The Soup Queen

Taking care of myself has been a philosophy that Mum drummed into me since I was a young girl. Taking care of myself meant eating healthy and in my case, I'm the only daughter who dares to drink the darkest of brews just so I can look my prettiest best. Ah yes. I also believed in no pain, no gain. So if I had to drink some herbal soup with strange ingredients (and they usually smelled very strong), I told myself, it's for my own good. I'm nourishing my body. I'm keeping alive centuries of knowledge and practise. Until today, I find the best places to remind me of my childhood is to walk into a Chinese herbal shop and inhale the fragrance of herbs! To me, that is the best smell in the world. Anyway, for Chinese women, replenishing our blood and reviving our bodies is a must after each menstruation. I've learnt this since young whereby Mum would brew for us Dang Gui or Ba Zheng Tang a few days after we were done with our periods. Usually boiled with chicken thighs (m...

I've taken to keeping a bottle of Buddha Fruit Tea in my fridge these days after I realized how a simple tea like this can keep me in tip top condition even as I run about with my busiest of business days. Buddha Fruit or Lo Han Guo (Momordica grosvenori) is one of those herbs I have stashed in my kitchen cupboard. It's a dried fruit, the size of a tennis ball, the colour of greenish gold. It's lightweight with a delicate taste that makes it a versatile herb used in sweet and savoury soups. (For savoury soups, you can boil Lo Han Guo with pork to cure pneumonia and cough. But it has a taste which some people cannot stomach. If you belong to the category of people who are used to drinking Lo Han Guo as a sweet tea, then stick to it.) In the past I used to boil Lo Han Guo fruit (1 fruit per 1 - 2 liters water) with dried longan, dried red dates and dried lotus seeds. This made a good dessert when served warm or chilled. Now I just boil 1 Lo Han Guo fruit (wash the fruit firs...

I was in Hong Kong in March and I was blown away by the easy accessibility of herbs, herbal drinks, herbal soups and healthy practices of the people of Hong Kong. I will share more of that with you once my business schedule has toned down a bit. Right now, I am stealing a bit of time out (from working on a client's website) to post this. I saw this and thought it fantastic to share with all of you here. As an aside, I've hardly been making soups. Sigh. What a pity huh. I've been involved in lots of committee work (from my own businesswomen group committee to my residential committee) and that plus business has taken me away from my fave pastime, making soups. OK, enough of that. This link is about Chinese herbal teas which promote sleep . Without proper sleep, one gets grouchy and ill-tempered. Sleep also allows your body to repair itself. Lots of easy tea recipes on this Chinese herbal tea page. Do take a look and try them out!