Make - Bake - Travel

After a year of following each other on Instagram, it was a pleasure to finally meet the founders of The Tigernut Company! Ani, who is in charge of the social media and press side, made some delicious vanilla shortbread using Tiger Nuts Flour and I couldn't wait to make a match at home.

If you haven’t heard of tigernuts, they aren’t actually nuts but a tuber plant, so are completely nut-free. High in fibre, tigernuts are a source of magnesium, potassium and vegetable protein. As they are naturally sweet, they are great alternative to milk and flour. 


As well as the vanilla shortbread on my list, I decided to experiment and make some  matcha glazed donuts. Free from dairy, soy, sugar and gluten, these naturally sweet donuts are a healthy baked snack. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients (makes 6 donuts)
1 cup of tiger nut flour 
1/4 cup of almond milk
3 1/2 tbsp rapeseed oil 
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp salt

Matcha glaze
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp ma…

Located in the city of London and situated on the 40th floor, you’ll find a 24 hour restaurant that serves traditional British cuisine with European influences.
Our first visit to Duck & Waffle was back in November 2014, where we were kindly treated to dinner by Ken’s brother and sister-in-law. We tried the famous confit duck leg and fried duck egg, which is served on top of a crispy waffle and with maple syrup along with a few other starters. The only thing that was missing was the view. It is easier to be allocated a table by the window when in a group of two. 



We decided to return two years later in July and were delightfully given a table by the window, where we could watch the sun set whilst eating. For starters, we chose BBQ-spiced crispy pig ears, which were served in a brown paper bag sealed with a wax sticker. The thinly cut strips were crispy, crunchy and well seasoned but as they had been deep fried, the oil had started to seep through the bag. I did enjoy them but it is b…

For those who enjoy fuss free baking - Mrs O has a variety of different mixes, which require a few simple ingredients before being turned into a delicious dessert. Apart from being incredibly easy to make, what I love the most about all the mixes are that they all free from dairy, egg, gluten and soya. 

After previously trying the vanilla cake mix (full review here), I was delighted to be able to be a donut mix tester. 

Made by adding a few extra ingredients (milk, oil, vanilla extract and butter), you'll have beautifully baked donuts in minutes! Topped with a shiny chocolate glaze, these donuts make a great treat.

Baking: The instructions are very easy to follow and the recipe does not call for expensive ingredients to make the donuts, which is another bonus! At first, the mixture may look lumpy but as you continue to stir it becomes smooth very quickly. When piping the mixture into a donut tin, it was a very similar consistency to churros but it didn’t show as much once fully baked…

This Marylebone based tea shop helped me through the sweltering hot days and the super chilly ones. Serving a wide range of green, black and red teas, it's not unknown to ponder about what to drink. I was lucky to be able to try a variety of hot and iced teas in one seating and they were all deliciously satisfying.

Tea hot to handleStarting with the Lychee, pomegranate and raspberry green tea. Made with black tea leaves, this dark tea is a perfect morning drink. It has hints of oolong and a subtle lychee sweetness and also boosts the immune system, improves mental alertness and assists in removing toxins.  Spent the afternoon at @amanzitea learning and sampling yummy teas! Thank you for having me :) #amanzitea#teadifferently#tea#foodblogger#rose#greentea#marylebone#london#ukig A post shared by Naomi Loo (Make-Bake-Travel) (@naomi_loo) on Aug 5, 2016 at 11:28am PDT
The Detox tea can be enjoyed hot or cold and is free from caffeine. I normally find these kind of teas overpowered with f…

For those who follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that I organised my first blogger meetup! Happy to host us and tell us all about his ice creams was Mirko, the owner of Prime Gelato.

Based just a few minutes away from Tottenham Court Road station, you’ll find this small but modern gelatoria, filled with 27 different flavours! Within those 27 flavours a dozen of those are vegan and also gluten free flavours. Long gone are the days where we could only choose between lemon or raspberry sorbet. Vegans can now treat themselves to a range of creamy, nutty sorbets and refreshing, fruity ones. 
Vegan sorbets  Sorbets are usually thought as an icy, creamless alternative to ice cream. However, using the top of the range ice cream machines, Mirko makes sure that all his sorbets are free from those crunchy ice granules and are super creamy by using the natural fats from the nuts. Here are all the vegan flavours available, which can change:
Hazelnut and Coffee If you love coffee, the hazelnut and coff…

For Halloween, I signed up for my work’s charity cake bake and made this spooky spider cake. Made of three tiers of swirled vanilla and chocolate marble cake and covered with chocolate fudge icing, it’s a classic cake with a Halloween twist! 



Marble cake ingredients 225g butter, softened 225g caster sugar 225g self raising flour 4 eggs  3 tbsp milk 2 tbsp cocoa powder 1 tsp vanilla essence
Decorating 1 tub of Betty Crocker’s chocolate fudge icing White chocolate icing pen Black icing for the spider Red strawberry laces (optional)
How to make Heat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Grease a 20cm circular cake tin and line it with greaseproof paper. Beat the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold in the flour, milk and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.
Divide the mixture between two bowls, adding cocoa powder to one of them to make a chocolate mixture. Place one spoonful of the vanilla mixture in the centre of the tin, followed by a spoonful …

I discovered EatFirst at one YFood's events, where the founder Rahul Parekh told us how he started his high-end food delivery company and the most challenging things he's overcome and goals for the upcoming year. EatFirst are a like an online takeaway, except they only serve wholesome dishes, which are all created by chef Benn Hodges in their big kitchen. There are meals that are ready to eat but some you can warm up in minutes at home. These change weekly and seasonally so keep checking back for new things to eat! 
Unfortunately, my commute home made it difficult to keep the box flat so my photos would not have been the best - so here are some from EatFirst's website. 

How does it work?
After checking that they could deliver to my work address in London, I browsed their website and decided to go for the Grilled baby chicken and Loch Duart salmon teriyaki. It'll ask you to create an account before you pay and then you can select your address for delivery at a specific tim…