My love

My love for noodles can be dated back in my early childhood. My father used to take me for wanton noodle soup, fish fillet rice noodle soup, Cambodian seafood noodle soup, Vietnamese crab meat noodle soup, meehoon noodle soup, steamed duck leg noodle soup, Vietnamese pho and so on. My father often offered me some treats (meehoon noodle soup or wanton noodle soup) after school when he picked us up. Every Sunday morning, he would ask us whether we wanted to have yumcha or go for noodle soup for breakfast before we enjoy our outing.

My first lover was wanton noodle soup. I remembered when I was little, my father used to take me to his friend’s noodle stall. My sister Fong and I had to order 2 serves of wanton noodle soup each. I love the bouncy texture of the noodles and the soup that had been brewed for many hours. Someone once told me the secret ingredient for the wanton soup was a dried octopus. 

As I grew older I had found my second lover – Bun Bo Hue. I love the fusion of spices in the soup base of Bun Bo Hue. I had a recipe for this soup noodle but I didn’t bother to cook it. I was quite faithful to my second lover until my son came along. I couldn’t take it any longer as every time I had it I vomited. I accused the restaurants for their unhygienic service and blamed on the spices. At the end, I had to move on and left it behind. 

I found my third lover during lunch at work – instant noodles. I can’t remember when I started falling in love with it and my love for it is strong. Although the instant noodles are so tempting, I must restrain myself. This is very hard when I am crazy about this love. My third lover has a variety of flavours – Korean hot and spicy, Taiwanese vegetarian, Malaysian, Thai and so on. I never have enough of it. 

Lately I have found my fourth lover – homemade noodle. Years ago I bought my husband a bread maker which can knead the dough. My daughter bought her dad a noodle cutter as a Christmas present a few years back. With these two tools, I can make fresh noodles within an hour. I discovered that the noodles I make is far more bouncy and tasty then the noodles from the store.

I have reviewed my love journey and have discovered one thing. No matter what soup base that I love, the main ingredient is noodles.  So I am not that fickle about my lovers. My love from the beginning till the end is still noodle.