Indonesian Slush Ice Drink

Because Indonesia is a tropical country, there are countless of cold drinks available year round.  Instead of ice cream, we drink or eat slush ice drinks with fruits, jellies, beans, fermented casava, avocados, and others as the added ingredients, sprinkled with syrup and condensed milk (optional).  It is my favorite snack drink of all time.  There are other similar slush ice drinks throughout Asia but each country has its own twist to it.  It is popular in the Bay Area now but it is either Chinese or Vietnamese version of the drink.  So here's the Indonesian style.

Japanese Cold Ramen

For hot summer days, some of us crave for "cold" food to cool us down.  Japanese cold ramen is one of those foods.  I believe it is a Japanese version of Chinese cold noodle.  According to my husband who used to live in Japan for a few years, Japanese eateries serve this ramen noodle with ice cubes underneath the noodle on the serving plate.  I did it once at home, it was kind of interesting and unique.  Without the ice, it is still perfectly a good meal.

I have always use store bought cold ramen noodle kit package, they come in fresh noodle package located in the refrigerator section or dry cold ramen along with other dry ramens in most Asian markets.  There are a few fresh cold ramen Japanese brands but I only know of one dry cold ramen brand (see photos below).  Making the noodle sauce from scratch is actually quite easy - peanut sauce, hot sauce, or sweet vinegar sauce, and more.  I believe peanut sauce is more popular or well known compared to the others.  I will update this post once I have tried it myself.