Movie Review "The Ramen Girl"

AUTHENTIC RAMEN is a complicated dish, not that dried crap we American buys buy at 88 cents a packet to survive college/dorm life. Ramen in Japan is an experience, a revelation really. I spoke to my Japanese coworker, Nagi, about it yesterday and I had to stop because it was making her homesick. She gave me an overview on the regional differences in Ramen style and how a broth is never dumped out at the end of the day but kept on a low fire constantly, hence why the shopkeep lives above his shop. That was not show in the film and would've help a lot. It uses fresh ingredients and is a balances of amazing depth and flavor specific to that region- I won't spoil the movie- watch and see what they put in the broth- it's cool.

The shop owner is simply a drunken, sad man who's upset his son left for Europe five years before and never came back to take over the family business and learn Ramen. Here comes a, sad American girl one rainy night whom he and his mousy wife feed and they become their own dysfunctional family for the next year.

She decides she wants to learn Ramen and begs him to be her sensei.

The shop owner slowly teaches the American girl how to cook with her heart, not with your brain. I made that mistake the other day when I wasn't watching myself make cookies and they came up all burned and tasteless instead of golden and delectable.

Watch the movie, be amused and have your heart warmed. Don't blame me if you need REAL Ramen afterward. But please don't buy that terrible stuff in the store. I'll track down a good recipe and some restaurant recommendations from our groomsmen, my Asian connection, Wei-San. And save the broth after, maybe don't keep a fire going but keep it in saved in a tupperware in your fridge.

Asian Recipes

I haven't opened this email properly yet from one of the groomsmen in our wedding this past summer but he's willing to teach me and George "how to cook Asian." He even wants to teach us "how to shop in an Asian supermarket" which is truly something I could use advice on.

There's a fantastic one in East Hanover,NJ Kamman Food. I discovered it, by accident, when I went for pizza went I worked in the area about 6 years ago in the same shopping center. And while it's VERY out of the way for us now, it's worth it. I go in there for loose tea and gadgets like tea pots and strainers. The Asian market in our neighborhood in Central NJ has been torn down and we don't know when or if it's going back up.

Back to these Asian Recipes. I'm toggling back and forth from the email while I'm posting this. There are 13 (lucky in this month of the Asian New Year) of them. When we visit our groomsman next weekend, I think we're in for some shopping and choppin'.

The foods we are to prepare us range from Kimchi Jigae ( kimchi stew ) which our friend says is a "great winter stew" to Korean Egg Dishes. That second one is a hard sell for me but I'll give it a whirl. In the eastern land of culinary cooking, I learn towards Japan and away from Korea. I just can't handle the fermentation in their cooking techniques. I'm all about sweet and sour but fermentation just takes it to another level I'm not prepared to go to yet.

Next weekend, I'll post an update on how the Trip to Eastern Cooking School went.

Tools of the Trade

I have some tools of the trade in the drawer and countertop next to my cooktop. Let me start by writing that my kitchen is not brand spanking new. It's from the 1960s and is slightly wider than a galley kitchen. It's got a gas wall oven that will not cook steaks in the broiler without setting off the smoke alarm. Then there's the cooktop. When I bought the condo almost three years ago one of the burners wouldn't turn on and the exhaust fan was coated with grease. I eventually removed it myself and closed the wall with drywall and had an electrician put in an overhead vent. Anyhow, enough DIY. The cooktop was also repaired by a very strong repairman. Now I'm firing on all 4 burners.

George came into the kitchen the other night and said "I wanna see you cook with all 4 of those burners!" Was that a challenge? So I got out some of my "tools of the trade" and got to work making Chicken Tikka Masala with rice and 'faux' Naan. By faux I mean I took some oldish flat bread and warmed it up with butter. By the end of the night, that man had a lotta dishes to clean, let me tell you!

You will see on top my tools of the trade. There are two pepper grinders- one is traditional black pepper and the other is Grains of Paradise which I put on at the last minute to enhance certain dishes and veggies. I read about it in Amanda Hesser's "Cooking for Mr. Latte". Great foodie read. Check out the blog she co-founded- food52. She saw where writing was headed- online- and has a great thing going for food writing. I visit that site a lot! I've listed it at the bottom.

What's in the nesting chicken, you ask? Why that's my salt- kosher salt to be exact. I do not cook with iodized salt. That's for the table, not for cooking darlings- that's just how I roll.
It will not melt on you right away but it wakes up your food and stays with you throughout the cooking process. Go ask your chem teacher to explain the rest, okay?

Okay, now don't ask me to explain why I read MSL (Martha Stewart Living)- it was free when I cashed in some airline miles I wasn't using. I basically like her cookie recipe at the back of the every issue and laugh at the calendar she insists on printing in the front. Like I care how often Martha does yoga every month?

I do adore Real Simple though. There's something that's worth schlepping over 26 bucks a year for that mag. I can thank the re-org of my closet and how to defrost meat properly to that publication.

New Year, New Blog Format

What a long, strange, trip it has been. I'm now married. Enough said.
This time last year, I was told there JUST enough time to order my wedding dress for my wedding 8 MONTHS away. That was the first of rapid fire decisions and a "binder" that became bigger and more stuffed with receipts I was happy to shred when George and I returned from our honeymoon.

Now my life happily consists of, among other things multiple trips to the grocery store during the week to master the art of cooking. There's more to that though, there's also Netflix directly to our Samsung Blu Ray Player (thank you gift cards when our DVD player died!).

My husband is very happy to eat my experiments and regular standard dishes, just the same. However, there are nights, like the last, when we worked late and decided to go to our "usual" place: RED ROBIN (YUM). George got his usual, the Bonsai. I've been trying a different burger each time.

This week, I tried the Royal Red Robin. It consists of a fried egg, apple-wood smoked bacon and cheddar cheese. I think I'm going to have to grow an apple-wood tree in my yard some day, I just love that taste it makes meat have. I was really full eating just half of it so there's leftovers for today. Hopefully I can reheat without drying it out.

The Surprise Proposal!

George got me good! After planning our wedding for about 4 months, he finally formally popped the question New Years Day morning after breakfast. He'd planned on asking me in NYC the night before but I got suddenly ill and he was exhausted from getting up early that day to help his dad out.

I had NO IDEA he had the ring with him in his pocket for nearly 2 days! The jeweler has been particularly slow in getting his ring ready but it was FINALLY ready NYE afternoon. I love it and it's more beautiful than I ever imagined.

We called a bunch of our friends yesterday before George left for a ski trip with his friends for the weekend. I was suppose to go but wasn't feeling up for it after the night before did not end elegantly for me.

I still can't believe I'm actually getting married and I get to see George more than twice a week but the end of the summer 2010. I'm looking forward to making a move into more work that I love rather than what simply pays the bills- that's when the opportunity is formally presented. Hopefully it will not be stuck at the jeweler's store!

Silver Bells

Silver Bells lyrics by LIVINGSTON AND EVANS

Christmas makes you feel emotional
It may bring parties or thoughts devotional
Whatever happens or what may be,
Here is what Christmas time means to me.

City sidewalk, busy sidewalks
dressed in holiday style.
In the air there's
a feeling of Christmas.
Children laughing, people passing,
meeting smile after smile,
And on every street corner you'll hear:

[Chorus]
Silver bells, silver bells,
It's Christmas time in the city.
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring,
soon it will be Christmas day.

City street lights,
even stop lights,
blink a bright red and green,
As the shoppers rush home
with their treasures.
Hear the snow crunch,
see the kids bunch,
This is Santa's big scene,
And above all this bustle you'll hear:

[Chorus]
Silver bells, silver bells,
It's Christmas time in the city.
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring,


I spent the weekend covering 3 arts events for my freelance gig. I heard Silver Bells a total of 3 times and now have songs from "Fiddler on the Roof" stuck in my head. I must confess that "Silver Bells" is on my top ten favorite secular holiday songs and I'm going to ask my work friend Nick to sing it with me at our office party.

I've got my holiday shopping mostly done (thank you Amazon!) and have decided to forgo the proverbial holiday card because email has kept me semi- connected to my far and dear ones.

There's one thing I'm really looking forward too. George and I have been getting asked about our permanent future A LOT and I'm keeping my manicured fingers crossed that after the 12 days of Christmas I will have a little bling :) It's been getting harder and harder to say good-bye to George after the weekend's done or date night comes to a close but hopefully by this time next year I'll get to see him every day!
I don't know when but I know he has my high school ring- the rest is up to him and his jeweler.

Time Passing By

I've been writing at my newspaper gig, seemingly non-stop since my last post. It left me completely forgetting about this free-space, so to speak. There's a lull (and I have some time to kill)so inspiration calls me to my keyboard once again.

The opportunity to write for myself comes and goes and I have a few half-full journals to prove it. Getting it into a cohesive project has yet to happen, however, the opportunity may be on my horizon. Last month, George and I talked about him supporting my desire to teach full-time next fall. The next week, my boss at the college where I adjunct said she would "try" and slot me for a full-time temporary position. Hooray- but I'll believe it when it's affirmed next spring.

A year ago, I was beyond miserable with my city job and was about to eulogize my grandmother at her memorial service. I stuck it out, thanks to George's seemingly endless amount of support and here I am a stronger, wiser woman. Central Park used to be my sobbing ground, now it's the sanctuary it should be for me during lunch breaks.

Last year, my relationship with my older sister was getting better but still a little awkward. Last night, we went to a concert at the Garden and the rapport we used to have before she got married returned. It just showed up over pad thai and carried us on the train ride home. Even though I'm the younger sister, I took the train part way home with her and made her call me when she made her connection. She doesn't like the city much and it was so late at night I just wanted to be sure.

My life as a writer continues to expand and change as well. My friend from grad school started up an ezine which I want to submit something to. I have to dig through my work and see what's worthy of submission.

At the newspaper, I've written theater reviews, concert reviews, walked through a golf course converted to an outdoor concert space to review a festival, and the list goes on. Sure, I'm getting paid peanuts but it does pay a bill or two that finds its way to my mailbox every month.

The one part of my life that I cannot write about is the specifics about George and me. Partly it's to protect our privacy and partly because I simply cannot put it into words.

I could list adjectives: enthralling, romantic, comfortable, helpful, supportive, predictable.

I will say this: we are the Tortoise (me) and the Hare (him) when it comes our approach to life. This will take some struggles to adjust to if we ever change the status of our relationship. I want to both move forward and hang back where we are at the same time. He tells me how he feels (sometimes) but I cannot put it into words here.

A year from now, I really hope I'm not writing a blog entry from this desk where I sit. I want to be home, making dinner and having a glass of wine. And I want a puppy next to me too :)