the ramen blog & other goodies!

I’ve been too busy to catch up on my posts so I thought I’d share a few quick goodies before the 4th of July weekend. I’ve talked about how much fun nagashi soumen is to eat (”somen” to the search engines …it took me forever to find my own somen post) and now you can experience it at home! It’s been on sale in Japan since April, so if anyone knows where to get a hold of one here, let us know!

Thanks to Pete for the tip (from 2 months ago…yeah, I know, I know)! via Tokyo Mango

Gyoza and ramen go together like mom and apple pie! 4th of July and fireworks! Love and marriage! Beer and peanuts! Stop me before I keep going! Ahem…Bandai keeps coming out with such cool toys! Make your own gyoza with this Bandai Gyoza maker! Why oh why are all the cool toys available only in Japan?

via Akihabara News

After months, and I mean months of dealing with just about every major problem that an aspiring restauranteur could face, my good buddy’s shabu-shabu dreams have finally come true. Yes, I said “my good buddy” and “shabu-shabu,” not ramen, so I’m going to go out of my way to be biased here. You’ve been warned! California Shabu-Shabu celebrated their grand opening last weekend, and today, the wife and I decided to pay an overdue visit.

For those of you who’ve never been exposed to the world of shabu-shabu, shabu-shabu is a Japanese hot pot. You start out with a boiling pot of water flavored with kombu, add in assorted veggies, and cook thin slices of meat, usually beef, in the water by swishing it around. Because the meat is sliced so thin, it cooks in the time it takes for you to say “shabu-shabu” (which translates to “swish-swish). Two types of dipping sauce are usually provided with shabu-shabu: a citrus-y ponzu sauce and a sesame-based sauce. Also something that can surprise the uninitiated: you cook your own food! (more…)

…to a new web host, that is. This should mean absolutely nothing to you and with any luck you won’t notice any difference except for slightly faster loading times. If you do run into any problems or notice anything wonky, please either leave a comment below or click on the “contact” button above so we can fix it. Thanks!

Apparently, some people are having problems leaving comments. If you’re having any technical difficulties, please feel free to click on the “contact” button on the menu bar above and let us know. Please include as much info as possible, including:

• what you were doing when the problem occurred
• what you expected to happen
• what happened instead
• your operating system (e.g. Windows XP) and browser

As soon as we finish our ramen, we’ll get right on it and try to clean out our interweb tubes.

Can’t wait to have your very own copy of The Ramen King and I? Wouldn’t it be better if it was free? C’mon, everything’s better when it’s free! We’re giving away a free hardcover copy of Andy Raskin’s new book The Ramen King and I! All you have to do is leave a comment below with your story of how ramen has affected your life by Friday May 15. Feel free to leave multiple comments, but only 1 entry will be counted per person. Good luck!

5/16/09 update: We have a winner! Congratulations to zimmon for winning the book! Thanks to everyone for posting and sharing your ramen stories!

Andy Raskin is a writer. That I knew. He is occasionally on NPR. I knew that too. He also has a quirky web site Ramen Advice that “offers spiritual guidance based on the life and wisdom of Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen.” Got it. But why would he spend years of his life seeking answers to love and relationships from the inventor of Cup Noodles?

The Ramen King and I is the story of one person’s struggles through life and how ramen changed his life. No, really. Well…actually, not really. Sure you’ll learn a little bit about ramen. You’ll learn a lot more about sushi, though. You’ll see glimpses into a foreigner’s life in Japan, but you’ll also get an insider perspective. And interspersed throughout the book are vignettes and excerpts from the life of Momofuku Ando, which were surprisingly engrossing.

The book promises to reveal “how the inventor of instant noodles fixed my love life,” and it does, but Momofuku is only a bit player. The main character is Raskin himself. There’s a depth of humanity and humility in Raskin’s candidness, and there are plenty of life lessons to be learned. The memoir is not quite the breezy read that the blurbs would have you believe though. Pointing out that one of the symptoms of the Fundamental Misunderstanding of Humanity is that “you betray the people you love” puts a real damper on things, but there’s also a lot of lighthearted fun and sex (yes, really).

Raskin’s book is captivating, a bit silly, funny, touching, and highly recommended. It’s a story about the road to redemption: sometimes, you have give up your desires and embrace your limitations before you can start the climb up towards the light. The fact that it’s related to ramen life is just the icing on the cake…or is it the chashu on the ramen?