It's Hard to Write an Impassioned Post About Kidneys

Dear friends,

I wanted to come to you today and write about kidneys. I had the best intentions. This week at St. Michio's School for the Nutritionally Delinquent, I quit TV and dedicated myself to reading and study. I read about kidneys and studied Ann Rice's "Interview With the Vampire."

My conclusion was that I drink too much liquid, and I find Tom Cruise to be much more likable as the murderous demon Lestat. He just seems more approachable.

Like I said... This is what I wanted to write about. What I'm actually writing about is

KIMCHEE SOUP

This sour, tangy soup is one of the single best dishes I've ever made. It's stupidly easy to make, insanely tasty, and incredibly spicy. I'm a little scared to eat this with my new macrobiotic small intestine.

NOTE: Macro kimchee is notoriously hard to come by. The stuff you find at the Asian grocery store usually has red chili flakes, shrimp, and sugar. You can make your own by doing a simple online search, and there's a girl who was just here at KI who made an AMAZING one... There is also a guy in Tennessee who makes it homemade and vegan. My dirty confession? I use the Asian grocery store stuff.

I'm going to try to make my own homemade when I'm back in Boston. As the great minds of the 12th and 13th century used to say, "A monastic cell is not the place to undertake complex pickling."

Ingredients:

1 lb. kimchi

3 garlic cloves, minced

8-10 shitaake mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes and minced

3-4 tbsp. sesame oil (use 1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil for some good flavor)

1 block soft tofu

bean sprouts

carrots

green onions

9-12 c. dashi soup stock. (I will post on how to make this from macro scratch later, til then, use the internets or Hon-Dashi packs for your recipe)

1-2 tbsp. mirin

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tbsp. tamari

love

Recipe:

Set your 9-12 cups of water to boil in a soup pot. This recipe calls for two pots, one for the dashi soup stock, and one for the "meat and potatoes" of the soup.

While it's boiling, take your second soup pot and coat the bottom in sesame oil. Heat over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic and fry for 30 seconds until browning begins. Add shitaake mushrooms and fry until liquids begin to seep.

Add pound of kimchi, neither rinsed nor drained. Make sure all that liquid and pickling juice gets down in there. Fry the mixture for 3-5 minutes, until kimchi leaves begin to take on a milky, translucent appearance.

Until the soup water boils in the other pot, reduce heat of kimchi, cover, and simmer. Once the water boils, add the bonito packs (or kombu if you're doing this vegan), mirin, and tamari. Keep at a rolling boil for 5-10 minutes. Keep an eye on your kimchi. If it looks like it's drying out, turn the temperature off and keep covered.

Combine soup stock and kimchi pot. You should have everything in one pot now. Add all your veggies, saving the green onions for last, your tofu, and your bean sprouts. Simmer for 20-30 minutes to allow the flavors to marry, remove any bonito packets you used, and ENJOY!!!!

*sniff* Favorite recipe ever.