Life is an adventure!

Open your sail and allow the wind to carry you toward your dreams...

Tom Yum Soup Recipe


This is my favorite soup when I eat out. I can't believe how easy and quick it is to make! The delicious warmth thawed me out from a day of playing in the snow and my house smells marvelous with all the different spices.

Since I've been receiving requests for the Tom Yum Soup recipe, I thought I'd post it here. Here’s the link the original recipe if you want to follow it “verbatim”.

I listed the specialty items by brand and price to give you an idea of how economic this soup is.

Deb’s Modified Tom Yum Recipe:
1 49.5 oz can (6 cups) of chicken broth
2 chicken breasts (sliced thin strips)
2 stalks of lemongrass* (local Asian grocer, $2.99 for 3 stalks – frozen whole) * How to prepare lemongrass.
4 lime leaves (local Asian grocer, $2.59 a bag with about 50 leaves – frozen whole)
2 tsp of Tom Yum paste (Por Kwan brand, 8 oz jar for $3.59 from local Asian grocer)
2 tsp basil (fresh would be better!)
2 tsp fresh cilantro (chopped)
1 8 oz can bamboo shoots
2 oz pea pods (this time of year, I found a 6 oz bag and used about 1/3 bag)
4 oz mushrooms (petites). Original recipe calls for shitake, but I used fresh white mushrooms without discernable taste difference (much cheaper!)
2 medium tomatoes (cut into 8 wedges each)

Optional:
Broccoli
Carrots
Coconut milk (next time I will use coconut milk for richer flavor)

1. Put broth, lemongrass and lime leaves in pot. Bring to boil with lid.
2. When the broth starts boiling, drop the chicken in to cook. If you add it before water is hot, the chicken will get rubbery.
3. Let simmer 2-3 minutes with lid.
4. Add chili paste (add more or less to taste, I used 2 tsp and it was pleasantly hot)
5. Add basil.
6. Add bamboo shoots (and any other hard veggies like broccoli or carrots).
7. Let simmer 2-3 minutes with lid.
8. Add mushrooms. Simmer another 1-2 minutes with lid.
9. Add pea pods.
10. Add tomatoes.
11. Turn off heat. Leave with lid for 1 minute. (you don’t want to overcook the tomato or pea pods)
12. Serve and enjoy!

Poem: The Earth Turned to Bring us Closer

This is a beautiful poem by another one of my favorite poets, Eugenio Montejo. I first heard the first verse in the film "21 Grams" (2003) and was drawn to reading the whole thing. Serendipitously, I discovered a treasured poet...

The first time I read the second stanza I was struck by its harsh contrast to the first and third stanzas, but upon reflecting, I believe it is the author's intention (and my interpretation) that, as time goes by, what is "suppose to happen" doesn't always happen as we expected. The ox cart heading to Nineveh arrives in Nebraska...was that a mistake? A misguided ox? Or merely an alternate destination to his journey that is more fulfilling than originally planned? I'm still trying to get my mind around the rooster...

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The Earth Turned to Bring us Closer
by: Eugenio Montejo

The earth turned to bring us closer
it turned on itself and within us
until it finally brought us together in this dream
as written in the Symposium.

Nights passed by, snowfalls and solstices
time passed in minutes and millennia.
An ox cart that was on its way to Nineveh
arrived in Nebraska.
A rooster was singing some distance from the world,
in one of the thousand pre-lives of our fathers.

The earth was spinning with its music
carrying us on board;
it didn't stop turning a single moment
as if so much love,
so much that is beautiful
was only an adagio written long ago
in the Symposium's score.

Photo Credits: This is a "sun dog" sunrise that I took on Oct 16, 2009. A sun dog is when there's a rainbow around the sun. With the sun still so low on the horizon, the sun dog was set off by itself enough to appear like a second sun. Capturing sun dogs are difficult. Capturing reflections of them in the water, even harder! :)