[Mezzaluna]

You want CHEAP???

When I first started teaching in 1974 my salary was $8,450 per year. The salary was doled out during the 38-week school year so you had to save up to make it through the 12-week unpaid summer "vacation" (translation: forced layoff). I was POOR toward the end of that first summer, I can tell you!

I found some pork chops on sale (that package of odd-cut ones with five or six different muscles running through them). I bought a head of cabbage (a local product, so it was cheap), bunch of green onions, a can of water chestnuts and one of bamboo shoots, a can of mushrooms and a dozen eggs.

I broiled the pork chops until they were browned, then put them in an 8-quart soup pot I had. I put in about 6 quarts of water and let it simmer. Later I took out the pork and cut it into strips. The veggies went in and simmered. I had some white vinegar and ground black pepper, so that's what I used for the flavoring besides some boullion cubes and soy sauce I already had. I added some corn starch and four beaten eggs. A few minutes later I had soup I could eat from until my first paycheck came in for the new school year.

It was a long time before I could eat that soup again, I can tell you!