And stay out.

I am feeling remarkably better today. Not yet entirely recovered, but markedly better. Here is what it took:

- Two days' worth, and counting, of Paracetamol (the UK generic wonderdrug that does a whole lot more for me than Tylenol etc.)
- Being forced to get out of the house for a while, and consequently move
- Chicken soup
- Two cups of different herbal teas right before bed, both from Tealuxe: Throat Tender (cardamom, slippery elm, cherry tree bark, and boy was it bitter until milk was added) and Orange Echinacea (much more pleasant)
- Half an hour or so with a couple of ... er, gorchichniki -- mustard packets -- on my chest. They're these paper packets with mustard powder in them. You soak them in warm water, then get excess water out and press them to strategic respiratory points (upper chest, upper back, calves for whatever reason). They start burning after a while, and continue burning until you take them off, and it heats you through. I'd been doing this ever since I was a kid, when Mom put them on for colds; they are a pretty common thing back in the USSR. In fact, I got the ones I have now from a Russian store.

It worked. I am less congested, am still coughing but less than I would have been, and can generally spare the energy to think. Tonight, more mustard packets, chicken soup and all that other stuff.

And stay out.

I am feeling remarkably better today. Not yet entirely recovered, but markedly better. Here is what it took:

- Two days' worth, and counting, of Paracetamol (the UK generic wonderdrug that does a whole lot more for me than Tylenol etc.)
- Being forced to get out of the house for a while, and consequently move
- Chicken soup
- Two cups of different herbal teas right before bed, both from Tealuxe: Throat Tender (cardamom, slippery elm, cherry tree bark, and boy was it bitter until milk was added) and Orange Echinacea (much more pleasant)
- Half an hour or so with a couple of ... er, gorchichniki -- mustard packets -- on my chest. They're these paper packets with mustard powder in them. You soak them in warm water, then get excess water out and press them to strategic respiratory points (upper chest, upper back, calves for whatever reason). They start burning after a while, and continue burning until you take them off, and it heats you through. I'd been doing this ever since I was a kid, when Mom put them on for colds; they are a pretty common thing back in the USSR. In fact, I got the ones I have now from a Russian store.

It worked. I am less congested, am still coughing but less than I would have been, and can generally spare the energy to think. Tonight, more mustard packets, chicken soup and all that other stuff.

Book!!

I am giving myself most of the day off. About as long as it takes for me to feel like I can truly throw myself into work again. For, were I to do the work thing now, I just know some body deity out there would giggle and club me over the head again for being cocky.

Meanwhile, I am reading Alexandre Dumas' Vingt Ans Apres (Twenty Years Later) – the sequel to The Three Musketeers. Putting aside the fact that I can read the thing in French without a dictionary...

...wait a second... *bounces like a maniac* I can do what?!!

Right, so putting that aside, the book is bloody brilliant. The sense of humor is subtle, the descriptions are marvelous in that nineteenth-century way, the sentences! I usually hate sentences too self-referential and loop-y, but this is well done.

I remember my glee at the language when I was reading The Three Musketeers in Russian translation sometime in pre-teen land. This was exactly the feeling. It's odd, that it's so familiar in a language I don't know well.

I would like to know French better.

Book!!

I am giving myself most of the day off. About as long as it takes for me to feel like I can truly throw myself into work again. For, were I to do the work thing now, I just know some body deity out there would giggle and club me over the head again for being cocky.

Meanwhile, I am reading Alexandre Dumas' Vingt Ans Apres (Twenty Years Later) – the sequel to The Three Musketeers. Putting aside the fact that I can read the thing in French without a dictionary...

...wait a second... *bounces like a maniac* I can do what?!!

Right, so putting that aside, the book is bloody brilliant. The sense of humor is subtle, the descriptions are marvelous in that nineteenth-century way, the sentences! I usually hate sentences too self-referential and loop-y, but this is well done.

I remember my glee at the language when I was reading The Three Musketeers in Russian translation sometime in pre-teen land. This was exactly the feeling. It's odd, that it's so familiar in a language I don't know well.

I would like to know French better.

Thai curry

Today, I made Thai curry a la mamster. Mostly because I needed to make sure that some vegetables in my fridge didn't go bad, but it turned out to be a convenient way to deal with the cough that's been destroying my throat today. I mean, if my throat's going to be destroyed anyway, might as well do it in style!

This was the second time I made mamster's curry. I think, the next time I make it, the proportions will be markedly different. I'll put in more coconut milk, because I like coconut milk; and less red curry paste, in an attempt to lessen the bitter taste it gives in the back of the throat. I also wonder how different, and how much better, the curry would be if I had found palm sugar anywhere. I didn't look particularly hard, the couple of months ago when I was first shopping for Thai raw materials; and this is a pity, because Matthew is right: brown sugar is a lousy substitute.

All of this said, this is tasty stuff. I do believe that I really like it with arborio rice. It was what I made, having discovered that this was the only type of rice available in my kitchen (wtf?! - I lived without long-grain for FOUR MONTHS?).

This is a good time to mention my currently-favorite poem [in English]: Craig Arnold's Hot. Rather infuriatingly, there are some transcription mistakes -- you'd think the NEA of all entities would proofread poetry. But! Do check out the RealAudio file of the poem being read by Craig, as it is excellent.

Thai curry

Today, I made Thai curry a la mamster. Mostly because I needed to make sure that some vegetables in my fridge didn't go bad, but it turned out to be a convenient way to deal with the cough that's been destroying my throat today. I mean, if my throat's going to be destroyed anyway, might as well do it in style!

This was the second time I made mamster's curry. I think, the next time I make it, the proportions will be markedly different. I'll put in more coconut milk, because I like coconut milk; and less red curry paste, in an attempt to lessen the bitter taste it gives in the back of the throat. I also wonder how different, and how much better, the curry would be if I had found palm sugar anywhere. I didn't look particularly hard, the couple of months ago when I was first shopping for Thai raw materials; and this is a pity, because Matthew is right: brown sugar is a lousy substitute.

All of this said, this is tasty stuff. I do believe that I really like it with arborio rice. It was what I made, having discovered that this was the only type of rice available in my kitchen (wtf?! - I lived without long-grain for FOUR MONTHS?).

This is a good time to mention my currently-favorite poem [in English]: Craig Arnold's Hot. Rather infuriatingly, there are some transcription mistakes -- you'd think the NEA of all entities would proofread poetry. But! Do check out the RealAudio file of the poem being read by Craig, as it is excellent.