Tonkotsu-gram

Tonkotsu ramen is my favorite noodle soup by far, and unfortunately, there are no places to get really good tonkotsu in Monterey. I had gone so long without tonkotsu that Shinsengumi was the place where I wanted to eat the most on my last trip to Southern California. If only I could get Tonkotsu up North, I would be really happy – I remember thinking this when I departed on January 2nd for Monterey.
Vacation came a few days later. On my first day off, I received a notification that an undelivered parcel from Japan was waiting at the Pacific Grove post office for me. Due to power outages and other obstacles, I wouldn’t end up getting this parcel for another 3 days, and only then after a 20 minute wait in a line packed with people trying to do everything that the post office was capable of, it seemed. The staff at the PG post office is polite and efficient, much like a Japanese Post office.
I was surprised to read this label on the box that was handed to me:

Reading the label, I knew that this wasn’t going to be a pack of Top Ramen or Cup o Noodle, but it did raise a chuckle.
One of my favorite teachers from Ubuyama, Hieda-sensei, must have been listening to my thoughts because he quickly dispatched a 3 pack of instant Kumamoto-style tonkotsu ramen, complete with takana from Aso-prefecture!

Here are the ingredients for my Kurotei instant ramen:
cup noodle
pork broth
salt
shoyu
natana oil
lard(!)
garlic
?
starch
karashi peppers
amino acids
caramel color
rendered bones
sweet flavoring
seaweed
And there’s more, but I’m getting tired of looking up kanji and trying to remember Japanese. I think I’m going to have to prepare extra noodles so that I can enjoy the broth to the fullest with kaidama…
To Hieda-sensei, the man who dared to climb Mount Kuju during the middle of a blizzard on April 4th, 2004 with Ubuyama-mura’s 3rd resident ambassador of gaikokujin, I am truly in your debt!