— Mary Gerstein

So, Mary, you've been around for a while. You, you know, uh, my morning pattern here. Um, so what goes, uh, in, in terms of, uh, internal ingredients are gonna be any vegetables that you want. Okay? And, uh, it shifts, uh, sometimes seasonally or, or just by grocery shopping whim. Uh, most recently, uh, it has been dcon. Okay? Um, and, uh, you can dice it or you can, um, you know, batten a it, uh, lately I've been bating it. Two weeks ago I was dicing it. Um, and then also, uh, burdock root or gobo. So gobo are these really long, uh, roots, uh, skinny roots that resemble kinda a, a rat tail. Uh, I just have slices on a bias pretty thinly because they're very, very fibrous. And then allow those enough time in the water to simmer along with the, the dicon. Um, you know, you can add carrots, you can add, uh, onions, you can add potatoes. Uh, there's many, many variations. And those are examples of things that I will use from time to time. And, um, uh, if I have tofu, I will usually add tofu. Um, I really like the combination of, uh, tofu and, uh, dicon and, and, uh, the gobo or the burdock root. Um, you know, along with wakame, and wakame is a type of sea grass or seaweed, um, that is very commonly used in miso soup, as well as many other, uh, Japanese dishes. And then, uh, the miso paste could be anything you want, really, I mean, anything you have access to, and you can even mix and match varieties that's, that's legal in the Japanese kitchen. Um, so commonly if you go to the grocery store, uh, you'll find some type of white miso or shiro miso, and you'll find some sort of, uh, darker colored red miso or aka miso. And generally speaking, uh, the white miso is milder in flavor with more sweet notes. And the aka miso is more pungent and salty. And, uh, so again, you find your balance, you can use just one or the other, or you can mix them to, to find something you know, that you like. Okay? And, you know, in, uh, Japanese restaurants, very commonly, the, the, the miso suit that comes out is very, very simple. You know, it, it's, it's basically just a liquid. Um, and there might be, uh, you know, a half a dozen measly small little dice of tofu, uh, maybe with a couple, three pieces of Waka. Very, very simple. And we see that in restaurants in Japan, too. That's, that's, that's fine. Um, at homes, uh, you see very different styles of, of miso soup, where you know much more, uh, is added to it. Um, schade of cabbage, for example, is, is a, a, a favorite of mine. That was in this morning's miso soup, for example. Um, so don't be bashful about loading up, uh, the soup with all this, this great fibrous, flavorful aromatic stuff, uh, to get your day going. And then if you'd like, you know, you, uh, fine, cut some, uh, scallion, uh, as a garnish for service.