sophie's life

Food Adventures! // ramen & granola bars & kale

Sophie Li

Copy of MINI-REVIEW

Hello everyone!!

Other than books, which are food for the brain, I also really love… well, food food. Like the kind that we eat with our mouth.

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Do you ever see people taking photos of their food obsessively before their meals? Trying to perfect the lighting and the angle? Well, that is kind of me.

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You guys may know that I recently moved to Vancouver. Since then, my stomach has been very happy :’) I want to show you guys the delicious restaurant food that I’ve tried, as well as some of my home-cooked meals!

Ramen (aka. The Best Noodle To Have Graced the Surface of the Earth)

Have you guys ever had ramen!??! (As in, the Japanese kind?*)

*The Chinese were the ones who invented ramen, aka. la-mian, which is a form of noodles that are made by pulling dough into long, thin strands. However, although I am fiercely proud of the country that I came from, I got to admit… that I prefer the Japanese variety [shields self from thrown tomatoes]

Anyway, ramen is SO, SO amazing. You guys would have to try. My favourite kind is tonkotsu, which is ramen that is made from a rich, pork broth:

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This tonkotsu is from Yaguchiya Ramen. You can see that there are additional toppings that are added to the noodles and the tonkotsu broth. Some common toppings are chashu (slices of pork meat, often shoulder), diced green onions, marinated egg, and seaweed. 

I also had a matcha pudding, which was delicious! Matcha is a finely ground green leaf powder that can be made into tea and desserts.

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Kamamarui Ramen is one of my favourite ramen places in the city so far. The broth is so rich, and the serving sizes are generous. Those are the biggest pieces of chashu that I had ever been served in a ramen restaurant.

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This is a delicious ramen made from chicken broth, from Marutama Ramen. I actually really REALLY loved the chicken broth. On the right is a plate of dashimaki, which is a Japanese egg omelette that has a slightly sweet flavour. It is amazing 🙂

Homemade Granola Bars!

I am a snacker– I seriously cannot wait the 4-6 hours between meals without munching on something! And when I get hungry, I get super hangry**. Knowing that I will be working longer hours at my new workplace, I prepared these delicious homemade granola bars to tide me through in between meals!

** Hangry = the sensation of deep injustice that you feel when you are extremely hungry (likely a first world problem)

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To make your own, check out this recipe @ Bless This Mess!The amazing part is that the recipe is easy and entirely customizable. You can pick and choose your own mix-ins! The ones that I used for these ones are banana chips, chocolate chips, dried blueberries, and pistachios.

Oh yeah, and they turned out to be delicious! I brought one large container of these to share with my coworkers and they were gone before lunch!

Citrusy Kale Salad!

However much I want to be healthy, I… just don’t like many vegetables okay?? I hate broccoli, spinach, arugula, and egg plants, among many others. There is one vegetable that I recently discovered that I love!! And that’s kale!! 

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I absolutely love how easy it is to make this salad, and how light it tastes. If you want to give this a try, check out the recipe @ The Garlic Diaries! (Psst, the recipe calls for slivered almonds, but I used pistachios, which worked really well!)

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What were your favourite eats this month? Do you take photos of the food that you eat or make? Have you tried a new restaurant or recipe this month? Are you a snacker? Do you like vegetables?

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Last but not least, be sure to join my giveaway (if you haven’t done so already!) Click here for more details!

Published by Sophie Li

I am a Chinese-Canadian book lover & aspiring author. When not reading, writing, or taking care of an infant, you can find me organizing my life using a spreadsheet while munching on chocolate.

24 thoughts on “Food Adventures! // ramen & granola bars & kale”

  1. Ahhhh I love this post. I am one of these annoying people taking pictures of my food as well haha, I love to and it makes sweet memories haha 🙂
    I LOVE granola bars so, so much and that recipe you made sounds amazing – definitely have to try this one at home soon! Thank you for sharing! 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi Marie ❤ Haha glad that I'm not the only one taking food photos. Yes it does make a good memory! Sometimes the food is too pretty to just… eat, you know?
      Hope that you'll try the recipe some time! I love how versatile it is. You can make up your own variation depending on what toppings you like 🙂 It is also a super fun recipe to make! Thank you ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. YES exactly, and sometimes I just want to keep a memory of this moment and this lovely food 😛
        You’re welcome! I’ll have to try sometime soon 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Oh Sophie your pictures are making me really hungry. 😀
    I’m one of those people always taking photos of food as well. I mean, not obsessively, I don’t take a picture of every single meal I have before I have it but if I’m out at a restaurant or if I’ve baked something myself I will take a load of photos! 🙂
    I absolutely love ramen (feel like I’m going to have to get some tomorrow after seeing your pictures, I have a craving now), and I’m not a massive fan of granola bars but your pictures look great so I’m going to have to check out that recipe for sure.
    Great post. 🙂 ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi Beth ❤
      Yes! Food photos are a must especially when the food looks so perfectly delicious 🙂 And it's always more special when we cook or bake something ourselves, right?
      Yay!! Isn't ramen so awesome!??!
      I like the flexibility of the granola recipe (you can really mix in any ingredients you like!) Even if you are not a fan of granola, maybe there is a variation that you will like? 🙂
      Thanks Beth ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I’m hoping to get some baking done myself this Easter weekend so I’ll be taking loads of photos when I’m done you can bet on that. 😀
        I’ll have to look up some of the variations for sure, always up for trying new things.
        That’s all right. 🙂 ❤

        Liked by 1 person

  3. OK, that’s going to escalate quickly. Food is one of fav topics ever and I love to cook! And taking pics of food when I am not so busy eating! Of course living in a small town of a small country getting the right ingredients for international dishes is challenging.

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    Reply

  5. This post made me so, so hungry — and there is definitely something delicious about Japanese ramen that I can’t describe! I love Chinese noodles as well, if I had to choose, I would probably go with ramen 😋 Ahhh and the tamago sushi is my favorite! No matter where I am, if I get Japanese food, I need my filling of tamago. I actually just bought kale at my Farmer’s Market on Saturday, so I think I’m going to try out your kale salad recipe 😊 Great post!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hello Zoie! Yes ramen is so awesome! Frankly I don’t eat Chinese noodles enough (despite being Chinese haha), I think it is something I want to try more of this year 🙂 Yes tamale is amazing! Hope that you will like the kale salad recipe! Let me know how it goes if you get a chance to try it 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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