Sudden strong rains always flood our streets quicker than we can shut off our computers and leave the office. Being rained-out or rained-in brings sniffles as we get home tired, wet and hungry. But nothing that a quick and easy soup won’t cure!

NOW that our balding malunggay (moringa) plant has new leaves, our household puts this nutritious vegetable in almost every dish. And the other day I bought four packs of spinach. With fresh ripe tomatoes, minced shallots and garlic rubbed on the wooden salad bowl, these greens are good enough for a salad where the dressing would be: bagoong, calamansi, olive oil and peppercorn. But I desired soup, to warm me up, soup to digest easily, soup to fiber me up for the morning’s “ritual.” With the same ingredients as the salad I was planning, the moringa, spinach, tomatoes and shallots, plus chicken powder and day-old bread, became a soup!

Chicken powder is something every home should have. I don’t need any lectures about the controversial contents (MSG, etc., which to me are not harmful). This wonderful, flavorful powder always saves the day for me when I need to do instant dishes. Besides, it’s a delicious lead-in to soups, sauces and broths. Chicken powder forever!

Basic broth: For every cup water (and better if you use high-alkaline water), 1 level tbsp of chicken powder. Bring to a boil, then to a simmer. Use for cooking noodles, as soup base, as sauce base

Soup for Tired Folks

1 bag/½ kilo fresh spinach, washed well, drained well

1 cup moringa leaves

2 cup fresh milk

1 tbsp chicken powder

Rock salt, peppercorn to taste

(Other ingredients to add, if you like: some croûtons, fresh tomato seeded and diced)

In a big pan bring milk to a boil. Add chicken powder and lower heat to a simmer. Add in greens, cover and let steep on low heat for five minutes. Transfer to blender and puree to a thick paste. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. You can keep this frozen for the next day.

To serve: Heat soup. Serve with diced tomatoes, diced shallots and croutons if desired. Or for an umami taste: sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

Nancy’s Notes

§          There are many ingredients to layer on this soup to make it umami or more tasty. Aside from Parmesan cheese, you can add mushrooms sautéed in butter; crushed anchovy, green peas (add to the greens before pureeing); ham or chicken; or an egg.

§          In these “wet” times, our loved ones who suffer from coughs and colds can benefit from this tip I got: rub the soles with Vicks Vaporub before sleeping and you will not cough the whole night through!

§          To drag down the phlegm, take a lot of green onion leaves or chives or malunggay and add to the soup base.

§          Lately, my husband and I have been snacking on this Japanese snack: “Natto”—fermented beans flavored with a raw quail egg, yellow mustard and some soy sauce. Fermented food is considered healthy and nutritious—it is food that is alive! It has done wonders for our body resistance and our digestion has been smooth. Try it, go beyond the slimy, stick...unless your stomach turns inside out before you swallow the first bite.

All aboard with Dennis Trillo

DESPITE all the intrigues that have recently come his way, the much-awarded young actor Dennis Trillo seems to be the right guy in the right place at the right time. GMA Films’ ITALY (I Trust And Love You), which opened in theaters on Wednesday nationwide, is proof of that. For a refresher, it was intended to be the comeback film of the controversial Gabby Concepcion, who is now a contract talent for ABS-CBN. For Dennis, he doesn’t mind that he’s second choice.

4 RP firms shine at the Shang on bloody Monday

THE timing was so exquisite almost everyone who spoke at the affair alluded to it. After all, the world was still busily trying to digest the full implications of the latest blows to the United States’ financial system in what was billed as the “Monday Meltdown”—the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, and the ripening crisis (at that time) of insurance giant AIG, which two days after would be rescued by the Fed with a $85-billion bridging loan to prevent its collapse, seen as hurting not just America’s but the global financial system as well.

Cooks: Now I lay me down to soup

Sauteed Chicken Breasts

BETTER baking and cooking can start today. We asked chef Susan Callahan, an instructor at the Shady Grove campus of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, to share professional tips that aren’t hard to do yet make a big difference.

Something Like Life: Go ahead, Skype me!

NOW that I’ve gotten most of my friends and family into Facebook, the social-networking site, I’m now egging them on to try Skype. In this age when our careers make us too busy and harassed to really connect with one another, Skype and other applications that allow us to actually see the people we are speaking with, across millions of miles, separated by several continents and time zones, help bridge that divide.

IN CONCLUSION: Maternal Truths
A more polarized time

THE CDC, which gathers data about risky behavior by teenagers, pointed out the percent of high schoolers who have had sex also declined, from 54 percent in 1991 to 47 percent in 2005. A Child Trends report points out that teenage smoking, pregnancy and violence also have declined, noting that most “American adolescents are psychologically, socially and physically healthy” and that “parent-child interactions and bonding greatly influence adolescents’ choices and attitudes.”

Share Your Past? What Do the Experts Say?

AS we pursue the goal of protecting our children from some of our more boneheaded and/or high-risk antics, we face one of the essential dilemmas of parenting: What do children need to know about their parents’ pasts, and when do they need to know it?