joelb wrote:

fedaykin13 wrote:Any recommendations on simple food or drink

Big steaming bowl of pho w/ tripe and tendon, plus lots of chili sauce and basil will clear you right up and make you feel like a million bucks.

offal wrote:

joelb wrote:

fedaykin13 wrote:Any recommendations on simple food or drink

Big steaming bowl of pho w/ tripe and tendon, plus lots of chili sauce and basil will clear you right up and make you feel like a million bucks.

joelb! I totally missed your post when I replied. Ha. Salut, pho! Salut, joelb!

offal wrote:This may not be your thing, but... do you have a good Vietnamese restaurant near you? When I've been sick this past year I've found that a nice hot bowl of pho really does the trick. Hot, fresh, clear broth, and not greasy. Glorious stuff.

When we were living in Chicago, we both got sick once and I went to the store to get some ingredients and I improvised a soup that we call “Come Back to Life Soup,” because it really revived us.

You don’t have to be sick to enjoy it, but it sure does the job when you’ve been feeling worn out.

Here is the recipe:

1/2 a chicken, chopped for soup, bones and all.
2 Quarts of Chicken stock
2 Quarts of Water
5 limes (6 if they aren’t really juicy)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons of salt
2 tablespoons of dried lemongrass
a piece of ginger the size of your thumb, peeled and crushed
a cup of coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
black pepper to taste

Using a half a cup of the chicken stock, sautee the garlic and ginger over low heat until the garlic is just starting to get nice and cooked, then add the chicken. (You can use olive oil to sautee if you’re not sick- but if your stomach has been upset, oil isn’t the best thing.)

As the chicken starts to cook, add the salt and the lemongrass. Let the chicken sautee in the stock until it looks fairly cooked.

Add the chicken stock and the water and increase the heat until it boils. Once the water is boiling, add the juice from the limes. Also add black pepper to taste.

Let it boil covered, over medium low heat for about half an hour to 45 minutes.

Ten minutes before you are going to bring it to the table, add the cilantro.

Serve alone or with rice.

If you’re just making this soup for an entree, you can add coconut milk and serrano peppers to make a Thai-style soup.

Enjoy!