Date: 2014-08-08
To: What's In Your Food Bag?
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Ah, yes! The Incredible, Edible Ramen! Where would we hikers be without these small, light weight, cellophane-wrapped morsels of YUM--m-m? I don't exactly know when I started turning to Ramen Noodles as a staple in my food bag. I do recall it took several backpacking trips and a few disasterous attempts at campsite cooking before I hit on this easy to fix delicacy. But I can easily remember a number of evenings when I have stumbled into camp too tired to fix much of anything at all, and extremely glad that all I had to do was boil a little water for some Ramen Noodles, and walla, instant nourishment!It does come to mind my very first AT hike and my first ever attempt to cook up an evening meal. A friend of mine and I had hiked from Springer Mountain to Cooper Gap. I was exhausted! I mean, Sassafras Mountain kicked my bottom. But we made it. Got our tents set up and got out our cooking gear. I was using a brand new white gas stove and it broke right away -- some foul up with the fuel line. So that was less than an auspicious beginning. But Frank had his stove and allowed me to use it. My plan for the evening was Mac & Cheese. Easy, right? Well, I too would never have guessed that you could burn Mac & Cheese, but you can, especially using a pot which lacks a non-stick surface. So, there I was, having burned my noodles, but proceeding onward. Afterall, it was the plan! Having cooked the noodles (to death) I got out the pouch of cheese paste. I remember thinking it looked like quite a lot of cheese, but what was I going to do with leftover cheese? So, I put it all in and began to stir, trying not to disturb the layer of noodles adhered to the bottom of the pot. It turned out to be the gooeyist, most undigestible mess that you could imagine. It was sickening -- charred noodles covered with an excess of cheese. I think I managed a couple of bites before I went over to the edge of the woods, dug a hole and gave my first backpacking meal a proper burial. But I digress.Getting back to Ramen Noodles -- I have indeed come upon some hikers who religiously steer away from them and I've come up with a theory on why. They have grown weary of the taste. Well, here is where this wonderful cookbook, put together by Toni Patrick, comes in. I mean, WOW! It is filled with useful and helpful suggestions on how one might spice up and complement the most basic backpacking meal out there -- Ramen Noodles! Included are suggestions for using Ramen for B'fast, Lunch, or Dinner. I might even add that uncooked Ramen are great for mid-hike snacks. Just spread some crunchy peanut butter on a bagel, sprinkle on some crushed up Ramen pieces and then drizzle on some honey -- and you've got the perfect power snack to get you up and over that next climb.And consider just for a moment all the things you can add to Ramen to convert it to a completely different meal. It only took me a few minutes in a local convenient store to find the following: Jerky, Tuna, Summer Sausage, Chicken, Bacon Bits, Spam, Hamburger Crumbles. The list just goes on and on. Want to impress your fellow hikers the next time you're in camp? Boil some water and put your Ramen Noodles on to cook. It only takes a few minutes. Add in some garlic and basil. The smell of this alone will cause your campmates to look over with envy. Pull out your tube of Tomato Paste and squeeze in enough to create a sauce around your noodles. When done, sprinkle on some additional Italian spices (it's got to contain oregano!) and then top it off by pulling out of your food bad your small ziplock stash of Parmesan Cheese to dust over your masterpiece. There you have it -- Ramen Spaghetti fit for a King!Well, I'll let you continue to mull over the possibilities. One thing for sure, you can hardly find a trailside convenience store anywhere up and down the AT where you can't purchase Ramen Noodles -- or for that matter, a can of beenie-weenies. What more could you ask for??Happy Eating to you all!