The Soup Queen

I have been making the same watercress soup each week whenever I get to buy fresh watercress in the Lip Sin wet market. In the wet market, it is either lotus root or watercress. While I like lotus root soup, it doesn't freeze well. I usually make a large pot of soup and freeze the leftover portions in individual containers. If you freeze lotus root, its texture crumbles. When you reheat the soup, the soup still tastes great but the lotus root won't be as lovely to bite into! That's why I stop myself from buying lotus root. But watercress is different. It keeps its texture and the soup tastes even better if kept in the freezer. My soup is usually drunk over the course of a week so that's the maximum I keep the frozen portions. Anyway, watercress soup is always a taste of familiarity. It is a taste of homemade goodness and it is a soup that keeps our lungs healthy with lots of Vitamin C. Nic and I have been kept busy with projects and now that he is a he...

Gan Cao is a useful herb to have in your home because it is cheap yet packs a punch when it comes to health benefits. Gan Cao is known as Liquorice which is sold mostly as thinly sliced roots. It is a sweet herb with a neutral character and it is helpful for the heart, lung, spleen and stomach meridians. It is also said that Gan Cao is a life prolonging herb. How true this is I don't know but I do know that I like the smooth taste of this herb. As it benefits the heart, lung, spleen and stomach, Gan Cao therefore helps with Qi. It also stops coughing and clears heat, with an ability to detox poisons. I usually use Gan Cao by steeping one piece (cut up into 3 pieces) in my hot Chinese tea (Ti Kuan Yin or a light mellow tea). This way I can taste the mouth-lingering taste of this herb. Another way is to pop one slice of the root and chew as if you are chewing gum! Chew for 10 minutes or until you have dehydrated the root of its juices. Spit out the chewed root. (This method is great ...