Miso Madness

I’ve never wanted a simple life. I like drama, busyness, decadence and show tunes. If my life has any simplicity in it it’s by accident and probably because of lack of resources rather then a belief that simple is better. But I’ve been taking into consideration the world I now find myself in and pondering if I had 2.5 children would I hold board game night in our family room gathered in the sectional with built in cup holders? I could imagine myself with a dog in the park on a crisp autumn afternoon playing fetch or rocking away on a front porch waiting for the mailman to bring the latest Orvis catalog. Yes, I could see myself living a more frugal life since it is so trendy now-a–days.

But I don’t have 2.5 children or a sectional with cup holders. I don’t have a dog to frolic in the leaves with. I have a stoop but no porch and the last time I talked to my mail lady she slapped my hand for touching my mail before it was out of her “jurisdiction” (did you know mail had a jurisdiction? I didn’t). So as a city girl who would rather spend her money on great wine, theatre and clothing that includes faux fur I wondered how could I join the call and lead a simple life? Cooking!

I can cook. I can forsake the restaurant dining life and make delicious home cooked meals. I’ve seen it done on television and it looks simple enough. First problem, I don’t have much of a kitchen, no counter space and the pans I have are left over’s from a neighbor who moved out at least ten years ago. The layer of old grease on them I’m sure is perfectly sanitary once heated – heat kills germs doesn’t it? I don’t have a dining room and actually no table to sit at, but I decided I could work around these limitations. What I do have – a soup pot. I have an adorable tiny soup pot my Mother bought me for Christmas last year. It has come in handy when re-heating, which has been my normal version of cooking. I re-heat restaurant leftovers very well.

So, what should I make? As the weather has turned from summer to winter (fall seems to have gone the way of the economy) I have been craving miso soup. I love miso, it is simple and yummy and how hard could it possibly be to make? From what I have eaten it’s broth, tofu cubes, scallions and seaweed – a perfect beginner and so in the spirit of my call to simplify. I went online, got a recipe, printed it and headed to the grocery store to gather the ingredients.

First scallions – the produce section was crazy but I found them and a bunch was $2.21, wow, this was going to be so cheap to make. I was saving money already I get all these onions for so little, why had I not thought of this before? Then I needed to find wakame (seaweed). Once I located the soup and bean isle there was a pull out display of ready to go Japanese food ingredients. Found it – the cost was $6.27. That seemed like a lot for something that is a weed, but I added it to my basket anyway. Next, miso – oh look it’s right next to the seaweed, I thought, “see life is already simpler”. A pouch of miso was $8.75. Wait, now $8.75 for a pouch of soybean goo. That seemed like a lot. Then I looked at the recipe – how much miso soup was I making? Even if I halved the recipe it seemed like I had to buy enough ingredients to have miso for the rest of the month. I certainly wanted the soup but not everyday for a month. I was already looking at $17.23 in ingredients, I had already spent 45 minutes looking for the ingredients and I wasn’t even home yet cooking. This soup was getting complicated and expensive in both time and money.

I paused in the isle and looked around. The people shopping did not look relaxed as if they were enjoying the exercise of simplicity, it was the opposite. People were tense and hostile. The store was busy, carts were bumping into one another and the line to check out wrapped all the way to the bakery. What was I doing! I shook my head and came to my senses. I put the miso down and put the seaweed back then I headed to produce and gave them back the scallions. I handed my empty basket to another shopper and got the heck out of there.

When I emerged from the subway I walked 30 feet to the Japanese restaurant that is around the corner from my apartment. I asked for one small miso soup with extra tofu cubes “to go”. Two minutes and $2.70 later I had the soup in hand. In less then five minutes I was home listening to my show tunes and enjoying the warm miso goodness – see very simple.