My college students usually live off-campus after their first year, bunching together in big houses to save money, living off peanut butter and Weird Long Noodle soup. My Wonderful Smart Beautiful Daughter has a scholarship that enables her to live in a residence hall and go to a dining hall for meals, yet like most college students, she too seems to eat her share of Weird Long Noodle soup.
Boy in Black, the serious son who analyzes everything, looked carefully at the back of a package of Weird Long Noodle soup once and informed me that it wasn't health food. He's right, of course, but it is still a handy thing to bring on camping trips. All you need to add is water. We camp pretty often in the summer and by August, most of my kids are sick of Weird Long Noodle soup.
With-a-Why is the exception. He just loves Weird Long Noodle soup and asks for some when he comes home from school. Often I try to steer him towards a healthier alternative. "How about some fruit?"
But he loves the noodle soup and cannot be dissuaded.
Yesterday, I said to him, as he devoured an entire package of soup, "You know, that isn't really all that healthy."
He looked at me seriously. "But Mom, I am practicing to be a college student."
24 comments:
Oh, With-a-why! How will he survive in college if he overdoes the Ramon now?
Gross as it is, Weird Long Noodle soup is a staple in our house. AdultSon introduced RebelliousTeenager to it when he brought some home from college. CollegeDaughter, although she hates it, takes it backpacking. Like With-a-Why, RT likes it as an afterschool snack. Maybe he's practicing to be a college student, too. (With-a-Why comes up with the BEST one-liners!)
I thought Ramen noodles qualified as its own food group!
I like Ramen noodles well enough - but I cook them and drain nearly all of the water off and then I put the soup base in, so it is really, really salty. And I eat them with chopsticks. Weird, huh?
I have a great recipe for making an Asian salad with ramen noodles, thereby slightly improving their nutritional quality, but otherwise dragging the other ingredients down with them.
#2 Son makes them after school all the time. Isn't it at least better than Pop Tarts?
Songbird: I guess it's all in what you compare them to ....
THAT was funny.
I just love the stuff too - I eat them like Teri does (not with chopsticks, though).
I just don't buy them, or else, I'd eat them every single night... oh, I could have some right now (sigh) :)
I don't think I've ever eaten Ramen noodles except in the salad that Ianqui mentioned (which is quite good.) Not a deficicency that I feel compelled to make up for, though.
I used to really love the super hot Korean kimchee instant ramen noodles. They come in their own styrofoam bowl, so they are easy to eat for a midnight snack when you live in a dorm and have only an [illegal] electric hot pot. They are also very very salty. My college criteria for food was "could it be prepared by mixing with hot water?" The fact that instant ramen is incredibly cheap doesn't hurt, either.
Real ramen noodles (which come from Japanese noodle shops) are very yummy too. They are not so greasy or salty, and often have things like sliced pork in the broth. Mmmm...I'm feeling hungry now...
The more you prepare those little noodle packets as if they were actual Japanese Ramen, the healthier they are.
My ideal ramen involves the package of noodles, nori (seaweed), tofu, miso and soy sauce. Most of the time, the right kind of nori is not available, so I substitute spinach. I generally don't use the spice packet unless I'm feeling lazy or I bought a weird brand of Ramen from an Asian grocer, in which case the spice packet could be quite exciting. There's a brand of Ramen out there with a second spice packet filled with a spicy red oil that can burn a hole in your tongue.
In college and grad school I discovered all sorts of interesting Ramen recipes. You can mix the noodles with cream cheese to make a mac & cheese kinda dish. Like all forms of pasta, Ramen can be cooked in beer, if you are daring. Beer noodles always go with cheese sauces, but you have to go really easy on the beer. (in the noodles that is.)
This blog is apparently devoted to Ramen recipies. I am a little underwhelmed by the first entry that comes up, though, as it features the sentence, “I have never tried Kim Chi, but it sounds scary to me.”
Omygod it's midnight and I'm reading this and I need Ramen now! You people are all seriously wicked.
Ramen is sounding good to me now, too, and I haven't had any in a dozen years!
Funny. I think you haven't done college if you don't eat Weird Long Noodle soup at least once. It is quite interesting that what a poor college (& grad) student can learn to do to spice up Weird Long Noodle soup.
:-)
Its good that he's chosen this particular way to "practice" given the range of behaviors typical of college students.....
Haha. this post is funny, and the (")kids(") are cute!
by my freshmen year I was so sick of pasta I never thought I'd eat it again... Then I did.
I started making Weird Long Noodle Soup for myself by the time that I was 5 or 6, and I learned to spice it up with frozen vegetables. Then I discovered that you could take the seasoning packet and add that to a mug of hot water like tea.
These days, the preservatives or something in the seasonings tends not to agree with me. I should really look into healthy boullion cubes that I could substitute, because I feel nervous about the possibility of not being able to eat Weird Long Noodle soup.
My brother has taken to eating the noodles uncooked. Yes, uncooked. He's going to be SO ahead when he gets to college next year.
Honestly, I love with-a-why. He kills me.
I keep weird long noodle soup in my office for those late nights of working when I can't find anything to eat but I'm starving with boredom. Mmmmm, especially good on chilly nights.
Such a bright boy as you have!
WG has them after school, too!
If you use only 1/2 the seasoning packet, and add a lOT of paprika, it's SO good. So. good.
I pour the spice packet into the water while boiling the noodles. Then I drain all the water and eat them with butter. Because that makes it all that more unhealthy.
But sometimes I dump a bag of frozen peas in there so maybe it balances it out a little?
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