A Donation From Florida!

Got a package from Greg B. of Marathon, Florida today! I wonder what’s inside?

Rad box, btw!

Awesome! Thanks man! He sent some new stuff, some that I’ve tried before and a bag of shallots! Those are going to be great! Greg’s the guy who’s working on the iPhone app! I’m sure we’ll all be hearing how that’s going soon! Again, thanks! If you’d like to make a donation, email me at info@ramenrater.com and I’ll send you my info and mail you some Ramen Rater stickers!

How I Eat My Ramen

Hello fellow “Rameners” My name is Greg, and I am a Ramenholic. As a new contributor to RamenRater.com I thought it would be appropriate to use my first post to share how I prepare Ramen noodles.

First a little background…

I was born in Japan in the 60’s and lived there until I was 8 years old. My Father was in the United States Navy, but we lived off base in a normal Japanese neighborhood. Sliding doors, rice paper windows, sit on the foor dining table, etc. Just like you would see in a movie. I went to a regular Japanese elementary school. 8-5, 6 days a week all year around. I have been eating Ramen and rice for as long as I can remember.

Enough of that, now to the good stuff.

I open the Ramen Drawer in my desk to choose todays delicacy.

Since I am at work I have to microwave my Ramen. I use this nifty covered plastic bowl I purchased at one of my normal Asian Grocery stops, Woo-Sung in Winter Park Florida.

Since this article is not really a review, I am just going to have a standard Mama Pork flavor for lunch today. The main US Brands stopped making pork flavored Ramen a few years back, so you pretty much have to go to an asian grocer to get pork flavors.

Here is the packet ingredients waiting for the microwaving noodles. I got this bowl from my Mom for my birthday. The plate underneath also acts as a lid to help the noodles steep before eating. I never use all the hot packet. Just enough to give it a little kick. I am not a big fan of super-crazy-hot food.

Here are the noodles in the bowl. I use the specified amount of water to cook the noodles that the package says, but I pour most of it off before adding it to bowl with the flavor packets. I am not a fan of soupy noodles. I want it to be more like eating Lo-Mein.

I also use chop sticks, which is a lot easier if the noodles are not soupy. The first time I ever used a fork I was almost 10 years old.

I put the lid on the bowl and let is all steep for about 3 minutes. This lets the noodles absorb the flavors and they also cool off a little.

Now it is time to turn a bowl of Ramen in to a meal. I add some soy (always Kikkoman, the off brands don’t do it for me). And some rice seasoning. Since I have no way to fry eggs at work, these have a dry yolk powder in them that adds an egg flavor.  I would normally add some chives, but I am out.

Right before I start to eat (so they don’t get soggy) I add some chow-mein noodles to give it a little crunch.

And here we have it ready for to eat. No a bad lunch for $.59 cents.

Here is a video of how to use chop sticks.

tl;dr, New guy eats noodle dry, no spice, uses microwave and chop sticks.

#505: JML Artificial Spicy Beef Flavour Instant Noodle

Here’s another that Floridian Greg B. sent me a while back. Spicy beef, eh? Sounds good to me!

Clockwise from top – oil, seasoned powder and veggies.

Nice, rich colors abound in the form of tasty seasonings! (Almost sounded like something I read in an old 70’s BH&G book on modern entertaining…)

Added two nice fried eggs to the meal.  So the broth was nice and rich – greasy but not overly so. The noodles weren’t bad and hydrated well. The flavor was intensely strong. Quite salty and quite spicy – surprisingly so. Not too bad – 3.5 out of 5.0 stars!

How to make Chinese noodles at home!

The terror!