High Five Ramen

Oh. My. Good God.

Best.  Food.  ......Ever.

It's Tuesday.  I worked 10 hours today, I barely took a 15 minute lunch, and I could feel the cough of a cold devilishly pushing its way into my reality.  As I plugged away, heading toward the bus, my brain started rattling off all the things I could do for the rest of the evening.  Almost immediately, my stomach started filling with a queazy humming as it thought, "Oh God, am I really going to be at work within 12 hours?  And, what, between now and then I'll, what, sleep, sit on my couch, watch olympics, and snuggle with my dog and then that's it?  Back to this?  ...and it's only Wednesday tomorrow?

Suddenly I wanted nothing more than a change.  Immediately after that thought my stomach spoke, and it said one thing:  Food.

No, I wasn't hungry, although I could tell I would be within an hour or so.  Instead, it yearned for food - hearty, delicious, real, inspired food.  A salad of mozzarella, sad lettuce that would go bad if it weren't eaten in 24 hours, and one tomato hardly seemed "inspired.  It seemed as sad and monotonous as the regularity of what my day had faced and would seem to face if the plans continued unchanged.

Then a thought came.  High Five Ramen.  My husband had wanted to go for his birthday in February, but the restaurant is a tiny hole in the wall, doesn't open until 6pm, and only takes walk-ins.  It's well-known that it's commonplace to see a line of people waiting to be seated.  We hadn't wanted to deal with 'standing and waiting' in the deepest part of winter, so we had decided against going for his birthday dinner.

Well, suddenly, as I checked my watch, the place beckoned like a lighthouse to a drifting boat.  *Potential*.  I curiously checked my watched and calculated if I could get home, take the dog out, feed him, my husband would make it home, and we could arrive at the ramen shop all before 6.  I knew, as it was Tuesday night, that we would have a far better chance of getting in on a Tuesday than a Thursday evening, and forget a weekend.  And suddenly, as I finished walking for the bus, I decided.  That was it.  We were going to High Five Ramen for dinner.

And HOLY BANANAS is it amazing.  I ordered the High Five (no spice) and my husband ordered the Seasonal Special (half spice), and ever ounce of my body hummed with joy as I took my first bite.  It was warm, hearty, pork flavored, filled with love, purpose, and internal 'hug' that comes with any homemade, made-to-order, small batch cuisine.  I can't remember the last time I had life-changing food like that.  No joke.

High five, High Five Ramen.  You may even kick my devilish cough right back underground if the miso in the ramen is as effective as it was gratifying.