A tale of two soups

Soup season is every season

Ya girl’s had a busy couple weeks but we’re back and we’re talking about soup! I’m currently writing this newsletter while on a staycation in Park Slope (ie: I’m cat-sitting & exploring a different neighborhood in between playtime & treats) so please send local ice cream recs otherwise I’m just going to eat pie from Four & Twenty Blackbirds every night for dessert (which is not a bad thing).

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1. Noshing 😋

Let’s get right to it - the soup. I’m talking about Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup & I’m specifically talking about the versions at Wenwen & Ho Foods. Both are delicious but designating the superior soup sort of depends on your definition of soup.

If you define soup as the liquid, the broth, then Wenwen is a notch above. Their 16 hour oxtail broth is so meaty & savory without being too oily. I could enjoy an entire bowl of just the broth, though the beef shank in the soup is also very tender and delicious. But that’s where Wenwen’s superiority ends for me because the noodles were another story. It may be that they were slightly undercooked because they still had a fair amount of bite to them, but the broth & the noodles were two very separate elements. Each time I slurped up a noodle it tasted like a plain ass noodle; the broth didn’t stick to it whatsoever.

Enter Ho Foods. Ho Foods has been a favorite of mine for a long time & their menu is very small because they do one thing extremely well - beef noodle soup. During the pandemic I braved many winter nights sitting at their tiny outdoor setup. Ho Foods’ 24 hour bone & marrow broth tastes slightly less unctuous than Wenwen’s, but it sticks to the damn noodles! Ho Foods also allows you to choose thin or wide noodles & the flat wide noodles are absolutely the move. Their beef shank is slightly less tender than Wenwen’s, but the dish as a whole feels much more cohesive.

Wenwen & Ho Foods noodle soups - same same, but different

In my opinion, soup is everything that’s in the bowl and all of those things should go together. Wenwen’s noodles killed it for me so Ho Foods is ultimately my winner in this battle. If you know a place that makes a great Taiwanese beef noodle soup, let me know because I would love to try some more contenders!

2. Watching 👀

I just rewatched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ahead of seeing Across the Spider-verse tonight and I can’t believe this movie came out 5 years ago! I’ve been a huge Spider-Man fan all of my life & I love different things about all of the live action movies, but this was the first time that I felt completely immersed in the Spider-Man Universe - or Spider-Verse as it is. This movie was a perfect example of stellar world building & just goes to show that animation is not just for kids 👏

I got a Spider-Man pillow in 2002 when the first movie came out & when Lorenzo made me throw it away in 2015 I felt like Peter in the Spider-Man No More comic.

I absolutely despise the cute bubbly Disney/Pixar-fication of animation & I hate what they’re doing with the new Marvel cartoons, but Spider-Verse was somehow allowed to get it so so right. Miles Morales was still sort of a niche character when this movie was announced in that he’d never appeared outside of a comic book, so his fans were comic book fans. Anyone who’s read “motion comics” knows that while the medium adds some animation to the panels, it’s still pretty stiff. The Spider-Verse team went so unbelievably hard to bring us living, breathing comic book panels and a great story. Honestly, Peter B Parker stole a lot of scenes for me; let the man wear his sweatpants. I could have used more noir Nic Cage Spider-Man.

I have pretty great expectations (hehe) for Across the Spider-Verse, but from what I can see so far, the animation style holds up & to me that was the most impressive thing about Into the Spider-Verse. Filmmaking is a visual medium above all else & so much information can be gleaned just from what is presented on the screen. I really dislike when movies feel the need to over-explain everything via wordy dialogue (looking at you Chris Nolan). If you have thoughts about either Spider-Verse movies I’d love to chat!

3. Exploring 🗺️

I was very lucky to host my friend, Heidi, for a few days as she wrapped up 2 months of travel overseas! We met on Birthright 2 years ago & our lives could not be more different - she lives in Oregon and works for the National Park Service, I live in NYC & work in an office doing I don’t even know what. I was absolutely thrilled to give her the Eden Tour of NYC & we managed to fit a ton of touring into 3 days. If you have someone visiting NYC, I would love to help you plan activities. Here’s what we did:

Day 1

We rode the Airtrain & subway from JFK to Bushwick & decided to stay local for the day. We hopped a bus towards the Brooklyn Botanic Garden & Brooklyn Museum; you can buy a joint ticket for both & save some money! We had to switch buses in Clinton Hill right outside Fan Fan Donuts, so we stopped inside for a mid-journey treat (I got mango sticky rice, she got chocolate pb).

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Eden, you were literally just at the Botanic Garden.” Yes dear reader, I was. But the thing about BBG is that every time you go something new is in peak bloom! I’ve seen peak bluebells, daffodils, & magnolias, but for the first time I got to see the rose garden in bloom (it’s always just been sticks). The roses smelled amazing & there were so many different varieties climbing all of the lattices. The Bonsai Garden inside is also not to be missed!

Our tour of the museum was a bit limited because they were setting up for a wedding (can you even imagine being able to afford a wedding in the Brooklyn Museum??). I really enjoyed the DEATH TO THE LIVING, Long Live Trash exhibit. It featured objects found in NY waterways with ink etchings. I also happened upon some wallpaper by Flavor Paper that was very cool. We met Lorenzo for dinner back in Bushwick at Tong. We shared a bunch of dishes but the massaman brisket was the favorite.

The roses were a-rosin!

Day 2

We walked from the LES to Chinatown & stopped at two of my favorite dumpling spots: Super Taste & Fried Dumpling. Super Taste has delicious fried rolled dumplings & Fried Dumpling offers an amazing 13 dumplings for $5 - we love a deal. After eating in Columbus Park we grabbed ice cream at Soft Swerve’s new location in Chinatown - HK Tea for me and Ube for Heidi.

Super Taste + Soft Swerve

We enjoyed really great rugelach together in Israel so I knew I had to take Heidi to Breads Bakery. A sign inside said they had special cheesecake rugelach for Shavuot, but they were sold out so we got the chocolate, which were amazing as always. While we were outside eating one of the employees brought out a cheesecake danish for us because he felt bad they were out of cheesecake rugelach 🥹

We ended our journey at the High Line & Chelsea Market. When I walked by Pearl River Mart I got a whiff of a familiar scent - white rice. I immediately followed my nose & found a white rice candle! The smell of white rice is one of my top smells & I’ve always said someone should make it a candle & finally someone did! Dinner that night was the aforementioned beef noodle soup from Ho Foods.

Day 3

We headed uptown to spend a day in Central Park! I got a free zoo membership with my IDNYC & am trying to visit all of the NYC zoos this year. This is the oldest municipal zoo in the US & although it’s pretty small, I was very impressed by their Tropic Zone area - it housed a ton of birds (and bats)! They were able to fly pretty freely inside so you could get up pretty close to them. The penguins were also abundant, though they lived behind glass.

As we walked through the park Heidi indulged me as I recounted every single fact I’ve ever learned on the tours I’d taken. We saw the Balto statue, Literary Walk, Bethesda Fountain, Bow Bridge (the water was too green for the reflection), the rock for Andy, & Turtle Rock. She remarked that all of the public drinking water was delicious & I thanked her & told her that it travels to us from upstate NY!

Angel of the Waters by Emma Stebbins - the design is rumored to be based on her lover at the time, which was very taboo in the 1860s.

We reached the west side & went to the Museum of Natural History (admission is pay what you wish for NY residents). We zipped through the older exhibits & made our way to the new Gilder Center. I love a good behind the scenes & there was a lot of information there about how exhibits end up at the museum. Also, there were lots of bugs, all thankfully behind glass. We wrapped up the day with french dip sandwiches from Maison Pickle & cookies from Levain.

4. What’s Good 😎

• Dinner party favorite That Dinner Thing is hosting That Brunch Thing this month! They released some tickets available to purchase for the event on June 11.

• If you’re looking for another way to connect with folks, Stay for Supper is hosting Pal-Tronic Speed Dating on June 9. There will be crafts, there will be food, maybe there will be new friends!

• I still haven’t been to Governor’s Island, but they’re having a Lavender Festival June 10-11 that I just might have to check out.

• I’ve been really enjoying NYT Cooking - The Veggie. My favorite issues are the venn diagram menus that create menus with lots of ingredient overlap. The most recent issue was a Choose Your Own Adventure: Cookout Salads.

• Give and Take Project is hosting a Clothing & Art Exchange June 4 at Mika in Bushwick. I literally don’t know how to get clothes any other way at this point.

• The Weeksville Heritage Center is hosting a Juneteenth Food Festival on June 17-18. I attended last year and while it got very crowded, I really enjoyed myself. The food was great & the grounds have really old buildings you can check out. Also, just a reminder to support Black-owned brands for your Juneteenth celebrations (don’t be that person buying Juneteenth decor from Party City).

• Every year I organize Drag Bingo at work to celebrate Pride Month & raise money to donate to the Hetrick Martin Institute. I’ve been working with Svetlana Stoli for the last few years & can’t recommend her enough. Make sure your Pride celebrations support the folks who are still fighting for equal rights (looking at you Florida 😒)

• A new record was just set for the fastest trip through all of NYC’s subway stations. Last month, Kate Jones completed the journey in 22 hours, 14 minutes and 10 seconds. I also recently found out that every year a race is held to see who ran run to the top of the Empire State Building the fastest. The current record holder is Paul Crake with a time of 9m33s.

I know there was no learning section this time around, but substack was giving me the “you’re draft is too long” warning so hopefully I sprinkled enough tiny facts throughout for ya!