The Boyfriend, Miso Soup, and Giving Thanks

Instead of listing 5,000 different recipes for cranberry sauce or waxing poetic about perfectly seasoned stuffing (I’ll leave that to the experts), for this pre-Thanksgiving post, I’m gonna chronicle what I’m grateful for this year. Here goes:

• Family, friends, and good health
• Road trips
• Paying off college
• Becoming a slightly better cook
• The blogging dealie (good times and neat people)
• Alton Brown
• The Office (Now in reruns. Give the writers their due, dangit!)
• The failure of the Bratz movie
• This year’s lack of smarmy, gloating Yankee fans
• Johnny Depp’s 20th consecutive year on the “Dudes I’d Smooch” list (A record!)
• New Arcade Fire AND Radiohead albums
• No new Creed albums
• Our apartment not burning down when that weird socket thing happened
• My Cabbage Patch Kid's 23rd birthday (Mah little girl’s growin’ up!)
• The Boyfriend

In regard to that last one, I'm a pretty smitten kitten. TB and I have been co-habitating for almost five months now (dating for 18), and the gloppy loveyness grows everyday. (You may stop reading now to vomit.) What’s more, he’s totally obliterated my long-held theory that I unconsciously seek men who can’t cook. Blessedly, he knows a pot from a pan, the definition of “simmer,” and all how to tell if jambalaya is going to suck or rule.

Years ago, when TB was living alone in Queens, still months away from the Spain trip that would effectively end his vegetarianism, he cooked regularly for himself. This miso soup was a menu mainstay. Oh, there are glammed-up versions out there that aren’t quite as spartan, but his four ingredient concoction gets the job done (hardcore). It’s runs about a third of the price of what a Japanese restaurant would serve, to boot.

Anysways, he's a good egg, and I'm thankful he's around - for the miso soup, happy times, and otherwise.

(Side note: I could have bought the tofu for about a dollar cheaper, saving a quarter off each bowl. Alas, I lack forethought and should be whippened.)

The Boyfriend’s Bare Bones Miso Soup
4 servings – 1 cup each

4 cups water
¼ cup white miso paste (we used Shiro miso – Kris)
About 7 or 8 oz soft tofu, cut in 1/3” cubes (we used Nasoya – Kris)
2 green onions, sliced diagonally into ¼” pieces

1) Bring water to a boil.

2) Drop in green onions and tofu, and boil for 4 or 5 minutes (stirring lightly on occasion so tofu doesn’t stick to bottom.)

3) Drop in ¼ cup miso paste and stir until dissolved.

4) Serve.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price per Serving
85 calories, 3.1 g fat, $0.87

Calculations
4 cups water: negligible calories and fat, $0.00
¼ cup miso paste: 159 calories, 4.8 g fat, $0.49
About 7 or 8 oz soft tofu: 165 calories, 7.5 g fat, $1.50
2 green onions: 16 calories, 0.1 g fat, $0.70
TOTAL: 340 calories, 12.4 g fat, $2.69
PER SERVING: (TOTAL/4): 85 calories, 3.1 g fat, $0.87