Kyoto’s Mamezen – This Ramen is Soy Good!

Mamezen ramen

I was fooled. I ordered what I thought was a minced pork ramen at Mamezen and found out even the “meat” was made of soy. This vegetarian ramen restaurant makes its noodles from soy, its broth from soy milk and of course, as it turns out, its garnishing from soy and other vegetables. Taste-wise, I don’t think you’d realize that the meal was soy based other than from the milky appearance of the soup. My husband, a major carnivore, and I were both amazed by the richness of the broth....

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New York City – Five Fave (& Free) Places to Take a Pause

Times Square

I love New York for its energy; I can’t think of another place that is so emblematic of humanity. But sometimes, I like to remove myself from that frenzy and just observe and really savour the life of the city. The following are my five favourite spots to do just this (and they’re almost all free!).

  1. Brooklyn Bridge - walk from the Brooklyn end into Manhattan. I think it’s a really great way to spend an hour - the views from the bridge are spectacular as is peering at...
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Pic of the Day – Yosemite Deer

Yosemite
By the road in Yosemite

I took this photo just around sunrise in Yosemite. There was a herd of deer by the road as we were driving by so we stopped and I got out of the car. They were quite oblivious of my presence (along with the other cars driving by) so I had to make a slight noise before the stag looked up. Shot on a Nikon D800 at 200mm zoom, manual setting of ISO2500, F4, 1/100.

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Piedmont – More Than a Oenophile’s Dream

Piedmont sunrise

Given Tuscany’s medieval and renaissance jewels, visitors often overlook Italy’s other wine region Piedmont. But with its delicious Barolo and Barbaresco wines, super restaurants and sculpted vine covered hillsides, Piedmont is a worthy culinary and scenic destination especially since it’s within easy reach of Milan. Best of all, you can get a great meal and a fantastic room at prices well below that of comparable establishments in Milan and much of Tuscany.

I discovered...

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