Which would be worse: no more Vietnamese restaurants or no more Thai restaurants?

Ramyun Challenge part 2 of 20

I was freezing this morning.  I guess it's because I haven't experienced any weather colder than the mid 50s in over a year and a half.  I guess this was the inspiration for round 2.

Boiled water.  Added the Ramyun and about a third of the seasoning packet.  Added slivered onion and a clove of smashed garlic.  Added sliced red pepper, a can of smoked salmon, and two pieces of cut up left over bacon.  Added powdered coconut milk (this stuff is so useful), a dash of garam masala, and a liberal pour of kecap manis.

The results were very tasty.  It was creamy, sweet, smokey, and a little spicy.  I think a half a can of the smoked salmon would have been plenty.  It probably could have used some acid.  Lemon juice, perhaps.  I was debating adding sliced apple, which I probably should have.

Tea Pairing: Ten Ren 103 King's Oolong

Ramyun Challenge part 1 of 20

I am going to start over (for the third or fourth time) on this stupid blog.  Here it goes.

I made the mistake of going into Saraga when I was really really hungry.  This is always bad news.  Last time I went in there in such a state, I ended up buying all six or seven varieties of Flying Goose brand sriracha for some reason.  

The whole point of me going there was to buy beer, because it was Saturday, they have Brasserie d'Achouffe products, and it was on the way.  I bought a can of Hello Boss milk tea, some lemongrass, and some chili lime flavored Frito-type snack from the Philippines.

The point is, I also bought a case of Nong Shim Shin Ramyun, because I was starving and it seemed like a good idea.  It was 15 bucks for a case of 20, which seemed like a really good deal.  I think Shin Ramyun is one of the tightest ramyuns out there.

So, now I have to eat a case of the stuff.  Fortunately, this allows for a lot of experimentation, because at least 80% of the fun of eating ramen or paomian or fangbianmian or ramyun or whatever you want to call it is finding weird stuff to add to it.

So, that is what I will do with all twenty packages in this case of Shin Ramyun.

I was thinking of setting some ground rules, like having to add at least part of the seasoning packet or something like that, but I decided not to do that.

Anyway, I started by boiling the 19.5 fluid ounces of water in a pot.  While this was coming to a boil, I added a smashed clove of garlic and some very very thinly sliced onions (my knife skills are pretty sick).  After boiling began, I added the noodles, seasoning packet, dried vegetable packet, and thinly sliced red bell pepper.

After two minutes, I added an egg.  I think there are two ways you can do this: 1) let the egg poach so you have a poached egg in there or 2) stir it up right away so you have it all egg-drop soup style.  I went for the former.

After the third minute, I added a sliced roma tomato.

After the fourth minute I turned off the heat, added white pepper and a nice pour of Dong Hu Laochen Cu, which is a dark Chinese vinegar made in Shanxi.  Freshly ground white pepper always smells pretty "funky".  "Funky" means it smells horrible, but you're still going to eat it.

Finally, I poured it in a bowl, garnished with cilantro, and ate it.

I was pretty impressed with my first (official) effort.  The tomato, pepper, and vinegar worked really well together and provided a nice depth of flavor that wasn't overpowered by how spicy the seasoning packet is.  

Beer Pairing: Stone IPA (bottle)

So, yeah, there you go.  Give me ideas for what to do with the remaining 19 packets.