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Homemade Tomato Soup

I was reminded yesterday that if a recipe (or a laboratory procedure) calls for something unusual, that makes you go: "hmm, Why is that in there?"  It is probably in there for a good reason. "Milk" by Zeyus Media is licensed under CC BY 2.0 I was trying to make tomato soup with just tomato paste, here in the quarantine world.  I could only find tomato paste in the pantry.  I found recipes for tomato soup from tomato paste, both called for adding baking soda.  It seemed really odd and my chemistry background couldn't really see a need for it. ...I realized after making the recipe, 1 can of tomato paste + 4 cans of milk, that the baking soda was there to keep the acid of the tomato paste from coagulating the milk.  I ended up with a tasty, but lumpy soup.
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Gochujang Marinade for Brussel Sprouts

I put this recipe together after tasting something similar on brussels sprouts.  The one I tasted relied more on the soy sauce and had no gochujang. I put this on halved brussels sprouts and then roast them in the toaster oven. 6 oz. of soy sauce 2 oz. vegetable oil 1 oz. of rice vinegar 1 teaspoon of sesame oil 1 teaspoon of fish sauce 2 tablespoons of gochujang 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum 1/2 teaspoon of garlic The xanthan gum acts as a thickener.  It will stick better to the sprouts in the oven.  I make this in a blender bottle and shake it up a few times here and there because the gochujang is very thick. I don't think it's really necessary to "marinate" the sprouts.  Just make sure the sauce gets in all the nooks and crannies. I cook the brussel sprouts at 350°F until some of the outer leaves start getting black and crispy.
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Hint: Foaming of Steamers

I work in the pharma industry, I have raised an infant, and I like steaming rice and shrimp.  Rice cookers have an overflow catch that helps trap foaming steam from escaping.  I keep the leftover gas drops that I used to give my daughter, in a cabinet above my rice cooker.  I have seen the active ingredient, Simethicone, used as an anti-foaming agent in over-the-counter medicines on the manufacturing floor.  That's probably how it prevents gas in babies,  it keeps the foam/bubbles from forming and passing further in the GI tract. So I added a drop or two to the trap of my rice cooker which was sputtering and voila ! The sputtering stopped and I opened the cooker and the bubbles were gone.  No added taste. The next time I had shrimp in my cookware steamer, lower pot and strainer, I added a couple of drops and this prevented the annoying phenomenon of the boiling water becoming more foamy and foamy until it's up in the strainer, effectively boiling...
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