Otakon 2010 - Thursday/Friday

So we didn't do anything Otakon related on Thursday, but it was a good day, so I'm going to shove it in with Friday's activities.

So Cass picked me up around 1, we grabbed Suri, and headed down to Baltimore. We stopped at a rest stop for lunch, and then headed down to UMBC, where we're staying in Cass's apartment on campus. We got ourselves settled in, and then headed over to the local Safeway to pick up some food/snacks for the weekend.

I made steak sautéed in olive oil (I am the most Italian), a box of white cheddar & broccoli Pasta-Roni, and a bag of frozen broccoli for dinner. Cass made a box of cupcakes for dessert. It was the most delicious. For those of you who didn't know, I absolutely love to cook. So getting to cook dinner for my friends (while wearing an awesome blue apron!) was great.

Suri played some Twilight Princess, I played some Cate West: The Velvet Keys, and we made a lot of jokes about mangos being 100 cents, Death Note's "Take this potato chip... AND EAT IT!!!", and various other things we all found funny over the course of the day. Just being out of the house is nice, and I enjoyed hanging around and just being kind of nerdy and awesome with two of the most important people in my life.

Friday rolled around and Cass dropped Suri and I off at the convention center. We picked up our badges and began heading around the convention. We met up with friends and took pictures of cosplayers until it was around time for a Q&A panel with Jerry Jewel, who voices Vino/Claire from "Baccano!".



The previous Q&A for Todd Haberkorn was still going on, so we sat in in the end of it and figured out that he voiced Firo from "Baccano!", which was pretty cool also. They are hilarious men, and will also be voicing Italy and Russia (respectively) in the dub of "Axis Powers Hetalia" with crazy accents. I've never been too into Hetalia, but I do love crazy accents so I may watch it just for that.

After that, Suri and I made a few round in the dealer's room and artist's alley to scout out things we might want to buy and what booths had the best prices. While doing that, we also found some of my favorite cosplayers of the day.



Once we'd made a few rounds, we went back and started buying things. I didn't figure there would be much I wanted, but I managed to find a good handful of Nia figures to buy, plus a few other little Bleach things that I couldn't resist.



The "cookies" are actually zipper-pulls/keychains. They are really really cute. The "decorated" cookies are of Abarai Renji and Hitsugaya Toshiro, the two square cookies are of Kuchiki Byakuya and Hirako Shinji, and the chocolate cookies is just squares. I don't really know what it is. If I can find the booth again, I may buy a few more tomorrow and see what else I can get.



I also found this poster in the artist's alley. While making my rounds, there wasn't really a whole lot that I wanted. There were things at the tables of friends that I'd planned to pick up (and will go back for tomorrow since I didn't get to today), but there wasn't much I wanted to buy. Then I saw this Bakuman poster by Rikyo (of Studio Painted Blade), and just stopped dead in my tracks. He asked if I saw anything I liked, I pointed at it, and said "That." I paid the $10 for the poster and we had a brief conversation about how great Bakuman is.

After that we caught up with Cass and headed back to the apartment. I made chicken, corn, and chicken-flavored rice-a-roni for dinner, and now we're all hanging around unwinding after a full, very eventful day. Tomorrow we plan to take another spin around the dealer's room and the artist's alley and then see what happens.

All of our pictures from this weekend can be found in this album on Photobucket. It is full of fantastic cosplayers, so do go take a look!

I Have Eaten A Lot Of Ramen Lately

So I'm most of the way through my 40 slot Ramenbox. As anticipated, it did not disappoint. I've tried 11 of the 14 kinds of ramen I ordered, and there are only two kinds I wouldnt order again (and they are both basically the same thing). I've divided the varieties in my box up into three categories...

Will Order Again
Pretty straight forward, this is ramen that I loved. Stuff I would eat on a regular basis without hesitation.

Sapporo Ichiban Chowmein -- This was my favorite variety hands down. It has a very different preparation than all of the other varieties, is still simple (and, in my opinion, rather fun) to prepare, and is absolutely delicious. If you've ever had one of Nissin's microwave Chowmein bowls, it is a lot like that, only better. I could, really, roder a whole box of this and be happy.

Indomie Fried Noodles -- These are delicious, and taste similar to Sapporo Ichiban's chowmein, though are prepared in a more traditional style for ramen. But it's a good, sweet ramen.

Paldo Bibim Men -- I regret not buying two or three of this. It was super-spicy but it was sweet and really really good.

Indomie BBQ Chicken -- A good chicken ramen. A whole lot of flavor. If you just want soem standard chicken ramen that's still pretty damn delicious this is a good way to go.

Sapporo Ichiban Beef -- Another pretty standard ramen that just packs in a lot of flavor. I'm a big fan of beef ramens so I got a few of these and I'm already mostly through them.

Might Order Again
This is stuff that I might only order one of next time, or forego ordering again if I see something new I'd like to try. It wasn't bad, and I would gladly eat it again, but I just liked the other stuff better.

Indomie Chicken Curry -- This was good, but curry and curry flavored things are something I can only eat so often without it making me kind of ill.

Mama Pork Ramen -- This was delicious, but it's definitely a "cold weather" ramen, so I might nor order any again until the summer is over.

NongShim Spicy Chicken Ramen -- This is one I've had before, and every now and then I just crave it, but god damn it's really spicy. I'm also not a big fan of dried-and-rehydreated vegetables, and not having the option to not put them in here is kind of a downside for me.

Indomie Spicy Beef -- I just liked the other varieties of beef ramen that I've bought better than this one. My one real problem with Indomie's ramen options are that their seasoning/oil packets are all conected. This makes oil packets kind of hard/gross to open and pour out, especially inc ases when there are three packets connected to each other and not two.

Won't Order Again
There were two varieties that fell into this category. I just didn't like them. I do, however, know people who have really enjoyed them. So maybe it's just my taste.

NongShim Chapghetti and Paldo Jja Jang Men were a little too bitter for my taste. Though I've always been more into sweet-savory varieties like some of the ones mentioned above. Thankfully I only ordered one Paldo Jja Jang Men, but I still have two packages of NongShim Chapghetti, which I'm passing off to Suri and McLovin.

Still left to try I have the Kung Fu Beef ramen, VeWong Peppered Beef ramen, and WuMu Garlic Sesame Oil ramen. I'm really looking forward to these. In the future, I may review these here, as well as other varieties I haven't tried yet.

All-in-all the box has been overwhelmingly great. If you want a great variety of quick and easy ramen-based meals, you really need to browse through Ramenbox.com's great selection. I can't wait to finish off my first box so I can order another one.

Arrival of the RamenBox!

So, a week ago my mom and I placed an order from RamenBox.com. We put together a big 40-slot ramen box, placed the order, and waited. It arrived today just as I finished making some pasta for lunch, since for all the good comedic timing I tend to have, my practical timing is generally terrible. None the less, I was totally excited to have my big box of ramen finally in hand. After eating, I tore it open and this is what I found:



37 glorious packages of ramen (I had a few 2-slot items), 14 different types, all packed into two boxes. It's a truly beautiful thing. My lineup consists of the following:

- 3 Indomie Spicy Beef Ramen
- 3 KungFu Beef Ramen
- 4 Sappolo Ichiban Beef Ramen
- 4 Mama Pork Ramen
- 3 Indomie BBQ Chicken Ramen
- 2 Indomie chicken Curry Ramen
- 2 NongShim Spicy Chicken Ramen
- 4 Sapporo Ichiban Chowmein
- 3 NongShim Chapghetti
- 1 Paldo Bibim Men
- 1 Paldo Jja Jang Men
- 2 Vewong Peppered Beef Ramen
- 2 WuMu Garlic Sesame Oil Ramen
- 3 Indomie Fried Noodles



I've had a few of these before (like the Sapporo Ichiban beef and the NongShim Spicy chicken) since I have apretty diverse super market in my area, but I'm excited to try a bunch of new things. Especially some of the vegetarian options that I ordered.

Because the guys over at RamenBox.com are so cool, they also threw in a few sets of chopsticks, some chili sauce, and a pack of Tung-I Beef Flavored Instant Rice Noodles. These little extras and free noodles totally won me over, because I'm a sucker for extras. Way to snag yourselves a repeat customer guys.



So since I got a hold of something a little unexpected with my order, and I'm hungry, I'm going to write more about the Tung-I Beef Flavored Rice Noodles. I've never really done a food review so bear with me on this one.



So, prep on this is pretty standard fare. You've got your noodles, a pack of seasoning, and an oil packet. Three minutes in boiling water, and then add in the seasoning and eat. The rice noodles didn't absorb the seasoning very well, but they had a pretty nice texture to them. Even though the noodles didn't absorb it very well, the broth had a lot of flavor and held up to the texture of the noodles pretty well.

I'd definitely have it again, though next time I'd change a few things. I'd add the seasoning in at the beginning so the noodles could absorb it straight on, and I'd use a bit less water. I'dS also add that leftover steak in the fridge. Yum. Meat is always a good addition.



So all in all, if you like ramen, Ramenbox is a good deal! It'd probably cost you more to buy them all inidivitually, even if you factor in shipping. And it is run by some fantastic, friendly people, and when you order you might even get a little something extra! There's also their free slots program, where you can earn slots and eventually get a free box of ramen! So drop by and check it out. You most likely will not be disappointed. I know I wasn't.

Nerds and Ramen Are Inseparable

Ramen is kind of a staple of my household. I like being able to make quick, easy meals for myself at any time of day since I have a ridiculously erratic eating schedule. I keep a couple boxes of pot-stickers and microwave rice pouches and things around, but there's nothing quite like a good bowl of ramen.

But as I'm sure many of you know, a girl can only eat so much Nissin Top Ramen before things start getting a little stale. Then one day, a friend of mine on LiveJournal mentioned something that caught my eye...

RAMENBOX.COM



I made myself an account and kept the link sitting around in my favorites until I could get money to order a Ramenbox of my own. In the meantime my mom kept picking up packs of Nissin chicken flavor Top Ramen, which I've eaten maybe three bows of and wishing it was something more interesting.

The other day, on a grocery run, I mentioned Ramenbox to mom, and today I pulled up the site so she could check it out. I'd planned to go for a regular 20 slot box, but mom decided we should go for the large 40 slot box! I put one together and we ordered it this afternoon!

They ship via FedEx ground (Which I like, because we're a FedEx loyal family, due to my dad being a courier!) so it'll be here on Monday or Tuesday most likely and we are looking forward to the super cool ramen that we've ordered.

Ramenbox also has the friendliest people in the world on staff. They keep in touch with their customers via their twitter account, and from what I've seen if you have any kind of problem regarding your order they will do what they can to help you out.

Once my box gets here I'll be sure to do another post on all of the great things I packed it with, but in the meantime take a browse around the Ramenbox site. Setting up a box is easy, and is actually a whole lot of fun. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.