Miso Rice Noodle Soup

Noodle Soup at Patty’s

We’re moving. Again.
Since Mike and I first decided to shack up in the spring of 2004, we’ve lived in five different places. First we decided on a tiny, oddly shaped, apartment in Park Slope Brooklyn that came with a deck (virtually unheard of) and a psychotic, over-achieving family of four next door (all too common). In need of more room and a little bit more soul in the neighborhood, we moved into a duplex (two floors in Brooklyn…we were the envy of many) in Sunset Park. This apartment had two bathrooms. Need I say more? Only troubles were some very feisty roaches and a rooster in a neighboring yard. Although the rooster was more tolerable than the guilt-tripping, overly competitive, too-perfect mothers of Park Slope, the rooster was almost as loud and obnoxious. After a year in Sunset Park, we moved all are worldly possessions into storage and moved ourselves into a tent and two bicycles as we attempted to cross the country. A sign-reading incident in Montana left Mike on the DL and us on a train to Maine. The fourth place we moved into was an oldie but a goody for me. We moved into my mom’s house. We lived there for almost two whole months. We dirtied her kitchen and used more towels than we had any right to. Finally we found a lovely apartment in the heart of Bangor. The apartment promised lots of light, an easy bike ride to work for me, and a quick walk downtown for mike. Unbeknownst to us, trouble was brewing. Downstairs our landlord and neighbor decided to purchase a puppy. We’re talking about our landlord who works three jobs. A neglected puppy constantly parks and cries. And we listened. So now we are, once again, getting ready to make a move. This time we’re headed out of town to a little cottage on a stream in Hampden. I’m a little skeptical about living right off of a major route with no sidewalks and barely any shoulder, but the scene is picturesque and there is only the babble of the brook to keep us company.
The point of this long take is to set the stage for last night’s dinner. My mother has offered to cook us meals and let us use her kitchen for a home base as we move all of our stuff. She even went out of her way to purchase lots of tasty veggies and grains for yours truly.
Last night, although we haven’t even begun to move yet, we took my mom up on her dinner offer. I purchased some miso, tofu and kim chee at the health food store and we headed over to make some rice noodle soup.
I started by sautéing some carrots, a few scallions, and tofu in the bottom of a large stock pot. At the same time I cooked the rice noodles separately in a pot so that they would stay nice and al dente. The plan was to cook the soup and add the noodles at the last minute. Once the tofu, scallions and carrots began to brown a little, I added about two liters of water to the pot. Once the water began to boil gently I added two large bok choy bunches, cut into one inch pieces and ½ of a large nappa cabbage, also cut into 1 inch pieces . As the veggies were just done, I turned off the heat and spooned in about ½ to ¾ cup of miso paste. We served the soup by placing the cooked rice noodles in a bowl, adding the soup and then garnishing with finely chopped scallions, mung bean sprouts and kim chee. Delicious!