I have a very long history with noodles, or in this region, what you call, Instant Mami. Long before it was all the rage in advertisements and billboard commercials, it is a sort of a delicacy when I was young. My father was a sailor and every ten months, he would come home with boxes and boxes of Nissins Ramen that came from Japan. It would last us for about 5 months which points out a lot about it being the food of the future.
My mother, not being the best of cook, discovered it with relish. If she is feeling a bit under the weather, there’s always noodles to cook for the children. Neighbours said that that is unhealthy but no one ever got sick in the family.
There are only two types of noodles. That is, chicken or beef. Chicken is best if you’re feeling a little bit lonely. Or I must have gotten that from the title of one book that I never gotten around to read. Chicken Soup for the Soul. Change that into Chicken Mami for the Soul. It’s steaming hot, and your mother cooked it for you. It must be good for the soul. Beef flavour is for everyday living. Put in a few pechay and you’re good to go. Eggs are their perfect companion. Mami and eggs. Definitely good for the soul.
When I went away to college, I rediscovered noodles all over again. I got to meet people whose life and way of cooking is more than what the instruction on the pack said. I was always the conventional one. They cooked it like spaghetti, like rice, like menudo, like pizza, slathered with ketchup, with oyster sauce, with chilli. It rocked my world.
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