Year: 2018

North Island New Zealand

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Hello Middle Earth! This is my last travel for 2018 and also my graduation trip. When I was planning this summer road trip for both North and South Island, I was very shocked by how expensive New Zealand is. Everything is easily at least NZD100 per pax hence I had to be very selective in my choice of activities. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed myself in the North Island especially at Rotorua and Taupo. We started the journey in Auckland and ended it in Wellington. From Wellington, we flew via Sounds Air to Picton for our South Island road trip. I really enjoy planning and sharing my road trips with fellow travellers. Feel free to leave comments or ask any questions! Travel plan Destination Duration of stay Distance travelled to next destination Auckland city 1N ~168km (2h 40min) Coromandel 3D2N or 2D1N ~156km (2h 20min) Matamata (Hobbiton Movie Set) Passing through ~88km (1h 20min) Waitomo 1N ~140km (2h) Rotorua 3D2N ~81km (1h) Taupo 2D1N ~372km (4h 40min) Wellington 1N Day 1 Arrive in Auckland city and spend …

Black bean banana muffin (GF)

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I’m finally done with four years of studies and now I’m off to New Zealand for my grad trip! So exciting! While I’m sitting at Sydney Airport waiting for my flight, I’ve realised that I haven’t been posting for a long time. I made these black bean banana muffins a couple of weeks ago but have been so busy with moving that I didn’t have a chance to post. Black beans have become one of my favourite ingredients to use. I absolutely love working with it because the cakes turn out so flavourful and moist. These black bean banana muffins topped with my reindeer frosting decorations make the perfect healthier Christmas party dessert! Ingredients 1 can of 420g black beans (no salt added) 3 large over ripe bananas 3 eggs 60g cocoa powder 100g almond meal 80ml honey 60ml olive oil 0.5 tsp baking powder 50g chocolate chip cookies Directions  Preparation time: 10min Baking time: 30min or when the skewer comes out clean Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Prepare a 12 case muffin tin Place …

Homemade hummus

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It is pretty obvious that I have a massive sweet tooth but I also do enjoy savoury snacks. One of my favourite go-to snack is hummus with rice crackers. I love to make my own hummus because I tweak the taste according to my liking. I’m a huge fan of chili and garlic, hence I like my hummus to be spicy and garlicky. Yum! Ingredients  2x 400g canned chick pea drained and rinsed 1/2 cup tahini 1/2 cup lemon juice 1/2 cup olive oil 1/2 cup water 4 garlic cloves peeled 1 fresh red chili (optional) 1 tbsp mixed herbs 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp parika 1 tsp black peppercorn 1 tsp chili flakes 1/2 tsp salt Directions Add all the ingredients into a food processor and blend it until a smooth consistency Place it in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours before serving

Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies

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I’ve been doing a lot more gluten-free baking lately because my boyfriend suffers from Crohn’s disease so he is sensitive to wheat. Gluten-free baking has been easy for me to adapt – I just have to play around with the proportion of gluten-free flour to cornflour to almond meal to get the texture that I want. However, he is also sensitive to dairy products which is going to be a major challenge because I can’t use butter anymore. I’ve yet to experiment with vegetable shortening but I’m sure that it won’t be as good as using butter. Anyway, these cookies are unfortunately/fortunately not dairy free but they are gluten-free and definitely tastes as good as my non gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. Enjoy! Ingredients 120g unsalted butter (room temperature) 80g raw sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla essence 1/2 tsp baking powder 50g cornflour 150g gluten-free flour Directions Preparation time: 15 min Baking time: 10-15 min Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy Add in the egg and vanilla essence and continue to cream Sieve in …