Food that heals.

You know the feeling, where you wake up. Your head is sore and fuzzy, the joints are achy, the throat is throaty... and you have 'flu'. OK, not the real influenza. I had the joy of that last year, and if that was the case I wouldn't be awake, let alone blogging! But flu-ish enough that you are not up to functioning in the normal world.

On days like this, I always try to get up and showered, and remove myself from the bedroom. To 'the nest'. The nest involves a sofa, the TV, DVDs, a pillow, blankets, kittens and, now, a laptop. So entertainment and naps are on tap.

I tend to have a strange appetite when I am sick. Ranging between feeling like I couldn't even look at food, to ravenous cravings for the most unhealthy and horrible stuff. So today have alternatively craved jam roll (thanks Baker's Delight!), salt and pepper chips, and slab cut fries. Hardly the stuff of nutritious legends.

But the food I crave the most when I am ill is soup. Specifically hot and sour soup, though a sweet corn soup or a miso soup (even out of a -gasp- instant package) makes a good second. Unfortunately, my takeaway hot and sour soup tonight was more hot than sour and a little underwhelming. But a good hot and sour soup just seems to soothe all the aches away!

My favourite hot and sour soup comes from Veganomicon (I swear, I do own more cookbooks!). I haven't made it for a while, but here is a picture of it for your viewing pleasure:



It is fabulous. And just hits the spot when you are feeling a little bit down.

So the point of all of this blogging, is that I was wondering if anyone else (of the few people reading) would care to share their favourite foods for feeling ill. Especially those super easy to make foods for those of us who end up sick all on our own. Kittens a great, but they lack certain culinary skills.