Instant Ramen Just Turned 50: And it's still delicious (and nutritious?)

As I wrote about earlier this week in Common Prayer, I am attempting to eat more conscientiously. This means eating healthier, eating more local foods that are grown sustainably, and basically learning whatever I can about what I’m eating. Unfortunately, my quest to eat better and more responsibly has been thwarted by the fact that my refrigerator is full of barely recognizable leftovers, condiments, and some olives (green olives. yuck.)

See. If you look back there you can see something that used to be king ranch chicken.

So, this evening I ate the following: 1 package of Ramen noodles, 1 granola bar, and a chunk of mozzarella.

I ceased to be hungry after eating these things, but still felt somehow unsatisfed.

Still, in my quest to “educate myself about my food” I decided to find out a little bit about instant ramen noodles.

And I learned that instant ramen noodles just turned 50. On Thursday! (Thank you NPR! Read a fun little NPR commentary here).

Momofuku Ando invented them on August 25, 1958. He was inspired to make them after seeing people waiting in line for ramen noodles during food shortages shortly after World War II, and realizing "Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat.”

And so we are graced with extremely cheap tiny packages of noodles flavored with monosodium glutamate (MSG)*, and “powdered cooked chicken” (according to the package). Delicious.**

Looks yummy, doesn't it?

*There are lots of things in my noodles that I can’t pronounce, and I’m tempted to look them all up on the internet but I’m pretty sleepy. Still, I did look up MSG because I’ve heard it’s dangerous. As far as I can tell, it’s still on the FDA’s safe list, and the jury is still out on this one

**I ate Maruchen Ramen noodles, though Ando’s company is Nissin.

Dr. Horrible is not Horrible: or Why I don't' Need a TV

Because everything interesting is in television is available on the internet, that's why. Case and point: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. This is a 42 minute long miniseries written by Joss Whedon, who wrote Firefly (which ended with the enjoyable sci-fi action flick, Serenity), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which I've never seen, but I've heard is pretty clever).

Dr. Horrible is one of the most original and enjoyable things I've seen. Funny, and surprisingly touching (very surprisingly), it stars Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris/Dr. Horrible) and that guy from Firefly and Waitress (Nathan Fillion), and that girl from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Felicia Day). And it’s a musical!

It's available to watch free at www.drhorrible.com and www.hulu.com.

Now, my brother and I own a TV. It's very small and fits nicely in the closet where it's been for the past year or so. And we have cable, mainly because of some promotion that made our internet cheaper when we signed up for cable. But I don't really need them. I've got my high speed cable internet (well, when it's working) and my Netflix account, and when absolutely necessary I can go to my friend's house and watch his HD TV. Hulu.com has many of the shows I enjoy with "limited commercial interruption" immediately available (currently watching somewhat regularly: The Colbert Report and Burn Notice).

And with original, entertaining stuff like Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog out there, why bother even plugging in the TV?

My Netflix Problem

t’s Wednesday night. I feel like maybe watching a movie. Fortunately, I have Netflix. Unfortunately, the movie sitting on my desk in the little white Netflix envelope is The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Now, I want to see this movie, I really do. But the movie is even longer than the title (two hours and forty minutes), and it looks really depressing. When do I ever really want to see a depressing movie that’s over two hours long. Not when I’m bored and home by myself.

And that is how I end up spending money to have movies sit on my desk for weeks. Recently, I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica, rediscovering my dormant inner sci-fi nerd. But I just finished that disc, and it’s on the way back to wherever Netflix movies go when I drop them in the mailbox, one of those warehouses in the mysterious network of Netflix warehouses filled with movies in little envelopes.

So instead I clean my house. I decide to send back The Assasniation of Jesse James by the blah blah blah, but I’ll probably forget in the morning. I wonder when my next installment of Battlestar Galactica will arrive until I realize that I forgot to change my queue, so instead Netflix will send me The Savages.

Another two hour long depressing movie. Thanks Netflix, for making my life so much easier.

Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just me?

Let's face it, I'm never going to watch this movie.

Who Knew?

Harold and Kumar are the future. Didn't see that coming.

Newsweek

Who knew? We've had all these copies of Newsweek lying around the house, and never read most of them. I've been meaning to read them, but they come, like, every week, and who has time to read all that?

Not until a few of my friends were at my house, flipping through the magazines that have begun to cover every available surface did I really start to look at them. And wow! They're full of interesting facts, like these: Ben Stein is a nut job, local food is not necessarily better for the environment, and Hillary Clinton is related to Madonna.

Who knew?! I'm going to have to start reading these things.

Deep Thought for the Day

When dogs poop in toilets, that's when we'll know we're really in the future.

Screw you too, Facebook

Recently, Facebook, or one of those horrible applications that I have stupidly added to my profile, felt the need to email me and inform me that "None" of my friends have selected me as a "Most Eligible Friend."

Thank you, Facebook. Was it really necessary to go out of your way to let me know that?

And thanks to a small network of spirit crushing applications, I have also learned that my profile was viewed by four people, and none of them would date me.

I'm removing this application right now.