Getting a College Degree in the Art of Making Ramen Noodles

     Ramen noodles have always been a staple at my house. Every time me or my brothers were hungry and it was between meals we got the same answer. "Make some noodles". After years of practice I thought I had the art of noodle making down to a T. Measure the water, pour it in the pot, bring the water to a boil, add noodles and cook for several minutes, add seasoning packet and voila! The perfect snack! Now my brothers always made theirs in the microwave to avoid having to wash the pot and sometimes they ate them dry but I was always more of the cook-it-in-the-stove kinda girl. I was convinced I was an experienced Ramen noodle maker...until I came to college.

    A few days ago I decided to run to Wal-Mart to buy some groceries. While I was browsing I discovered Ramen noodles in these handy little styrofoam cups. "Perfect! Now I won't have to wash or buy bowls!" I stocked up on about 5 or 6 only to have my mom bring me two HUGE boxes of chicken and beef flavored noodles the very next day :) I rushed through the rest of my shopping so I could get back to my dorm to try out this genius invention and that's where all my problems started. 

     Flinging my dorm room door open and tossing my forgotten grocery bags to the floor, I fervently ripped the plastic off the cup and started reading the instructions. Boil water and fill cup to the line on the inside. Let sit 3 minutes. Stir and enjoy. Sounds easy enough, right? WRONG. I proceeded to wait 5 minutes for the water from the sink to get hot, filled up that handy little cup and stuck it in the microwave for about a minute to make sure the water was hot enough. I set the cup on top of the fridge and went to visit with my roomies while I waited out the three minutes. 

     When my roommate asked what I was doing I replied nonchalantly "Oh just making some noodles". "The microwave isn't on though, Brittany" she said while looking at me like I had lost my mind. I explained that I was making the noodles in the handy styrofoam cups and told her I had already microwaved them for a minute and was waiting the three minutes for the noodles to expand and become cooked. Silence. And then an outburst of laughter from my two roommates. After everyone caught their breath, they explained that I didn't have to wait three minutes. Just pour the water in the cup and microwave for about 5 minutes. I proceeded to put the cup back in the microwave, set the timer for 5 minutes and wait. Much to my dismay I opened the door to find my noodles had exploded. Noodle water and random vegetables covered the inside of my roommate's microwave. "They exploded" I said disappointingly. This brought another round of laughter. Apparently I was supposed to put a bowl under the cup. I argued that the noodles were already in a bowl and didn't see why they needed 2 bowls. Boy, was I wrong!

    So I learned several valuable lessons that day. How to properly make noodles in the microwave, cooking on a stove and in a microwave are two totally different things, and the most important, not all noodles are created equally.