A brief introduction
Welcome to Hou Bakes! I’m Sophia — the girl behind the camera and the keyboard.
I’m a Canadian graduate student currently completing a Masters of Public Health in Nutrition and Dietetics. I completed my undergraduate degree in nutrition as well, and I’m working towards becoming a Registered Dietitian in the future. My passions lie in public health policy, food security, and fostering healthy relationships with food and culture.
This blog is my way to document my favourite recipes and share my passions for balanced nutrition and intuitive eating. Here, you’ll find recipes to nourish your body and soul with ingredients that you already know and have. (However, you’ll also find some more decadent and traditional recipes that taste like home. 😉 ) Although this blog began at an earlier stage of my own ED recovery journey — as you may notice in some of the earlier “health-branded” posts – I do like to think of this corner of the internet as my space to document my personal growth as a human being as I progress through life (and share some great food while I’m at it).
Whether you’re a college/university student trying to cook healthier meals in less time (so you have more time to … study), an ED survivor looking to simplify and take the fear away from food, or just looking for a bomb chocolate chip cookie recipe that outshines any other, I hope you find something here that helps!
Thank you a billion for supporting this little project/experiment of mine, and happy eating!
Wait … Who’s Moli?
On some of my recipes, you’ll see that the recipe authors are both myself and “Moli”. Moli is my mom! She helps with the recipe inspo and development for most of the Chinese recipes on this site — plus, acts as my #1 hand model for drip and dip shots <3
[2020 archive]
The text below was part of my original bio when I started my blog in 2020. Although not completely representative of who I am anymore, I am keeping it here for sentimentality and to document a piece of my personal history.
My passions
Eating Disorder (ED) Recovery — shedding light on my own recovery journey, spreading awareness for ED, and providing resources for other warriors in recovery and potential caregivers. Eating disorders are often invisible or hidden, and are definitely more common than one may think.
Intuitive Eating — a strategy used in repairing one’s relationship with food after cycles of short-term dieting or disordered eating behaviours. It takes time in order to rebuild your connection with your body’s own hunger and fullness cues. I’m still working on my own journey to better intuitive eating, so feel free to tag along.
Body Positivity and Positive Body Image — encouraging everyone to love the skin they’re in. Maybe you’re trying to gain or lose weight or change the way your body looks, but if you don’t start your journey from a place of self love, it’s hard to feel truly fulfilled or truly enough even when you reach your goal.
Anti-Diet Culture — for most people, the best “diet” to sustainably improve your health long-term is simply to focus on a balanced diet centered around whole foods, but that allows for treats here and there. More often than not, fad diets a) are not catered to individual nutritional needs and food preferences and b) incur temporary and short term changes without lasting benefits. Let’s leave the diet cycle behind and learn to love, respect, and care for our bodies.
Baking and Cooking — I love having fun in the kitchen! Experimenting and tweaking recipes, using cooking as a way to connect with loved ones, and sharing my culinary creations just bring me so much joy. Plus, it gives me a chance to apply what food science knowledge I’ve picked up from school as I try to make healthy tweaks to classic recipes.
Food Photography — a new one, since I started blogging. I’ve learned so much so far about how to use a DSLR camera (recently started shooting on full Manual mode!), what props and equipment can easily upgrade your shots, and finding my style in editing and post-production. It’s been so much fun and I love seeing myself improve with each shoot.
Bonus Facts About Soph
I love plants! I’m currently a plant mom to 20 or so plant babies (many of which are succulents), with lots of propagation experiments underway. Plants on my wish list: Monstera Deliciosa, Pilea peperomioides, Snake plant, and ZZ plant! (2023 update: I know own all of these, 3ish years later.) I’m also planning on secretly propagating my dad’s Anthurium.
My favourite foods: REALLY GOOD BREAD, dark chocolate, salmon, broccoli, and cookies! Ouu — and nutritional yeast. Mmmmm.
I love learning new things and pick up random hobbies for fun! I’ve learned some basic knitting and ukelele as of late.
I’m really intrigued by languages. English is my native tongue, but I’m conversationally fluent in Mandarin and trying to improve my French and German. 🙂
Photo credit: Ryan Wong
