Last Days of Winter (I hope)...

This has been an especially disappointing winter in Syracuse, weather-wise. When I moved here a year ago, I was actually fairly excited to be moving back to a place where an inch of snow didn't cause mass panic and a three-hour commute home. Living in Seattle I missed waking up to fresh snow on a regular basis, and as much as people tried to convince me that I could drive to the mountains whenever I needed a fix, winter just wasn't the same. (Note to Seattlites: Driving to play in the snow for 3 hours is not the same as watching it fall out your window.)
So, moving to Syracuse, I was ready for some snow. I mean, this is the town with the largest snow plow in the world. We average 115 inches a year and in the 92-93 season there were 192 inches of snow. But, it's been a year of freezing rain and a cycle of snow/melt, snow/melt, so nothing stays on the ground and instead of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing I've been doing a lot of running outdoors.
To top it all off, we've had some really bitter cold days. And a cold day with no snow, I mean, what's the point? So last Friday, the first day of spring, was still soup weather. Since my new husband caught some sort of plague in Montana, and I'd been eating in restaurants for nearly a week because of our trip to Boise, we decided on a simple Thai-Style Hot and Sour Soup. With just a little kick to it, it was entirely satisfying, even if the Syracuse weather has been less so.
Hot and Sour Soup (adapted from this recipe)
This is how I made it, but as you can see from the original recipe, you can use your imagination and throw in whatever meat/seafood/veggie combo sounds good to you.

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I use the Imagine brand No-Chicken Broth)
2 cups water
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely grated or chopped
2 tbl. soy sauce
1 tbl. fish sauce
1 tbl. rice wine vinegar
1 tbl. brown sugar
1 tbl. lime juice
1 tsp. chili sauce
2 cups diced tofu
Handful of fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced
1-2 cups bok choy, roughly chopped
3 small carrots, sliced
2 eggs
Fresh cilantro or basil (optional)

1. Heat broth and water in a large stock pot. Add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice and chili sauce. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer while you add the remaining ingredients.
2. Add tofu and vegetables, simmer for 5-7 minutes until tofu is heated through and vegetables are cooked, but still crisp.
3. Crack eggs into a cup and beat lightly with a fork. Slide eggs into the soup and stir immediately. (Just a couple stirs if you want bigger, fluffier pieces of egg, rapid stirring if you want the egg shredded.)
4. Taste and add more fish sauce or soy sauce if it's not salty enough. Ladle into serving bowls and garnish with cilantro or basil, if desired.