The Noodle Cook Book : Delicious Recipes for Crispy, Stir-Fried, Boiled, Sweet, Spicy, Hot and Cold Noodles

One of my great joys is collecting unique cookbooks, then taking one out, sitting down to look through every page, and deciding something new to prepare. Today was The Noodle Cookbook's turn. First, let me describe the book. There is a picture of a rustic noodle house with long strands of noodles drying from the rafters. Pictures show types of noodles and how they look according to cooking times. Others show how to deep fry to make crispy noodles. Types of woks, seven cutting techniques, then a glossary which defines cooking ingredients, such as kamaboko (Japanese fish cake), nori (blackish-green seaweed dried into paper thin sheets), and wasabi (Japanese horseradish grown in only clean water). Recipes are divided into categories: hot noodle soups, cold noodle dishes, stir-fried noodles, and noodles with toppings. Some samples dishes include Ramen with Wakame. Wakame is a a type of seaweed, nutritious, full of minerals and trace elements, and calorie-free. The recipe follows in the Comment section. The photo shows a very attractive layering and sectioning of ingredients sitting on a bowl of noodles. Most of the recipes have full-page, almost in-your-face prepared dishes. Each plate is different, each soup spoon. Ramen with Crab Omelet looks really tasty and sits on a black plate with gold designs of fish swimming along the outer rim. Matching chopsticks rest on a white, designed chopstick holder. Here's another stunning dish: Miso Udon Stew. Big chunks of several items crowd each other out in the broth. Here's another: Chilled Egg Noodles with Chicken and Peanut Sauce. What a gorgeous preparation is Stir-Fried Egg Noodles with Yakisoba Sauce. (Yakisoba is a brown sauce used in Japan and is made up of brown sauce, light soy sauce, tomato catsup, oyster sauce, and sugar.) Singapore Spicy Noodles look like Fried Rice, but juicier. And my favorite recipe: Thai Fried Rice-Stick Noodles with flavors of roasted peanuts and small chiles. Malaysian Egg Noodles with Chicken and Shrimp also combine unique flavors to create an attractive dish. How about Crispy Vermicelli with Chicken and Mango. We began this review with the idea of preparing a special meal for intimate friends. We will start with green salad and Asian Sesame Dressing, then go to Ramen with Wakame, (a soup) and our main dish is Malaysian Egg noodles with Chicken and Shrimp. Hot green tea and saki will served as drinks. Dessert is simple: a small block of sweetened bean curd. The French will say: Bon appetit! The Chinese say nothing--it is assumed that one will enjoy the food. However, Indonesians and Malays say Selamat Makan!