What makes it better

There's a fairly new (sit-down, order off the menu, not a buffet) Chinese restaurant in my town. It's pretty good - I've eaten there a few times.

And they do carryout. I realized that for $3.50 I can get a couple pints of hot and sour soup - hot and sour soup that's better than what I can make from scratch at home.

So on my way home at "lunchtime" (close to 2 pm - I have an AWFUL teaching schedule this go-round), I picked a batch up. Ate half of it, have the other half for later this weekend.

I know people sometimes make rude jokes about Chinese restaurants, but several of the ones I've known - run by immigrants - the people running them are super-nice and friendly, and they work really hard to be a success. And the food at this one is really quite good, and they make some effort to plate it up nicely when you eat at the restaurant. I hope they continue to have good success, both because I like having them as a food option, but also because the people who run it are nice and do seem to be hard workers.