We love Sichuan anything - the vegetarian version of course!. So much so that our first year of marriage saw us visiting only a Sichuan restaurant, ordering the only 3 dishes that we do, all the times we had to eat out. We did not eat out much though - I was all into cooking (aren't most of us in the first year of marriage?) and the husband had had enough eating out throughout his single life to eat "anything" the wife dished out in the name of food. So the weekends saw us going to this one place (again and again..), so much so that the minute they see us, they knew what we were going to order. Years down the line, as recent as last week, we still have a local sichuan place that we visit who (once again) don't ask us what we want when they see us. They know!. It always goes like this -

Them: "Hey! welcome. How are you?"
Us: "Doing great! You?"
Them: "Same here (some regular banter). So, the usual?"
Us: " Yes."
Them: "In a minute....."

There is no necessity to give us a menu, no need to ask our spice level, anything. We know they hope that one day we will change something and shock them. I know they welcome it. We want to, but we always keep that for "the next time" and we never do (till date at least). I dunno what that makes us - a boring couple? or people with similar palate immensely content about the very same dishes? However you word it, the underlying fact is - we LOVE sichuan food. Period. So other than the "usual affair", I sometimes feel the itch to try something "different" at home too that's sichuanese. Hence this recipe. Almost everyone I have known, loves noodles. Now mix in some spice and heat, it becomes a household name.