Monthly Archives

January 2016

Packaged Ramen

Sapporo Ichiban

Posted on January 27, 2016

I grew up on Sapporo Ichiban ramen. It was quick and easy to make and whenever I had a bowl all was good. I know it’s not the healthiest of meals but it’s cheap and tasty and if you dress it up it’s enough to impress the pickiest eater. Well, except for ramen boy. For lunch I made a grown up version with some yummy kimchi. My grandmother taught me the proper way to make packaged instant ramen but it has taken me years to actually follow her footsteps. I lived with my grandparents my senior year of high school and I was lucky that my grandmother was such a wonderful cook. Everything she made was effortless and with love. She always cringed when I made my lazy one pot noodle dish. I liked salami and so it usually got thrown in at the end with chopped green onions and an egg. While cooking the noodles I would stir in the powdered soup seasoning and break open an egg directly in the pot and let it sink to the bottom. Then I’d pour the messy goodness in a bowl. My grandmother told me that I had to cook everything separately including the egg and to be sure to drain the noodles before putting it in the hot seasoned broth. Too many pots I would tell her. The muddled flavors tasted just fine to me back then.

Not now though. I take the time to make ramen the way she taught me. Even though I haven’t had Sapporo Ichiban ramen in ages I always have a package or two in the pantry. The shelf life is forever. Pure comfort food at the ready for a trip down memory lane. Like today.

Noodle Thoughts

Ooze

Posted on January 17, 2016

I went to Davis Farmers Market hoping to pick up some fresh ramen noodles from Pasta Dave but out of luck this weekend. Pasta Dave makes delicious fresh noodles, mostly Italian, having tried some in the past. He is well known in the area for taking his pasta craftsmanship seriously with his pasta on the menu at top end restaurants like Ella in Sacramento. I was really excited to chat with him about his ramen noodles but his prickly manner matched the weather and completely put me off. Hubby and mother-in-law were also perplexed with his behavior so I’ll blame it on the rain and try his ramen noodles in the future. Instead I picked up some fresh Vega Farms eggs to try making shoyu tamago (soy sauce eggs) that is a popular topping on ramen. Ramen boy is not fond of eggs so his response to these were “yuck” but I’m sure once he tastes this golden yolk he will be forever changed. The recipe I tried is from Tadashi Ono’s Japanese Soul Cooking. He is a New York chef and author and owner of Ganso Ramen on my noodle hit list come March when I run the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon.

These eggs are so easy to make. I had the ingredients on hand to make the marinade with shoyu (soy sauce), mirin (rice wine), sake, water, ginger, scallions and garlic. I think the key to great soy sauce eggs is having the very best eggs you can find and Ono-sensei has some very handy tips like poking a hole at the bottom of the rounded part of the egg and to swirl the eggs around at the beginning while cooking. Instead of sharing the recipe on my blog I am going to send you to another. Elly’s Anatomy of Ramen series is brilliant and she highlights Tadashi Ono’s shoyu tamago recipe.

Luckily I only made four eggs because I can eat them in one sitting they are so decadent and delicious. Ojai, my handy yolk tester, totally agrees.

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Noodle Thoughts

Slurp!

Posted on January 14, 2016

Throwback Thursday. Living in Tokyo the noodle master is five years old and already serious about his ramen. It has to be Ippudo and it has to be for lunch on the weekend. He’s cranky without his noodle fix! Oishii!

Sacramento, CA

Akebono

Posted on January 13, 2016

Feeling a bit out of sorts today thinking lunch and my mom’s company might perk me up. Jamming in the car with my David Bowie playlist and listening to ‘Fame’ off we went to Akebono for some Japanese food. A bowl of champon should do me a whirl of good.

Champon is a regional dish from Nagasaki in Japan and goes back to the Meiji era when the owner of a Chinese restaurant there created a cheap and filling meal for Chinese students who came to Japan to study. It uses ramen noodles but differs that the noodles are boiled directly in the soup made from chicken stock. Akebono’s champon toppings are delicious and plentiful with shrimp, squid, scallops, pork, onion, carrots, kamaboko (fish cake) with lots of cabbage stir fried and placed on top of the noodles and soup. The broth is nicely seasoned and not too salty. A spicy version is offered but I prefer the traditional mild flavor. Akebono’s champon hit the spot.

I asked my 85 year old mom if she knew who David Bowie was and she said, “uta no hito” (person who sings). It’s very likely that ramen boy’s generation wouldn’t be familiar with him. He has heard the story many times about my younger days living in New York and the once in a lifetime opportunity had the stars been aligned. My predecessor where I worked had moved on to a talent/model agency. We had kept in touch and one day she called me asking if I was interested in working as a personal assistant to David Bowie and Iman. Her boss was a close friend of Iman’s and her Maid of Honor at their wedding. Vera thought of me thinking I wouldn’t be starstruck or intimidated since she knew my boss at the time was a tough cookie who reminded us that no fraternizing was allowed with the rich and famous. Yesterday I asked ramen boy, “What if I had taken that job? Would my life be different?” Ramen boy said matter of factly, “No everything would be the same mom. You would have married dad and you would have me. The only difference is that you would have known David Bowie.”

But how wonderful would have that been to know a musical genius. Dream on ramen mom. RIP Ziggy your music will live on forever.

Akebono
Japanese Cuisine & Sushi Bar
4960 Freeport Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95822
(916) 731-8288
www.akebonojapaneserestaurant.com

Noodle Thoughts

Welcome to my blog

Posted on January 11, 2016

This blog has been a long time coming floating around in my head in 2015. I have slurped countless bowls of ramen in my lifetime, mostly undocumented, but the memories are still rich even more so being mom to ramen boy who will be entering high school this year. I wish I had taken pictures of all the ramen places we frequented over the years when we lived in Japan and Singapore and our overseas travels because there is a story for each one of them and I can remember many. Running into ramen boy’s classmate eating at Ippudo and chatting afterwords (the boy has a lot of siblings) and one of them who was a toddler at the time hopping on a motorcycle while we were talking unnoticed by us but not a bystander who politely asked if the child was ours. Ramen boy’s expandable belly full of noodles. He would order kaedama (extra noodles) more than once to the amazement of the servers. In fact to this day he still orders a large bowl of noodles with extra noodles.

This blog is not so much a review of ramen restaurants but hopefully more about the experience of sharing a bowl of noodles with friends and family. For me ramen is comfort food. It’s about memories that go way back to times I spent with my grandmother and she would make it for me or when I had it as an afternoon school snack with my middle school best friend Erlinda. The ramen bond I have with my son is something I hope we can share for years to come and in the meantime share with you.

Enjoy! I hope I make you hungry.

Sacramento, CA

Raijin Ramen House

Posted on January 10, 2016

Must admit that we frequent Shoki Ramen House so much that we neglect to try any other ramen places in town and ramen boy is a loyal Shoki Ramen customer. He was hankering for some ramen after his soccer game and I did a short run in the morning warranting a bowl of noodles. I suggested trying a new place to avoid the noontime Saturday crowd. I had heard that Raijin Ramen House opened last July across the street from its sister restaurant Ryujin Ramen House and we hadn’t been. The concept is a different type of ramen at each shop with Raijin specializing in a more spicy version fitting with its name in Japanese mythology meaning the god of lightning, thunder and storms.

It was a full house when we arrived but they had space at the bar close to the kitchen. We quickly ordered and I had the kakuni ramen. Ramen boy had the tan tan men and hubby chose the shio tonkotsu ramen. Raijin offers many appetizers too so we decided to try their homemade gyoza. The deal breaker whether we would return or not.

The service was exceptional. Our waiter came to refill ramen boy’s lemonade and was very polite and cheerful that even ramen boy commented about the awesome service. That alone would bring us back.

The gyoza was very good too. Crispy the way we like it filled with cabbage and pork. Our only complaint was that we ate it too quickly and should have ordered more. My kakuni ramen came out steaming hot and nicely presented with red pepper threads that surprisingly look like saffron. Simple toppings of chopped scallions with two large pieces of fatty braised pork that had been slowly simmered. I prefer a more tender pork that is melt in the mouth but these pieces were meaty and still very tasty with a deep shoyu flavor. The tonkotsu broth seemed more shoyu based but still rich without being too heavy. I didn’t order an egg this time as a topping but for sure will return to try it out.

Ramen boy gave this place a thumbs up and hubby who prefers eating ramen in Japan and otherwise a super ramen critic said he will come back here too.

Raijin Ramen House
1901 S. Street
Sacramento, CA 95811
(916) 498-9968
ramenhouseraijin.com