Nong Shim "AnSungTangMyun"

Brand: Nong Shim
Flavour: AnSungTangMyun
Format: brick-in-packet
Packets: one
Identifiables: noodles, spice
Sodium: 1.10 grams

So, my wife dropped by home for lunch today. Her plan was to have a sandwich, but mine, of course, was to have that most exalted of foods... ramen. I enlisted her assistance in choosing a packet. She picked up a bright orange packet, glanced briefly at both sides, and said, "This... this is the winner." It claimed to be "Hot & Spicy". Nothing else was said about its flavour in a language that I know. Yes, love... it sounds like a winner.

For starters, the brick is massive. The packet says it's one hundred twenty five grams, which is significantly larger than the sixty to ninety grams of the average cup or brick. The brick did not fit in Ben, and Petar was waiting to be washed, so I found Johann (!) and got to work. Disappointment set in as I realised that despite the insistence of the instructions the noodle, soup base, and additional ingredients should go in to the boiling water, there was only one packet to open and no additonal ingredients to be found. Regardless, in they went, and I waited for four minutes. The slightly longer cook time is no doubt because of slightly-thicker-than-usual noodles, and I approve.

The result was a noodle-and-broth mix that tried to but didn't quite achieve the orange of the packet, and bits of seaweed which had mysteriously popped up. Those spice packets can conceal anything and everything, dear friends. Into the bowl it went, white IKEA chopsticks were grabbed, a photo was snapped, a CFDDP was poured, and lunch, as they say, was served.

I tried some and noted the robust flavour and significant heat level, which would be a three except that it lingers on the lips for quite some time, so it ekes out a four. The wife noted that it had excellent heat and flavour... but she could not discern exactly what that flavour was. A quick scan of the ingredients (who reads the ingredients only after they've put it in their mouths? We do) revealed that the presence of not only "beef extract" but also "beef bone extract" meant that it was theoretically beef-flavoured. Thank you, theoretical cow, for your contribution to a tasty lunch! Also, I'm very appreciative of the thicker noodles, and the resulting toothier texture is well worth the extra sixty seconds' wait.

An added bit of danger did crop up when, in the attempt to gracefully slurp some noodles, one whipped up and managed to fling a bit of spicy broth directly over my glasses and into my right eye. My eyelash served well in taking one for the team; otherwise, the current music would be myself singing the "ow, my eye, my friggin' eye" song. Now, this is living on the razor's edge! ...yeah, that's as exciting as this blog gets, up until I spill something in my lap, and let's all hope that never does happen.

Numbers: packaging 3, preparation 2, heat 4, flavour 3, overall 3

Music: Muse - Black Holes and Revelations - Map Of The Problematique