Noodles for the Birthday boy
It was my dad’s birthday on April 18th. I didn’t have a lot of money left from my pocket money. I actually owe money because I bought two Nerf guns. I am not sorry I bought two because they are great for having epic fights when friends come to my house. They shoot really far. The bullets are foam so they don’t hurt – well they do a bit because it is high speed but not so much. Here is a picture of me and my friend Ofentse being bandits with our guns.
There are all sorts of Nerf guns – there are snipers and automatics and even mini guns. The ones that I have are the Mega and the Disruptor. I remembered that my dad likes to take packets of Chinese noodles to work. He likes to eat them at lunch time. I don’t like them because I think the spices have an odd taste but he likes them and I had enough money for noodles so I asked my mum to take me to Chinatown in Cyrildene Johannesburg so I could get him a lot of noodles in different flavours as his present.
Don’t worry my mum got him other presents too so he didn’t only get noodles. He got a Toblerone and a good pen (which is sad) and a Dr Pepper which he let me have some of. In the evening he went to the cinema at pretville with my mum but I didn’t go. They saw his favourite film.
Then I started to think about noodles. I found a story in National Geographic about an archaeological site in a place in China called Laijia that was found in 2005 that has dried noodles that are 4000 years old. This means that they were made in the Neolithic period. This is the picture that was taken of the ancient noodles by the archaeologists. It was very interesting to see because of how old and well preserved they were and how they looked just like the ones I had bought my dad.
Laijia is in North West China. There was an earthquake there 4000 years ago and this caused a mudslide which covered the town and preserved it. It is almost like what happened at Pompeii. The tremor caused a bowl of noodles that was made on the day of the earth quake to turn over and this bowl acted as a seal so that the contents were preserved inside.
I found a Chinese recipe for noodles on line and I made it. Mine look very similar to the ones found at Laijia.
They were good. A long time ago I made pasta with my mum and it was quite like that but this time it was just flour and water no egg.
When you have made the dough you have to let the dough sit for a while so that it gets easier to roll I went off and did my dance practice.The recipe said I had to roll them with a rolling pin when before I had used a pasta machine. That was hard. I think my noodles were a bit thick because I was tired after rolling and rolling so they tasted a bit doughy but they were nice and I had them for my supper. They got less doughy when they were cold.
My dad liked his birthday noodles I asked him for a quote and he said “you can eat them day and night”. I would recommend noodles as a birthday present for all dads and all boys who have spent their money on Nerf guns.
12 comments to “Noodles for the Birthday boy”
What is the address of the shop where you bought the noodles?
A belated very hapy birthday to,your dad!
Your dad looked just the same when he ate pasta 30 years ago. Except he had more hair.
Noodles can be very good, especially if they are covered in a good sauce. Two years ago in Vietnam, we had so many noodles that I almost felt allergic to them and didn’t want to see them for quite a while. But I recovered.
Well done for a very well written and very interesting article. Just, please, don’t attack me with a nerf gun!
Thank you for the support. Dont worry. The guns arent loaded yet…
Did you use a ruler to cut your homemade noodles into strips?
No. I folded the dough into a sort of zigzag and then cut strips that way they came sort of the same.
Love learning about the world through you, Josiah! Stay inquisitive 🙂
Hi i like your kida spirit thank for sharing.and happy belated birthday to your Dad🎈🎉🎊😃
hello. thank you for the support. I will pass on the message to my dad.
So you went and bought a second gun Jos😳. I hope you haven’t lost more bullets.
I’m coming for pasta lessons next time I’m in Harties.
Thank you for the concern I haven’t lost more bullets.You can count on that lesson.