ANZAC Biscuits

Photography by T.H.

Mr Mi loves to cook savoury dishes and I love to bake, you could say that we are a perfect match. The other day, he said to me "You know I've always wanted to try baking. What can I make?" and I thought to myself well it's ANZAC day so..."What about ANZAC biscuits?". These biscuits are easy to make and relatively fool-proof. So he made some yummy treats for me today! Here's a little history on this great egg-less biscuit. Try out this recipe for deliciously chewy and super easy to make ANZAC biscuits you won't regret it. Mi xo

The Velvet Underground Banana Bread

It was time again to make a birthday cake for a special someone. This particular person shares my love for the coolest band in the world...The Velvet Underground. If you haven't heard of them, please do yourself a favour and pick up a copy of any or all of their albums. I recommend "The Velvet Underground and Nico". The cover features an artwork of a banana by Andy Warhol. As you can see, I tried to recreate this in a cake! I used a cream cheese frosting for the background, which just involved mixing cream cheese and icing sugar. I dyed some store bought marzipan yellow and carefully cut out the exact banana shape by printing out a picture of the album and using it as a makeshift stencil. I then used this fantastic little product that makes decorating so easy; a fudge writer. It's basically chocolate fudge in a tube that you can squeeze out easily. I did to the best of my artistic ability try to emulate Warhol's artwork. Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

Now I knew for a while that I wanted to make a Velvet Underground themed cake but what kind of cake should it be? Then it came to me....forget cake and make banana bread! I got the recipe from my mum's old issue of a Womens Weekly cook book. Since I think the chance of finding a copy of this book is slim, I will share the recipe with you...

Hong Kong Egg Pudding

Australia Dairy Co. 47 – 49 Parkes Street, Kowloon, Hong Kong

After our trip to Singapore, Mr Mi and I decided to head over to Hong Kong for a few days. Well, why not? We stayed in the Kowloon district near Yau Ma Tei MTR station and on our first morning decided to head over to a place that one of our friends had recommended to us. We weren’t sure if we were at the right place, but given the long line of people we figured this must be the spot. Do not be deterred by the length of the line as it moves very quickly. In no time at all, we were sitting at a communal table opposite another couple, faced with a non-English menu and a tiny bit concerned as to how or more importantly what we were going to order.

La Bodeguita Del Medio

A couple of weeks ago I discovered a fun cuban bar/restaurant called La Bodeguita Del Medio on York St. in Sydney. The original restaurant was founded in the 1950's in Havana, Cuba and has famously become known as the "Home of the Mojito".  As soon as you walk into the bar, you're hit with the wonderful scent of mint because pretty much everywhere you look, someone is holding a delicious minty mojito. Even Ernest Hemingway pronounced his love for this particular mojito and if it was one of Hemingway's favourites, I had to have one!

Besides the mojitos, the food in the restaurant is also definitely worth the visit. I had the Tamales al horno con Huitlacoche (Baked sweet corn, tomato, chipotle chilli and Mexican truffles) and my boyfriend had the Matambre de Pollo (Free range chicken, cabbage, quinoa fricassee and jamon crumbs). The tamales was served with these crispy bread things. I'm not sure what they were called exactly but they sure were tasty!  The interior of the restaurant is very cool too. The walls are covered in graffiti (in a good way) and there are these massive booths that look so cosy. I'm already thinking about returning for another round of tamales and mojitos! I think I'll round up a few more peeps so we can grab a booth, relax and briefly feel like we're in Cuba. Na xo

Singaporean Black Pepper Crab

Black pepper crab from Long Beach MAIN Singapore.

Mr Mi and I recently visited Singapore and went on a quest to find the best black pepper crab. We were only there for a few days so wanted to make the most of our dining experience. After reading a few restaurant reviews on trip advisor we decided to try out the crab at Long Beach MAIN. I've never had black pepper crab before so have nothing to compare it with, but I thought it was very tasty indeed! Eating crab is always hard work and very messy, once you've managed to crack open the shell and peel it off you are sure to be rewarded with the tender, juicy and tasty flesh inside. I was not disappointed!

 

No meal would be complete without dessert, so we headed down to Chinatown to a place called Mei Heong Yuen Dessert. I ordered the almond and black sesame snow ice (left) and Mr Mi had the watermelon and lychee snow ice (right). I'm not sure how to describe this dessert exactly, I guess it's a mix between ice cream and a snow cone. The layers of snow ice are soft and pillowy, resembling the layers of chocolate in Cadbury flake. I enjoyed it quite a lot, it was nice and light not too filling even though it looks like a huge mountain! We had so many delicious treats in Singapore, far too many to mention here. If you are ever in Singapore be sure to try these places out! Mi xo

Baked Lasagne

I made this for lunch recently and I don't want to toot my own horn but I think it was pretty tasty! The family seemed to think so too! I got the recipe from a book called "Classic Italian Recipes" by the acclaimed Italian food writer Anna Del Conte. This baked lasagne or lasagne al forno was amazing and not too much trouble to make. I served it with garlic bread and a simple mixed leaf salad. It's definitely a must try so pick up a copy of Classic Italian Recipes and get cooking people! Na xo

P.S. Happy Easter!

Milk Chocolate Fluffy Duck from Bon Bon Fine Chocolates

Peas Please Part 2

Remember Peas Please cafe which has the cute little vintage souvenir spoons? Well, we came back for a second visit and this time tried out something from the breakfast menu. Mr Mi and I shared an egg, bacon, spinach, parmesan wrap and an egg, mushroom, spinach, pesto wrap. The portion was quite generous and satisfying overall, can't say it's the best breakfast I've ever had but for $12 I'm not really complaining. Still stand by my comment on the coffee, would definitely come back for that...oh and the cute spoons of course. Mi xo

MiNa's Theme Song

I stubbled upon this cute little song from 1950 called "If I knew you were coming, I'd've baked a cake" by the adorable Eileen Barton. I think it's a sweet representation of our blog and what we love to do...bake and eat with friends and family. I threw the Sesame Street version in too for extra cuteness! It put a smile on my face and wiggle in my hips so I wanted to share it! Enjoy! Na xo

The picture on the left is from her live show at the Copacabana in 1954. Photo source.