Suffocating in Soup: A Cooking Adventure

* All names have been changed for privacy.

Making birthdays special as an adult is hard, especially if it falls on a weekday. We didn't do much for Han's birthday this year, it was on a Wednesday so we went out with a couple of his friends last Saturday, and I was trying to surprise him with buying the Nintendo Switch 2 but because it was constantly sold out, I ended up needing his help finding one. He was very happy, but of course that ruined the surprise. He did end up finding one two days before his birthday, which was so lucky because it was looking like we weren't going to be able to find one at all, but that also meant I had nothing to give to him on his birthday. So the day itself wasn't very special.

He also had to work all day, and to top it all off, he was sick. At least he was able to work from home, but he still felt miserable so I decided I'd make matzo ball soup for him.

In the past, this hasn't gone so well--apparently, converting to Judaism is not the only requirement for making good matzo ball soup.

The issue is that Han's mom makes the most delicious matzo ball soup, but doesn't have an actual recipe for it. Every time I ask her for the recipe, she tells me all the ingredients without listing any specific amounts for anything! It's always "a pinch of this" or "some of that" or "however much you want" and I'm just sitting there trying to write it down like ... GIVE ME SPECIFIC AMOUNTS, I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!

So I always end up looking up recipes and they're never as good as how she makes it.

Still, I was determined.

I ended up finding this recipe and it really appealed to me because I could use the Instant Pot. But because I'm forgetful and inexperienced, I did not read the whole recipe before making a grocery list or actually preparing the food. Yes, Mom, I know you've told me countless times, "Read the whole recipe before you do anything!"

I still forget.

Every time.

It's like I get too excited and am mentally preparing myself to cook and then forget everything I'm actually supposed to do. I don't know, guys, my brain works in mysterious ways.

Anyway, everything was going fine even though I was missing a few ingredients--I forgot to put parsley or celery on the shopping list. However, because I didn't read the recipe beforehand, I totally missed the part where it says, "When the time is up, let the pressure release naturally for 30 minutes. Carefully release the remaining pressure."

Instead of doing that, I released all the pressure at once when it was finished.

A whining screech filled the air, like a screaming tea kettle but louder and more concerning. Soup froth sprayed out of the release valve and onto the wall, and I jumped back, slightly concerned that the whole device might just explode. Thankfully, it didn't explode, but it was screeching for about ten minutes and the air in our apartment became filled with soup.

I wish I was exaggerating.

I checked our air purifier, and the air quality had gone from 5 to over 290. For me, anything above 70 gives me a hard time, so this was pretty bad. I had to open windows and turn our air purifier on to the Turbo setting to keep from suffocating in soup. Han was fine, so I was probably being dramatic, but he's not as sensitive as I am to bad air quality.

Either way, the soup turned out pretty good, though it tasted better the next day after sitting in the fridge all night. I highly recommend this recipe, just read the whole thing before you make it!

My finished soup!