The Food That Made Me

Kids, sometimes you’re in the right headspace and things just start working. I had this week off as part of my paternity leave. I spent most of the week just cooking and playing with #1. She is so close to crawling on all fours. So close!

Mommy made a comment that I didn’t decide to finish my soups up until Friday afternoon. Which was true, but I did it. Here I present to you two new soups that I am currently R&Ding.

Almond Milk with Pork Soup and Papaya and Snow Fungus dessert soup.

The recipe for the Almond Milk Pork Soup is as follows:

Pork bone – a couple of pounds.

North and South Almonds – 200g

10 cups of water.

A large chunk of ginger.

1. Use an instant pot and parboil a couple of pounds of pork bone.
2. Take out the pork bone and wash the pot.
3. Put the pork bones back in and add the ginger and the water.
4. Pressure cook for 2.5 hours, depending on the size of the pork bone.
5. Take the pork bone and ginger out of the soup.
6. Cool the soup in the fridge.
7. Take off the lard. Or just most of it.
8. Separately, blend the north and south almonds with 1.5 cups of water. Blend on high for about 2 minutes.
9. Pour the blend into a nut bag. There will be residue in the blender, so add a bit of water to flush the rest out, but try not to add too much water.
10. Squeeze the almond milk out.
11. Add the almond milk into the soup and boil for 10 minutes.
12. Discard the almond pulp. (Hopefully, I’ll be able to find better uses for it in the future so it doesn’t feel as wasteful.)

Your Gu Ma (Auntie) drank it all in like an hour. So, that’s a sign that I’m doing something right.

P.S. This is my third iteration. The first time, the fat and the almond milk mixed together, which didn’t feel as clean and tasty. The second time, I tried the linked recipe, but it didn’t give me the milky taste that I wanted. I served it to Auntie Soupy and was disappointed in myself. This was the third time, and I’m like 80ish percent there. I just need to adjust the salt level and make it even creamier somehow.

The Papaya Snow Fungus soup was more straightforward. I was able to follow the recipe, and it tasted good. I will need to think a little bit harder about what will improve it. The sugar level is nice. But I was concerned about adding 150g of sugar. Honestly, it already tastes better than what I get at Meet Fresh. So, that’s already a huge win for me.

On another note, we just visited a new coffee shop called Haraz Coffee. We loved the vibe and also just learning about Yemeni coffee and culture. We relaxed with #1 with our coffees and chais and pistachio croissant. Coffee shops are really places that force me to slow down and reset.

Maybe I need to slow down from time to time in order to be in the right headspace for things to start working?