So I had to clear out some space in one of my phones, and because I am the sort who has to have her music in as many gadgets as possible, decided it wiser to transfer out a couple of seldom-used picture albums instead of her favorite playlists.
So here we are.
Amongst all the albums that I transferred to the laptop that afternoon there was one of Food.
I tend to give odd names for my picture albums.
And even though I don't know just how far back this YUMS album dates back to, the earliest pictures start from 10 years ago, and so, yeah, let's just say it began from there.
Year on year there are many stories that can be told of all the food that I've eaten (and maybe I'll get to it one day) but for the moment, for the sake of this article, I'll just stick to a series of a single food, and just this series alone.
So amongst all the pictures in YUMS, there was one food that popped up quite constantly, and frequently.
Instant Noodles.
I hadn't thought that there were more than two, or three pictures.
But there are.
There's one that dates back to 2016 where I had, on a late evening, cooked a packet of Myojo noodles over the stove, thrown in my all-time favorite ingredients of sotong cuttlefish balls, and finished up the whole bowl whilst sitting on the floor in the hall at the dark wood coffee table.
Then there's another one- this one two years later- using the same bowl, still with my favorite sotong balls, plus the addition of two hot dogs and cherry tomatoes this time.
The next batch of pictures jump straight to 2020.
Chances are I didn't take pictures of those that I ate in 2019.
Seeing the pictures of these noodles hold a different meaning to me altogether.
How it is I have three- the most out of all these years- I don't know, but I think they're all ramen, and if they're ramen, for sure they're all going to be Hokkaido Miso from the Nissin brand.
To be honest, seeing these pictures right now makes me emotional.
Not only were the noodles themselves gifted to me by Mr. Radioman, all them ingredients in the pot had also been bought by him.
He was the one who went to buy the sotong cuttlefish balls.
He was the one who got the hot dogs and the siew mais and the lettuce you see in these last few pictures.
And he was also the one who got the meatballs and the cherry tomatoes.
Sometimes I wonder if I should be brave enough and continue buying them sotong balls and siew mais from the NTUC downstairs.
But I haven't found the courage to.
I don't want to relive the times when we bought the noodles together at the supermarket, tore the packet open, and split the packets into three and two.
I also don't want to relive the times when I stood over the gas stove watching the noodles and my sotong balls boil in the pot before bringing them out to the hall to eat, or the room where I ate there at my long bench-like table.
Which is why the only picture I have of instant noodles in 2023 is a bowl of Nissin dry UFO noodles on the bed linen of a hotel room near Little India.
I'd chosen the carbonara.
I've never returned to the siew mais nor the sotong balls nor the cherry tomatoes.
They just didn't feel right anymore.
And even though I have the Little Blue Pot steamer where I can actually cook my noodles underneath whilst steaming my sotong balls and siew mais on top, I've not done.
Maybe it is that I've put my money to other foods.
Maybe it is that I've decided to have other stuff- like bread and cornflakes- for quick meals- instead of making a bowl of noodles using ingredients that I know I'll take a long time to finish.
I'm getting somewhat emotional right now.
This particular season has been hard.
Perhaps I didn't think seeing pictures of instant noodles would be a trigger, but it is.
Because now I don't use a stove pot anymore.
I don't have any of these ingredients sitting in the freezer anymore.
And I don't even put the Nissin seasoning very much anymore.
I didn't take a picture of the noodles I had couple of weeks ago.
But here's one from last year.
I think I was trying to cheer myself up over my lonesome meal.
Kind of sums up how I prefer my noodles these days.
No seasoning, just a lot of butter, many dashes of sesame oil, and generous sprinkles of mixed herbs- my preferred mode of vegetable for my noodles dry.
Maybe one day I'll get back to the siew mais or the sotong balls.
A noodle dish can do with some protein after all.