230206 toxic ... it's only soup.

 Feb. 6

Toxic to viruses! Toxic soup may also seem a little toxic to the taste, because of the fierce ingredients. I make it whenever I feel a cold or flu coming on. I have had fewer viruses since the pandemic brought in masks, hand sanitizing, and social restrictions. I have had occasional bouts of cold symptoms but they have always disappeared within twelve hours. I woke yesterday with head cold symptoms (only on one side of my head!), with sinus pain and runny nose, so I made toxic soup, although it took me until evening to find the time.

Here are the "toxic" ingredients: An onion or two depending on size - this is a red onion, ten or twelve cloves of garlic, chopped fine, hot peppers, any kind, as many as you can stand, chopped fine. Today's soup had three green chilis. Turmeric root (or powdered), ginger - powdered, but fresh is good, black pepper, good in itself, but also to "activate" the turmeric.

I sauté the ingredients using a non-stick pan and a little water. It doesn't need to be a non-stick - any pan will work. (I do not use oil or butter any more in my cooking, but if you do, you may prefer to use it instead of water.) Add four cups of broth and you have toxic soup. This recipe was born when my kids were small, when I made Lipton's chicken noodle soup when we were sick, so yesterday I used that. The taste and the noodles are comforting. Any broth will do, store-bought or home-made, vegan or meat. I have used the toxic ingredients in a spaghetti sauce and served it with pasta. I suppose you could add them to almost anything - omelette? crepe? salsa? They are the same ingredients one would often use in any recipe, but I use the maximum amount that my palette and the cup can handle. I add curry powder sometimes. If you are a good chef and custom blend your spices to create curries, then you can custom-mix your own add-ins. I have always coveted a round tin filled with little round cups of spices in a circle, to pinch a bit of this and that for a curry, but I am not there yet.

All these things are anti-something, -viral, -bacterial or -inflammatory. The steam, with its fragrances, infiltrates your nose and chest with warm, moist air, just what they crave when they are sore and stuffed. I feel much better today, in the recovery stage, I hope. I took a covid test, of course: negative, yay.

*****

I have for weeks searched the trees near our corner for a bird who has been calling and calling - a territory warning, or a mate request. I hear him all day. I thought it was a cooper's hawk, but it doesn't sound quite right: musical and not sharp enough. Today, I suddenly suspected an artificial source! Perhaps the house has a motion-triggered speaker that plays the song. Of course it makes sense now, since the song is so often repeated! I will get up the nerve one day to ask the householder. (Moot now, as I googled it.) I am embarrassed, but also relieved that my puzzling is over. It has only taken me weeks to figure it out!

I have certainly noticed the decoy hawk on their balcony railing. But I did not put it all together until today. "What a maroon!" to quote Bugs Bunny.

Yes, here it is. (Is Google not amazing?) But, here is a question. Does it deter other raptors from nesting nearby? That would be very sad. I hope that they are not as slow to catch on as I was. The squirrels that run up and down the wooden fence do not seem to mind it at all.

*****

Rocky has been with us a year now. It does not seem so long. Yet, when I look at these early pictures I see that we did not know each other at all! We were strangers looking at each other with apprehension and hope. I remember that I made a bed for him beside mine and then, when he lay looking at me, I patted my blankets for him and up he jumped, and curled up contentedly.

He quickly gained a sense of entitlement, or was it a form of guardian work? ... that on our first drive to town, he jumped over and waited in the driver's seat for me to come back from the store! 

*****

Today I have enjoyed a calmer state of mind, in spite of my head cold, as if I have donned again the comfortable clothes of every-day life. Is it a coincidence that the much warmer weather is a delightful tonic? I am feeling less stressed by the bigger picture, the existential questions. 

Thank you for visiting. Keep safe and well. 

Mumma Yaga

For "toxic beans and rice" recipe, see Mumma Yaga post 200402 (April, 2020) which is called, conveniently, toxic beans and rice, one of my very first posts.