I just made a large pot of my friend E.V.'s Hot & Sour Chicken Soup -- most of it for the freezer as, well, winter's coming! This soup is truly both tasty and beneficial if I come down with one of winter's maladies.

E.V., like me, doesn't so much use a recipe as use an ingredient list and guide.

Thinly slice (today I varied it and used bigger chunks of everything except the carrots) onion, red bell pepper, carrot or zucchini, garlic, ginger and saute in coconut oil until tender.

Add chicken broth and pulled chicken meat. (I cheated and used a supermarket rotisserie chicken -- and put the carcass along with some veg scraps in the freezer to make stock one of these days, also for the freezer.)

Then add Asian fish sauce (nuc mam, nam pla, etc.), chili-garlic paste (or Sambal Olek or other hot pepper sauce), and rice wine vinegar -- all to taste. Adjust the three sauces for your preferred taste or amount of heat. Oh, salt and black pepper.

Believe me, if you're in the throes of a head cold this works a treat. And I find it also settles the stomach and will coax me to eat if nothing sounds good.

Linn