Holiday

Today, in Canada, its a holiday. Here in Quebec its "Patriot's Day" but everywhere else its Victoria Day.
So, since Hman didn't have to go to work and the kids were home from school, we went to the Botanical Gardens and the Insectarium. It was a perfect day. Not hot, sunny, breezy. Perfect. My feet are very tired.
On the way home I was struck with a craving for rice noodles in soup. Of course there are no noodle shops out here so we stopped at the grocery store so I could get what I need to concoct my own version of what I was craving.
In a pot I heated oil to sautee chopped garlic and a grated knob of ginger...mmmmmm ginger.
Then I threw in these soup vegetable that were pre chopped in the store. The container had broccoli, cauliflower, celery, onion, carrot...terrific assortment in tiny piecces. I threw half the container into the pot with the sauteeing garlic and ginger. A few splashes of soy sauce. Stirring and sauteeing...
Then came the chicken broth (Campbell's low sodium, 1/2 container) and some pepper, and a sliced up leftover barbequed pork chop. More stirring and bring it to a boil. Splash of lemon juice because I have no lemongrass.
Once it comes to a boil add the rice vermicelli noodles (I used 1/3 of my package) and put a lid on it reducing the heat to medium or less. I let it simmer 5 minutes or a bit less. Give it all a stir. The vegetables should still have some crunch.
Have a BIG bowl on hand and pour the "soup" into it and then garnish/season with chopped chives, garlic chives, and lemon balm.
Its not a truly Asian dish, as you can see but it was sufficiently gingery and tangy for me and was easy. Hit the spot in a most satisfying way. I hadn't eaten most of the day and was super hungry so this made one huge portion for a big appetite. To serve more than one big eater, double the recipe. It'd be really good with some mushrooms added, or some chopped greens like chard or bok choy, and for a veg version, use vegetable broth and firm tofu instead of meat and chicken broth.

After supper I went out onto the swing seat and finished the left button band of Mom's sweater. I need to pick up the stitches for the right hand side band next, and decide exactly how many button holes it needs. I was thinking 5.