The Soup Queen

Chinese people love eating parts of the pig. Apparently each part of the pig corresponds to the parts in us humans. So if you want to strengthen your legs, eating pig trotters are the way to go. Or if you want to become smarter, you go for the pig's brain (and we all thought pigs are stupid creatures!). When I was in my teens and studying for major exams, my mom would specially order a whole brain of the pig from the pork butcher. She would then boil the brain with some herbs in a slow cooker and I'd take that, soup, brain and all. This was to ensure my brain got all the nutrients it needed to perform well under stress. I do know now that consuming the innards and organs and yes, the brain of the poor pig, does increase one's cholesterol level. However, at that age (remember I was in my teens), I'd imbibe the stuff my mom cooked because they were delicious in a morbid way. I'd always feel a bit like Supergirl after taking these soups. Pig's brain, when ...

Well this has nothing to do with food or soups but it has something to do with Orientalism and health and in a way, well-being. I came upon this Oriental Tit Tar website when I went over (OK, OK, more like moseyed over) to a friend's blog. He had sprained his ankle so he went to see a Chinese Tit Tar. How shall I translate Tit Tar? It's a Cantonese word for the chiropractor who puts you right again. It's very cool that this particular Tit Tar is smart enough to take hold of technology and use it for his own business. After all, complementary medicine should be here as an option for people like you and me. Particularly me as I love my Sin Seh (Chinese medicine man). Sure, the healing is not as fast as Western medicine. But asking for quick, fast relief isn't always the best way to cure the body. So I like my medicine to work with my body to heal it, not work as a 'patch' and cover up the symptoms but not treat the root causes. That is perhaps wh...

It's been a busy month for me. Every other day, I've had to work on some client's project or go out and discuss something or another. That's why the SoupQueen has been missing from the kitchen and as such, not many soups to recommend! Anyway, I came across a website which talks about TCM and TCM herbs. I'm always on the lookout for good herb glossaries because herbs are just wonderful for health. And always good for soups. This website which I came across is called Sacred Lotus Arts Traditional Chinese Medicine. I was looking for a reason why I am spotting after my menses. Yep, there is a term for this. It's called Metrorrhagia. Anyway, one search led to another and that's how I ended up at the Sacred Lotus website which is truly a gem of a find. It has herbs plus photos of herbs. I always believe photos are always better than illustrations. And the herbs are in Pinyin too so it's easy to find the herb you want. If you like, you can search using Latin or...