Facebook Soup

When I first got started out on Facebook, I did so out of pure curiosity. I found it vaguely annoying, especially the endless banal minutiae of the status updates. There were certainly other aspects of it which I found more compelling. I was particularly enamored with finding long lost friends and just generally keeping up with people who I wouldn't normally talk to on a daily basis anyway. I kept away from my status updates.

Then the novelty of chatter with old friends began to wear off. I knew where they were, what they were doing and that was sufficient., I was left with the glaring omissions of my status updates. So I caved, figuring an occasional status update wouldn't annoy to many. Today's update led to an unexpected outcome...

Status Update: Izzy's Mama needs cat food and soba noodles.

Following the post I promptly received a bag of cat food from my friend S. who kindly brought over a giant bag of it; not after having read the post but after having spoken to me. The soba noodles were a different story. What I would call a "feelgood" Facebook story.

My neighbor Debra., to whom I owe many thanks, commented on my status, asking which kind of soba noodles I would like, lotus root or brown rice? Hey beggars can't be choosers. I never expected such a prompt response. I told her I would take whichever kind.

She arrived a little while later with a bag, including soba noodles, fancy mushrooms, ginger and scallions so that I could make a proper soup! How amazing is that?? What is even more amazing is that I only recently met Debra, over the summer while hanging out on the stoop. We would chat occasionally but since the winter, I haven't really seen or bumped into her. Only a few weeks ago, if that, she friended me on Facebook. If not for that, I may have been soupless this evening, or stuck with some awful takeout, yet again.

You can be sure I took those ingredients and added them to a broth I had concocted from freezer scraps (for another post) and I created a tofu/mushroom/ginger noodle soup. Since I can't taste I can't really tell you what it was like but something tells me it was lacking for something. Izzy said, "Salt." We added some more but I'm not sure if that helped. No matter, it was nourishing and healthy and sure beat eating something from a restaurant. Thanks again Deb!

Maybe this will start a trend. Next time you are sick, post a request for ingredients and see what kind of soup it gets you.