Laura Ling's Special Soup Revealed, Sort Of
Why the hoagie, you ask? Wonder no more.
This morning we noted that the mom of freed journalist Laura Ling (right, with hoagie) had been making her daughter's "special soup" for two days. But what the heck was that soup? This evening, the New York Times reports: "'Laura loves this soup,' said Mary Ling, standing in front of her daughter’s house in North Hollywood with a bouquet of flowers and some nourishment. 'It’s a special Chinese herbal soup.'"
OK. That doesn't tell us much. Jump to Examiner.com, which says, "ABC's Kate Snow ... reported Wednesday evening that it's a 'Chinese watercress soup.'" (I can't find a link at this moment to back that up.)
More from that same Times story: "'She is really anxious to have fresh fruit and food,' Lisa Ling said of her sister. 'She told us there were rocks in her rice,' while in detention, she said. 'There will be a sushi dinner sometime really soon.'"
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9 Comments:
Chinese herbal soups never bring to my mind any pleasant memories. Mostly they taste bitter. Here's hoping she's getting some winter melon soup which is sweeter.
toastykitten at 12:20AM on 08/06/09
toastykitten must have been thinking of Chinese herbal medicine - Chinese soups, particularly Cantonese ones, can be incredibly tasty and consomme-like. It's one of the only things I crave when I'm away from home.
e_ting at 12:45AM on 08/06/09
I did hear Kate Snow say that on the evening news yesterday. I made particular note of it because serious eats brought the topic up yesterday. And I'd never heard of watercress soup (and why would it take two days to make?)
lemonfair at 7:04AM on 08/06/09
There's nothing herbal about watercress soup. It's, as @e_ting says, "tasty and consomme-like." If it's a traditional Cantonese watercress soup it'll start with a broth of pork bones and contain duck gizzards, too. It's so popular that Campbells actually makes a special watercress and duck gizzard canned soup just for the Asian market--or used to, as I can't find it on the website anymore.
Michele Humes at 7:20AM on 08/06/09
@lemondair - My soups usually take two days to make. One day to make the stock and cool it off. The next to make the soup. Not that it takes a whole day to make the soup but I do like the stock to sit overnight.
gingercookiewithlime at 7:49AM on 08/06/09
when i read that, I thought she just meant she made it two days in a row. . . .
@ginger, I make soup the same way. This way, you can chill the stock and scoop off any fat that rises to the top. Watercress soup should be very... clear. It's one of the easy favorites in our house.
engmcmuffin at 8:59AM on 08/06/09
We can read all about it in the upcoming tell all books. Who cares!?
pearce77 at 1:47PM on 08/06/09
@pearce77, I have several answers to your question, but I'll stick to: will not feed the troll soup.
AliceBlue at 6:28PM on 08/06/09
I'm not a troll. You responded.
pearce77 at 8:24PM on 08/06/09