Category: Food

Ramen 2: More Chicken!

January 23, 2021

I ate more plain chicken ramen, so let’s dive into more reviews!

Maruchan Instant Lunch (290 Calories, 12g fat, 1180 mg sodium)

You may recall I enjoyed the Maruchan ramen noodle, so how is their cup noodle version? In a word: satisfactory. I make it the old fashioned way by pouring in boiling water and letting it sit, and as such the noodles are always a little bit al dente and the veggies a little bit chewy but it’s a taste I know and love since for a while I ate this noodle almost every other day. It’s very salty, and a generous man may even say the taste reminds him slightly of chicken. Even better, the aftertaste won’t fill you with regret! A solid 7/10.

Maggi 2 Minute Noodles (1250 kJ, 11.4g fat, 935 mg sodium)

SMC sent me these in my Christmas box all the way from Ozlandia! These were the first ramen noodles I ever ate, and as a young man I ate so much they made me big and strong. Naturally I’ve never ever tried any flavor other than plain chicken so it’s a good thing she didn’t send me some weird flavour like Kari Kari Kaw!

And… they’re a bit bland! The noodles are gelatinous and satisfying to eat, but the broth taste is watery and tastes more of a hint of a shadow of a whisper of a chicken than anything robust. The reason is obvious: not enough sodium! We all know sodium = taste and in this case they need to at least double it. That said it’s possible the reduced salt (and bland taste) has anything to do with Maggi reformatting their product in 2015 since their noodles were found to contain lead and excess msg? We’ll never know…

Blandness aside they’re not terrible and I’m still eating them all happily. Also the smaller size (is this why Aussies are all so handsome and slender?) is a plus for when you only want a small serving. A semi-solid 5/10.

Top Ramen (370 Calories, 14g fat, 1300 mg sodium)

This was the first time I had tried this cup noodle version of Top Ramen and I was looking forward to it. This one only has microwave instructions so that’s how I prepared it, but I didn’t use the soy sauce packet since we all know sodium doesn’t improve taste!

This smelled like earthworms tasted like ash! The noodles were ropey and bland and the veggies were like pieces of plastic. The icing on the cake was that it was as hot as Vesuvius and instantly burned my tongue. As I choked it all down I knew it was a repulsive ramen experience and that I’d never be eating it again. A flaccid 1/10!

There are even more plain chicken flavors available – including some unusual ones – but the winter/covid run on ramen has left me not finding any in my local stores. I’ll keep looking though, and you can anticipate further reviews of plain chicken instant ramen noodle products sometime in the future…

Review: Nostalgia MyMini Sandwich Maker

January 11, 2021

It’s been life-threateningly cold outside recently, and naturally in such a hostile climate ones mind turns to thoughts of toasted sandwiches. So to facilitate such delights, I bought this:

This was a mere $12 from ~~the worlds largest global superpower~~ Amazon which is amazing value! I chose the smallest one because it was the smallest one and since there was no choice of colour we can be relieved it comes in a snappy and sophisticated green (or perhaps more correctly Pantone PMS 333?)

Here’s the device out of the box:

The instructions helpfully identify the relevant parts: ‘upper surface’, ‘lower surface’ and ‘operation light’. It’s not the most complicated contraption ever built, but luckily the manufacturers forestall user error via a handily included recipe sheet. I decided to attempt this one:

Alas I had no ham; turkey would have to suffice. With great care I preheated as instructed before arranging the ingredients:

And closing the lid:

And in less than a few minutes, I had a meal fit for an emperor:

But was it good? Well it was dry, and wheat bread tastes awful when toasted, and since I used provolone instead of swiss the cheese didn’t fully melt. But I ate it, and that’s what mattered.

I’m pleased to say that since the above I have secured ham and swiss and my second sandwich was a masterpiece!

KLS was braver than me, and decided to investigate two other listed uses of this nifty apparatus. Firstly she baked a cookie in it:

She had made the dough previously and it had been frozen in balls. She just threw a few in, closed the lid… and it did a good job!

Emboldened, it was time for something a bit more challenging: a pizza pocket!

This used crescent roll dough (which once again we had in the fridge), and as you can see she just tossed in random pizza toppings and crossed her fingers. She said it was great, and I believe her since she made another one for dinner!

$12 therefore, for gourmet dining in our own home. How can this not receive two – nay four! – thumbs up 🙂

Five Breakfasts

December 21, 2020

It’s time for another food review! This time its breakfasts. One a day for five days, all similar but different.

Oceanfish with a Shrimp Topper

As you can see this meal is fishy and oil and includes delicious cooked shrimp. It’s mostly mackerel (I think) and Zoffy took 4 minutes and 24 seconds to finish it without ever once walking away. I think that means it was good.

Skipjack Tuna with a Sole Topper

Now this is high quality! Who else eats skipjack and sole for breakfast? Zoffy took only 3 minutes and 10 seconds to polish this meal off, and that included one brief walk away due to being startled by a noise. She loved this one!

White Meat Chicken

Zoffy is a cat that loves chicken, and since her second love is fish then this delight – which is served in a tuna broth – is right up her street! Indeed the fact she scarfed it down in only 2 minutes and 48 seconds is good evidence of the fact that this was a breakfast for kings!

Light Meat Tuna with a Scallop Topper

Lest there be anyone that doubts the quality of the breakfasts I serve my cat witness exhibit D, which includes scallop! Yes, Zoffy eats a variety of different tuna breakfasts each week and loves them all. This time it took her 4 minutes and 15 seconds (the scallop takes a lot of chewing!) with only a brief walkaway since Emi wandered too close while she was eating.

Steamed Wild Alaskan Salmon

This is an unusual breakfast for her, since I had convinced myself she preferred whitefish and had stopped buying Salmon. Then amazon made a mistake with an order and we got a bunch of these. So naturally, salmon was back on the menu. She loved it! With no walkaways she ate it all up in only 3 minutes and 7 seconds! Obviously Zoffy is a cat of refined taste, and can appreciate a delicious cut of steamed wild fish.

So if we judge in order of how fast Zoffy ate them, the ranking ends up being
1) Chicken
2) Salmon
3) Skipjack Tuna
4) Light Meat Tuna
5) Oceanfish

And yes, I am careful she never gets the same choice two days in a row. She also has a range of different soup/broth meals she gets for ‘dinner’ every day as well.

It’s almost as if Zoffy eats better than me…?

Robot Claw