Cute Collar Cake

I have an affinity for anything with a peter pan collar. You may call it an addiction. It's my thing! My lovely sister made this adorable cake for me in tribute to my love for collared dresses! It's so cute! The actual cake is a victoria sponge and it's covered in a vanilla buttercream. Clothing has never looked so delicious! Na xo

The Greenhouse

Earlier this month, I found myself on the other side of the country in a little city called Perth. I stumbled upon this fantastic eatery called The Greenhouse. I instantly fell in love with the look, the feel, the food and the concept. It's a wonderful project that is based on the idea of sustainability. They have thought of everything from where their food is sourced to the building materials used, in order to minimise their ecological footprint. The building is made from recyclable materials and the first thing you notice is...it's covered in pot plants! Covered! When you walk inside, you instantly feel like you're in a good place. The service is so warm and welcoming and if you venture upstairs there's a cocktail bar surrounded by a vegetable garden!

Over my time in Perth I frequented the Greenhouse and had delicious fresh pasta, home-made lemonade (I THINK it was made with honey instead of sugar. Genius!) and creative cocktails served in jam jars! Na xo

Sugarcane Prawn Recipe

Photography by B.E. (left) & M.H. (right)

I have fond memories of sitting around the family dining table and constructing our very own Vietnamese rice paper rolls or "wrappies" as we used to call it (and still do). You can pick and choose what you want to put in it, as much or as little as you like and wrap it up into a tasty little morsel! I made sure that my little parcel was wrapped perfectly so the filling wouldn't fall out, my little brother on the other hand would gather it up by the corners, roll it into a big ball and put the entire roll into his mouth :). From a hosting point of view, there's very little preparation time required and our guests have always enjoyed the experience. It's a great meal for summer days because it's fresh and light.

Thai Chicken Larb

Photography by B.E.

I love larb it's so fresh and tasty! Serving it in some wonton cups, makes for a quick and easy entree that can easily be scaled up if you are having friends over. I used the recipe from Blue Ginger: The Flavours of Asia at Home, Les Huynh. Mi xo

Pandan & Coconut Cupcakes

I wanted to make some super-special cupcakes for Na! I love the combination of pandan and coconut as you may have noticed from the recent ice cream post. I found a great recipe for Pandan Coconut Cake originally from Creative Making of Cakes by Alex Goh. Instead of making a cake, I made 24 cupcakes using a standard 12 hole muffin tin. Topped off with a coconut buttercream, using Na's fantastic basic buttercream recipe. If you ask her nicely, she may share it with you. Mi xo

Pandan & Coconut Ice Cream Recipe

Photography by B.E.

This recipe has been adapted from the vanilla ice cream recipe in Iced 180 very cool concoctions, Murdoch books.

Mixed Mushroom Tart

I love mushrooms! I got this recipe from ABC's Delicious magazine. Not only is it packed full of mushy goodness, but the pastry is mainly made up of cheddar cheese and it crumbles in your mouth as you bite into it. YUM! Mi xo

Walnut Whoopie Pie with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Monchichi loves whoopie pies! Thanks R.E. :) Mi xo

My Morning Coffee

While it is true that Na is a tea drinker, Mi on the other hand is a coffee drinker. Opposites attract right? I love my morning macchiato before work at one of my favourite cafes, it gives me a little kick start to the day. Even better when your coffee is smiling right back at you! :) Mi xo

The Tea Room

I am a tea drinker. Always have been and always will be. It's not that I dislike the taste of coffee, it's just that it doesn't give me that comforting feeling that tea does. Everyone knows that there is a slight social stigma attached to being a non-coffee drinker but that's fine with me, I'm sticking with my love for tea!

The ultimate tea drinking experience can be found at The Tea Room at the Queen Victoria Building. This place is very proper and sophisticated so no thongs/flip flops! It is located in what was once the Grand Ballroom of the QVB. It offers the best selection of fine teas from around the world and no high tea would be complete without a wide range of sweet and savoury treats to nibble on. So relax, sip your tea, eat your cucumber sandwiches and don't forget to extend your  pinky! Na xo 

Lime and Bubblegum Milkshakes

I usually try not to eat or drink blue things because I feel that it's the most unnatural food colour (except for blueberries of course, which are super fruit!). My family and I travelled through South Africa earlier this year and found these delicious lime and bubblegum milkshakes at a local fast food chain called Wimpy. Contrary to the name they specialise in quite meaty, sizable burgers. I felt terribly unhealthy afterwards! A bubblegum milkshake every 4 years or so is ok, right? Na xo

Piggy Cupcakes

Some lucky people in my life will remember a time when I was totally obsessed with piggies! They are so adorable, I had to find a way to create the cutest piggy cupcake. These cupcakes are made from a basic chocolate cake recipe, glace icing, marshmallows and choc fudge icing for the eyes and nose. They are way too cute to eat! :) Mi xo

Gelato Messina

The first thing I have to say is, I did not make this! Nor could I even imagine making this! The mushroom top is made of a rich dark chocolate gelato with a peanut butter surprise in the centre. This sits on a vanilla gelato base and the "grass" is made from popping candy! Amazing! This adorable mini creation and many more can be found at Gelato Messina in Darlinghurst. If you consider all the work that goes into making this, it's definitely worth the $10 it costs.

I can't wait to go back and try the mini gelato cheeseburger complete with a fried egg and dripping tomato sauce! Na xo

Green Tea Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Unlike me, my mum doesn't have a sweet tooth so when her birthday was coming up I wanted to make her cupcakes that were not too sweet. Green tea was the answer! I went on a mission to find matcha, but couldn't find it anywhere in the Asian food stores. I should have looked closer to home, in the end found it in T2. Dissolving the matcha was a little tricky, make sure you warm up the milk and whisk. In the end, I was pretty happy with the flavour and most importantly my mum loved them! Thanks to Na for the buttercream recipe. :) Mi xo

Cinnamon Macarons with Peanut Butter & Caramel Ganache

Photography by B.E.

I went through a phase of being totally obsessed with making macarons. The perfect rounded meringue shell with cute little feet, I had to make these! It took several attempts and some tears along the way but finally I did it. I often find that macarons are very sweet, using peanut butter adds a slight saltiness that balances the flavours. Mi xo

Gingerbread Men

I was on a quest to find the perfect recipe for thick and soft gingerbread, did a quick search in google and found this great recipe Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies. I had some trouble finding molasses at first, but it was well worth the wait. This recipe is everything it promises to be, thick, chewy with the wonderful dark colour and flavour of molasses. Thanks Mark Manguerra! Mi xo

Jam Doughnut Cupcakes

A fun twist on the classic jam doughnut! The recipe was taken from a delightful little book called "Cupcakes: a fine selection of sweet treats" by Murdoch Books. They're filled with strawberry jam and dusted with cinnamon sugar. The only minor problem was that the jam settled towards the bottom of the cupcakes but they were still very tasty! Best served warm with a nice cup of tea! Na xo

Minim Gingerbread

My two favourite things in life combined music and gingerbread! I couldn't find any molasses so used golden syrup instead, they still tasted delicious. I bought these super cute cookie cutters from The Raspberry Butterfly. Mi xo

Christmas Cupcakes

Every Christmas our workplace throws a huge Christmas party and we all bring along a plate to share. Na and I wanted to make something sweet and super special for the party, so we talked about how we could create some Christmas themed cupcakes. This was in fact the beginning of a beautiful friendship sharing a love of food, especially cupcakes and what would one day become "MiNa's Food Adventures". The end result was choc-peppermint (Na) and red velvet cupcakes (Mi). We thought they looked pretty awesome and tasted great too! MiNa xo