score one for reduced packaging.

i love miso soup. when i worked in the loop a few years ago, my brokeass was always getting it from the nice guy in the back of north
western station. wow, that sounds kinda shady, but it wasn't; he ran a chinese food stand.

anyway, when i worked for the press in hyde park i started buying miso soup in disposable lunch bowls. it was such a waste of packaging: a big cardboard bucket with this little pouch o' miso inside. plus the ready-to-make packages were ridiculously expensive; i was still shopping at dominick's, where they were over two bucks each. so that arrangement didn't last long either.

then i learned how to make miso soup from it's basic ingredients, a joy. until today, my lunchtime miso fix was made the night before, brought in as leftovers. not the most ideal solution; the shitake got too soggy, and it just wasn't fresh.

but today i got clever. brought in miso paste in tupperware, soaked the dried mushrooms, glass noodles (for bulk) and wakame, and then threw it all together with some hot water broth. my current office has a great kitchen, which helps.

the end result: light, fresh miso soup without any of the wasteful
packaging, and a warm, full belly in the afternoon.