I went to college in Gainesville, GA. At the time, Gainesville was the poultry processing capital of the world. I once attended the Annual Poultry Festival. I stopped eating chicken when I lived there because of gut trucks. I still don’t eat chicken. My motto became: Fowl is foul. (I confess that I accidentally ate the turkey gravy at Thanksgiving, though, and it was pretty tasty…)

No more chicken noodle soup for me.

Gainesville is a 45 minute - 1 hour drive from Athens, GA. For various reasons I ended up spending a fair amount of time in Athens, though I never did learn to find my way around the town.

One of my favorite things in Athens was The Grit. The “indie-rock Moosewood.” One of my favorite things at The Grit was The Golden Bowl: browned tofu cubes sauteed with soy sauce and nutritional yeast served over brown rice. Now, you can get vegetables and in your Golden Bowl, but I always preferred them on the side, leaving a perfectly beige, perfectly delicious mix of the best tofu you have ever eaten, brown rice, and cheese. Umami and yet just bland enough without being boring. A perfect comfort food.

After I moved outside of easy driving distance to Athens, I was compelled to figure out how to make a Golden Bowl at home because the meal is an addiction. I succeeded. My home-made Golden Bowl hit the spot.

A couple of years later, The Grit published their cookbook. Sure enough, I had nailed the recipe and technique except for that second frying of the tofu that creates a little extra crispiness.

I make mine with tamari instead of soy sauce, and with mozzarella cheese. It is what I’ve been eating for the past couple of days. With veggies on the side, of course.

Here is the recipe: Continue reading →

This is one of my ultimate comfort foods. This recipe is for one serving. Make as many servings as you want at once in the same pot.

• 1 package ramen noodles (discard the “flavor pouch”)
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon tamari (could also use soy sauce)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons (rounded or heaping) brown miso (soy or rice miso is fine as long as it’s brown. I just don’t think the white kind tastes as good.)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• Put the water in a pot. Add the tamari and minced garlic. Bring to a boil.
• Put the ramen noodles in the water. Boil for 3 minutes. Remove pot from heat.
• Put miso in the bottom of a small bowl. Ladle some of the hot liquid from the pot into the bowl. Mush the miso and water together until it makes a thinnish-sludge. Add this back to the pot.
• Add the nutritional yeast to the pot. Stir together well.
• Serve in a big homey bowl and enjoy. Pick the noodles out with a fork and slurp the broth from the side of the bowl. Yummm…