An Accidental Discovery

I had been keeping a secret from my sons for all these years! Once in a long while, after they'd gone to bed, I'd make myself some instant "ramen-style" noodles (we call them "Miojo" in Brazil). This was one of my few guilty pleasures, since I am aware that these noodles are very bad for one's health and can be considered a "junk food" because they are deep-fried and the seasoning packet has lots of MSG in addition to too much sodium. I ate it very sparingly and I knew I would not want to feed that to my boys!

I did it on the sly because I knew that once my sons tried it, they would absolutely LOVE it and I was 100% right! Last Friday we met some Korean friends at the ski station and because they had to leave early, I told them that their son (my son Kelvin's good friend) could stay and that we'd drive him home later. At around 1 pm I stopped and texted Kelvin to say that we should have a snack and he informed me that he was already eating inside with his friend. When I got there, he was finishing off this bowl:

and of course he absolutely loved it (even because he really really likes spicy foods). My youngest got to try a bite and he liked it, in spite of the fact that he thought it was a bit too spicy.

My husband gets mad at me for these things, but I immediately confessed to the boys that I loved instant noodles too, but that I thought they weren't very healthy so that's why I had never served it to them and that was that.

Today during dinner Kelvin turned to me and said: "Mom, could you please allow us to have those noodles once every two months or something?" (thankfully my boys are pretty health-conscious! ;-) and of course I had to say yes. Apparently they sell those noodles at Costco, so I guess I'll buy a package and let them eat it sparingly.

In fact, after he asked me that, I reached into the pantry, dug around so I could find and show them this:

which is the noodle I ate every couple of months. We had just finished eating a pretty liquid kale soup and coincidentally, my husband had just asked why there wasn't any pasta in it. Since the boys are going to have that soup for lunch tomorrow I decided to add the noodles to the leftover soup for them to try it. At least it will be mixed with healthy potatoes and kale! ;-)

Yeah, so the secret is out and now I won't be able to indulge in my "guilty pleasure" without sharing it with the boys. Oh well... On the other hand, now we have one more very easy food to eat during trips.

P.S. the boys have eaten instant noodles before, but they were healthier versions such as this rice noodles one from Trader Joe's (or the miso one):

NOTE: I hope it's not a problem to use images of these products taken from the internet. I think that products are like "book covers" which can be legitimately reproduced for reviews or commentary without any copy-right violations. Am I wrong? Worst case scenario, I'll photograph the items myself later and replace the photos!