phooey - I never know the order photos are going to appear -seems to be no logic..

Clams, then bastard Asian soup

The urge to eat fried clams comes round periodically, but when it is satisfied, “nearly nothing” for dinner seems right. As we were near Trader Joes *(footnote below), it all seemed to work out.
We settled on hot and sour soup in a jar - while usually skeptical of any ready-to-eat thing in a jar, Trader Joe better than most. It was pretty good, mushroom was predominant taste, but what is this grey spongey stuff? (tofu) We were not sure we had enough, so added some chicken stock we had in freezer, a piece of aging lemon grass, some newly bought TJ frozen rock shrimp (footnote 2), and udon noodles (eh- I think vermicelli better). Yes – bastard Asian soup, but I held back on adding Vietnamese dipping sauce.
Then fresh garnish, for flavor more than appearance – squeeze of lemon juice and fresh chives (footnote 3)
Their korma simmer sauce is outstanding – and we have others on the shelf ready to try.
TJ frozen wild-caught rock shrimp – small and tasting of the sea, only that this last batch had a lot of ice crystals in the bag which I didn’t wash off before adding to soup – a mistake – they often hold taste of freezerburn. In fact I find important to rinse off these ice crystals from any frozen product – peas etc.
Leftovers, packaged foods can be “lifted” by addition of something fresh in the reheating or serving. Chopped fresh herbs the most obvious, lemon or lime juice does wonders. Splash of vinegar or vermouth , fresh chopped tomato ( if it has good flavor) onions and peppers are zippy.