I had a dental implant (my third ) put in yesterday---along with pulling the roots of my tooth---so I'm a bit hobbled dietary wise at the moment.

Thus--last night I made myself soup---and I did not consider my wife as joining me in that--she was on her own.

I looked to the west for inspiration and it became a Korean/Asian night. The pot included, red miso as a base, kelp noodles, nori (about 6 of the large sheets), Korean dried hot pepper leaves, fish sauce, dry porcini mushrooms and garlic.

It was comfort food when I needed it

I'll likely repeat something similar today since the kelp noodles, which are "wet packed" in a hermetically sealed package have to be kept in water and refrigerated after opening.

Oh---and my wife---in a way she joined me---she "made" instant ramen in the microwave

As an aside, and what I was just thinking about---I was very lucky in Korea because I could move about through the country, pretty much unhindered, a fact that was aided by my having learned the language. That resulted in a much broader experience than I had in Vietnam. There (and the time was far less as well) wondering around the village wasn't something I was able to do. That limited, to almost zero, my exposure to the Vietnamese people, the culture, their customs and their food.

Dan, on the other hand, I believe, was mostly around and in Saigon. It was possible to move about Saigon with a much greater degree of freedom and experience far more of the Vietnamese culture.

Back to the soup for a bit, I am lucky to have these "components" in my pantry. One that I wished I had but am currently out of is kimchi---my soup (and me) would have benefited from a healthy dose of kimchi juice-both for taste as well as gut health which is now under assault by the antibiotic I am now taking. I am lucky to have an Asian grocery store about 25 miles away and also Amazon has a wide range of specialty foods--the kelp noodles and dried porcinis were from Amazon.