Worst To Least Worst

As I write this, I have a burner lit on the stovetop, and there are two cups of water heating up in a pot on that burner. It's my intention to put some ramen noodles in there, wait three minutes and then eat the results. I do not do this with relish. I would very much like to eat something else, but at the moment nothing superior suggests itself. I, therefore, must suck it up and make the best of what I have got on hand.

The thing is that, apart from being terribly insubstantial and utterly unhealthful, ramen noodles are not really tasty. That is to say that this is mostly the case. There are a number of flavors, but they are more or less all the same. Chicken is the worst. I don't think that they know what chicken is. It reminds me more of some vegetarian rice dish. I say 'reminds' because it doesn't taste like that- it would have to taste good to taste like that.

A little better is beef. The flavor is faintly akin to beef. When the flavoring is added, the broth at least takes on the color of beef. If the actual taste is not much like beef, at least it tastes strongly of something. I don't find it adequate anyway, but it at least provides some kind of a base that I can work with. I do use the beef powder, but prefer to add some things of my own. I find that drowning the thing in the spiciest Mexican hot sauce I know of yields decent results.

There is a flavor that stands all right on it's own, probably because it's spicy to begin with. It's called 'chili something or other'. I forget the exact name. It's pretty good. Unfortunately, they know what a gold mine they're sitting on in the couple of tolerable flavors that they have. Those ones seems to be harder to find in bulk, and can only be purchased individually. It would be hard to argue that it becomes cost-ineffective to buy them singly, but I prefer not to. A bunch of loose ones are awkward going home from the grocery store.