Honeymoon Noodles

Edwin and I got married this summer in Honolulu, Hawaii.  It was the perfect wedding and the perfect honeymoon.  At the end of the trip, he turned to me and told me the highlight of his trip was the bowl of saimin noodles he had in a little noodle shop in Kauai at the beginning of our trip; we made sure to stop there again before we headed back to reality.  :) 

I wasn't offended by his comment because I know how much this man LOVES soup noodles.  He is a 58-year old FOB trapped in a 28-year old ABC's body.  He could eat this dish day in and day out for the rest of his life.  So I was happy that he found a bowl of noodles that more than satisfied his old-man palate.

Upon returning from the honeymoon, I relayed this story to my sister Olivia, and told her that I was going to attempt to recreate this tantalizing dish!  My culinary expertise is limited (ok, non-existent), but I have always dreamed of cooking like a true chef.  As my older and wiser sister, she quickly recommended that I start a food blog to document the different dishes I would attempt to make.

So here we are now.

For those of you who don't know what saimin noodles are, you are not alone.  This was a foreign word to me before we went to Hawaii.  They are basically ramen noodles, but for those a little more skeptical, here's what wikipedia had to say: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saimin.

Here's my version!

Saimin noodles can be made with a variety of toppings, but in ours I included the following: bok choy, chopped ham, kamaboko (fish cake), shrimp, carrots, green onions, enoki (straw) mushrooms, chicken broth, and thin Soba noodles.  A couple weeks later, I tweaked the recipe after my friend Kyle recommended I add the Hon Dashi spice (essentially MSG straight up!); we also added some red chili powder.

Edwin's response?  "It's better than the one we had in Kauai!"
Yea baby!