Cookbookmaniac
  • Curried Butternut Squash Soup by Ellie Krieger
    Curried Butternut Squash Soup by Ellie Krieger
    Asian Recipes

    It was not long ago when I first made this soup. If you follow me on facebook you would recall a status update that read something like "ARGH!!!" I had the hardest time peeling the skin off the butternut squash. I used almost every sharp utensil in the kitchen to skin the bastard and I barely scratched the surface. I even beckoned Pizzaboy for help. We stood at the kitchen bench for almost an hour trying to cut away the tough outer layer and chop the flesh. Although the soup tasted very nice - albeit thin because i had cut quite a bit of flesh away with the skin and ended up with less than what the recipe called for - I declared I would never do it again. I told my mother about our ordeal and she let out a chuckle. "You are silly. You did not boil the…

  • 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.…