Friday, November 23, 2007

Motivated Noodles

This has got to be THE laziest semester yet for me. I mean, c’mon. I only have 3 days of classes every week and one of those days is only for 2 hours! And on the days I don’t have school while others do, I wake up whenever I want and don’t really start working until a few hours later. My grades aren’t bad now, but I have a feeling when finals hit, I’m gonna drown… (especially since every final is worth so much) UNLESS I start working REALLY hard now.

Which is what I plan to do. I’m so motivated! TV can really do that to you haha -- at least for the hour after.

Yea it has finally REALLY hit me that if you want to get what you want, you really actually have to work for it. Nothing comes easy. Yea yea - you think "duhh don't tell me you just discovered that". But this is the first time I really understood that it's totally true. Even if things do come easily for you, nothing beats the satisfaction and the proud feeling you have once you accomplish something as a result of your hard work.

So hwyting! がんばって! (Ganbatte!)

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Core Course: Bowl Noodles 101
Prerequisite: A digestive system, eyes, and a pair of hands

Today I'm going to teach you how to make Taiwanese style bowl noodles. I've never seen square noodle packages quite like this one before. I bought this one at the convenience store at Chien Tan (the campus we stayed at in Taiwan). They're pretty cheap cheap cheap! I usually try to avoid bowl noodles 'cause, well, they aren't the healthiest with all their preservatives and MSG, but you (well, at least I) got sick of the food they served on campus:
The same breakfast every day... plain watery congee, peanuts, jie (don't know what it's called in English), cold egg, plain bun (what's it called? mandu? isn't that Korean for dumpling?), and some mushroom.

Not to mention everyone gets their rice/congee from one of these communal vats. haha that's Roger - before I knew him.

or a lunch with a bunch of deep fried food, wood chip broccoli, and dry oranges. Don't know why Davis looks so happy in the background.... Once, I thought I was having a chicken nugget and it turned out to be some sweet potato dessert-type thing mixed with niblet corn. They try to trick us, I'm telling ya.

Anyway, I love trying new things and wanted to try the cheap snacks we can't find easily at home like:
Vanilla and Chocolate Ritz Crackers (Vanilla wasn't so great, but the chocolate was YUMMO),

Mr. Brown's coffee that got me through the morning Mandarin and Chinese Painting classes,

A mini ROOT SARS (Root Beer) can from the vending machine. The name is such a turn-off, isn't it. FYI, Sars is the Australian Root Beer,
or my favourite, Seaweed Lays (that didn't taste like seaweed at all).
Ok back to the bowl noodle. This one is different because you pour out the water and eat it "dry". Tasty stuff. They had an impressive variety of bowl noodles there. Nothing like our cheap kimchi ones. The one I will use to demonstrate is pretty rudimentary and will seem like nothing - especially compared to some Jap bowl noodles I bet!

Tada! This is the package! Oishii soudesu (looks tasty). It comes with detailed instructions (in English too!) on how to prepare your noodles.

What's inside - pretty basic... and yes, it comes with a fork.

Dump in the dry stuff and pour HOT HOT HOT water in it. Doesn't matter how much you put in - as long as it doesn't spill over.

Cover the noodles with the lid for the time specified (3-5 min). Put the sauce package on top to warm it up. Makes it extra tasty. hehe.. j/k

Open the vents and pour the water out. This keeps all the dry stuff inside.
(I got my dad to pour it out while I took the picture.)

Pour the remaining ingredients into the dry noodles and go stir crazy.

Now it's ready to eat! Yum. Sort of reminds you of those noodles Koreans eat on Black Day (Valentines Day for loveless people), doesn't it?

Ok so it doesn't look as good as it tasted... I wish I had a neat one to show you. Some give you another package to make soup in the bowl after you've finished eating the noodles! I saw these square types in Hong Kong too.

Whooa it's 3:36AM. Bed time! I'm so awake...

1 comment:

Nat said...

great. way to make me hungry.