper (aka capsicum) - diced
1/2 a cucumber - diced

Step 1: Chop chop
In a large bowl, throw in all your chopped ingredients. Chopped onions, jalapeño, cilantro, tomato, green onion and optional red bell pepper and cucumber. The red pepper and cucumber adds a really nice crunch to the guac, I generally like to add a little bit of each to give it a different texture. Traditionally, it’s without. Okay, now season this mixture with fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Mix it all up and now we’re ready for the avocados.

Step 2: Scoop
Now cut the avocado in half, take out the pit and scoop in the yummy inside into the bowl. Save the pits! We’ll need them later. Do this to the 2 avocados and then squeeze the juice of an entire lemon all over it. This will help it from turning brown! Now add in the spicy parts. Splash of habañero if you like spice. Dash of cayenne pepper - to your liking - I like spice so I’m usually generous. Sprinkle some garlic salt and fresh ground pepper over the avocados.

Step 3: Smash & serve
Now take a fork and smash up the avocado against the walls of the bowl while mixing in the other ingredients on the bottom. You don’t need to go crazy, just enough to get the avocado mixed in with the other ingredients. You’re not making a puree so don’t over mix! Chunky is good! Now stick the two avocado pits in the bowl and that will help it from browning as well. Throw some chips in a bowl and you’re ready to serve!

Tips:
When storing guacamole, make sure your saran wrap (cling wrap) is touching the actual guacamole and not letting any air in. This will keep it nice and fresh! You can also squeeze lemon juice all over the top layer before doing that but it will change the flavor of your left over guac - just a bit more lemony.

Wholemeal Lemon Bars 3Sep08

wholemeal lemon bars

Sounds gross I know.L emon bars are supposed to be buttery bad for you goodness but since I’m on a healthy kick, I tried to make it slightly better for you. try them out!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of wholemeal all purpose flour
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
170 grams of butter (or 1 1/2 American sized sticks) - cut into small pieces and room temp
4 eggs
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of wholemeal all purpose flour
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
1 1/2 cups of sugar
powdered sugar to serve

preheat oven to 350°F or 170°C

Step 1: The base
With your hands, mix the 1 1/2 cups of wholemeal flour, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and butter together until flour is mixed in but still looks crumbly. Press the mixture into a baking pan - I used a 10×10 baking dish. Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes or until it turns golden brown. Remove from the oven but keep it on.

Step 2: The yummy part
Beat the eggs, lemon juice, sugar, lemon zest and 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of flour together until well mixed. Pour the mixture on top of the baked crust and throw it in the oven for another 25 mins or until the mixture is set (use a toothpick!). Remove from the oven when it’s ready - it should have a golden brown layer on top. Let it cool before cutting. Sift powdered sugar on top before serving!

Hope you like it! I ate a bit too much :/

wholemeal lemon bars

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.


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