A Few Questions About My Obsession with Ramen Asked By and Answerd by Your Favorite Bastard.

Q: Bastard, what’s your deal with Ramen? Aren’t you over 30 and don’t you have a “real” job?

A: Why yes, yes I do. Only, I work in education and serve the greater good which hardly translates to much of a living wage. When you spend $5 on a bulb of fennel because you got a wild hair and you want to eat a Fennel and Arugula salad it makes sense that you’d want to be able to balance that out with the cheapest possible work lunch you could.

Arugula and Fennel Salad w/ black Olives, shaved Parm and lemon anchovy vinaigrette

Q: Why not bring leftovers to work?

A: Oh, I do but most times I would rather save them for dinner. Like, when I should be at the gym or running it’s a lot easier to reheat leftovers than to make polenta again from scratch.

Q: So you’re really into the whole Ramen thing?

A: Hell yes I am. Find me something else as satisfying and is that affordable and we’ll reconvene. Until then my pantry will be over-flowing with different types and varieties of Ramen.

just add bacon... okay and some other stuff too

Q: Why do you post sporadically ? Is this going to be random and mostly centered around Ramen?

A: I'm A.D.D. I can hardly keep my face shaved or underwear in the drawer,  you're lucky I post anything at all. And I promise to make it about other things I like to make too. Like: Tomato sauces, Pestos, pancakes & waffles, Omelets, late night experiments, Salsas, random salads w/ fennel, burgers, nachos, date food, Vegan stuff for my buddy Mike, family friendly stuff for Sunday dinners, and etc.

The 5 Minute, $1 Work Lunch

         Sure I could drive across the street to Mc Donald’s and order a number 4 with a coke and be in and out for under $7. Cost to me?! It’s 1350 Calories and over 80% of my daily fat intake. Awesome. Now when I go home and want to cook something in rendered duck fat I’ve completely gone into fat kid territory. Wait, how do I even afford to have duck fat? I don’t go across the street to Mc Donalds. I take my once weekly trip to the halls of Sam Walton hell and trudge through the knuckle dragging masses as the buy commoditized food products. Ramen. That’s right, I’m rockin’ ramen like the wage-garnished, under-paid, child-support paying, high bar-tab, & broke-down car in my friend’s garage having bachelor cook I am. 

southwestern ramen experiment

Okay, that sounds dramatic, but convenience is especially pertinent at work. Sometimes I’m lucky and we have lunch catered in and sometimes they cater in Golden Corral and other Sysco bag O’ meat serving caterers and I can’t identify what they’re giving out for free and I have to eat something. That’s ramen to.  I have a drawer devoted to Ramen and other easy prep noodles and I took over a section of the work fridge for veggies and important staple foods. I can normally concoct something but having the Ramen noodle base is a huge benefit.