Nongshim Ansungtangmyum Spicy Miso Flavor

Friday's lunch was another Nonshim product: Ansungtangmyum Spicy Miso Flavor Korean-style noodles. Inspired by the countryside markets of ancient Korea, where each locale had it's own distinct flavor. According to the maker, this flavor harkens back to the streets of Old Anseong (also romanized as "Ansung"). "Tangmyun" means "noodle soup".

This is another ramen (or ramyun, as the Korean's romanize it) with dual flavor packs. One that provides a soup base, and another that provides some veggie bits and garnish. I wonder if the flakes or the soup base is universal to many flavors, and that's why they are packaged separately.

This ramen reconstituted into a lovely reddish broth with abundant seaweed chunks (kombu?). It was pungent and spicy, but not overly so. Some sliced fresh green onions and perhaps some thinly sliced protein would really take this bowl to the next level. Perhaps some enoki mushrooms would also expand the umami flavors. I would also consider a dab of gochujang chili paste to really set this one off.

The noodles themselves retained a certain firmness despite my getting distracted and over-cooking them. They were much more toothsome than your average bargain ramen. Very enjoyable!

MONDAY UPDATE

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With the addition of a tablesppon of Lighthouse dried chives and a drained can of chicken, this bowl is vastly improved. Just the right amount of salt, heat and of-the-sea-ness.

SamYang HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen

Today's lunch was provided by SamYang "2x Spicy" HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen:

Preparation was a little confusing. The directions could have been more explicit, and I didn't have the requisite equipment in the office to do the stir-fry step. Basically I did what everyone does with a brick of noodles and some flavor packets: I dumped boiling water from the electric kettle on it and stirred it up with the contents of the packets. This was my first mistake.

I'm still unclear what the "sachet powder" is because the contents of the larger packet was an oily sauce that was excitingly flavorful and possibly a by-product of etching titanium reactor fittings. Here it is in the early stages of the thermobaric reaction:

Next, I dutifully dumped the packet labeled "flakes" into the bowl and let them marinate. They consisted of innocuous-looking sesame seeds and tiny, grass-like, strips of a shiny black material. The water began to take on a deep reddish quality and the tiny pepper slices in the flakes began to reconstitute. Oily bubbles began to aggregate along the interface of the bowl and the liquid within. I grabbed a fork and a spoon and returned to my desk for lunch.

It was POWERFULLY spicy. From the moment it hits one's lips, it's hard to get a sense of the flavor besides pure, soul-burning, angry hotness. Fortunately, the high temperature of the water tends to dull the nerve endings a bit, so the effect has a delayed ramp-up. I realized that my initial logic was flawed. I thought that "2x spicy" wouldn't be a big deal for someone who frequently eats 4-5 star Thai food. The problem with that calculus is that it fails to take into a significantly large value of "x". I'm sure that the original intent of the "2x" was referring to both the sauce and the flakes having a spicy component. SWEET ODIN'S BEARD, they sure do.

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From the far side of it, this wasn't a bad lunch --just not terribly filling-- as I physically couldn't command my hands to lift the bowl in order to the drink down the broth. I have several of these packages of condensed-hatred-of-a-thousand-suns, so I'm definitely going to try it again; paying special attention to the modulation of the sauce/flake ratio and the TLV (Total Limit Value in MSDS data-sheet parlance).

Be bold, comrades-- and pay special attention to black lightning coming out of a red-faced chicken's forehead.

NongShim Bowl Noodle Soup - Hot & Spicy Flavor

Yesterday's lunch was privded by Jakki's latest trip to the Asian market. The package was convenient and mostly recyclable, except the metalized paper "lid". Preparation was as easy as expected, and as an added bonus, you can do them in the microwave without boiling water. This makes them a good choice for trailer camping.

The flavor was a little "meh" but it was plenty spicy, inducing the requisite pepper-sprayed protester coughing fit. The veggie content was expectedly light; there seemed to be more carrot pieces than anything else.

The "shrimp" was an interesting addition: It appeared to be a large, thick sheet of surimi with a top-coat of a pinkish-orange dye, rolled up jellyroll-style and then sliced thinly across. This produced smallish rubbery spirals with a colored "vein" that added a note of the sea.

The noodles themselves had a good flavor and an excellent consistency. Overall, I would rate 3.5/5 - something to stick in the trailer as a foodstuff of indecision.

P.S. - I would like to meet these "Professional Chefs" that endorsed this product.

Insomnia

I found myself wide awake after having a disturbing dream this morning. I'm not going to talk about that. But once I was up and puttering around, I thought: "I should do something with the blog." Yeap, it's been awhile.

Lots of change:

• SadieBelle is finishing up pre-school.
• Springtime has caused us to reboot the garden.
• We seem busier than ever.

Although I'm pretty active on social media, I think I'm really going to make an effort to keep posting here. There is something kind of refreshing about a blank page with no constraints, where the compulsion isn't to be "liked" or "retweeted" or "followed". In the meantime, here's some photos of our last trip to Seattle.