Working in Kyrgyzstan in some ways is very similar to the United States. One of the trends that has made its way from the US office to here is the working lunch. In the States, I was not a big fan of this concept and here it is worse.
By working lunch, I really mean that people do not go home or out to lunch during the midday break. They stay in the office. That in itself would not be so bad, but all we eat is bread and tea. I still consider myself a growing boy (even though I am shrinking) and I need a real lunch. So, I suck it up and walk the 2 km back to my house to prepare a nice meal.
By nice meal, I mean a package of Ramen noodles or at least the cheap package of them that they sell at the stores here. Being all volunteer-like and trying to conserve my resources, I bought a 15 pack of noodle blocks (not individually wrapped, but in a stylish plastic grocery bag) for about 23 som, or roughly 75 cents. I was totally beating the system! Three weeks of lunches for less than a dollar! Then I had my first noodles.
I broke the noodles and put them in a bowl and added hot water, just like in the US. While they cooked, I figured I would cut up some tomatoes, add a little salt, and have a kielbasa (sausage) sandwich on the side. A nice, economical lunch to say the least. To put it mildly, the noodles tasted like Elmer’s glue. Who would have ever thought that day in first grade would give me the insight to my culinary experiences in Central Asia? Anyway, I figured that the noodles could not be that bad and that my mistake was merely one of preparation.
My next attempt, after re-consulting my typically college quick-fix, was to add chicken bouillon to the mix. It would be just like the 15 cent Ramen packets back home. Now, however, I had to spend another 15 som on bouillon, since I was positive that was the necessary solution. Again, the noodles tasted like Elmer’s glue, except this time I had a wonderful chicken broth to drink afterwards. An improvement no doubt, but hardly a satisfactory answer.
Peace Corps gave us all a cookbook after we finished training as a way to help us recreate local favorites and give us creative ways to improvise. Apparently, Ramen is a common dish for many of the volunteers that live on their own, since it is cheap and easy. Frying up the noodles and throwing in some extras is a sure fire way to make a good dish. So, with my third attempt, I ended up with greasy noodles that were crispy and still tasted like Elmer’s glue. So, I have decided to give up on the sub-2 som packets of Ramen noodles.
In the same grocery store where I bought my original cuisine, one shelf above the bulk packages, are 7 som packets of Ramen noodles that contain their very own seasoning packets and everything! I have not tried them yet, but the other volunteers in town say that they are the only ones worth buying. I can’t decide if I can afford them or if I should just go back to bread.
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