I’m officially fully vaccinated, I even have the “I got vax’d at Hynes!” pin to prove it.
I felt a little fatigued afterwards, but it was manageable…. until it wasn’t, at around 2am. I woke up shivering with a headache and my body felt as if I slept through a herd of elephants passing through my bedroom. I didn’t really get back to sleep, the rest of the night felt like a series of little naps, each one consisting of its own mini-dream. During one of these dreams, I was sitting at my desk typing a blog post about being sick. I woke up again, and fell back asleep. I dreamt about telling someone about the post and how relieved I was to finally be done with it. I woke up again, and fell back to sleep. I dreamt that I was at a backyard bbq feeling relaxed knowing I got day 4/30 out of the way just in time to attend this bbq.
I woke up for good at 6am and for a second, I was convinced that I wrote a whole post in my sleep which would’ve been great because I still feel pretty ache-y and run down. Right now, I’m just really looking forward to watching Jurassic Park with my cat and crushing an Emergen-c tablet.
Before I start that, here’s a quick story about yesterday.
After the appointment, I stopped at a ramen shop. Before covid, it was one of those restaurants I always thought about going to, but the line always looked too long. I would always peek into the window as I passed by and it always looked the same. The counter overlooking the kitchen was always packed and there was always a row of people sitting in the window seats. Every time I pass by a noodle shop, I’m amused by how you never make eye-contact with folks in noodle shops because we’re all too preoccupied admiring the billions of broth-y eyes staring back at us.
There’s a movie called Tampopo. It’s considered a “Ramen Western” because it followed the typical “Spaghetti Western” style, but it also a comedy… but also a social satire so it definitely exists as in it’s own unique genre. As a quick overview, It’s about a milk-truck driver who stops into a ramen shop for a quick bowl, but ends up staying to help the shop owner make a delicious bowl of noodles. Anyway, I’m not an expert on ramen but noodle soup of all sorts will always have a place in my heart.
Quick noodle soup-related tangent: I spent 9 days in Hong Kong before moving to China and I shared a dorm with another backpacker named Lauren. We stopped into the same noodle shop almost daily, and whenever we found ourselves back in HK, we would send each other updates on the shop and a photo of the noodle soup. HK was just a short train ride from where I was living, so I’d make the journey regularly. Eventually, I learned how to get from my apartment, to the border, to the shop without using a GPS and still, to this day, it’s one of my top 10 greatest achievements. At any given point, you could toss me onto a plane heading to HK and I’d know how to make my way. We haven’t spoke in awhile, but we always joked about “the next time we meet up in HK.” Life works in mysterious ways, and can think of several times I’ve found myself in unexpected and strange situations thinking “wow what are the chances!!” So I’m looking forward to that day.
Anyway, back to Tampopo, theres a specific scene in the film that I think about often. It kinda changed the way I think about ramen – and honestly, any other type of noodle soup. It might be satirical, but looking at food with appreciation and gratitude can go a long way. I wrote about this in the Coffee post, but I spend a lot of time thinking about how far fruits, vegetables, proteins, cutlery, napkins, etc have to travel to get onto our plates. And after so many years of working in a restaurant, I’m conditioned to eat food as fast as possible in the most bizarre locations. Even over the past year, I’d still find myself eating my eggs and toast while standing in my kitchen. Lately, I’ve been trying to be conscious about the food I’m eating, and a huge part of that means slowing down and not treating all meals like I’m sitting on a milk crate, inhaling a cold meal in between shifts.
Anyway, here’s the dialogue from the scene but you should definitely watch the clip (that I attached at the bottom)
Student of ramen eating:
[voiceover] One fine day… I went out with an old man. He’s studied noodles for 40 years. He was showing me the right way to eat them.
Student of ramen eating:
Master… soup first or noodles first?
Old gentleman:
First, observe the whole bowl.
Student of ramen eating:
Yes, sir.
Old gentleman:
Appreciate its gestalt. Savor the aromas. Jewels of fat glittering on the surface. Shinachiku roots shining. Seaweed slowly sinking. Spring onions floating. Concentrate on the three pork slices. They play the key role, but stay modestly hidden. First caress the surface with the chopstick tips.
Student of ramen eating:
What for?
Old gentleman:
To express affection.
Student of ramen eating:
I see.
Old gentleman:
Then poke the pork.
Student of ramen eating:
Eat the pork first?
Old gentleman:
No. Just touch it. Caress it with the chopstick tips. Gently pick it up and dip it into the soup on the right of the bowl. What’s important here is to apologize to the pork by saying “see you soon.” Finally, start eating-the noodles first. Oh, at this time, while slurping the noodles, look at the pork.
Student of ramen eating:
Yes.
Old gentleman:
Eye it affectionately.
Student of ramen eating:
[voiceover] The old man bit some shinachiku root and chewed it awhile. Then he took some noodles. Still chewing noodles, he took some more shinachiku. Then he sipped some soup. Three times. He sat up, sighed, picked up one slice of pork-as if making a major decision in life-and lightly tapped it on the side of the bowl.
Student of ramen eating:
What for?
Old gentleman:
To drain it. That’s all
Aimee the Ramblin’ Woman 