My Good Friend, Soup

I took a tour of the facilities at Daniel, a four-star French Restaurant on the Upper East Side, then swung by an old lunch spot I ate at twice a week when I was a designer at a law firm in midtown for half a decade. It's called "Oriental Noodle Shop", and is basically a very-quick service American-Chinese restaurant with a full-service backroom, a long-ass lunch counter and a pick-up counter in the front. Their speciality is roast pork and their noodle soups, and in the winter I'd always get a bowl of roast pork noodle soup (duh!).

$7 including tax gets a HUGE bowl of soup, filled generously with fresh noodles and a lot of meat. Back when I worked near there, it was not enough -- I'd usually order an egg roll or shrimp toast to start with. Today, looking at another person's bowl of soup size, knew there would be no way I'd need something else, and wondered if I'd finish the soup, despite being really hungry. The soup itself -- beef/pork stock -- was remarkably tasty, and now that I've made stock of all sorts myself, I appreciate the subtle hand they use to get that flavor. One thing I would NEVER eat was the small pile of Chinese broccoli and kale that would give a little color to the dish. It's bitter, and, uh, healthy. Today, I ate it right up -- it's bitterness was an AMAZING compliment to the subtle sweetness of the glaze of the roast pork....and it's healthy.

I tried to finish the soup, and despite it still tasting really good, could not get the whole bowl down. I think I definitely miss this soup much more than I miss my old desk job. Thank goodness I'm still friendly with the soup!

I went straight to the restaurant after to start prep. The night was unusually busy, and looking back, used sugary stuff as a crutch to keep going -- I was expending a lot of energy, almost athletically stretching dough, getting pizzas out of the oven and into boxes and on plates. Forced to eat late, I limited myself to a kid's pizza stretched super thing --about the same width of an adult 12" pie, but much thinner.

BREAKFAST: 7am, good yogurt with honey, raw cashews, vanilla, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10am, street donut, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:15pm, roast pork udon noodle soup, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, tiramisu, .5 bowl. hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, small portion of chocolate pudding, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, black cherry soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 9pm, ginger ale, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 10:30pm, kid's size pizza with moz, onion, sauce, parm, sausage, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5