What's Up Doc?

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of the afternoon with the lovely and incredibly fun La Donna Tittle from Chicago's channel 19 cooking show "Cooking With Tittle". She came by our apartment to assess the kitchen for the shoot tomorrow.

While I was in school studying for my masters in TCM, one of my favorite medicinal recipes that came straight out of the Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica was something almost all of you have probably had: miso soup. Yep, it's that simple. In fact all the ingredients in miso soup are in the materia medica! I'm going to get a little technical here because I find it rather exciting that something so tasty can be found in a medical reference book, and I need to add here that most of the Chinese herbs are rather pungent and not super yummy like this particular combo.

I owe the inspiration to cook this at home to my friend Enisha - before this I always enjoyed eating Thai beef noodles, but I had never made them at home and I loved making a plethora of other noodles. Now beef noodle soup is at the top of my noodle dishes when having a noodle attack! Since the weather is still slightly cool and it's very important to eat warm foods when it's cold outside to protect your digestion, I am still making soups. In the middle of winter I'll tend towards a more hearty stew, but Thai beef noodles can be eaten in warm and/or cool weather because while they keep you warm they don't weigh you down.......

So, I recently came to terms with being insanely addicted to chilies and before I delve into this realization I want to point out that chili can be spelled chile or chilli, and some people go so far as to spell it chili with one L (yep, that's what I just did). So, back to the addiction I am referring to in which I likely indulge in two if not three times a day. While I do appreciate subtle and beautiful cuisines such as the French (and being married to a half Frenchie I have to even more so!), I miss my chilies when I am there...