Noodle soup, not instant

The past two days have been wet and cold and I wanted something steaming hot for breakfast today. There’s frozen beef broth (home-made from beef bones, then frozen in batches), bacon cut pork, a bunch of pechay (pei tsai) and vegetable noodles available so why not noodle soup for breakfast?

Cook the noodles per package directions. Reheat the broth them drop the bacon-cut pork (takes 2 to 3 minutes to cook) then the greens. Place the cooked and drained noodles in a bowl, pour in the broth with pork and greens and top with crisp onion bits. Why opt for instant noodles when you can enjoy the real thing?

About a week ago, I was having coffee at Max’s Restaurant in Antipolo to pass the time while waiting for Shopwise Supermarket to open at 9.00 a.m. I was reading The Philippine Star and there was a feature on Sharon Cuneta and her love for cooking and baking. I was rather surprised to learn that Sharon had been selling her home-baked cakes for years. And I wondered why someone who loves to cook as much as she does would endorse Lucky Me instant noodles. Days later, I would hear her voice over the radio saying Lucky Me instant noodles are now healthier because they don’t have artificial preservatives. Surprisingly or not, there was no mention of the multitude of artificial flavorings and food color that every pack of Lucky Me instant noodles contains.

My family went through the instant noodles craze too but the last time we bought instant noodles was when typhoon Milenyo hit the country almost two years ago, and we only bought them because power was down for days, we were waterless and cooking was a headache. For over two years (or is it three?), when we crave for lo mein or noodle soup (with pork, chicken or beef), I cook the real thing with real meat, fresh vegetables and home-made broth. Like I did for breakfast this morning.

In the archive

• Genmaicha (brown rice tea)
• Korean japchae, spicy stir-fried noodles