Gap khao

Gap khao is literally translated as 'with rice,' and refers to, well, whatever you'd put on rice, but generally something with at least a little more substance than plain sauce. Meat or seafood or veggies, in whatever quantity, are generally added to sauces, herbs, chilis, and garlic in some combination. There are hundreds of dishes, but really, it can be anything. It means sort of what we mean when we say "eat an actual meal" - not a snack.
I worked the overnight at work last night and I'm craving something simple thrown on top of rice, something easily eaten, lazily, in front of Parks & Rec episodes on Netflix. Grapao muu saab - ground pork fried with holy basil - fits the bill perfectly, but I have no holy basil available right now, and also  I keep thinking about how delicious that stir-fried cabbage was. So this was the result - a fry-up of some of the cheapest vegetables and meats available, with a few aromatics, over rice. Hot, filling, and nutritionally a step up from buttered noodles...which, let's be honest, I probably would've had for dinner if this hadn't materialized.

Ground Pork with Cabbage and Green Beans

So I know this probably doesn't sound like the most exciting thing ever, and it wins absolutely no beauty contests, but it's surprisingly flavorful and extremely delicious, and very very economical. It's not authentically Thai, exactly, but then again, I don't live in Bangkok anymore, so this is what I have on hand...the very essence of a busy-night gap khao. I also fried up some ginger and garlic in oil to dribble over the finished product, which is tasty, but not necessary. 

1 lb ground pork
5 c cabbage, sliced thinly
1 onion, sliced thinly
2 c Green beans or long beans, cut into managable lengths
3 cloves garlic, minced - it'd be awesome with more, but garlic tends to make me feel sick, so I go with a small amount.
2 inches ginger root, peeled and minced
1 tbsp Fish sauce
3 tbsp Black soy sauce - this is thick and sweet. If you don't have it, use regular soy sauce and a bit of brown sugar or molassas.
1/4 tsp Sesame oil
2 tsp vinager - I had apple cider vinager on hand
Lemon juice
Chilis, fresh or powder
Oil
Eggs, optional
Rice, prepared as you prefer. Thai style demands a high ratio of rice to topping, but use however much you like.

Start your rice. Then, in a heavy pan or skillet, fry ground pork with ginger and garlic over high heat until it's broken up and started to brown, but still has some pink. Add fish sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, and any chili you'd like to add.  Cook until completely browned, and taste. Add more of any of the seasonings to your taste, remembering that this is going to be distributed over quite a bit more after the vegetables are added.  When you're done adjusting seasoning, scrape into a large separate bowl and set aside. Add a splash of oil to your pan, and a handful of cabbage - I did mine in two batches, but I have a huge cast iron wok that distributes heat to the sides as well, so you might want to go in smaller batches. Add to pork, and fry the remaining cabbage in batches. Fry the green beans and onions together until seared and soft-ish.  Add pork and cabbage back to pan and toss over medium high heat until re-warmed and thoroughly combined.

A fried egg is a fairly common addition to dishes like this in Thailand, and it's tasty and an easy way to add more protein. To make a Thai style fried egg, heat a generous layer of oil in a pan. When it's hot, crack an egg into it. Fry until the white is set (and crispy) but the yolk is still runny...or, if you must, break the yolk and let it set. Flip this on to your bowl full of rice and gap khao. 

Optional nontraditional fancypants addition:

1/2 c vegetable oil
1 clove minced garlic
1" section of ginger root, minced
3 drops sesame oil

Put oil, garlic, and ginger in your smallest pan and turn the heat to low. Let it sizzle away until the edges of the  garlic and ginger are looking toasty. Turn off the heat, add sesame oil, and stir. Let it all cool down together. Drizzle over plain rice, or anything with rice, or soup, or dip bread... this goes with everything. 1 tsp of chopped fresh Thai chilies or a pinch of dried chilis would be delicious too, added with the sesame oil.

Corned Venison, also brown sugar mustard glaze and colcannon

Fun fact: Corned beef - as we know it - is hardly eaten in Ireland. It was a product of cultural exchange between the Irish and Jewish populations of New York City, mixing cheap salt beef with pastrami spices. So, really, it's the perfect thing to eat on St. Paddy's as an Irish-American, because it's actually related more to our specific heritage.

* Obligatory judge-y comments about green beer etc* 

Anyway. My parents generously filled our freezer with venison from the deer my dad and brother shot last fall. We've been slowly working our way through it since November, and have two small roasts and something labelled "stew" left over, and, while thinking about how delicious corned beef is, I thought...venison is very similar to beef, so why not corn it too? 

I googled methods and recipes, and came to two conclusions:

1. This is super easy

2. I need to buy sodium nitrite.

Sodium nitrite is added when curing meat this way to protect against botulism, as well as give it that rosy pink color and distinctive flavor.  It's sold mixed with salt and dyed pink, most commonly under the brand name Insta-Cure #1. I wasn't able to track it down at Cub or Wal-Mart, and decided to buy it online instead of driving around to various stores to hunt it down. It's fairly inexpensive, but sold in much larger quantities than needed for this recipe - so if anyone in the area wants to give it a shot, let me know and I'll share! My packet of pink mixed sodiums came in the mail today, so I started out when I got home from work. This is the recipe I used:

Corned Venison

Note: I used only whole spices that I already had on hand. I buy them cheap from a local grocery story's in-house packaged bulk, and keep some around for various uses. Recipes vary, but I kept the most common elements (mustard, coriander, pepper, bay) from several and added extras from a few. 

1 1/2 cups salt - kosher or cheap sea salt is best, because it doesn't have that table salt-y flavor that can be off-putting in large amounts

1/2 c sugar

4 level tsp Insta-Cure #1

3 tbsp whole mustard seeds

3 tbsp whole coriander

1 cinnamon stick

5-10 cloves

3 whole bay leaves

2 tbsp whole black pepper

1 cardamom pod

1 star anise - I took this out after about 1 minute because it started to smell like Chinese 5 spice powder and I didn't want that, so proceed as you will. Star anise is supposed to have compounds that bring out the meatiness of meat. 

4-6 cloves garlic, chopped roughly - I just cut mine in half

1 gallon water

Venison, beef, any red meat, tougher and fattier cuts preferred, 2-5 lbs

Mix all ingredients except for beef with a few cups of the water in a sauce pan and bring to boil, and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Put the remaining water in whatever container you're brining in - I'm using a big ceramic baking dish - and then add the hot liquid. Let the mixture cool to room temperature, add meat, and cure in the refrigerator for 5-10 days.   

When it's ready, rinse it off, and prepare however you like.My favorite way is by boiling and then baking, with a sweet mustard glaze. It's got the falling-apart tenderness of the simmering method, without the boiled taste, and a caramelized, tangy crust. 

Oven-Finished Corned Beef With Mustard Brown Sugar Glaze

1 piece of corned red meat

4 tbsp sweet hot mustard

1 tsp mustard seeds, optional

3 tbsp brown sugar

Rinse meat and cover with water in a large pot. Bring to a simmer - not a boil! - and let it cook for about 40 minutes per pound. Drain water and put meat in deep, oven-safe dish, preferably one with a lid, although foil works fine. Slather with mustard, pat sugar on top, and put on lid or foil. Bake at 300 for 90 minutes, or until tender and soft. Take off the lid, and broil for 3-5 minutes to caramelize the sugar. Feast.

Finally: For the potatoes and veggies. I've never liked the common offering of boiled potatoes, carrots, and cabbage - I know it's generally accepted, but I find it bland and insipid. Instead, I like to make colcannon - mashed potatoes mixed with kale or cabbage and green onion. I had cabbage on hand the other day, and rather than just lightly sauteeing it or boiling it with the potatoes, I browned it in butter.I also threw in a handful of frozen spinach for color.  The result smelled a little like potstickers and tasted awesome.

Colcannon, not entirely traditional but I'm Irish-American so whatever

5 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters - I used red potatoes and did not peel them

1 head cabbage

5 stalks green onions, chopped, green and white parts separated

1/2 cup frozen or cooked-down spinach 

Butter, a lot

1ish cups milk, warmed

Salt, pepper

Throw potatoes in a pot of cold, salted water and boil until tender, 10-20 minutes depending on the size and type. Meanwhile, slice cabbage into 1/4in slices and then again into smaller segments. Fry with white parts of the green onions in butter - I think, all told, it was about 6 tbsp, since I worked in batches and wasn't going to add extra butter to the potatoes - until brown and toasty and it smells like gyoza heaven. Drain potatoes, and put back into the boiling pot. Mash to whatever level of smoothness you prefer. Add warm milk in small amounts until it's as thin or thick as you like your mashed potatoes. Stir in green onions and cabbage and and salt and pepper (and, okay, extra butter) to taste.

Links:

Corned Venison

Corned Beef: How To Cure Your Own - This one's Michael Ruhlman's site, so pay attention

Homemade Corned Beef

Corned Beef And Cabbage - This has the two recipes my preferred cooking method derives from 

Colcannon

A Compilation of Bat-Themed Alcohols, Since This Is Apparently A Booze Blog Now

It really isn't supposed to be, but it just so happens that the projects I've felt like sharing lately (and by 'lately' I mean 'over the last 6 months' have all been alcohol-related. As it happens, I barely drink, but I love experimenting with flavors and it's a fun medium to work with. I promise some Baptist-friendly content soon!

But. Meanwhile.  

Batception!

Joel has been working overnights for the last year and a half, and sleeping in the evenings since September. That means we haven't had any full days together (excluding two weeks in Thailand, and a few days for an out of town wedding in December) since September of 2011, and haven't shared an evening, other than the few I wasn't working or we weren't with family over Christmas break, since the beginning of the school year.
Now, we hope, this is going to draw to a close sometime this summer. Naturally we're rather excited for this, and have made several plans...things to do, places to go, long-neglected friends to spend time with, wine to drink at a time of day that is appropriate for both of us.  But nothing, nothing compares to our excitement and level of planning for Batweek.
What's Batweek, you ask? Pfft. Does it really need to be said? Batweek is the week where we:

• Watch all 3 Christopher Nolan Batman movies
•  Read Year One
•  Discuss the cultural impact and conditions for the fact that he's a constant icon whose popularity may spike, but never goes away completely, and the implications that has for our view of justice, heroism, crime, and wearing batcapes
• Enjoy the old live-action TV show, with it's beautifully awful batspecial effects
• Add 'bat-' to the beginning of at least 15% of the words we use
• And, most important, batdrink only bat-themed alcohol.

Bats Blood - wine from Transylvania

The Blind Bat Brewery - NY microbrewery

The Waxed Bat -Vineyard? Blend? Dunno, couldn't find the website, here's a blog post about it.

Bacardi - Oh, right, obviously.

Bat Out Of Hell - Beer for The Dark Knight Rises, obviously.  

Two Batman-themed cocktails - with impressive ice cubs containing lemon-rind bats! After recent success with a Tardis cocktail, I kinda feel like trying my hand at making one up. I feel like Mr. Wayne would be more of a sipper of single-malt or possibly martinis, but eh, The Doctor hates wine and I made the Tardis drink with brandy, so who cares, really? Theme cocktails are more representations of ideas that hopefully taste good rather than something the character would actually enjoy. 

Uh, anyway. As you were. The cider is ready to rack for a secondary fermentation, I'm just waiting for my xylitol to come in the mail so I can try some backsweetening. It should be here by Friday, so fingers crossed for a good result!

Shannon

Homebrew hard apple cider, part 1

A list of places you can picture yourself while quaffing hard cider:

Hogsmeade
Winterfell
Any wretched hive of scum and/or villainy
Colonial Boston
The Eagle and Child (yes, that one)
The Prancing Pony

Now that you've done that, if you can't answer the question "do I want a hard cider?" with a resounding "YES!" then either you're pregnant, a teetotaler, allergic to apples, or we're probably not friends.
ANYWAY.
I've been dipping my toes into the intimidating pool of the world of home-fermented or cultured products for awhile. I kept kombucha  going for a awhile a few years ago, have kept sourdough starters off and on and used delayed-ferment bread doughs to excess, made yogurt. Every few months I go through a phase where I decide that now is the time I'm going to really brew my own beer, do a flurry of research, and then get turned off by the initial investment of time and money.
 I got a starter homebrew kit for Christmas for Joel, though, so my list of excuses got a lot shorter recently. I'm going to start up one of the batches of that soon, but first I'm tackling a project that's been rolling in my mind for awhile: Cider. Hard, sparkling cider. I mean, it's easy, fairly inexpensive, delicious, customization-friendly - maybe not as much as beer, but still - and awesome.
So I hit up the interwebs during some overnight shifts and then hiked down to Northern Brewer (highly recommended! They're extremely helpful and friendly, and I'm a first-timer!) for supplies.

Yeast, one of the jugs fitted with the airlock, Star San concentrate, measuring cup with leftover yeast/concentrate/tea,  pectic enzyme, mug of leftover cider, bowl of sanitizing solution, evidence of my messy kitchen)

What I've got:

• 2 gallons of preservative-free (yeast + preservatives = no go) apple cider, in glass jugs. I got mine from Whole Foods. Good cider from an orchard (pasteurized, unless you want to have a go with wild yeasts, which is another post entirely) would make a much tastier brew, but it's January and this is what I've got...and I wanted the glass jugs this time to get started.
• 1 can of the fanciest apple juice concentrate (likewise preservative-free) I could find, to add sugar (equals alcohol) and flavor, from the aforementioned lackluster juice. This will be used again to add sugar to prime the cider for carbonation in a few weeks.
• Black tea bags - this is for adding tannins, re: weakish juice.
• Pectic enzyme, for clarifying - not necessary, but it helps ensure a clear, sparkling end product
• 2 airlocks 
• 2 stoppers with holes
• The plastic barrel that came with my beer kit
• 5 feet of 5/16" food-grade plastic tubing
• Star San sanitizing solution for everything 
• Yeast - champagne yeast is the most often seen, but the super helpful guy at Northern Brewer suggested a Belgian ale yeast after I brought up the possibility of using a sweet mead yeast instead for an end product that isn't bone-dry. He said the sweet mead yeast would work, but had personal experience with the Belgian ale, so I went with that. It's Wyeast 1762 if you're interested.
• The plastic barrel from my beer-making kit, for secondary fermentation - I'll be doing the first round in the glass jugs themselves. 
• The plastic bottles that came with the beer kit. We have a bunch of glass bottles left from Joel's bachelor party, but I don't really want to invest (okay okay it's $15 but still!) in a capper until I know if I like this or not... and I'm pretty confident I can, uh, get rid of the products of this batch before anything near long-term storage is an issue. 

Haven't gotten yet, probably will before the primary fermentation is finished:

• An auto siphon tool - about $10 and saves a lot of work.
• Xylitol or another sugar alcohol - keeps some sweetness in the brew, since it can't be eaten (and turned into alcohol and carbonation) by the yeast. I don't want it super sweet, just not completely dry. It'll depend on how it tastes after the primary, so we'll see. 

It's almost impossible to talk about homebrewing without a certain amount of science, but I'm going to avoid it in this post, since you can find much better sources elsewhere. I'll put a resource list at the bottom for that!


Alright, so, here goes!

First, it's super super important to thoroughly sanitize everything involved. I made a big plastic bowl full of the sanitizing solution, and then put everything in - spoons, a plate to rest sanitized stuff on, the mug for the tea, etc. Every other surface is wiped down with the solution, too, from the outside of the cider jugs to the yeast package to the jar of pectic enzyme. Everything.
Next, I made a mug of overbrewed tea. It's just basic Tetley black - I've heard using Earl Grey can add a nice flavor, but I'm keeping it simple this time. Threw two bags in a mug with some water, and popped it in the microwave for a few minutes. Left it to brew away - the top of the mug covered by a saucer that had been dipped in sanitizer - until it was lukewarm.
This was mixed with half a can of apple juice concentrate. It was still mostly frozen and slushy, but the lukewarm tea thawed it out. I didn't want to microwave it, because heat can (in this case negatively) impact the flavor of fruit products, but I also didn't want to shock my yeast too badly by pouring it into icy liquid, so I put the bottom in a (yep, sanitized) bowl of hot water to take the chill off.
While that mixture was warming, I poured off a little of the cider from each jug into a cup, since I'd be adding about a cup of liquid to each. You don't want the mixture to be too close to the top, because the bubbles can get in the airlock or even push it out and make a mess.
Next it was time to pitch the yeast! I was using a smack pack, which is a package of yeast with a little pod of yeast nutrient inside that you break so it can proof before you open it. I had broken the nutrient pack a few hours ago and the package had expanded like a balloon, so apparently my yeast is alive! I added it to the tea + concentrate mixture, and then poured half of it into each cider jug.
There was nothing left to do at that point but put in the stopper, fill the airlocks with sanitizing solution, and let them be! Now I have to wait until the bubbling stops before I proceed, which should be in 1-2 weeks.



Resources:
The Homebrew Helper - this is the most helpful resource EVER. It's succinct, and in layman's terms, and complete.
The Homebrew Talk forum's cider threads - All of the information you could ever need
The Paupered Chef - Incomplete, still useful.

Apple sangria

Huzzah for bad cell phone pictures!

My favorite sangria memory, hands down, is from the night before my friend Jenny's wedding, at the groom's dinner thrown by her now-husband Dave's Cuban family at a huge old house north of Boston, right on the ocean. It had been a busy, very very hot couple of days before that and I remember how wonderful that sangria tasted as a heavy, windy rainstorm swept in from the ocean. Stress? Bah.  I don't think it was a particularly alcoholic mixture (I recall a drinking game being played that resulted in 10+ cups of the stuff being slammed by a bridesmaid and groomsman, and there were no hangovers the next day, so it couldn't've been too potent) but it was delicious and sweet and had cherries in it. Also we talked about Cthulu for president, and horses, and at one point one of the groom's uncles, in possibly the best entrance ever, arrived in the monsoon on a motorcycle. 

This, however, is solitary sangria. Long-day-of-holiday-cooking sangria. Watching-Game-Of-Thrones-on-the-couch-instead-of-doing-dishes sangria.

Apple Sangria

I had apples, and some cheap red wine I'm not super fond of, and brandy. I also had a few hours' worth of cooking to do for tomorrow, so I put this stuff together to hang out in the fridge for later. I didn't measure anything, but a glance at some small-batch sangria recipes yielded amounts that look roughly like what I used.

1 apple, sliced thinly

1 cup red wine 

1.5 oz brandy 

A few squeezes from half a lemon

1 tbsp sugar (simple syrup would've been better but I wasn't in the mood to make any)

A splash of cider...less than 1/4 c

A tea bag of mulling spices that came with the cider I bought at an orchard - about a tsp of mixed whole cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc.

Ginger ale, to top

Combine wine, brandy, sugar, cider, and lemon and stir to dissolve sugar. Add tea bag/mulling spices and apple slices and let refrigerate for awhile, a few hours if possible. Take the spices out after an hour though so it doesn't start tasting like a fall-themed candle. When you're ready,  pour over ice, making sure to get the apples, and top with a splash of ginger ale. Close your eyes and picture a storm rolling in off the Atlantic. Or something more appropriate to sangria, I guess, like Barcelona or something. Your call.

Channa, with masala

Alright, first things first: Let me warn that this pan full of chickpeas with tomato and Indian spices is probably not authentic. Chana means 'chickpea' and masala means 'spice' in Hindi (I believe?) though, so technically I guess the name is still correct, right?

Reasons you should make this:

1. It's delicious. Warm, filling, spiced, also did I mention that it's Indian food?!

2. It's convenient. It doesn't take much time to cook, and you probably have a lot of the core ingredients on hand.

3. It's healthy. Chickpeas are high in protein, fiber, and nutrients, the spices and tomatoes are good for you, if you make it with brown rice it's practically virtuous. 

4. It's cheap. Cans of chickpeas and tomatoes, an onion, oil, common spices you either already have or should just buy already, c'mon. 

5. It's easy. A very tiny bit of chopping, and then just stirring. 

6.. It's perfect for a crowd that includes dietary restrictions. It's vegetarian, but...dedicated carnivores: I promise you'll like it! It's also gluten free, and can easily be dairy free (and therefore vegan).

Lazy Chana Masala

 This is my fast version for when it's getting kinda late on a weekday - there are wonderful, more complex versions of this dish out there that are definitely worth trying, but this is tasty, filling, and pretty darn quick.

2 15 oz (or one 28 oz, close enough) can chickpeas

1 15 oz can chopped tomatoes

1 onion, diced

2 tbsp garam masala - See below

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp cooking oil

1/2 c water

Optional but highly recommended:

Chopped cilantro, to taste

Chili of whatever kind - a jalapeno would be fine, or dried whatever works too. 

Fresh ginger, 1 or 2+ tablespoons, chopped or grated 

Lemon or lime juice, to taste, but start with a few good squeezes or a couple tablespoons.

Plain yogurt or sour cream or whatever sour plan dairy thing you like, a few dollops 

Cooked rice (I like to add a little more onion caramelized in butter, a decent amount of tumeric, maybe a tsp of coriander, and a handful of frozen peas to rice cooker for yellow rice.) or naan.

Saute onion in butter and oil in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat until at least translucent, preferably somewhat caramelized.Add chopped fresh chili here, if using. Stir in garam masala (and fresh ginger, if using) and let the spices release the oils into the cooking oil for a minute or so. Drain and rinse the goopy stuff off of chickpeas and add to the pan, along with the tomatoes and water. Crush  a few of the chickpeas to release starch and thicken the dish a little. Cook everything together for at least 5 minutes ( much longer, 30+ minutes over low heat, is best.) if your rice isn't ready or you have the time), adding more water if the skillet gets dry, stirring occasionally.  Before serving, stir in lemon juice and cilantro, if using. Serve with rice or naan, plain yogurt or sour cream to dollop on top and stir in, and more lemon juice and cilantro.

Garam Masala

Garam masala is a spice blend used frequently in Indian cooking. You can buy it pre-mixed (Penzy's has it, as does the bulk section at the Whole Foods near me) or make it yourself. It can be extremely varied, and you can tweak the amounts of any of the spices to your liking. This is a simple version that I like - and you can throw together with spices that you already have, or at least can easily obtain. If you're interested in more complex versions, a quick Google search can be very illuminating. Also, it's delicious on squash or anything else you might use sweet spices with.

Spices called for are ground, because again, this is the lazy version. Whole ones ground yourself would, of course, be way more awesome.

1 tbsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cardamom

2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp paprika 

Optional:

-Tumeric - also good thrown in with the rice you're going to make with any of this stuff, btw

-Star anise

-Nutmeg (in small amounts, it can overwhelm quickly - I usually add a pinch, but I'm not a huge fan of it in general)

-Amchoor powder

-A bay leaf or two

Directions:

Uh, mix them together. 

A few longer-form recipes:

Smitten Kitchen - I've made this one and I liked it

Manjula's Kitchen - Vegetarian Indian food blog

Magic feel-better tea

Confession: There will be no original photography featured in this post because I can't figure out why my camera hates me. Yeah. To be fair, I lost the charger almost three years ago and just replaced it this week, so it really probably has a right to be mad.  :P I just need to figure out how to, y'know, do things with it.  So uh... Stock Photo Sundays? It could be a thing!

Sidebar: This is not a post about herbal medicine, homeopathy, or even alternative vs mainstream medicine.  I'm talking about controversy-free, safe, relatively common knowledge home remedies here. While I'm very interested in holistic medicine, I feel compelled to mention that natural does not equal safe, and education is extremely important on this topic. Which, again, I have no intention of tackling on my ramble-y DIY blog. ;) 

Anyway. I'm not any kind of expert in the world of herbal teas. I've read up a little on a few things I use, but I don't hunt down specialty ingredients, or even hit up the Whole Foods bulk section. I use what's around, inexpensive, and easily obtained. 

My first concoctions were made in high school in Bangkok, when I started making solo trips to the fresh markets. I learned the words for 'ginger root' and 'mint' and 'lime' - all very cheap and easy to find. 

Wikipedia says this is in China...apparently markets have better lighting there? :P

Most of the time, though, I kept it to a potent, nearly instantly-attainable brew made with three ingredients: Ginger tea packets (available at 7-11), limes (always already cut up in the fridge) and honey. It was the tea equivalent of Boom Pow, and I used it to wake up if I was sleepy or foggy-headed while studying...or for anything else really. I don't even like ginger all that much in sweet applications (Mom: I know, I know, I'msorryaboutthebrowniesokay?!) but  somehow that mixture did it for me.  I proceeded to make it for friends, telling them that it would help their cold, headache, insomnia, brain fog, cramps, upset stomach, etc. And for the most part, it did help, but not for any particular reason other than that a hot cup of tea is almost always a good idea when you're under the weather, whether or not it contains [m]any actually healing ingredients.

Yeah, that's right. Found at Halcyon Tea.