Ramen is a fine replacement for cuddles
Couples bond over weird things. I’ve been feeling particularly reflective recently since my girlfriend and I celebrated our ten-year anniversary this week (don’t worry I’m gonna propose this summer when I get my degree).
A major part of our relationship has been food. In the early days of our friendship, freshman year of high school, I would buy her gummy worms and other snacks as some sort of a peace offering. This evolved to getting lunches together every day at community college. With adulthood came experimentation in the kitchen and a further appreciation for our meals and what they provide us — physical and spiritual nourishment.
We’ve made a lot of great meals together. It started with mastering basic pasta dishes. We are big fans of pastries so croissants and pies are in constant rotation. Chicken wings or homemade pizza are excellent, quick options that don’t take very long to make. However, ramen holds a special place for us.
It’s the ultimate comfort food for us. It’s the first thing we’ve gotten each time I visited her in The Bay during my time at ASU. It’s the one meal we put the most time into when we cook, looking to experiment and master our broth. Ramen just hits the spot on so many different levels.
My go-to order when we go to places is spicy tonkatsu with extra noodles. She usually gets spicy tonkatsu with an egg and some edamame on the side. I’m not the biggest fan of drinking broth, so she usually drinks the rest of mine. She (and I can’t stress enough how much I hate her for this) rarely completely finishes her food, so I usually get to finish her noodles. Strange how things work out when you’ve found your soulmate.
At home, we usually make chicken ramen. It’s kind of hard to bounce around and try different kinds of broth when getting one right is hard. She’s way better at precise cooking that comes with soups or baking. I’m much more of a big ideas person and better with barbeque. Yet again, another situation where our strengths complement each other.
