Those de-hydrated blocks

By Andrew Duff

A brick of noodles, a pot of boiling water and thou.

In high school, ramen was a mysterious food for most of us, strangely foreign, undoubtedly tasty and completely out of our regular meals.

Of course, when a person goes to college, suddenly everyone is buying ramen by the boxful, and it’s no small thing that this once unheard of food suddenly becomes an important part of any student’s diet.

So it’s only natural that a book like “Everybody Loves Ramen” comes out, crammed full of recipes for everyone’s favorite noodles. Written by Eric Hites, the cover proudly proclaims it’s “the perfect gift for the graduate,” and I couldn’t agree more. Fifty recipes are in the book, along with silly little true stories about ramen junkies and their exploits. There even are a couple of short games for those who want something to do in that anxious three-minute wait as the noodles cook.

From delicious sounding recipes like “Stroganoff Ramen-style” to the down right strange, such as “Orange ‘PEZ’ chicken soup.” Oh, and there’s even “Red-Nosed Ramen” for the 21-and-over crowd.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “A cookbook, in this day and age? Ha! I’ll just get my recipes online!” And to you I say, “Ah, but while a recipe for ramen online exists because an inebriated college student thought that ramen and leftover burritos would make a great dish at 2 a.m., in ‘Everybody Loves Ramen,’ you know the dishes have actually been made and tasted by someone who hopefully wasn’t drunk.”

In other words, the majority of the recipes in this book are GOOD, and the “Super Ramen Burritos” should actually taste appealing, if not downright yummy.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, the “Gobble Gobble Asian Noodle Delight” is calling for me to try it. Happy cooking!courtesy photo

There’s more than one way to enjoy Ramen noodles?Everybody loves RamenHHHH.