Soupruary 26th: Egg Drop Noodle

I wish I ate meat; I could have made Year of The Rabbit Soup.


(BARF! Why does "Rabbit Soup" sound SO much more disgusting than "Rabbit Stew"?? (Yoops, a quick Google search revealed that Rabbit Soup, or Polievka z Králika, is a classic of Czech/Slovak cuisine. Guess I'm not very good at respecting my heritage. (Wait, "z" is a WORD in Czech? Really truly a WHOLE WORD? I gotta learn this language. (OVERBOARD!))))

Right, so, Chinese New Year party at Nick and Leigh's in Finneytown! They throw this party every year, and are 100% dedicated to making it ridiculously fun for everyone there.

Even fun for Stormtroopers!

They lay out this massive spread of Chinese food, have air hockey and pool and pinball, give everyone little envelopes full of fake Chinese money to gamble with, have "horse" races

I was this little piggy's jockey. I lost pretty, pretty bad.

and a Slinky race,


and end the night with a hilarious and entertaining auction.


Every year the auction items are related to the animal for the year, and the bidding is blind--the items are all concealed in paper bags.


Someone ended up with some wine and a Rabbit wine bottle opener; someone payed like 700,000 in fakebucks for a bunch of carrots.

The youngest (and probably cutest) bidder.

I mean, seriously, these people can throw a party. You wouldn't have found a more heartwarming locale in Cincinnati tonight.

Here's to Nick and Leigh!

Special thanks to Josh for documenting the night so well!

Anyway, I brought soup! My initial plan was to make wonton soup (a childhood favorite), but everything I read about it made me think it would absolutely not transport well. Maybe I'll make some wonton in, like, April (the next possible time I'll be able to look a soup pot in the face after this month).

This baby took about 15 minutes per pot to make--how crazy is that? It wasn't amazing or anything, but it was totally edible, as evidenced by the 6 quarts of the stuff that were consumed. It's always good to have a dish like this in mind: something to warm you up and fill you up in no time at all using ingredients you probably have around the house. Plus, pretty healthy! And, lately, I'm down for anything that functions as a noodle-delivery system.

Authentic? Not even a little bit. But hey, it wasn't really the Chinese New Year, either.

"It WASN'T?!?"

Egg Drop Noodle Soup
adapted from Gourmet, February 2002

5 cups light vegetable broth
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons medium-dry Sherry
1 thumb-sized knob of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 nest of fresh fine egg noodles (about 2 oz)
4 ounces firm tofu, diced
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons sesame oil
sriracha, to taste
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Plase first five ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and keep at a steady simmer for five minutes or so to get the garlic and ginger flavors infused into the broth.

Add noodles, tofu and peas, and cook until noodles are tender, (two to three minutes depending on the type you have).

Using a spoon, swirl the soup so that it's a little cyclone in your pot. While continuing to swirl, slowly drizzle in the eggs. They should cook into ribbons in about a minute.

Stir in sesame oil, and top with scallions. Season to taste with soy sauce and sriracha. Best served immediately, but it travels pretty well too.