“Remoted” – Workday 70 / Day 94 (Thursday)

The heat has arrived as forecasted, but at least there is a breeze. My Mummu used to always say that when it’s hot, you should eat hot foods (temperature and spice level) because then the air will feel cooler. I’m still not so sure about this.

In the spirit of Mummu’s advice, instead of a crisp and cool salad that I wasn’t in the mood for, or a tomato and cheese sandwich I also wasn’t really in the mood for, I rummaged around in the cabinet and came up with spicy udon noodle soup. I had bought this as the Stay at Home mandates were first happening during what turned out to be the last in-person grocery shop for months, on the day before I learned I would be working from home.  I’d had udon noodles in restaurants and didn’t recall seeing it the grocery store before that day, but I’m usually laser focused on finding my beloved ramen. During the shopping trip of the udon noodles, there was but one brick of ramen in the entire aisle, which I also grabbed, even though it wasn't my favorite flavor. Yes, I have a favorite ramen brick flavor and it is Creamy Chicken.

I love the speed of ramen and the udon bricks. My stove has a "Power Burner" that boils water in no time flat, and then five minutes for the al dente firmness of noodles and boom, dinner is served. I can’t prep salad vegetables that quickly, especially with the two Canine Overlords staring at me and begging for cucumber peels and slices, crispy romaine spines, and carrots. No kidding, they hear the knife on the cutting board and magically appear from wherever they have been. Then I flip them vegetable peels and bits of vegetables, which reinforces the act of appearing when the sound is heard, but hey, we all enjoy the game.

When you forget your udon
soup it turns into just noodles.

After setting the udon noodles on the stove to cook, I paced nearby, waiting for the timer to buzz. Once the stove was turned off and the noodles were in the bowl, however, I wandered off to check the mail and in that brief time forgot that dinner was on the counter waiting for me. Sometimes I have the memory retention of a chimpanzee, which is about 20 seconds according to one study I found in my Google search of “what creature has the shortest memory.” Twenty seconds sounds about right for me, and even generous sometimes. When working as a waitperson several different times through the years, if I didn’t write it down, you probably weren’t going to receive it. I’m always amazed at the wait staff nowadays who write down nothing and deliver every single thing to specification. How? I can’t make it from the couch to the kitchen without forgetting what I got up for.

By the time I noticed my udon soup on the counter, it was no longer soup, and more like slightly mushy noodles in a bowl with the tiniest bit of broth remaining. Whatever. It was tasty. Between the temperature and the spice level, there was sweating and a runny nose, but I could only wonder when the cooling effect was going to kick in. The breezes coming in through the windows eventually dried the sweat glistening on my neck and forehead, which felt better, but I can’t say it was ever cooling. At least it was delicious.