he makes ramen!

over the last few years ramen has had quite the transformation. the ramen we all knew growing up came in the form of a hard brick equipped with a packet of msg for "flavor." just add water. nowadays it seems ramen of that nature is fading away and has become a thing of the past. well....except for those late nights where after some alcohol indulgence and liver damaging you scrounge up anything you can find. in that moment a dehydrated block of noodles that've been sitting in your pantry for months doesn't sound so bad and is actually quite satisfying. but gone are the days of Maruchan and Cup Noodles (which, while looking it up, i just realized isn't "cup o' noodles." ummmm what?? my whole life i've added the "o" and i'm not sure how that happened but i'm going to go out on a limb right now and say that i'll bet i'm not the only one who has made that mistake for the extent of their whole lives up until now). 

now ramen comes served at a table, fresh and in bowls heaping with awesome chewy noodles, topped with a ton of other ingredients to make the experience far better than the old stale (literally and figuratively) version. ramen shops and pop-ups are appearing left and right at a rate too hard to keep up with. Katana Ya was sort of the start to the ramen craze and as the ball has gotten rolling, Santa Ramen and Orenchi showed up...then Ramen Dojo and Parlor and Himawari and Ken-Ken Ramen and Iza Ramen and Ramen Underground...etc. etc. etcetera.. it's great and the options are plentiful. but because the craze is indeed a craze sometimes the wait for a bowl of ramen has you standing in line outside shivering in the cold pining for your turn at warmth. this is a problem. (in the most whiny kid voice)..i don't waaaaaanna wait!  

the remedy? find a guy who makes ramen at home...from scratch! from the broth to the noodles, he does it all from the bottom up! it takes a lot of work and patience to make a good bowl of ramen. to get broth with a depth to it ain't easy, folks! there are a lot of steps involved and  a bunch of components that are far too many for me to want to explore on my own. so when said guy offered a hot bowl of ramen in the comforts of my own home, i quickly jumped on the opportunity. thennnn decided to photograph the process of building the bowl partially because of all of the work he put into it...but mostly because i thought it looked pretty. 

and for the record it was delicious!! all warm and yums in my tums!