Cookbookmaniac
  • White Velvet Cake with Real Buttercream Frosting
    White Velvet Cake with Real Buttercream Frosting
    American Recipes

    I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to children. I've never grown up with a burning desire to become a wife and a mother. My parents spent more time pressuring me to go to university and study than teach me how to keep a house and tend to babies. Please don't get me wrong. I am not a hater of children. I want to have children of my own in the future. I'm just not the first person in the room to leap out of their seat when a baby enters the room. In fact, the desire to have children of my own only sprung up when I met Pizzaboy. He was so cute and wonderful. I decided that I would one day need to produce more little joys like him. (My apologies if that sounds a bit too gross). I become really confused when I receive Baby Shower invitations. Firstly,…

  • Chocolate Pear Pudding by Nigella Lawson
    Chocolate Pear Pudding by Nigella Lawson
    Baking Recipes

    I love corner shops, they have always been there for me. I could always count on them to have enough lollies, chips and ice cream to make me grin like a spoilt child. They were perfect for the after school snack of pies and sausage rolls in my teenage years. They were the place to get the newspaper and magazine for the bus/train ride to work as a young adult. I also love the corner shop because whenever I have a craving and want to make something simple and quick... I can simply duck over to the little shop around the corner. No need to start the engine of the car. No need to dress nicely. Sure its much more expensive, but the convenience is far more important when you just want a homemade chocolate cookie fix. The corner shop became my hero when I decided to pull this together…

  • Banh Mi Thit – Vietnamese Pork Rolls – Miniature version
    Banh Mi Thit – Vietnamese Pork Rolls – Miniature version
    Asian Recipes

    I grew up in a small suburb in Sydney called Cabramatta. It is a thriving, family-oriented Vietnamese metropolis. Taking a stroll through the shopping centre can be best described as, "a cleaned up version of Saigon." The streets are lined with bakeries, sweet shops, tiny restaurants, grocery shops and many other places touting to make the best vietnamese products outside of the motherland. When I was in primary school mum use to walk my sisters and I home almost everyday. There were two different routes that we could take. One was a quick walk through suburban streets and the other was a longer walk through the shopping centre. I always secretly hoped that we would walk through the shopping centre. It gave me ample opportunity to put on the desperately-hungry-act so that I could weasel a few dollars out of mama's wallet to buy whatever sweetie that took my fancy.…