Avital's Hot and Sour Soup
First, go and kill a chicken...
Lots of books have recipes but here's a pretty simple one.
Get yourself some soup stock (chicken, beef will work but pork <gasp!> seems to be most common in Chinese restaurants), flavoured with lots of garlic, bits of tofu and with Chinese veggies (chopped bok choy, sliced baby corn, Chinese dried mushrooms, sliced water chestnuts, bits of bamboo shoots).
When it's ready and all the veggies are cooked, turn off the heat, beat an egg in a cup, then slowly pour the egg into the soup, stirring with a fork to break the egg up into threads.
Season liberally with lots of pepper (Szechuan, if you can get it), bit of rice vinegar (any vinegar will work, in a pinch, but don't overdo it; rice vinegar is fairly mild) and a dash of sesame oil.
When I go through a hot-and-sour soup craving, I'll make almost any kind of soup (OK, not gazpacho) and put in vinegar and pepper and an egg. Still tastes great.
Avital