Discovery

First, the weather. It was -22C this morning, with a mean wind chill. I decided I have had enough of trudging around the snow packed streets and sidewalks, wearing enough layers of clothing that my arms stuck out at odd angles, and every step dragged. We took our walk around the grocery store, doing our weekly shopping, strolling down every single aisle, although most of what we buy is in the produce and dairy sections of the store.

By 3 p.m. this afternoon the temperature had risen to -6C, with a wind chill. So the second walk required less clothing, and a few extra inches of bare pavement in the middle of the road, and some sections of clear sidewalk. Much better! When the morning temperature is below -15C, we will drive to the big box stores and do our morning walk down the aisles. Hopefully we won’t be tempted into spending money on things we don’t need!

I recently wrote about Cream of Tomato Soup. I posted a recipe for the soup base. One can of tomatoes provided me with eight servings of soup. Lunch for the past little while has been highly enjoyable.

To add more protein and flavour, a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese, and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast, have been mixed into the bowl of hot soup.

Today, instead, a teaspoon of Miso was added to the soup. This took the soup to the next level, what a great flavour!

I had recently watched a cooking video (Glen and Friends) on youtube, where a small amount of Marmite was added to a soup recipe. In the comments someone mentioned using Miso instead. At our regular grocery store neither could be found. A visit to the expensive grocery store was successful in finding a package of red Miso from Japan. It is expensive, but a little goes a long long way. This was added to a Taco Soup recipe last week, and it seemed to provide a deeper flavour.

Last week, while shopping at our local grocery store, there on “marked down” shelf were some small jars of Marmite. Not to be found on the regular shelves, they showed up as marked down items. Now there is a small jar of Marmite sitting in our kitchen cupboard.

The umami flavourings are new to me, I have had no experience with them. Now I am a big fan!

Both Miso and Marmite are very high in sodium, so they need to be used with considerable moderation. Since my diet is so low sodium, I can safely add small amounts to my soups and casseroles.

Well, at least it didn’t take me a whole century to discover Miso and Marmite, the better part of one, but not a whole century.

Worldly

Weather

-22°C
Date: 6:00 AM EST Monday 2 February 2026
Condition: Clear
Pressure: 102.1 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: -19.5°C
Dew point: -21.8°C
Humidity: 82%
Wind: NW 8 km/h
Wind Chill: -29
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“Science is facts; just as houses are made of stones, so is science made of facts; but a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts is not necessarily science.”
Henri Poincare
1854 – 1912