Tag: naked mole rat

Sometimes you just want ramen

When we lived in the U.S., we never used to go to ethnic groceries of any sort. We weren’t opposed to it, per se; we didn’t cook very much and when we did, it was rarely from scratch. And if we wanted Chinese/Mexican/Lebanese/Cajun, we went to a restaurant. As our recipe archive demonstrates, things have changed. I’m at the China Laden (Asian market) at least once a week picking up things you just can’t find in the supermarket – soft brown sugar, cilantro, good curry pastes, soy sauce, etc. This past weekend, Cliff came with me and, while looking at the noodle wall, we balked at the price of a package of ramen – 0,80€!! That’s about $1.20! Considering that legions of broke college students lived off the stuff at one time or another, that seems like highway robbery. And makes it very attractive. All of a sudden, ramen sounds delicious.

There are things that we miss every so often that are kind of cheapo, pre-fab…well, just crap really. And right now that thing is ramen noodles. With a little inspiration from a pal, some creativity and an assist from the noodle wall (package of 5 blocks of ramen noodles, sans flavor packets=1,20€), we managed to sate the craving. About half a liter of boiling water with about 1 heaping tablespoon of powdered vegetable broth, a pinch of ground ginger and half a teaspoon of dark soy added plus one block of noodles cooked for about 3 minutes is nearly a dead-ringer for Top Ramen Oriental flavor soup.

It’s considerably more expensive than the pre-packaged stuff, but it doesn’t taste like it. Which is fine with us.

I guess I’d rather be doing crunches…

…but all this coughing, and especially the doubling up while doing it laying down, must surely be strengthening my abs.

This is a naked mole rat. I like to think I have better personal grooming habits, though I admire his boldness in wardrobe.I’ve been sick since Monday. Today was the first day since Tuesday that I’ve felt well enough to spend time not at work OUTSIDE the bed. What? Let’s try that again. I’ve been so sick that since Tuesday, if I wasn’t at work, you’d find me in bed (often working from there). There’s been too much potentially important stuff going on at work, what with the buy-out and re-org and such, that I have tried not to miss anything at all. But three weeks ago my boss, the Great Communicator of the department I work in, has already left the company, leaving me feeling a lot like this paragraph’s mascot. If he had pain sensations in his skin, I mean. OK, I just really wanted to use a naked mole rat in a post. Chalk it up to the chemical imbalance.

Any-hack-hack-hack-hock-ptoo, I seem to be feeling a little bit better every day since about Thursday, after getting a daily dose of ACC® akut Hustenlöser 600*. You can see how it works to clear the tangled web of my bronchial pathways if you click this link.

But why is this happening now? One reason might be because it’s freakin’ cold out there lately. Today’s high, even with full sunlight, is 41° F and tomorrow’s is 39° F. Yikes! The brand of apple juice we buy contains acerola concentrate in it as well, so I’ve been drinking liters of that stuff, heated up in a giant cappucino mug with a couple cinnamon sticks in it. I hope this is over with quickly.