The Soup Queen

The next time you buy fresh corn still in its husk, you should never throw away the corn silk. Most people throw away the husk and silk, thinking that they're useless but I can tell you, corn silk is great for your body. Save the corn silk to make a healthy tea. Just place all the silk into a pot, cover with 500ml of water and simmer for 10 minutes on low heat. Turn off the heat and pour yourself a steaming cup of sweetish corn silk tea that tastes a little like corn.  Corn silk or Yu Mi Xu is a natural corn fibre that is also used in Native American medicine. It contains flavonoids that give corn silks their colour and have antioxidant properties.  I t is considered an important medicinal plant, able to induce diuresis and excrete dampness according to TCM.  Corn silk is helpful towards Kidney, Bladder, Liver and Gall Bladder. meridians Therefore it clears damp heat, bloating, rheumatism, skin eruptions, gout, wasting and thirsting disorder, hepatitis, cholelithiasis, ch...

I am sure you have seen this herb in your garden. When we humans have a use for the leaves and parts of a tree or shrub, we call them herbs.  When we don't know what they are good for, we call them weeds. I mean, think about it. That's how we think about plants and shrubs in our gardens.  Today, I want to introduce a weed turned herb to you because I have definitely seen this in my garden. I have just not known its efficacy until I bought a packet of dried wild plantain leaves! I must have been a herbalist in my last life or past life. I keep gravitating towards herbs and plants. If I had an ache or pain, the first place I would go to is my garden.  Is there a herb that I could use? Is there a plant that I could find?  I would never eat Panadol or antibiotics. I have never eaten these in the past 20 years. I kid you not. I don't like medicines now that I know how harmful they can be to your kidneys over a long term basis.  When I was in Manila two weeks ago ...

 This was a herbal dessert pack that I bought when I was back in Kuching visiting my in-laws. I love anything that is convenient and this herbal dessert pack was perfect. It turned out that it was a dried pear dessert that cools the body down which is quite needed for the humid weather in Penang most of the time.  Chinese New Year weather is always hot. Or is it the ozone layers disappearing?  Anyway, Chinese dessert packs like these are great. Just pour contents out, rinse them and put them in a pot with enough water and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes on low heat. Drink warm.  This dried pear dessert/ beverage tasted so pleasant and sweet (the natural sweet) that I felt immediately nourished. 

You know how sometimes your body tells you you're working too hard? Mine does and when I do fall sick, it's always the same. It starts with fever/chills and then works its way to a runny nose and sore throat and cough. I can tolerate the fever/chills, running nose/stuffed nose and sore throat but it's the cough that agonizes me the most.  While I do use healing on myself, I sometimes crave for extra boost. I was having this annoying hacking cough that seemed to be worse at night when I lay down. There's a good reason for this. Our Lung Qi is not flowing smoothly hence the coughing gets worse at night. My husband says my coughing sounds like a scooter that cannot start!  I've always been afraid of coughs because coughs can linger for a week. Not good when I have to do stuff and I really find that post-covid, everyone is anxious about any flu not to mention coughs. I try to stay home for a good part of my flu but I am also impatient and start rummaging through my cabi...

I recently bought a small container of wild astralagus slices when I was back home in Banting to visit my dad. There's really nothing much to do in Banting except spend time with my dad or take him out for breakfast of bak kut teh or nasi lemak.  The nearest and most interesting place is Tanjung Sepat which is a seaside village that has become rather prosperous due to the influx of local tourists from other parts of Selangor or even other states.  Many come to Tanjung Sepat for its fresh seafood and fish and the seafood restaurants are a big attraction. There's also a scenic spot called the Lovers' Bridge which in the 1990s was a rickety, almost falling down wooden bridge jutting out to sea.  This is where the fishing sampan or fishing boats would moor and have their catch hauled up to the shore. I am not sure if this bridge was demolished but the bridge is no longer there. A little further down is now a man-made cement bridge that juts out to sea. Tourists can walk out t...

Two days ago, I started having this annoying pain in my right ear. It was a sharp pain that didn't seem to get any better with massaging around the area. It was inside my ear and behind my ear. And I didn't know what it was. Did I have an ear infection? I haven't been going to the public swimming pool since the pandemic some 2.5 years ago.  Then the right side of my body, right behind my armpit, had this weird sensation. It was not painful but it felt like I pulled a nerve. This morning, I woke up with my tongue in pain. The right side of my tongue!  In short, I felt really uncomfortable. I wasn't ill but it's this pain here and there that got me irritated. Since I do know a bit of TCM, I wanted to find out if I was heaty again. I am more prone to heat issues than cold. I get "hot" if I sleep too late (past one a.m), eat too much spicy food or fried foods, work too much or think too much.  It wasn't heat but Wind-Heat. Wind Heat affects two major merid...