The reason that the word homemade is in quotes is because this ramen was technically made at home, but isn’t actually homemade (from scratch). I can’t remember the brand name that I buy, but there is a pretty decent ramen that is sold at Mitsuwa, Marukai (Cupertino) and Nijiya in the cold foods section. It comes in a 2 pack and includes the soup base and the noodles (crinkly kind). They have 3 flavors to choose from: Shoyu, Tokotsu and Miso. I usually keep the shoyu and tokotsu versions in my fridge for lazy days, which came last night. Also on a recent trip to Marukai, they had a new charsu available, so I picked up a pack of that and put it in the freezer for another day.

Last night seemed like the perfect night for it. After a wonderful brunch at Absinthe and our very first experience at the ballet, plus a little impromptu shopping in Hayes Valley, lounging at home in our pjs and slurping up noodles sounded like a great idea. I defrosted the charsu and popped it into the oven to heat up. To the ramen I added shimeji mushrooms, sauteed bean sprouts, roasted garlic cloves, bamboo and kimchi. Topped it off with a handful of chopped scallion. Not bad at all for store bought ramen!