a letter from the kitchen

Dear Kathryn,

I made miso soup today and I thought about how much fun it is to cook with you and kelly. sapporo starlets. fun kitchen chats with lots of alcamahal so let me know what you think and what's been cooking with chuuu

train of thought :

1. I got this kombu from my friend Asia. came in this weird package. covered in white stuff, assumed it was salt. do i wash that off or is the salt good ? I washed it.




2. next, 2 cups of water in the pot, added a bit more because you never know


3. cool out. stared at the pot for a little bit. walked back and forth, sat on the couch, got a glass of orange juice. I waited until clusters of little bubbles appear around the kombu. right before the water boils. then take it out. put it on that rash you noticed last night.

that is your stock. I didn't use dashi because I didn't have any.

4. at an early boil, put in the dried shataki mushrooms first. makes 'em nice and soft. dried things expand in water so I ripped 'em up into small pieces

5. do the wakamae wake up dance. really cold water, quick rinse. then break it up into small pieces, drop it into soup

NOTE*** this whole time I'm pretty concious of the temperature of the water. never getting it to a full rolling boil.

6. when the water is hot steaming and settled, add the miso.

yes i found miso in argentina.

I judge how much miso by the color of the water. this time I kept it light.


7. Last, add in the spring onions. or green onions. or are those the same thing ? I put them in last so they would keep their crunch. you know how I like my texture. Then I was done. and it was really good. i think the best one yet. a classic traditional masterpiece. eat it while it's hot though. cold miso soup is not so good. In my 2nd cup i added some brown rice. Chika told me the name for this in japanese . i forget what she said, but she said it's food for cats. I like it.