Ramen with Panda and Puppy Faces

So after my lunch at Santouka and Italian Tomato, I wandered into the actual Mitsuwa supermarket to see what funky Japanese goodies I could find. I found a bar of 99% chocolate for $1.99. I have a feeling it'll be very bitter, but I was game to see how it would taste. And the best product ever for the kid in all of us - ramen with panda and puppy faces! Only $2.69. Actually, for that price, I could have bought a couple dozen packets of normal ramen, but how could I resist those faces? The package contained four small ramen noodle packets. Very small packets. I guess they literally are for kids. Look, they're half the size of my hands. With little seasoning packets which include the faces. I was still very full from lunch but counting down the minutes until dinnertime when my belly would make room for ramen with panda and puppy faces. Did I tell you? RAMEN WITH PANDA AND PUPPY FACES!!! Yes, I sqealed with glee? How could you not? How do you prepare your ramen? If I'm dealing with faux fish flakes (which is what the panda and puppy faces are), I like to dump them along with the seasonings in the water as it's heating up to boil. I just think it makes the water more flavorful and gives time for the fish flakes to absorb the water and swell properly. Just look at those little panda faces staring up at me. "Please don't eat me Wandering Chopsticks," their little eyes seem to plead. Glug. Glug. All gone. It was such a tiny bowl, only enough to fill a rice bowl, so I decided to make the puppy ramen as well. And really, it's because I just wanted to see what the puppy faces would look like. Looks like the Target dog mascot doesn't he? "Please don't eat me Wandering Chopsticks," the little puppy eyes pleaded with me. Glug. Glug. All gone. Taste-wise, average Nissin ramen flavor. Appearance-wise though. They're just so gosh darned cute! As for that 99% chocolate bar. Ack! Ick! Gross! Too bitter! I popped in a large chunk of creamy, milky Norwegian chocolate to even out the flavor. I guess I could have spat it out. But hey! I'm a girl! We don't waste chocolate! Mitsuwa Marketplace 665 Paularino Ave. Costa Mesa, CA 92626 714-557-6699