which was actually taught to her by joel
which was actually taught to him by a real thai chef

• some lemon grass (hard to find... big supermarkets might have "A Taste of Thai" lemongrass hearts though).
• coconut milk (1 and 1/2 cans)
• dried chili peppers
• a little fish sauce (not necessary for vegetarians)
• a can mushroooms (the chinese kind)
• a pack of frozen or silken tofu
• 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth

cut up the lemon grass in big non-edible circles. you want these to be big enough to avoid eating, but small enough to make difference in the flavor of the soup soup. you only need a handful of this stuff (even less)

pour in the broth. wait for it to boil. next, pour in the coconut milk. first one can -- if that's not enough, pour in the rest. now put in the lemongrass -- they'll need time to cook. in the meantime, cut up the tofu into bite-size cubes. if it's frozen, you'll have to defrost it of course.

now throw in the mushrooms. now the tofu.

put in the fish-sauce (if you eat it) and the dried chili peppers... except, don't actually put the peppers in... just open them up and put the seeds in. maybe put three or four peppers' seeds in... taste it to make sure you like it that hot. if it's too hot, just cook it longer -- it'll cook the spiciness out of it the longer you cook it. taste it and make sure you like it.

this soup will taste like gross nutty water if you do not include: lemongrass, mushrooms, or peppers. if you don't have any one of these ingredients you're screwed.

that's okay though. if you can't eat, i guess there's always suicide.

enjoy!