Meatballs on Wheels

Having been living in the US for half my life, I've been adhering to the three-meal a day schedule for sometime now. I'm always surprised when, at around 4pm, different members of my family would start bringing in some kind of food that seem to appear out of nowhere. Yesterday, it was bakso (meatball soup.) I wasn't hungry at all, but a flood of childhood memories came rushing in, and I decided to join in the fun for old time sake. I followed my nephew outside to order one for myself and got to meet this really friendly guy as he was busy preparing bowls after bowls of soup.

This is different from what I was used to seeing in Jakarta where I grew up. Back then, the vendor walked around pushing a cart, instead of riding on a motorcycle. But the set up is similar: a big pot of broth with a stove underneath, a stack of bowls, spoons, hot sauce, soy sauce, and a caseful of meatballs and noodles. He has a "dishwasher" too, but it's not up to Western standard, so I thought I spare you the horror.

Every bowl is made to your preference. Check out the options of what you can have in yours.

Remembering my parents' concern about the not-very-clean bowls, I brought out my own bowl. I decided to have everything: two kinds of meatballs (one is meatier, the other more starchy), noodle, shredded cabbage, fried tofu and fried wonton. I didn't question the nutritional value. Probably not much, but who cares when it's fun. And here's my bowl.