VANILLA LATTE is a blog dedicated to food & travel with occasional random stuff thrown in. It is managed and written by me, Maggie Ha.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!
On our second day in Hong Kong, we hoped on the MTR to Tung Chung on Lantau Island. Took the cable car up to the Tian Tan Buddha. It was a super foggy day and it was beautiful the way the fog sat over the mountains and over the statue. Once we made the pilgramage up to the top, we stopped at the vegetarian cafe for some snacks before heading back to Kowloon. YUM!
Old boat & about 1/4 of Hong Kong Island
The other end of Hong Kong Island
Goldfish Market near Mong Kok
When it comes to seeing the sights in Hong Kong, there’s not that many. Not saying it’s not a spectacular city, it’s phenomenal! But not in the same way a place like Rome fills your day with sights. Hong Kong’s splendor lies in the majestic city scape both day and night, the different islands, and most of all the food and the people.
We spent equal time on Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon side. Both are very different yet very Hong Kong. Not sure where to begin so I’ll just split it up into several posts!
Hey everyone,
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I’ve been really busy preparing for Thanksgiving and lots of freelance work to catch up on. And… there’s been some drama at the house. Last year’s Thanksgiving drama was that my dining room table that I had ordered just in time arrived without legs. We ended up having thanksgiving dinner on my patio outdoor table. This year, my neighbors upstairs decided to flood their appartment. Leaving me with a hole in my ceiling and a wet carpet. Needless to say, I was furious. Carpet has been tended to, steam cleaned and back to normal. Ceiling is waiting for a repair man but should be fine… but this was definitely not needed!
I’ve been a little stressed about Thanksgiving, only because I’m just so excited for it! So much so that I have written out my groceries list twice, planned my to-do list for both the day before and the day of. And today, I planned out my oven timeline:
So far my Thanksgiving menu will be:
Garlic & Rosemary Roast Turkey w/stuffing
Vegetarian Stuffing
Garlic Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Chef Barnaby’s Mac N Cheese – with my own twist of course
Green Bean Casserole
Brown Sugar Glazed Yams with Marshmallows
Cranberry Sauce
Spinach Salad with Ricotta and Balsamic Glaze
Cornbread & Jalepeno Cornbread with Honey Butter
Roasted Vegetables
Pumpkin Pie
I will post recipes after the big day so I can include pictures.
Hope everyone has a happy turkey day!
I have been pretty busy with quite a few things. work for one thing has been incredibly busy. Then I was planning the trip to Palm Cove/Great Barrier Reef/Daintree Rainforest. Then I was on the trip. and now that I’m back, I’m slowly getting back into the pace of things.
I have something planned to cook and post very soon. Please stay tuned and in the meantime, enjoy some pictures.
back to tokyo. now this half of the trip was really a blur. as soon as we get back, we meet up with Blake for more exploring. we ran through the streets of Harajuku but this time, we hit up everything designer. louis vuitton, chanel, prada, comme des garcons, and marc jacobs. and for Vini, the GAPE and billionaire boys club shops. oh boy did i drool.
that night we ended up going to what Blake and his friends called “the chicken place”. it was in the korea-town of tokyo, apparently a place you don’t really want to go to. so of course around the corner, down some alley, up some unmarked stairs, we find our way to this “chicken place”. i had some vegetable dishes and Vini gorged on various dishes of chicken on skewers. the best part was that they had steins of beer for $2.80. the table next to us had some very loud and obnoxious japanese college students. we thought it was this dating thing that japanese youngsters do – it’s like a double date but with 5 guys and 5 girls. this is how they date. one of them knew english and was eaves dropping on our conversations about them. it was absolutely hilarious because at one point, we rescued him from his crazy drunk friends. ends up, he lived in diamond bar for 5 years!
the highlight of the night was one of the drunk girls dancing beyonce. needless to say, our dinner parties were some how intermixed, we had some beers, had some laughs, and had some more beers. somehow we all make it home safely.
the next day was absolutely useless. we finally got up and out of the hotel at around 3pm. made our way to the taxi depot to pick up our backpack. so…. before leaving for yugawara, we had accidentally left our backpack in a taxi. the concierge at the hotel we were staying at after yugawara helped us track down the taxi and gave us an hourly report on the status. it was amazing customer service. they found our bags, and we slowly inched our way to get it back. we were baffled that no one could remember what happened after japanese beyonce. how did we get home? who paid the bill? where am i???
our backpack had nothing but a bottle of water missing from it. that’s just amazing. you would never be able to find a missing bag anywhere else in the world. there is just so little crime in japan, it’s mind boggling. vini and i wander through the malls connected to Shinjuku before meeting up with Blake for dinner. at this time we were still feeling awful from the night before, so what’s best to cure a hang over? SHAKEY’S! yes that’s right, we went to shakey’s again.
the next day, nice and refreshed, we hit up Roppongi. this place was weird. i mean don’t get me wrong, i love seeing american things. banana republic made my day. but after the past several days with Blake showing us all the “local” spots and going to yugawara… i don’t know, i just wasn’t ready to be a westerner again. Roppongi Hills is a weird place. you live there, work there, eat there and shop there… that was the intention. don’t get me wrong, i like having things close but this was a bit too close for me.
we had lunch at Suji’s. it’s american home cooking, owned by a korean-american lady. and the funny thing is that the USC alumni association was right upstairs. we tried to pop in for a visit but we couldn’t figure out how to use the buzzer. then we went to mid-town roppongi where Vini drooled outside the Konami building and i found some funny art things. after that we made our way over to Ginza to meet up with Blake.
oh Ginza. gigantic flagship stores for every single label i can dream of. i fell in love in the burberry store… i was so close to walking out with a raincoat. if i was going back to America, i would have made the purchase, but since it’s going to be summer in Sydney… i couldn’t justify it. we also went into the chanel building, the sony building where they had all the new products on display, and a really big department store. there is just so much shopping everywhere you go, i’m in heaven.
we made our way to Gody’s for dinner which was okinawan food. it was amazing food, definitely a cuisine i had never tried, egg with bitter melon, shredded green papaya salad, seaweed grape things and okinawan beer. i couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the trip. oh but wait! in true japanese form, we weren’t done for the night. we ended up going back to Baba (the area around Waseda) for a bowl of ramen. well the boys had ramen while i sat waiting patiently. we had missed the last train but the walk back to the hotel wasn’t too bad. we had a nice last walk through Shinjuku in all its lights and red light district shadiness. tokyo is a crazy place filled with fantastic food, generous food and lots of alcohol. i don’t know when i’ll be back but i sure hope it’s soon.
My local favorite is currently Ground Support in SOHO. I go there almost every day for a smooth creamy soy cappuccino or if it’s hot out an iced soy latte. When I’m not in a hurry to run out, I try to take a few extra minutes to enjoy the coffee in the shop… you know, chat with the staff, catch up on some calls and best of all… people watch. Always some interesting characters in NYC!
