Easy Pork Ramen Recipe, Because Everybody's Into Ramen

This idea came to me after my mom and dad gave me some ideas on what to cook my husband for dinner. I told them that Nick isn't a fan of repeating dishes (except for Subway!) but that I didn't want to slave away every night in our kitchen. So they said the best way for variety is to boil pork shoulder.

They gave me a variety of recipes - slice the pork shoulder after and serve it with a dipping sauce or serve it with fried tofu. My mom said to store the broth in mason jars and use it as my base for sinigang (a sour broth soup favorite among Filipinos). But for someone who's watched countless cooking shows featuring ramen (in fact this week we just watched an episode of Chef's Table on Netflix which featured a Jewish chef whose ramen is quite famous even in Japan), I knew the base of any ramen is either pork or chicken broth. So I could easily make ramen from this.

Tebasaki Chicken

I love Japanese cuisine. Their cuisine intensifies the flavor of each ingredient and makes use of their aroma to bring out a craving and completes the satisfaction for the dish. Ingredients are carefully chosen to either complement each other or bring out the other's intense flavor. And the Japanese' attention to detail ensures that we're in for a treat beyond their appealing presentation.

An Anime-Inspired Dish Coz Why Not?

If there is one thing that friends from high school would remember me for - it is that I absolutely love anime. It started with my best friend insisting that I watch one of the hit animes back in our grade school years (I'm not gonna say how long ago that was!). After that, I was hooked.

Fast forward to a lot of years later and I'm still as hooked as I was back then. But my focus shifted from looking at the bishounen characters (I don't think anyone would be surprised that I spent most of my teenage years drooling over fictional men - I did attend an exclusive all girls school!) to noticing how yummy the food and bento boxes are in these animes! I've started drooling from boys to food. Haha! You can see how much I've grown there, right? Or did I actually? Haha! 

The Santouka Ramen Experience

The one thing I love about living in the Greater Vancouver area is the easy access to great tasting and rich broth Japanese ramen. When my husband and I made our way to Vancouver that night, we were headed to another ramen place, one that serves chicken broth. Unfortunately for us, since this is favorite amongst the ramen places, they ran out of ramen. Haha! But apparently, that is how it is in Japan. My friend recently had a trip there, and one of the things he shared with us is that you eat and you go and they'll serve you only what's available that day. And when they're out, they close down for the day. And there may only be a couple things on the menu. I guess that makes sense as they mostly serve fresh seafood and what's in the season.

Koto Thursday, It's Sort Of A Tradition

Thursday is usually a pretty busy day for me and my friends. We have work (of course), then proceed to Richmond Food Bank to help in giving out food necessities (and some really random stuff w/c somehow found their way in the warehouse), then I go work out at the gym while the others head to the church for our worship team's band practice. After sweating myself out, I'd go back to the church and we'd start discussing where to eat, which usually ends up as either Aji Taro or Koto Izakaya. Our tongues seem to have been trained to crave Japanese food every Thursday and our choice would only be between those two. I don't join them in Aji Taro as much as I do in Koto Izakaya, mainly because Aji is all-you-can-eat and it kinds of defeats my purpose of working out earlier. But when it's decided that Koto it is, I make sure to go.

Banzai!!!

This little Japanese restaurant in Richmond (which isn't saying much really, there's a LOT of those in here) has been a family favorite since we've been introduced to Banzai. Sad, but I don't recall how we got to know this place and how my first time experience was eating here. Though that is the case, I'm sure my first time is the same as any other time I've eaten here - satisfyingly fulfilling!

The Japadog Craze

It is almost a part of the downtown Vancouver culture to grab a hotdog for a quick bite before heading to a Canucks game at Rogers Arena. But of course, it cannot be just any hotdog - it's gotta be Japadog! Okay, I sounded like a totally lame advertisement! Lol! But you get it, right?

Battle of the Ramen: Kintaro

Part 2!

I have mentioned in my previous post that we wanted to go this famous Ramen place but ended up going to a totally different one, but no regrets there of course.

A week after that, we finally scheduled to go to Kintaro, the one in downtown Vancouver. Coming from Richmond, it wasn't a really hard commute - a Canada Line, bus, and a bit of walking - and you're there. And yes, you would want to commute, as there's no parking available - it is downtown so no surprise there.

Battle of the Ramen: Ajisen

 Tenderous Ribs Ramen 

Around the start of fall, when the winds started to pick up, so is my craving for some hot noodle soup. It was then so timely that one of my friends discovered this famous Ramen place in one of his trips in downtown Vancouver. A schedule was then made to check that place out on our next Sunday get together.