Ben's going to say "put an egg in it"

So we tried to make some Soup. you know, The Soup. well, maybe.

Matt and I watched "Ramen Girl" (you know, that brittany murphy movie about how she's a rich little girl who doesnt know what to do with her life so she moves to japan with her boyfriend who really doesnt like her all that much so he moves to china somewhere and she gets really bored and finds a ramen house and decides she wants to make ramen so she endures the brusque japanese personality of the ramen house owner and she doesnt speak any japanese but in the end she moves to america and makes soup. you know, THAT movie) and we got inspired.

so we took some ramens and threw out the flavor packets and boiled em up in some water. also, we took some dried mushrooms and reconstituted them in about 4 cups water on the stove and while they were cooking threw in some frozen green beans and carrots and shrimpies to cook (pulled 'em out when they were done and put to the side), and microwaved some spinaches. to the broth i also added about a tbsp of soy sauce, at big tbsp of miso, a tsp of balsamic vinegar, a big shake of garlic powder, and just for kicks, some brown sugar.

we assembled the whole thing and started to chow down and guess what. guess frickin what. it was bland as all get out. omg so bland. i put in so many things! the broth tasted AMAZING until we put the noodles in. matt resorted to adding some of the flavor packet but it just didnt seem to help. now we know what brittany had to go through and why the old japanese man threw out her broth time and time again.

poop. at least it looked pretty. and the shrimps were DELICIOUS.

any suggestions? especially you Soup connoisseurs?

getting in some carbs

Sometimes I will go for a while without having a solid CARB. Yes, I know, carbs are everywhere. But you know what I mean -- the fat part of the food pyramid. And it was one of those days where I'd been walking around a lot, applying my brain to term papers, realizing suddenly that I need to EAT SOME FOOD. Anyway, when this happens I like to really do it up and make my own pasta, but I am ashamed to say that I wasn't in a real position to do this, so I went whole wheat dried. There were a couple of shrimps in the freezer, so I decided to do a sauce with those. Something about today was also screaming greens to me, so I picked up some arugula, along with asparagus, mushrooms, and shallots.

For Vanessa: A recipe, kind of. This could probably feed 4, 3 if they are mostly boys, or 2 really really hungry people who have been writing term papers all day.

1 bunch arugula, leaves cut down to half size
1/2 bunch of asparagus, tough ends snapped off and cut into thirds
2 shallots, minced
a handful of mushrooms, sliced
Maybe 4 or 5 shrimps, peeled and cut in half lengthwise (like butterflying them but cutting all the way through)
1/2 lb whole wheat pasta - spaghetti or whatever you want
a couple drizzles of olive oil, just enough to put a film on the bottom of your pan
fresh ground pepper to taste
salt to taste
fresh grated parmesan cheese to taste
about a shot of vodka
8 oz of tomato sauce

Get the pasta to al dente stage, drain and rinse.

Heat up a pan and add oil. Add shallots, let cook on a medium-low heat until soft, about 8 minutes. Add asparagus, swish around for a minute, then add mushrooms, swish for another minute. Toss in vodka and raise heat up to medium. Let the veggies simmer for about another minute and then add the tomato sauce. Add a few twists of black pepper and a shake of salt. At this point, if you want the sauce a little creamy, you could add some dairy. Reduce heat a touch, cover with a little venting, and let simmer for... I don't know... until delicious and reduced to a saucy consistency.

At this point, toss in the shrimps. When they just start to get pink, add arugula and push everything around until the shrimps are all the way pink and the arugula is wilted. This should barely take a minute since the shrimps have been thinned out and you don't want them to get tough, and the arugula should just barely be wilted and still bright green.

Reduce head to med-low and add the pasta and a few gratings of cheese, folding until nicely incorporated and the noodles cooked the rest of the way.

Serve in bowls with a little more fresh pepper.

The end!

That wasn't so bad...