Noodles

There is a particular noodle shop in Cleveland that makes a coconut ginger soup that I adore. When I was going to college in Cleveland, I would often walk the 15 blocks each way just to buy this soup. Yesterday, I was sitting at home, enjoying the snow day off of work, and thinking about this soup. Even after I moved away to DC, I'd go get some when I was visiting my parents in Ohio. But now they live 50 miles from the shop, and I realized that I would probably never get to eat it again if I didn't learn how to make it myself. With a trip to the Asian market and some Internet research, I made a fairly good approximation today of this coconut ginger soup. Like my favorite noodle shop, I used tofu and raw, thinly sliced vegetables in place of the chicken and canned mushrooms. I'm not quite sure what the best vegetarian substitution for fish paste is; I suspect that there is nothing equivalent, but I used a vegetarian oyster sauce (good old H Mart to the rescue) that added a lot of umami. Except for the fact that I can't find the smoked tofu of the original recipe, it was excellent and I will be happily eating it for the next week.

In other noodle news, I am trying to perfect my sweet potato gnocchi recipe, with mixed success. I made several pounds again this afternoon, and will report back if I ever achieve consistently delightful, non-mushy, gnocchi.

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I had heard that the holiday season could be difficult during grief, and it was. In comparison to October, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was rough. It was wonderful to see my family, but I am glad that Christmas is over. When I worked extra hours during December, then took vacation time to visit my parents and brother's family, it reminded me how careful I am right now. I can do everything that needs to be done - work, buying groceries, making meals, and walking the dog - but only if I'm always careful to eat and sleep precisely when I need to. I am hopeful that that coming months will be better.