For the first time since I came to the US, I finally managed to find goat/sheep tripe at my local Mediterranean store yesterday. So I bought a kilo of it, which is enough for 5 cooking sessions (at 3-4 servings each). All this quantity only cost me $10, which is of course super-cheap for 15-20 servings! The butcher at the store knows me well now. I’m the only one it seems who buys all these odd animal parts…

The idea was to make “patsas”, or as otherwise known in the Balkans, “İşkembe” soup. It’s a traditional soup made from tripe, intestines, and sometimes feet or head-cheek meat. In Greece it’s used as a hang-over food too, consumed in the early morning after spending all night… drinking!

This is the first time I made the soup myself, so I had to Skype my mom in Greece today, to make sure I had the recipe right. I cooked it tonight, and it came out great! Apparently in the US it’s not legal to sell intestines from what the butcher told me, so along the tripe, I used some heart meat for the soup. Here’s how I did it, just in case you come across some tripe. A perfect Paleo food!

Ingredients (makes 3-4 servings, 2 gr of net carbs each)
* 200 gr of sheep or goat tripe
* 100 gr of sheep/goat intestines, or heart, or cheek meat, or kidneys
* 30 gr of butter
* 5-6 garlic cloves
* 1 large egg, in room temperature
* 1 large juicy lemon, or 2 smaller ones
* Salt & pepper to taste

Method
1. *IF* using intestines, you must wash them well under running water. Then, get a wooden chopstick or any other wooden branch that looks like it, and penetrate the one side of the intestine. Keep pulling the intestine towards the chopstick, until you reach the other end. You then pick that end, and you pull the intestine. This basically turns the intestine inside-out, allowing you to clean it up from the inside too! So wash it up very, very well with water.

2. Boil water on a big cooking pan. Immerse the tripe for about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan, set aside. If using intestines, immerse them too for another 2-3 minutes. Then throw away that water. This step kills any microbes still living on the tripe and intestines. You don’t need to do this for the heart, cheek meat or kidneys (if using).

3. Wash the cooking pan with some washing liquid, rinse, and add lots of water again, bringing it into boil again. Immerse the tripe again (and intestines, if using). Using a tablespoon, remove and throw away the white stuff that start floating on top. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove the tripe/intestines, set aside, throw away the water. A note: if you know for sure that your tripe/intestines is coming from a baby lamb/goat, you might not need to do this step, as it won’t be as smelly as from an older animal. Definitely avoid non-castrated older male goats btw, they smell bad.

4. Wash the cooking pan with some washing liquid, rinse, and add 2.5 litters of water, bringing it into boil. While the water is getting into boiling point, cut the tripe (and intestines, if using) in 1 inch by 1.5 inch pieces. If using heard/meat/kidneys, cut them in thin stripes too. Add them all into the boiling water. Using a tablespoon, remove and throw away the white stuff that might start floating on top.

5. Peel the garlic, and chop it in small pieces. Add it to the boiling pan, along the butter, and salt. Cover the pan, and let it cook for 2 hours in low heat. It might need more water/time if the tripe is from an older animal.

6. Remove the pan from the heat. Get a deep plate, and put the egg white in it (keep the egg yolk for later, separately). Start beating the egg white with a whisk for 3-4 minutes, until it becomes a fluffy, creamy substance.

How beaten egg white should look like

7. Add into the plate the egg yolk and beat again for 1 minute or so. The fluffy substance should remain.

8. Add the lemon juice in it, and beat again for 30 seconds.

How beaten egg white, egg yolk and lemon should look like

9. Using a deep ladle, remove some broth from the soup and slowly pour it into the deep plate. Keep beating. Make sure the broth is not super-hot, or the egg will cook. You don’t want that! Doing “avgolemono” sauce without the egg cooking is a bit of an art, but it’s not as hard as it seems. Keep bringing broth to your deep plate, about half the broth from the soup. Just pour it slowly, and keep beating! It should look frothy!

How it should look like when you add the broth

10. Pour the plate’s content back into the pan, and stir vigorously. Your soup now has a thick look! Crack some black pepper in it, stir again, and serve hot (reheat if required). If it feels unsalted, just add more lemon instead. When cool, you can place patsas in your refrigerator, and keep for up to 2-3 days. Reheat to eat only the portion you need. Enjoy!

How it should look like when you poured everything back to the cooking pan

UPDATE Feb 2014: Part II is here.

As some of you already know, it irks me when people say that they eat Paleo, but what they really mean is that they removed certain Neolithic foods from their diet, but without adding other foods that are fundamental to good health. So I thought I should put up a list together of some of these foods that are must-eat in order to ensure good health (besides, Paleo is primarily about restoring and preserving good health, and secondly a weight loss program). This is how I was able to fix such a large array of my health problems so fast. From the moment I had solid proof that diet alone can fix, or make asymptomatic many “incurable” health problems, I left absolutely nothing to chance. This is my recipe to success so far, and I hope it pays forward:

1. Offal
Offal, offal, offal. Liver, heart, tongue, kidneys, tripe (from pastured animals, especially from goat/sheep/buffalo/horse). And if you can find them, and they’re indeed from healthy pastured animals, also get intestines, spleen, pancreas, lungs (I personally avoid only brains, not sure if I can fully trust the animal’s health). Offal is a superfood, with high doses of many nutrients that you know, and many you might not know (like PQQ and CoQ10). The cool thing about offal is that their prices are really, really low, as people usually snob these parts! Little do they know how much more important offal is to muscle meat.

2. Bone marrow broth
I’m personally against 3-month old chicken and vegetable broths because these have no major nutrients to speak about. But a broth from either pastured animals, or at least a 2-3 year old free range hen/duck, contains a lot of minerals that you won’t find elsewhere in enough concentration. From calcium, to potassium, to phosphorus, magnesium etc. And of course, collagen, which is what eventually heals your leaky gut. Cook the marrow bones (with the marrow exposed, so you can eat it too afterwards) for at least 15 hours in low heat. Here’s the actual recipe and more info about it.

3. Home-made, lactose-free, probiotic, goat/sheep kefir & yogurt
Kefir is a superfood with great nutrition and probiotic abilities, coming to you from Caucasus. The big difference with yogurt is that its “grain” bacteria actually colonize the human gut, while the yogurt ones (extracted from the gut of cows which is not fully compatible with the human gut) tend to shed away after a few hours/days. It also contains over 40+ bacteria/yeasts, while yogurt contains 4-6. Please note that for kefir to be potent, it MUST be home-made (commercial kefir only has up to 10-12 strains). In other words, kefir is more potent than yogurt, and it can fight even super-bad strains, like C-Diff. This doesn’t mean that we don’t need full fat yogurt though. Dairy, when it’s made from compatible-to-humans animal casein A2 (goats/sheep/buffalo), and when it’s properly fermented for 24 hours to remove most lactose, is acceptable food, and so it becomes the only point I don’t agree with mainstream Paleo. I fully explained my position on dairy and Paleo here.

4. Fermentation: Sauerkraut, Miso, Natto etc.
Fermented foods is another important missing piece in the modern diet, but thankfully, unpasteurised sauerkraut & kimchi are still easy to find in health stores or on Farmer’s Markets. They go great with sashimi too! *Unpasteurized* non-barley miso is also great in miso soups (make sure your soup is not too hot when you’re adding the miso, or you will kill the beneficial bacteria in it). Natto is fermented soy beans with a lot of PQQ and K2 vitamins in it, but it requires a lot of getting-used to as its taste is very particular (fermented wheat-free tamari, unpasteurized soy-based miso & traditionally-prepared natto are the only soy-based byproducts that are considered healthy and acceptable on Paleo). Other fermentated options are lacto-fermented vegetables, whey-fermented home-made mayonaise, and pickles.

5. Coconut Oil
Cold-pressed, virgin, unrefined coconut oil is a magical oil for cooking, and even for topical application (e.g. skin problems, fungus). It has anti-bacterial properties, but the biggest one for me is that it can bring amazing mental clarity. Cook with coconut oil for a month, and you will realize that you had brain fog for most of your life without knowing about it. Use extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oil for salads and raw foods only.

6. Sea Veggies & Kelp Noodles
Ah, sea veggies. When I told my mom in Greece what these are (“φύκια”), she nearly gagged. But these sea veggies are delicious when prepared properly (as a salad or in miso soups), and they have a different kind of nutrition than most land-based foods. Not to mention that they have high doses of iodine, which is important for proper thyroid function. I personally buy these, which are admittedly expensive, but at least you get a variety of 6 different sea veggies, diversifying your nutrition. Then there are these kelp “noodles”, which are great in seafood stir-fries!

7. Shellfish
Most people who can tolerate shellfish eat shrimp. But there’s a whole world of shellfish to explore, from urchins to clams and saint-Jacques to name just a few. The most nutrient-rich ones though you should be going after are oysters and mussels, don’t skimp on them and their super-high content of Zinc! When it comes to fish, stay with wild fish only, and particularly wild Alaskan salmon (the only truly wild salmon), and wild whole sardines. Prefer seafood over meat, and when possible, have a small amount of seafood daily.

8. Sideritis Syriaca
A herbal tea that unfortunately isn’t currently under the Paleo radar, but it’s possibly more potent than kombucha in many different health areas, is sideritis, or “Greek Mountain Tea“. Don’t take my word for it, just read Pubmed’s research results! The thing obviously works, while Kombucha hasn’t shown good results on research! Here’s how to prepare it. Other very healthy herbal teas are the Cretan “Dictamnus” (even more difficult to find than Greek Mountain Tea though), and good, old plain chamomile. Just don’t root for coffee or highly caffeinated teas. Caffeinated teas also contain high amounts of fluoride, while herbal teas don’t.

9. Raw & Unfiltered local honey
Honey gets the bad wrap in the Paleo community mainly because most Paleo dieters are in it for the weight loss, and not as much for the additional health benefits. Unless you’re following a Paleo-ketogenic diet, then honey is one of these superfoods that you should not be avoiding. Yes, it’s got its share of glucose and fructose, but then again, so do most fruits. In order for its anti-microbial and anti-allergenic properties to be potent, it must be raw, unfiltered, AND local. Don’t look at buying big brands, look at your local farmer’s market instead. Don’t use it with kefir (since its anti-microbial properties kill the good kefir bacteria), and don’t heat it up. When it comes to Paleo desserts, avoid all these “Paleo cookies” and “Paleo breads” that you read online, these are most certainly not Paleo. Just do fruit/gello-based raw desserts (there are many recipes online about such desserts on vegan raw web sites).

10. Supplementation
I wish I could tell you that you don’t need to supplement. That just by following a great diet it would cure your ailments without any additional help. But unfortunately, after 10,000 years of continuing selection for both veggies (more sugar) and animals (more milk/fat), the nutrients on modern food is thin. In addition, our soil is depleted of minerals, so our food is too. Not to mention that our water is a far cry in both taste and nutrients compared to what our ancestors drank. In Greece we used to have “ok” water, but when I came to the US I found all the water that I tried here tasting… diluted. Think about that for a moment! Diluted-tasting water! Why? Because it had no minerals in it, it has been treated to exhaustion. So supplementation is definitely needed IMHO, there’s no way around it, especially if you have just converted from the SAD diet to Paleo, and your gut needs the extra help.

The first line of supplementation is vitamin D3 at 1000 IU every 2-3 mornings, especially if you’re not going out to the sun daily. Then, there’s Magnesium (20 mins before sleep), K2-Mk4 (not K, or K2-Mk7), krill oil or fish oil (only if you’re not eating seafood daily — you should), and maybe some E-tocotrienol (without tocophenols in it) — all no more than 2-3 times a week. Track your macro-nutrients with an app, like cronometer.com, to find out what nutrient you might be missing. Get a C+Bioflavonoids vitamin 2-3 times a week to boost your immune system, especially if you’re not eating a lot of fruits. You don’t need PQQ/CoQ10 if you’re eating offal once or twice a week, but you will need to supplement twice a week with these if you don’t eat or can’t find offal in your country (for CoQ10, it must be the Ubiquinol kind, not Ubiquinone). Finally, if you’re having trouble with inflammation or some types of tumors, you might want to try this one.

Bonus 1: Eat lesser-known veggies, e.g. turnips, rutabaga, kohlrabi, swiss chard, kale, sorrel, collard greens, parsnips, beets, and especially beet greens (highest potassium content than any other food) etc. etc.

Bonus 2: 85%-99% cocoa dark chocolate in small doses. They help with cravings. Your taste buds will regrow within one month of doing Paleo, and you will be able to eat bitter chocolates easily. I used to buy 90% and 99% cocoa chocolates, but they’re not available in my area anymore, so I now buy this one instead (tastes the best from the ones I tried).

Bonus 3: Move your butt, and exercise. Yeah, sorry about that. Nobody said it would be as easy as just eating the right foods. It also requires you to move, and “see” the sun daily.

I feel like randomly ranting today, haven’t done this in a while. Soooo….

– I haven’t watched actual TV in months. Just a few Netflix movies here and there. I find everything on TV boring and stupid. The last good show was SGU, and before that LOST. TV (and especially sci-fi) becomes worse and worse as time goes by, as I wrote before. I’ve lost all hope for a truly deep sci-fi show.

– I stopped following indie music as closely lately. I need a new hobby. Something to do with art though. Maybe I should just shut up and finish my sci-fi movie script (yeah, the one that will never get shot).

– I run a few miles a day, almost every day. I also follow the Paleo-Ketogenic diet, but weight stays put for the most part. I’m close to giving up forever, and never restrict myself from food again. I’ve lost only 20 lbs since I started Paleo 6 months ago, others lose that weight in just 2 months time without moving a finger. The upside of a Paleo-keto diet though is mental clarity (even more so than plain Paleo). I has it. I know what I want, and most importantly, I know how to get it.

– I’m thinking of trying bungee jumping (yes, that’s my mental clarity talking). I spent years of fearing heights, but Paleo-keto was able to mostly alleviate this (obviously a mental) condition too. It’d be like giving the finger to my brain. Weeeeeeee…

– Do you believe in a “calling”? Meaning, that you feel compelled to do something, even if it might be bad for you? Kind of like, life asking you to do something, because it’s the only way you push yourself forward and evolve as a person? For example, it’s how some people might leave college or their families and move to LA and live homeless, while trying to succeed as artists, just because they felt an inner “calling”. Well, I’ve been feeling this in the last month, but of course it’s not about moving to LA to live homeless. It’s about something else. I’ve been fighting it, because it wouldn’t be good for me if I failed. But if I don’t try, I’d never know for sure. These thoughts have been consuming me in the last month, and it’s the reason I haven’t blogged much. So far I’m steering clear of it though.

– In the mornings, after I wake up and turn on my laptop, while the CNN page is loading, there’s always the same wishful-thinking thought on the back of my mind. A headline, reading: “Massive triangular UFO over San Francisco – Ongoing“.

– I’m going to buy the iPad 3, since I don’t have a tablet (I held off from buying any all these years). I hope this time its webcam is HD. I wish it would have a built-in SDXC slot too with support for Canon h.264 files, but it won’t. The iPad could actually be a great “proofing” device on location.

– Some sort of Artificial Intelligence is coming big time these days with Siri/VoiceActions, it seems. It’s nice to see this, given I’ve worked in the field 15 years ago. It always was one of my favorite domains in technology. In fact, it might be my MOST favorite part of technology. Maybe because it’s by definition sci-fi.

– Haven’t shot any new video in months. I sent a few requests to some bands, none came back to me. I obviously suck. Even if I shoot/edit their videos for free.

– My mom in Greece is pathetic. I love her, but she is pathetic. Today she told me on skype that she wanted to buy new clothes in order to look… “successful” to others, for having a son-in-law who works at Google. I mean, that’s the definition of a small-minded person, right there. Not that I ever expected more of her, she only had 6 years of schooling in her life. This is not meant to be degrading for JBQ, mind you, since getting employed at Google is NOT an easy feat. But damn, if we were to be proud for nothing we personally did, then we all deserve a supernova’s radiation passing through our bodies and blowing us to bits.

– For the record, I’m not proud of anything I ever did. Ok, maybe my time with OSNews had its glorious moments around 2003-2005, but apart of that, I don’t think anything I did ever mattered. Which is why I have this “calling” calling me all day and all night. Or, I’m just in middle-age crisis and I need to wait it out to pass. Pass the bourbon.

If you’re after for the perfect stoner music, definitely check out Chad VanGaalen (free downloads here). He’s one of the few guitar-based artists that I still like. His last year album was one of the best, but SubPop did not promote it properly in my opinion. The fact that VanGaalen kind of sucks live doesn’t help either (stoned?).

Best song in the album is here, and the main single from the album is below:

MobiSlyder is the small brother of the popular Glidetrack slider. It’s meant for cellphones, P&S digicams, digirecorders, and small dSLRs. The MobiSlyder comes with an articulated mount for full flexibility with your phone, a mobile device mount which has a variable size and can fit both small and big phones, a 1/4″ standard mount, and an adhesive & 1/4″ ball mount.

I tested the slider with my Canon SX200 HS digicam, which worked great. The slider was really smooth, it was like pushing a feather! Very nice sliding, especially for that price!

I also tested with my Galaxy Nexus phone, which is a rather big phone at 4.7″ diagonial screen. The phone also had a plastic case which added to the bulk and weight. The mobile device mount was able to fit the Galaxy Nexus fine, but the articulated mount had problems supporting the weight (even after tightening it). The mount would just collapse under the weight occasionally.

Another problem was that the slider is a bit noisy, as you can hear below. I usually don’t care about capturing sound for my projects, so for me this is not a problem. Also, I’m more likely to be using the standard mount with my digicam rather than the phone too.

One of the most beautiful videos and songs of last year. Simple, but yet dreamy and powerful. Directed by the amazing Video Marsh.

As some of you know, I taught some free videography classes for local kids recently. I was lucky to have some very smart students who would easily pick up the various notions about modern filmmaking. One of them is even using After Effects for his home movies using complex effects like gunshots and explosions. So I kept thinking tonight about how some of these kids could “make it” to the industry when and if they decide to follow such a profession.

We were discussing with JBQ a few weeks ago that there’s a huge opportunity for full length movies made using 3D gaming engines. The technology is nearly there (game companies already use them to create intro & cut scenes), but what is lacking is visual editors that would make it easy for non-technical users to put together a scene. Also, a universal 3D object format would be required, so directors/editors can simply download a needed prop and use it directly.

Audio technology would probably need a bigger push than the 3D engine though, as computerized voices would not only need to sound natural, but to also have support for accentuation or moods.

Of course, some would point to Blender 3D or Maya 3D to create an animated movie, but these tools are very difficult to use, and they require to almost create or control everything from scratch. On an existing 3D gaming engine with a proper front-end instead, a lot of the movie-making elements would be built-in, and much simpler to use. It would be a step beyond what current 3D design apps do.

Personally, I think we’re 5-10 years away from a commercial release of such a solution, but I think it’s coming. If there are so many successful bedroom musicians around after the maturation of computer music software, then movie-making without leaving the bedroom is also possible.

Watching that train wreck of a Madonna show at the Super-Bowl half-time made me feel even more about how gullible most humans are. Are we really that easily dazzled with shiny costumes, props, and ultra-canned choreography? I mean, that spectacle was just ridiculous when we try to look at it from far away. There we had Madonna, dressed like a bastardized Roman-Egyptian clown, 50 more dancers supporting this well-organized stupidity, all running around like idiots and try to fit every dance move ever within 12 minutes. The show didn’t feel coherent, it had no big idea behind it, other than to impose onto the masses.

To be honest, I was going to write this blog post in early December, after we came back from the Google Android party. I stopped short of writing my rant back then, because it would have been ungrateful of me (there I was, invited and all paid-for, and I was complaining on top of all this). But I think it’s more disingenuous of me not talking about it. I never hold back my raw thoughts (sorry, but that’s my best feature along my naturally big boobs), so why would I do so now?

Basically, at that party we had acrobatics, we had some Brazilian dance performers, and finally, an ’80s cover band. I found the whole thing cheesy as hell. The acrobatics reminded me of the Medieval clowns putting their limbs in danger for our amusement (it felt degrading to me), the Brazilian dance performers were over the top (I don’t mind their dance, but I don’t get the whole costume thing), and the cover band was just ridiculous trying to imitate Madonna and other ’80s pop stars. Why in the love of God would I want to listen to re-chewed hits from the ’80s?

In retrospect, that night was just an expensive, but shallow spectacle. Some fancy/shiny things thrown at a few hundred engineers and their wives. And that’s what really bothered me: here we have some of the smartest, educated professionals in the world, all in one building, and they get thrown some burlesque-type bullshit? Where was the art? Where was the pushed envelop to tease their intellect? Where was the next step of entertainment? Definitely not in that building that night.

To be clear, I don’t mind a spectacle that actually has a soul. I spoke of Madonna earlier, but Madonna has had in the past simpler and more amazing choreography. When I watch the linked video I feel something, I connect with the song and its atmosphere. The whole thing is impressionistic. The devil is in the details, I guess. Instead, on Super-Bowl we got a 53-year old Madonna play-acting a fucking cheerleader.

I’d say that there are three kinds of performances: the spectacle one, the live music show one, and an actual artistic performance. I believe that each has its place, and each can be good or bad. For example, I’ve seen quite a few indie bands so far, some were good live, some were less good, and some were disastrous. I’m not talking about how well they played their instruments or how well they sang, but rather how well were able to take away their audience. I found The Soft Moon to be among the best live bands today.

Regarding artistic performances, I think few can do better than John Maus. The guy is the anti-spectacle spectacle, the anti-Madonna. There he goes on the stage with his running shoes, and jeans that usually fall off mid-performance when he forgets to wear a belt. He sings karaoke to his own songs (he has no backing band), with the vocal track intact, and he often stops the songs abruptly and moves on to the next one. But of course, that’s not the real treat in his performance. Instead, you get this intimidatingly tall guy screaming like a maniac in and out of the microphone, hitting his face and chest with his own fists, often blacking out his own eyes, pulling his own hair, and head-banging so hard like he’s drilling for oil. While I rather have him not abuse himself this way for the audience’s entertainment, his personal need to “appear”, or for art’s sake (it’s not a comfortable sight watching him hurt himself), he’s definitely unique. And fucking real.

Well, either Canon has lost its mind, or they now segmentize their products too much. They announced 10 new P&S cameras recently, and they all have very disturbing video-related features. Removed features, that is.

– Except the SX260 HS, none of the other new models now support exposure compensation and exposure lock in video mode. That was a feature that was standard in all older models. Without these features, videos look like amateur hour.
– All their low-end cameras now do 25p instead of 24p. This is very dubious, because this is not a case of Canon throwing a bone to the Europeans and their PAL system. This is a case of Canon cutting off the “cheap 24p camera” pathway.

Basically, we had 2-3 years of Canon P&S superiority when it comes to video, and now Canon very consciously is removing video features so they can sell more high end products (e.g. dSLRs), or trying to save their failing camcorder division.

As the market stands today, I can’t recommend anymore ANY new P&S for video (from any manufacturer). A dSLR is the way to go for anyone serious about video (with lenses, you’d need a good $1500). I’m personally eager to see the new T4i.

For those who are interested in old P&S stock, Amazon currently sells the Canon A1200 (720/24p @ 22 mbps with exposure comp/lock and color controls) for $79 (last year’s model). Here’s a documentary shot with this little camera, unfortunately not uploaded in HD though.

While soy is to be avoided on the Paleo diet, when it’s fermented and its protein/lectins are broken down by the beneficial bacteria doing the fermentation, it becomes an acceptable ingredient. Tamari (wheat-free) soy sauce for example is used by many Paleo dieters, while natto (fermented soy beans), and soy-based unpasteurized miso paste are all considered very good for our health. Tofu on the other hand is very processed, and it still carries loads of agglutinin (SBA), so it’s not an acceptable food in the Paleo-sphere.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to find these ingredients in all countries, especially the unpasteurized miso paste. Most miso pastes are pasteurized, so their cultures are dead, making miso itself useless. In my local Japanese food store I only found one product that was unpasteurized, and many more than weren’t. Also, make sure that your miso does not contain grains/barley.

This miso soup is very easy to make, and very healthy because it includes various bone minerals, the miso live culture, and iodine & other rare minerals found only on sea-vegetables (φύκια). My husband usually dislikes miso soup in sushi restaurants, but he loved this one (he asked for a refill, rare for him).

Ingredients (for 2, 5 gr of carbs each)
* 2 heaping tspoons of unpasteurized soy-based miso paste
* 1.5 cups of water
* 1 cup of bone marrow broth
* 2 tbspoons of dried sea vegetables (I used this 6-variety pack)
* 4 oyster mushrooms, chopped
* Green part of 1 green onion, chopped

Method
1. Place the dried sea vegetables in warm water, and let them stand for 10 minutes. Then rinse them well.
2. In a saucepan add the bone broth and water, under medium heat. Using a tea cup, submerge it to the warm liquid and remove about 1/3 cup of it. Set aside the cup.
3. Add the sea vegetables and mushrooms in the saucepan and bring into a boil for about 3-5 minutes. Remove from fire.
4. Add the miso paste into the warm-ish water in the tea cup and try to liquify the paste using a teaspoon. It’s important for the water in the cup to not be very hot, or the active culture will die.
5. When the soup in the saucepan has cooled down a bit (warm, not hot), add the chopped green onion, and the now-liquid miso paste. Mix well, serve immediately, possibly with some sashimi!