#the broccoli thing just here bc i like how crunchy it is when i have no appetite fo anything else

[catchmewjsn]

or maybe top 5 dishes you like to cook if thats too vague rjenfj i dont want you to meditate over ur ask box for too long & id love some recipes 😋

omg i cook a lot but i usually just mix what i have without thinking and I'm not the best at following recipes but what people enjoy from me are usually some bland dishes skdjd so

różne rodzaje pierogów

sałatka z nogą brokuła

zupa z soczewicy (that's ofc not even close to being polish etc but i love making it and eating it(not that the other ones are close))

makaron z sosem z fasoli (seems super weird but is amazing)

nie wiem, prawdopodobnie zupa z dyni bo wszyscy uwielbiają 😔

[tim-official]

How do you make a good salad? I been trying to eat healthier and this could help!

ive gotten so good at this oh you have no idea.. my bf is a master chef of salad

a salad is a bowl of texture with a sauce that makes the texture taste good

put as many things as you can in there. just nothing soft. doesn't have to have much lettuce. possibilities: cucumber, cherry tomatoes, zucchini (raw), red onion, green onion, carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, broccoli stem, kohlrabi, cauliflower, cooked root vegetables (raw or pickled beets are really good if you cut them very thin). You don't even need lettuce or any leafy green (their main purpose is to be rough and ragged and hold a lot of dressing compared to, like, a cucumber slice)! Just make a bowl of texture!

fruit is good too, for tartness and sweetness. apple slices, dried cranberries, raisins. my secret weapon: dried figs. not too expensive and you only need a few. slice them up. if you can find fresh herbs for not-crazy expensive, those are flavor bombs. throw a sprig of dill in there. or basil.

protein in the form of meat or tofu if you want it. not required

invest in a big thing of nuts (walnuts work well, relatively cheap) and some kind of crumbly cheese (feta is ideal bc cheap, blue if you like stinky). get them at costco if you can. sprinkle just a little of both on top. if you have tortilla chips / potato chips lying around sprinkle some on too. it makes a difference. you get occasionally nutty or cheesy bites. variety. it's exciting and dynamic

the dressing: make your own if you can. make a big batch and keep it in the fridge. a decent "house" dressing is: one part honey, one part red wine vinegar, one part white wine vinegar, one part olive oil. add peanut butter OR tahini (my favorite, seriously, it's magic - not a lot, just a little) for a nice creaminess. other good dressings, search them, there's many recipes: white miso dressing (my personal favorite out of all i've tried), greek yogurt dressing, various takes on "dragon bowl dressing" (based around nutritional yeast and tahini), roasted red pepper dressing (grinding up canned roasted red peppers into a paste) or a really simple balsamic vinegar dressing (balsamic + olive oil + mustard + some source of sweetness). ranch also exists

final life hack: toss the salad before you make it, with the dressing. then move it into the bowl you'll eat it from. when you pour it like this, the smallest bits (crunchy stuff) that was on the bottom of the first bowl after being tossed end up on the top of the salad. i take this very seriously.

tim this seems expensive

it can be, especially upfront. the condiments i have available to me are like 5 types of vinegar, nice olive oil, miso, mirin, tahini, peanut butter, nuts, cheese, nutritional yeast. all those together, most bought from costco, probably cost about 175 bucks but last for many months. thing about a good salad is that you need a great many items but only a tiny amount of each of them.

as for fresh veggies. i get mine from a farm co-op. i go pick them up once a week for 33 bucks, they're fresh-picked and i swear it's like 60 dollars worth of veggies if i got them at the store because i live in quebec and veggies have always been fucking expensive up here. (only problem, if you're a picky eater or have dietary constraints, is you can't always choose what you get). i eat them every meal and still struggle to finish them by the time the next week rolls around. a lot of places have excess produce programs that are similar.

so for me, now, it's cost-effective because i'm eating salads like every day and i have a huge variety so I never get bored. but I had to commit. I only go grocery shopping for, like, condiments, chips, eggs, milk, cream, rice. and I don't eat a ton of meat.

obviously this is not accessible to everyone, because Hell World and food deserts and subsidies for grain only. i didn't even mention the labor of cleaning + chopping all these things. but hopefully this gives you an idea of what you could do with what you have. (you do not, as i do, need to own five types of vinegar.)

[poptartmochi]

15, 36 and 56 for the ask game! 🌼💖

ohhh celina!!! 🥺 thank you for these! <3 i struggled with the first one a bit and it's kind of 😬negative?😬 but I made a good recovery from there! anyhow, i hope you are well and that this week goes swimmingly for you! <3

prompt

15. personality description

the way this one makes me feel like dio... hohoo you're approaching me! 👀 i'm actually terrible at describing myself so!! wish me luck! i think the best way to describe myself would be like a flurry, i'm just. A Mess haha. I'm always thinking and thinking and overthinking and sometimes this can be good, like when I'm writing, but most times it's 😬 not healthy! I feel like I'm intangible, or maybe wishy-washy. i have bad memory and I never Really Know how i feel about mundane things, and my mood often flips from sulky to peachy on the drop of a hat. I try to think and be positive to pull myself up outta the slump, but outwardly I think it makes me come off like I'm overcompensating.. actually I'm not even sure that's true- a lot of my performing arts kids have said I'm like a squirrel, in that I'm kind of always stressed and trying to balance and/or jump from one thing to another. but that was 3 years ago and I think or at least hope I've mellowed out since then?

ultimately, I really don't know! T w T I think my defining personality trait is anxiety, and everything else kind of gets lost in that sauce, if that makes sense?

36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill?

this one!! alongside the 5 things that make you happy question! these are the 🥺😭🙌🏼 (i don't have the finger purse [fun fact: i had NO idea what this gesture was called before this lmao] emoji on desktop so i hope those make sense XD) questions, I feel like they reflect who a person is SO well 🥺🥺 here are my three!

live within driving distance to the ocean.. the closer the better 😈😈

visit Vietnam with my mom+ ideally my grandma!

develop a decent ASMR channel! (once i get some confidence, it's over for the dust that's been on my yt channel since 2018 😈)

56. favourite food(s)

ohhhhhhhh this. >:) you have opened pandora's box my friend!! I have so many, but I think gỏi cuốn is my all-time favorite! whenever my mom makes those i fr inhale them and every time it almost ends in me choking (since the noodles + rice wrapper Should Not Be Inhaled), but I never learn... my passion for them is immeasurable and I need to learn how to make them! From there I think it goes to chili, specifically my brother-in-law's chili ^^ There's just something about the way he makes it that hits different- thankfully I've made this one many times so I will never be without it muahahaha! I'm a big fan of soups, so many of my favorite foods are soup... pho, chao, wonton, tortilla.... sos! During quarantine, my sister made this like?? Dorito? nacho?? casserole thing? that was actually heavenly and I've been hardcore yearning for it since I came home... OH banh xeo is SO good too! beyond full-on dishes, I typically love things that are Crunchy- corn nuts, sunflower seeds, takis lmao. it's like a primordial Need to crunch on things and I couldn't tell you why! 😆

OH also i forgot........dairy my belovie my enemy..... dairy gets its own little section because i have the lack toes n'taller ants 😔😔 but i eat milky/cheesy things anyways 😈😈 some of my faves in this category are linguini alfredo my fucking BELOVED 😭😭😭😭💗 queso burgers from chili's (although I need to learn how to make them myself bc theirs kinda sucks D:), cheese + broccoli soup, the aforementioned tortilla soup..... so much love in my heart for these, but so much pain in my stomach, too（；´д｀）ゞ

adding this bit in after tags.... bun thit nuong cha gio (which for my entire life, i imagined was spelt bun tit nun chaio..... help) is conceptually very very good but I have yet to have one that Hits The Spot.. despite this, I Know when i do get that conceptual bun thit nuong cha gio i Will fucking Lose It on the Spot

[extranoodlesyvr-blog]

Gyo Para

Introduction

Usually this is the spot in reviews where people talk about the things they were doing before getting to the restaurant. Mr. Noodle and I have agreed that neither of our lives are exciting enough to talk at length about, so instead we’d like to give you some background information about the restaurant, Gyo Para. Gyo Para is the reincarnation of a ramen restaurant from the nineties called Gyoza Paradise. It was opened in 1993 on Thurlow and Robson by the Aramaki family. Boy, how I’m sure that spot has changed over the years!

The concept was simple back then too-- serve a small selection of great ramen and gyozas. The son of the original owners has decided to continue to family business and works as the head chef at Gyo Para. They focus on using natural flavours and avoid adding MSG to their dishes. They also pride themselves in using the “Neu G7 Water Activation System” from Japan to purify their water, which they use as the base for their ramen broth. 

The Place

Gyo Para is located near the intersection of Broadway and Arbutus which makes it very easily accessible by the 99 B-line. We parked around the corner along arbutus, where you can often find free 2 hour parking on the street. The first thing you notice when you enter the restaurant is the large “gyoza paradise” painting from the original shop on the wall. It’s vibrant colours and nineties style really makes it stand out amongst the otherwise minimalistic and wooden decor. Unlike other ramen restaurants, the space is actually quite open, with a very large communal table in the center. That being said, the place can still only host at most 30-40 people.

When we got there, it was fairly busy, so we were sat at the bar. Although we know some people aren’t big fans, we actually don’t mind sitting up at the bar-- it brings us closer to the action. From our bar seats, you could see straight into the kitchen and there was a hanging tv playing a Japanese film on Netflix. The space behind the bar was a bit disorganized, with some dirty plates and rags waiting to be taken into the back. In all fairness though, the restaurant didn’t have many places where the servers could put things down to rest and it didn’t really bother us much.

The Menu

With a concise selection of five ramen you won’t have too many options to weigh before making up your mind. Gyoza and fried rice are available if you’re looking for something additional to snack on. I think it would be heretical not to order gyozas from a place called “Gyoza Paradise”, so we got ourselves an order of the pork ones. We don’t rate non-ramen items in our reviews, but we would definitely recommend getting an order if you have room! The gyoza skin was incredibly thin, but still crunchy and nicely caramelized from the frying. The filling was also very tender and juicy--- they were honestly really frickin’ good gyozas. Mr. Noodle also ordered himself a beer. They only have one draft beer, Kirin, which comes in 16oz for $4.75. There are also a few other drink options like hot tea and highballs.

The Ramen

I appreciate shorter menus, because I find that makes it easier for me to come to a decision. In fact, this decision took almost no time at all-- I was set on the Butter Corn Miso Ramen. Butter and corn are no strangers to the ramen world, but in Vancouver you rarely find them as toppings on a “default” menu item, but rather as sides that you can add. One can’t miss out on this sort of opportunity!

Broth: Wow. This broth was seriously delicious. If you haven’t had butter in your ramen before, the concept may seem sort of strange. There’s no reason to be intimidated though! Once the butter melts it gives this lush richness to the broth, with a warmth reminiscent of hearty comfort foods. Definitely worth a try!

I think Gyo Para uses a white miso in the broth, since the miso flavour is delicate and not too in-your-face. I think lighter miso was a good choice since it balances out well with the richness contributed by the butter. In addition, the broth wasn’t too salty nor too heavy which was just what I wanted.

Noodles: I try to be cautious when it comes to evaluating whether ramen noodles look hand-made or *store bought*. I don’t want to go around making any false claims! I’ll say instead then, that these noodles were fairly generic. They had that familiar yellow colour and standard thickness. They were pleasant to chew on but not quite al dente. It seems that there are a good handful of ramen places that use this type of noodle in Vancouver. They are not necessarily memorable nor anything particularly outstanding. Nevertheless, they get the job done and contribute to an overall enjoyable ramen experience.

Toppings: The Butter Corn Miso Ramen came with two pieces of chashu, green onions, seaweed (wakame), a few chopped vegetables (carrots and broccoli), and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. Oh, and a generous helping of corn and butter, of course.

I enjoyed my chashu. The pieces were soft, tender and about 1cm thick. Fat is gratuitously marbled throughout the meat, adding good flavour and richness to each bite. The corn was crunchy and slightly sweet, which was a nice contrast to such a umami-filled broth. I also liked the way the butter came in a beautifully rectangular slice, perched delicately atop the ramen.

I am definitely a vegetable person. However I found that the small pieces of carrots and broccoli didn’t really add much to the overall dish. There was only perhaps 2 or 3 thin slices of carrots and a random broccoli floret here and there, so their inclusion didn’t feel very purposeful. I wouldn’t have missed them if they weren’t there. Price: This ramen cost $11.95. I personally thought that this was a very fair price, and would happily pay the same again in the future. I  think that since butter ramen is harder to come by in Vancouver, this ramen warrants a “novelty” bonus factored into my calculation. Now, for some of you, the lack of an egg may be a setback but i think the price if justified even without it.

Presentation: I felt excited when my ramen was brought to our table. The bowl looked very appetizing and the yellow and greens caught my eye. The butter was placed delicately, still solid and unaffected by the steam from the broth around it. It was almost as if it was waiting for me have a first look (and take photos) before melting away gracefully into the soup.  The corn and sesame seeds seemed  a bit scattered in their placement, and I had a few stray wakame climbing up the walls of the bowl. But that’s me being nitpicky, this was definitely a solid bowl. 

Mrs. Noodle’s Verdict

Broth: 4.5 Noodles: 3.5 Toppings: 3.5 Price: 3.5 Presentation: 4

Mr. Noodle got himself the Shoyu Ramen. I’m actually surprised he didn’t get the cold ramen (they had a sesame flavour!) but he said he was in the mood for something hot and uncomplicated. Broth: This broth was very clean. It was thin and clear but still very flavourful. Mr. Noodles appreciated how the shoyu brought a subtle earthiness to the dish and didn’t think that it was overly salty or oily. He feels that the broth harmonizes very well with the noodles, but probably wouldn’t be a broth that he would drink straight from the bowl.

Noodles: The shoyu ramen used the same noodles as the noodles described above in my miso ramen. Mr.Noodle felt that they were a little bit on the soft side, and would have been perfect if cooked for just 20-30s less. 

Toppings: This ramen had very humble toppings: two pieces of chashu, half a ramen egg, menma, green onions and spinach. Mr.Noodle thought that the chashu was good although he would have probably liked to see more of the fat rendered out. There were two distinct lines of fat, which may be a bit unappetizing to some. He also felt that the meat could be a little bit softer. Otherwise, the chashu had a nice texture and flavour. As for the egg-- this was really good! The texture was perfect. Soft and runny, but at the same time not falling apart. Sometimes you get ramen eggs that are too fragile and disintegrate into the broth. This egg held itself together well and was Mr. Noodle’s favourite topping of the dish. 

As for the other toppings: the spinach added a nice green colour, but didn’t have much flavour. The slight crunch was appreciated though! The menma was pretty average, similar to most other menma we’ve had. Finally, the green onions actually brought a really nice freshness, which definitely elevated the flavour of the ramen.

Price: The Shoyu Ramen cost $9.45. Part of the single-digit club! Mr. Noodle thinks that any ramen under $10 is incredibly reasonable, and this one is no exception. One would probably expect to pay around $11-12 at other restaurants for a comparable ramen. $9.45 is very fair for what you get, especially since an egg is included and you get two pieces of chashu. Presentation: This ramen was fairly simple so there weren’t too many components have to think about. Everything was organized neatly and overall looked very appetizing.

Mr. Noodle’s Verdict

Broth: 3.5 Noodles: 3 Toppings: 3.5 Price: 4.5 Presentation: 4

Conclusion

Piece of Vancouver history. We never got the chance to try the original, but very glad we got to visit version 2.0. Will be back!

Gyo Para Gyoza & Ramen Bar 2120 W Broadway Vancouver, BC V6K 2C8 604-288-2941

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Rating: 3.8 Ramen Eggs