Non-Librarianship and Instant Noodles

A couple of weeks ago, I was chatting with Clair, Marj and Trebs on separate occasions about how we all ended up being sorta non-librarians at some point in our lives. I know a lot of LS grads who ventured out of libraries and information centers and somehow ended up in freelance work, web design, business processes outsourcing, graphics, writing and publishing. Just check the Gorilla Links section and you'll see what I mean... Well, we also ended up talking about how important computers, code and general IT are to our jobs. Clair, though, says she's not a programmer. :D Yet Trebs, Marj (who refers to me as a non-librarian), and I agree Clair's more of a codehead than all of us. Nature of her work siguro. BTW, speaking of tech, below are my most recent acquisitions: an 80Gb external hard drive for backups, a webcam and a headset. Maybe if you're lucky (or unlucky) you'll catch me on the webcam on the Stickam widget on the upper right sidebar. Next in line is a Video Capture Card. :D

Just to clarify, I actually get to use a lot of what I learned in college. Indexing and abstracting, yes, and often too. Cataloging and classification, not much, maybe for simple file organization but nothing hardcore. Sorry, Dean Faderon and Ma'am Picache, cataloging isn't really my strongest suit, but those abstracting exercises really help a lot when I write and especially when I edit. :D

I can't code from scratch, well, maybe I could but it will take a loooong time. My editorial job took on additional website content updating, basic maintenance and troubleshooting. Being able to make sense of PHP / MySQL and tweak HTML and CSS is a necessity. These weren't taught to me in college. Maybe it should be taught now (I'm serious, it's the edge). I tried teaching SQL back then but the absence of hardware and server permissions really hampers stuff, even I myself couldn't practice. Heck, I envy Clair and her SSH, now I'm very, very rusty. With today's capabilities, I believe they should really be taught in IT subjects in LS. Anyway, onto my forays into the world of instant mami / noodles / ramen.

Instant soups and noodles have always been a part of my life. After I learned to boil water and cook an egg either hard-boiled, soft boiled or sunny-side up, the next step for me was cook instant soups and noodles! It was a product of my childhood really. Lola and Mommy always cooked instant soups and noodles for me. When I was young I loved Knorr, Royco and Papa Piccolino. Knorr is still around, the others, I don't know what happened to them. Ever since I could walk home from school by myself and when no one else was around or was busy at the store or at work, I'd fire up the stove and cook myself instant soup or noodles. I still do that till this day, though every once in a while I treat myself to a bowl of noodles /mami / ramen from Ted's Old Timer La Paz Batchoy, Chow King, Luk Yuen, Tokyo Tokyo, Teriyaki Boy, Tempura, Karate Kid, Kowloon House, North Park or Joe Kuan whenever I pass by their restaurants.

When years pass you get tired of the taste. So as the decades turn I really thought of ways of making my instant noodles taste different. My usual set up would be to just add Knorr or liquid seasoning for taste and milk for the creamy feel to the stove-cooked or microwaved instant noodles (and soups). Recently I've started adding a dash of Dizon Farms Honey Mustard into the mix and a pinch of wasabi.

The milk and the liquid seasoning have always been in my set up. I realized while I was taking pics that I've put a lot of different stuff in my instant noodles through the years. These all radically change the taste of that drab instant soup or noodle pack on my stove. Adding is usually by feel and to taste.

• Different Spices: Usually McCormick, I occasionally put a dash of marjoram, anise seeds, ginger, ground pepper, caraway seeds, black pepper, cumin, oregano, paprika, tarragon, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (no joke, though it does sound like Scarborough Fair). I add by feel and taste. :D Never the same taste twice.
  
• Different Sauces: Oyster sauce, catsup, java sauce, worcestershire sauce, barbeque marinade, sweet and sour sauce, assorted sauces, Kikkoman (for that Japanese tang), and of course the indispensable Sarsa ni Mang Tomas. I've even used lemongrass extract once or twice.
  
• Creamers: Makes the soup thicker and creamier, I've used powdered milk, skim milk, different sandwich spreads and mayonnaise. I used to add mayonnaise or Mayo Magic to the instant noodles before I discovered my current creaming favorite Dizon Farms Honey Mustard Sauce. :
• At the office, my lunch would usually be the no-cook Lucky Me Supreme or Nissin's Yakisoba. To spice it up I add Knorr Soupy Snax for a thick soup with my flavorful noodles.:D
• Soup Base: If available, I use meat broth or "pinaglagaan" as the soup base. That makes the flavor really stand out! If that's not available or when I feel the flavor lacking, I add other types of Knorr soup packets or broth cubes, eg. like a dash or teaspoonful of Sinigang sa Sampalok makes for a biting-sour soup and noodles combo.
• Meat, Vegetables and Extenders: I add leftovers too, even spaghetti noodles for more stringy goodness. One of my faves is shredded chicken, but beef or pork tastes nice too. I like adding diced potatoes, and carrots. Yesterday I added hamburger patties, weird but makes for a hearty meal.
  
• Canned: Heck, even canned meat makes for a different taste. Reno Potted Meat? A bit okay. Liver Spread? Just a little but in combination with somethuing else. I'm not crazy over pork and beans or tuna, especially sardines (it's really sort of off when you add it). But... adding Corner Beef really makes my day. :D

I really don't have a super-favorite brand of noodles, but my usual preference would be Nissins Ramen (whether the local or imported one, same by me). An acquired taste? For the adventurous? Maybe. But when I'm hungry and I need a quick food fix, instant noodles is what I reach for.