cook: hotpot to cure cough + congestion

Ugh, coughing fits and lack of sleep yesterday had me calling in sick today. And so dinner plans for hotpot turned into lunch to cure my cold. I had gone a bit nuts the day before at the Asian grocery, buying my favorite Chinese greens, oyster mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, fish sauce, Maggi sauce, and thinly sliced pork shoulder. The bonus of buying so many ingredients or spending nearly 30 bucks was a $2 coupon to use at the Chinese kitchen bar where I bought chow fun noodles for dinner. I slept fitfully and late, and when I woke, it was already almost lunchtime. And so I got to washing the greens for soup and finding the meat protein in the fridge while Cecilia prepared the soup broth.

 

Between spinning my greens dry, I opened packages to turn my kitchen counter into a hotpot bar.

 

I also wanted a condiment bar of sorts, and so I mashed a bunch of garlic and then added miso and sesame oil and sriracha into the alium and remembered too to add light soy sauce. 

 

Condiment bowl done. Every ingredient into bowls for presentation like the noodle element of chicken and cilantro wontons.

For nutrition and color, a green and yellow vegetable of chrysanthemum greens and yellow squash. 

 

I always have to eat onions, and so I chopped scallions and remembered the Chinese sweet sausage in my fridge.

I also remembered the fried tofu in my fridge and made a note to self to buy tofu skins the next time I was at Ranch 99. The mushrooms looked glorious.

Too happy with my soup bowl that I immediately dug in and didn't take a pic. Hotpot will be on repeat because I've still lots of chrysanthemum greens and mushrooms still. Must remember to add a hard boiled egg to my next bowl.

Patrick went to the garden and returned home with a huge head of broccoli. I will likely cook a broccoli and cheddar soup with it.

 

And because I got a notification of exposure to pertussis, I emailed my doctor who prescribed me an antibiotic, which I picked up and was told by the pharmacist to eat yogurt to build up some gut bacteria to counteract effects of the medication. I wonder if frozen yogurt works, but I suppose I'll buy some fancy jars of French yogurt like Oui or La Fermiere and some blueberries and raspberries just to get more antioxidants into my diet while I'm at it. And I was already coughing a lot less and decided to go to Clay Life, and this sgraffito platter was on the bisque shelves.

Oops, I shouldn't have put white space in between the branches of the pomegranates. Or carved away the background of the fruit too. Oh well. I still like it and can do it again. I also attempted to make a Christmas tree to put over a tea light, but I've a feeling it will contain enough cracks tomorrow that I'll have to reclaim it. Again oh well. I'll just make the holiday light again tomorrow morning.