Soup Nazi

I have been on a health kick.  At least as far as diet. There is this amazing oriental grocery store that I go by during my daily travels, and it has been an inspiring place to browse.  Full of fresh, exotic veggies and seafood.  Labels I can't read, and things that just look like I gotta try it.  On a side note, I completely organized my kitchen, and this includes a full set of "Producer Keepers" in the refrigerator.  They ROCK!  Even strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries are still fresh and yummy a week later.  I fed the picky girl salad with week-old lettuce and she didn't even bat an eye.  Yay, me!  Yay, pretty kitchen! Unfortunately no one in the family wants to take the necessary training to be able to put groceries away in my beautiful, yet complicated organizational structure, so the groceries sit on the table waiting for me to put them away.  That's OK - everything has a place, and any deviation would be a sin.

I've been on a soup kick, inspired by all of the lovely fresh herbs and veggies at the oriental place.  I am trying to learn to cook with a thai or vietnamese inspired flare.  I say inspired, because if I were ta actually try to learn, I would have to crack a recipe book.  I'm just winging it.  The Darling Man is not a big fan of soup,but he is a good sport.  I am determined to eat healthier and the light rice noodle, broth and veggie concoctions seem to be just the thing.  I love the salty/sweet/sour/spicy combination in this style of cooking. The girl loves soup, so its a pretty easy sell.  I have learned a few things - like if you are going to add seaweed in a recipe that does not ask for it, you really need to reduce the fish sauce.  My family only likes fishy taste if they don't recognize it.  Seaweed ups the fish flavor more than you would expect, but I love the nutritional component, and for some reason, the girl-child really likes seaweed.

I also learned that the fam does not like fish balls.  I really thought it would be a nice, light protein boost, and would be delicious.  Fish Ball Soup just sounds so amazing.  And the soup was really good.  Except for the fish balls.  The husband ate them, proof that he will eat anything.  I forced the girl to eat two.  I ate all of mine, but it will not show up on the menu again.   The dogs were ecstatic.  what to do with a pound of fish balls?

The egg drop soup was really easy, and turned out looking and tasting just like egg drop soup.  Ewwww.  The girl child loves egg drop soup.  I find it slimy, and nauseating.  The Darling Man ate it, even complimented the texture.  I don't think that they noticed that I ate chicken and rice noodle soup left-overs.  Next week I'm feeling italian.  I think I'll make sausage (turkey) and tortellini soup.  I know it is summer, and not soup season.  Don't judge me.  Maybe I'll do salad and cold plates all winter.  Florida is hot all year round, the seasons are blended, and on the two or three days that feel like it might be soup weather, we usually do chili.  I have promised the darling man that it will work its way out of my system. For now - I must make soup!

Since this is a total foodie post, I just gotta mention the deserts.  Yummy angel food cake, and key-lime pie (gotta do something with all of those yolks)  topped off with fresh berries and home made whipped cream.  Last night we made key-lime pie ice cream.  It doesn't get more summery than that!