My daughter tells me I'm the only older (like over 35) person she knows who still eats ramen noodles. Yes, it's true. I regularly boil that brick of starch for three minutes and then flavor the whole thing with that tiny foil packet of god knows what's in that chemical dust. Even the steam off the little girl's bowl is a question mark, what's that tell you? And why the mouse ears and the wink? Are there rodents in that stuff?
But I digress.
Ramen noodles are the culinary mainstay of the wholly broke, but when I was young and poor, these noodles didn't exist in America, at least not where I lived. I existed on pasta and parmesan cheese, chicken livers and onions.
Then there was ramen, and it was so cheap I could make a decent soup with ramen, hot sauce, spinach and onions. Not bad. In fact, compared to what I was eating before (I've been so broke that I once hitchhiked across the country on little more than the soup I could make from hot water, ketchup and crackers - all free) that ramen noodles were a luxury.
So, in spite of having enough money for a proper lunch these days, I've retained my taste for ramen. What about you? Anything from your salad days that you still enjoy? Blue Ribbon beer? Cheez-Wiz and Ritz? Night Train and Crack?
Talk to me. I promise not to tell.
3 comments:
Kraft Mac and Cheese (4 boxes for a dollar!) with hot dogs cut up and mixed in.
I'm with Dusty, can't beat that Mac 'n Cheese for a quarter. The hot dogs are, of course, the protein. Odd thing is, my 9 year old daughter hates it.
David,
Campbell's Chunky Soup and I load up on at least a dozen cans when it's on sale. Also, any form of pinwheel, the chocolate-covered cookie that has just the minimum amount of cookie to let it be classified as such.
When I was a kid here in San Francisco because of the Japanese population and our proximity to Japan, they did have ramen back in the day. Even this semi-fresh stuff that you could buy in the produce section where the noodles were still soft, not dried.
I quit eating the stuff in 2004 because my cousin pointed out to me that virtually all brands have monosodium-glutimate(sp) in them.
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