I think I’m getting hooked. I found myself wandering the aisles of
Rustan’s supermarket earlier, looking for cookware. I put two rolls of
kitchen towels, a pitcher, a microwave egg cooker and a set of tiny
food containers in my basket. I very, very nearly got a flat-bottomed
wok. (I’m still strongly tempted to spring for one.) ‘Course, I had to
put all of those things away and slink off sheepishly upon discovering
I’d left my purse at the department. Whoops.

Fortunately, I had all the food I needed at the dorm. (Aha! Finally, a
well-stocked pantry.) I wanted to give potato soup another shot, with
minor twists. Here’s what I did:

Sausage and potato soup (sorta)

– 130g sausage (I tried it with Hungarian)
– 1/4 onion
– 1 tablespoon butter
– 2 medium potatoes
– 1/2 cup water
– 1/2 cup milk

1. Wash and scrub the potatoes. Prick them with a fork, rub them with

oil, and pop them into the microwave for 9 minutes on high.
(Actually, just cheat and use the “Potatoes” setting on your
microwave.)

2. While the potatoes are cooking, mince the onion and throw it into a

saucepan with the butter. Brown the onion on medium-high heat. (Or
whatever. Just try not to burn them.)

3. Slice the sausage thinly. Cook the sausages (in the saucepan also,

or elsewhere) until you’re satisfied they’re edible.

4. Cool the potatoes by running water over them or sticking them into

the refrigerator or freezer. Scoop out the insides carefully,
putting the potato bases aside for tomorrow’s breakfast.

5. Mash the potato insides in a bowl. Add water. Mix thoroughly.

6. Put mixture in saucepan and boil until potato mixture looks thick.

7. Add milk until consistency looks almost like the creamy soups you

remember.

8. Dump assorted seasonings into soup. Experiment with sage, rosemary,

salt, pepper, and anything that says “Use with potatoes” on it.

It was acceptable, although the Hungarian sausages weren’t as spicy as
I had hoped they’d be.

Hmm. I didn’t really taste the onions. Maybe I should try more onions
or cut them out entirely.

I plan to use the potato shells for Egg and Corned Beef Potato
Surprise tomorrow. It’s another experiment. I haven’t quite figured
out if I’m going to

– scramble the egg
– keep the egg whole

– microwave the whole thing
– cook the mixture before putting it into the potato

I think I’ll go for frying the corned beef, mixing cooked corned beef
with one egg, then pouring the mixture into the potatoes and cooking
for 1.5 ~ 2 min.