Photography and design by Kristen Ankiewicz

Kristen’s extra-kick mushroom asparagus curry soup

The hexadecimal color of today’s soup is #5e2300: spicy, but you can handle it.

See the picture here.

Ingredients:

Maybe 2 cups of water
Maybe 1/2 cup of soy sauce
About 2/3 a container of white button mushrooms
Green onion bunch – I could’ve used two bunches
A handful of bean sprouts
Two tablespoons of red curry paste
One teaspoon of chili oil
Two tablespoons of crushed garlic
Asparagus bunch
2 baby bok choy, 3 if you feel like it
A tablespoon of salt

Steps to reproduce:

Start a medium heat on the water.
Shake in some soy sauce. Soup’s a little brown at this point.
Toss in the bean sprouts.
Toss in the mushrooms (I buy them pre-sliced, but slice ‘em if you prefer).
Slice up the green onions and toss them in. I probably could’ve used two bunches.
I use crushed garlic from a jar. Add two tablespoons from a jar, or 4 crushed cloves.
Add two tablespoons of red curry paste and one teaspoon of chili oil.
Soup’s reddish brown at this point! And nearly to a boil.
While that’s working its way to a boil, chop the asparagus bunch in three parts. Toss in all the pieces *except* for the heads.
Quickly chop the bok choy. Toss the white parts in, save the leaves for last.
TASTE SOUP RIGOROUSLY! But be careful, it has kick. Add more soy sauce & water if it’s too spicy; add more chili oil if you want more kick.
Add about a tablespoon of salt (or skip this step – YMMV).
I prefer a balance with more curry and only a tiny bit of chili oil.
At the very last minute, throw in the bok choy leaves and the heads of the asparagus.
Boil it for maybe two more minutes.

TAH DAH!

This will serve two fairly hungry people. Or one insane lady.

I did my usual 5-lap lagoon run today. Mapmyrun.com tells me I ran 4.14 miles, at an average of 11 minutes per mile. Leisurely, but still enough that I wish I’d worn the short sleeves.

Dogs that chased me: 0. Dogs that lurched at me from outstretched leashes: 2 or 3. Scary pitbulls that walked politely past: 1.

Being outside on a beautiful day with the birds and the dogs: priceless.

I’ll be going to Burning Man for 10 days this year, camping with Ardent Heavy Industries, 4:00 and Adapt. Ardent Heavy Industries is responsible for Interpretive Arson and other awesomeness. My contribution involves photography, hard labor, MOOP cleanup, and whatnot. This year I’ll be arriving early for setup of 2piR. Come by and say hi!

In addition to the usual flurry of wonderful dust and fire activities, this year I will be taking the helm as Balsa Man Regional Lead and Czarina of Tiny Art. Balsa Man is a large celebration of tiny art, and this year there’ll be a regional at the black rock desert in Nevada! A regional is a local event where you can experience some of the same flavor as the Big (or Tiny) Original. The Balsa Man regional takes place at Adapt and 4:00 (that’s playa coordinates), Friday September 4, 5-6pm, black rock desert, Nevada. Balsa Man 2009 takes place at Baker Beach in San Francisco, Saturday, September 5th, 6pm-8:30pm.

One way or the other a good time will be had by all. Contact BRDregional@balsaman.org if you want to get involved either in the cool breezes of San Francisco beach or the hot dry desert of Nevada. Your tiny art is welcome.