Miso Noodles
Shari rated this one. I sent it to her not knowing that she does not have a stove in her dorm room at San Jose State University. She was able to make this in her microwave.
Wow, tastes good, even if cooked in the microwave. It needs to have little chunks of tofu for the full miso soup effect (shari).
She gives it a B+. needs soy (shari).
Seafood Flavored Noodles
I gave this one to Sylvia to rate. She had no trouble making this since there is a stove in her apartment. The packaging deceived her though. Where's my delicately cut squid and green onion disguised as flower blossoms? (sylvia).
She said it tasted decent for instant ramen. If they sold this ramen next to the others typically found in "American" supermarkets like Albertsons, I'd buy this over their flavours any damn day (sylvia).
Sylvia gives this one a B+. You could hardly notice the seafood-y smell of the soup...which is good of course...unless you want to torture your seafood-loathing roommates! (sylvia).
Spicy Noodles
Wes, Patrick, and myself got to try this one. After looking at the packaging, we dubbed this one "Satan Soup with noodles." The blood red soup and the bowl on fire wasn't too inviting... The sesame seed oil made gave it a strong smell. After we made it, it looked really hot and even smelled hot too.
To our surprise, it wasn't hot at all. In fact, it was really good. The strong smell was the only drawback. The closest taste that resembled these noodles was that chili oil you find in Asian restaurants.
This one gets an A+. At fifty cents a pack, it's quite a steal (wes).
Mushroom Flavored Rice
Wes, Patrick, and I decided that this was the safest of the three. I decided to ship the other two flavors to Shari and Sylvia (sorry guys). When we opened the package, we saw that there was a plastic spoon inside. When we saw that, we were ready to give it an A+. The rice itself looks like the kind of rice that you find stuck to your shirt later in the day. It doesn't even look like rice, more like snowflakes (patrick). We figured that it would have a consistency similar to rice pudding.
It takes approximately fifteen minutes to make this. Patrick almost dropped the bag because it was too hot. When we tasted it, it wasn't that bad at all. Some of the rice wasn't cooked so be prepared to hurt your teeth. It is a bit on the salty side though. This stuff is definitely better than the Uncle Ben's junk.
We give it a B+. It exceeded our expectations, but the inconsistent texture brought the grade down.
Pickled Pepper Rice
Sylvia got the pleasure of rating this item. The package definitely made the product look mouth-watering, but don't be fooled! There are no pieces of red pepper in it, instead I found pieces of dried corn and carrots reminiscent of those found in cup o' noodles. In terms of convenience, this product was pretty pathetic. It takes approximately five minutes to boil the water, one to two minutes to pour it, and ten minutes to wait for it to cook. (sylvia)
As for the pickled pepper flavoring, it tastes like crappy rice with Sriracha hot sauce (the hot sauce with the chicken on it - sorry no picture) in it! The oil and MSG-looking pouches are scary.
Sylvia gave it a C- because it gave her quite a scare. Inside the package, there is a drying agent. You know, the bags that say "DO NOT EAT." I guess in Sylvia's case, it wasn't marked so she dumped it in as well. She ate some of it and it scared the both of us. We both hoped that nothing bad would happen since she ate like three spoonfuls. I got scared because my dog died from eating that stuff! (allan).
Crab Flavored Rice
I sent this one to Shari. She wanted it. It looks interesting. I hope it doesn't taste too shrimpy. (shari)
[ cuts out ½ the oil and MSG, discards drying agent ]
Apparently, Shari really liked it. Whoa! This is great! Fried rice ready in minutes without the stove. The perfect dorm food. (shari).
Shari gave it an A. Excellent. Too bad I didn't find out about this three dorm years ago. (shari)
*I apologize for the poor picture quality. (allan)
