Ramen ramen everywhere

I've been eating a lot of ramen noodles lately.

Yes, some of you who are foodies may be retching. And many of you might be scratching your heads. I mean, with all these State-by-State posts and Beltway posts (another one coming up in a week or two), and all the other things I'm cooking you may wonder why I would be indulging in the culinary equivalent of Styrofoam.

Simple: it's easy, and one can't make meatloaves, California rolls and Hoppin' John all the time. Once in a while, I like just being lazy. Especially when I have a cold, as I did this week. How simple can it be to just boil some water, throw in a brick of hard dry ramen noodles and three minutes later have a meal?

But that dorm room / bachelor pad staple has to be zhuzh'd up somehow. So I go to my spice rack to make those ramen noodles a little more interesting. Some combinations I've come up with (in each case, the spices are added along with the spice packets. You might also try it without them):

Beef ramen - add a dash or two of the following combinations:

• cayenne and curry powder
  
• turmeric and curry powder
• mint

Shrimp ramen - dill worked very nicely this morning. Made it taste almost buttery.

"Oriental" ramen - a Thai or Chinese spice blend works well, or some ginger

Chicken or roast chicken ramen - tarragon or thyme, or any of the ones mentioned above for beef