I'm playing World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade on a private server and in a state of trance leveling up my mining and smithing in Hellfire Peninsula. I never played retail WoW before so the experience and world is novel to me. Growing up the two MMORPGs I played were Runescape and The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria. In both games I had characters with a top-tier mining stat; my profession in WoW was a chance to revisit that. But tonight it's late, and I'm a little hungry.

I remember I went to WalMart a couple months ago, a rarity because the closest is 15 minutes away by car but the nearest Food Lion is 5.

This user shops at Food Lion.

Anyhow, I was at the Walmart and I saw a number of novel cup noodles. Totino's Cheese Pizza Ramen Noodles, for instance, and these, A-Sha Hot Ones Smoky Chili Noodles. A-Sha is a Taiwanese company that has a healthy USA division. I was skeptical about these going in, both because of the Hot Ones branding and because I'd never heard of A-Sha.

Tonight I fish these out of my pantry and start boiling the water.

Cooking them the recommended 3 minutes in the cup with hot water, the noodles come out a bit al dente, which is fine by me. I much prefer chewy to completely soggy. The aroma is amazing, redolent of McDonald's picante chili sauce, which basically smells like a sweet jalapeño hot sauce.

The provided broth is a liquid base in two separate packets, always a good sign. Also included was a third packet with dried vegetables. I've added in the Bonus Heat Pack, though I don't expect much heat.

The noodles do not absorb much of the broth and are bland by themselves. I love the al dente texture, though. It is a tiny bit more spicy than most instant noodles that say "Spicy" but not by much. Nissin Hot Spicy Fire Wok Volcanic Mongolian Beef were substantially hotter but, in A-Sha's defense, those noodles have 6 peppers on the front and this cup only has six-tenths of a pepper colored in. A few floating ~~green onions~~ scallions break up the monotony of the noodles but do not add much to the overall flavor.

True to the smell, the broth does taste like that McDonalds picante sauce. Smoky and spicy. Notes of tomato and jalapeño. All together it's a pleasant, slow-building, novel flavor for instant noodles. Nothing I've had before compares. Not to say it's amazing, just new. Which is a great thing in itself.