I'm wearing out on posting about the z80 projects, so it is
probably time to talk about noodles. Ramen noodles, and the
like.
I'm not a connoisseur, nor any form of expert on the
subject, I'm just someone who loves things similar to
ramen. This is how I approach many thing in my life
actually, and so noodles could be for me a sort of
allegory or microcosm.
I'll eat the cheap store brands like Top Ramen and Maruchan,
and I enjoy them. I like Sapporo Ichiban as well, which is
only slightly more expensive. There's a brand that I can
get around here easily called Nong Shim Noodle Bowl, which
I also like. I'm not sure if all of the various noodle
dishes that I get a hold of are technicall ramen or not,
but it doesn't matter much to me. I'm not a ramen purist.
When I was a kid, my mom was a health-food nut of sorts,
with a very strong tinge of particular-junk-food-nut
weakness thrown in. We didn't have a microwave, because
she thought it was going to irradiate us. To make a long
story short, we never ate ramen, because she thought it
was junk. Donuts? Sure. Ramen? No way.
The first ramen I can remember having was actually at my
neighbor's house, and it was Ichiban. I remember
thinking the name was akin to "Ichabod," as in Crane,
the notorious character of Irving's Sleepy Hollow. The
name stuck with me, and helped me find those noodles
again in my adulthood.
In my 20's I lived in France for a few years, and I knew
a guy that lived there who was from China. I was young
and didn't have a ton of money, and he used to give me
packages of ramen noodles that he got from somewhere,
the writing on them was all in Chinese (I think, I can't
recall exactly.) I would eat them with oyster sauce.
They were wonderful, I wish I could remember what brand
they were. If only they had a name that matched a well-
known story character.
My kids (and I, admittedly) love the movie "Ponyo," and so
we like to make "Ponyo Style" noodles together as a family.
If you've seen the movie, you'll know that I'm talking
about- Sosuke's mom serves them to Ponyo with ham on top,
which illicits a gratifying response. I suppose it's a more
traditional/real style ramen dish, with noodles, eggs,
meat, and veggies. I still like to use the easy Sapporo
noodles in there though, nothing fancy.
Some day I hope to have the opportunity to explore "real"
ramen, but for now I'm content with what I've got readily
available.
