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Recalling that departure dance now reminds me of one of Kierkegaard’s most remarkable and subtle observations, that life can only be understood backwards but must be lived forwards. I think it means you have to turn around and start walking
...more
“Most of the private “physicians” visited by the people we talked to in Rajasthan were not qualified doctors but quacks of one kind or another—what in Rajasthan are slightingly referred to as “Bengali doctors.”
― The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality
― The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality
“Our neighborhood ramen place was called Aoba. That's a joke. There were actually more than fifty ramen places with in walking distance of our apartment. But this one was our favorite.
Aoba makes a wonderful and unusual ramen with a mixture of pork and fish broth. The noodles are firm and chewy, and the pork tender and almost smoky, like ham. I also liked how they gave us a small bowl for sharing with Iris without our even asking.
What I really appreciated about this place, however, were two aspects of ramen that I haven't mentioned yet: the eggs and the dipping noodles. After these two, I will stop, but there's so much more to ramen. Would someone please write an English-language book about ramen? Real ramen, not how to cook with Top Ramen noodles? Thanks. (I did find a Japanese-language book called State-of-the-Art Technology of Pork Bone Ramen on Amazon. Wish-listed!)
One of the most popular ramen toppings is a soft-boiled egg. Long before sous vide cookery, ramen cooks were slow-cooking eggs to a precise doneness. Eggs for ramen (ajitsuke tamago) are generally marinated in a soy sauce mixture after cooking so the whites turn a little brown and the eggs turn a little sweet and salty. I like it best when an egg is plunked whole into the broth so I can bisect it with my chopsticks and reveal the intensely orange, barely runny yolk. A cool egg moistened with rich broth is alchemy. Forget the noodles; I want a ramen egg with a little broth for breakfast.
Finding hot and cold in the same mouthful is another hallmark of Japanese summer food, and many ramen restaurants, including Aoba, feature it in the form of tsukemen, dipping noodles. Tsukemen is deconstructed ramen, a bowl of cold cooked noodles and a smaller bowl of hot, ultra-rich broth and toppings. The goal is to lift a tangle of noodles with your chopsticks and dip them in the bowl of broth on the way to your mouth. This is a crazy way to eat noodles and, unless you've been inculcated with the principles of noodle-slurping physics from birth, a great way to ruin your clothes.”
― Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo
Aoba makes a wonderful and unusual ramen with a mixture of pork and fish broth. The noodles are firm and chewy, and the pork tender and almost smoky, like ham. I also liked how they gave us a small bowl for sharing with Iris without our even asking.
What I really appreciated about this place, however, were two aspects of ramen that I haven't mentioned yet: the eggs and the dipping noodles. After these two, I will stop, but there's so much more to ramen. Would someone please write an English-language book about ramen? Real ramen, not how to cook with Top Ramen noodles? Thanks. (I did find a Japanese-language book called State-of-the-Art Technology of Pork Bone Ramen on Amazon. Wish-listed!)
One of the most popular ramen toppings is a soft-boiled egg. Long before sous vide cookery, ramen cooks were slow-cooking eggs to a precise doneness. Eggs for ramen (ajitsuke tamago) are generally marinated in a soy sauce mixture after cooking so the whites turn a little brown and the eggs turn a little sweet and salty. I like it best when an egg is plunked whole into the broth so I can bisect it with my chopsticks and reveal the intensely orange, barely runny yolk. A cool egg moistened with rich broth is alchemy. Forget the noodles; I want a ramen egg with a little broth for breakfast.
Finding hot and cold in the same mouthful is another hallmark of Japanese summer food, and many ramen restaurants, including Aoba, feature it in the form of tsukemen, dipping noodles. Tsukemen is deconstructed ramen, a bowl of cold cooked noodles and a smaller bowl of hot, ultra-rich broth and toppings. The goal is to lift a tangle of noodles with your chopsticks and dip them in the bowl of broth on the way to your mouth. This is a crazy way to eat noodles and, unless you've been inculcated with the principles of noodle-slurping physics from birth, a great way to ruin your clothes.”
― Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo
“A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.”
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“But on average over all the countries, rich or poor, a fourfold difference in incomes comes with a one-point increase in the evaluation of life.”
― The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality
― The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality
“He’s not going to sell any of those caps. He should just let the monkeys keep them. They are the only ones that want them anyway.”
― Dad Is Fat
― Dad Is Fat
All Things Italy
— 255 members
— last activity Apr 02, 2024 10:26AM
This group welcomes all lovers of Italy. We will be discussing books on Italian literature, history, touring the country, food, wine, language, all th ...more
This group welcomes all lovers of Italy. We will be discussing books on Italian literature, history, touring the country, food, wine, language, all th ...more
The GR Mixtape exchange service
— 143 members
— last activity Nov 27, 2020 04:55PM
For those of you who wonder, as I do, if similar taste in books can translate to similar taste in music... This group is for posting mixtapes in a mo ...more
For those of you who wonder, as I do, if similar taste in books can translate to similar taste in music... This group is for posting mixtapes in a mo ...more
The Transition Movement
— 122 members
— last activity Jun 18, 2020 12:52PM
This group is dedicated to readings and discussion related to the Transition Movement started by Rob Hopkins. The movement started in Ireland and En ...more
This group is dedicated to readings and discussion related to the Transition Movement started by Rob Hopkins. The movement started in Ireland and En ...more
Loosed in Translation
— 518 members
— last activity Aug 07, 2024 02:08AM
Are you interested in world literature, and works in translation? Come here for recommendations, resources, links, advice on who the best translator o ...more
Are you interested in world literature, and works in translation? Come here for recommendations, resources, links, advice on who the best translator o ...more
Aloke’s 2023 Year in Books
Take a look at Aloke’s Year in Books. The good, the bad, the long, the short—it’s all here.
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