Suffering from a raging cold or flu, this will be a fairly short and dull post. 🙂 But let’s not make this about me.
I’ve been cuddled up all day with my Butterscotch tea from Marriage Freres. If I hadn’t picked that up, I would have gone for the Noel from MF or the Joy from Taizo that Starbucks sells. When I’m sick, tea must have all those great spicy notes in it. Probably doesn’t make me feel better, but the smell is so comforting.
And my blanket. I’m attached to the Little Giraffe microfiber blankets. I get probably two of them a year, when dreamalittledreamwithme.com puts them on sale (they’re on sale now, plus 20% off with bigsale2010 as the code) because as much as I love them , I’m in heaven when I get a new one, it’s fresh from the package, and it’s my virgin snuggle blanket. Yeah, a little weird. But they feel amazing. And my new one I got on sale shows up today, early in the morning, and I wrapped up in it, with my Butterscotch tea, and other than being all sniffly, feverish and sick? It was perfect. There is something almost joyful it letting go when you are sick and just sinking into that semi-lucid fog, completely understanding how helpless you are, and that the sick has to run its course.
I thought about trying to put on some perfume and write somewhat thoughtfully about it and just gave up. I am loving that new Martin Margiela thing I got at Colette. It’s nutty-like, but more than that.
And Root beer. Zuberfizz root beer is the other thing I have to have. I’ll settle for Hansen’s or something, but Zuberfizz with real cane sugar in it is my first choice.
Now that it’s clear we just aren’t going to talk about perfume today, what’s your getting sick rituals or things you sink into when you stop fighting it?
Long time lurker here.
When I give in and can’t fight anymore I take a shower and put clean linens on the bed, then put violet scented powder on the sheets. I play some soothing ocean or rain sounds on my ipod and snuggle up under a mink blanket.
But while still fighting the illness I drink tea and lots of it. Ginger tea.Constant Comment. Peppermint tea and star anise tea, the star anise is GREAT for respiratory things.
I also have a hot toddy using homemade liqueurs. I like the vanilla rum and also the anise. I discovered that my anise liqueur smells a lot like Serge Lutens Douce Amere.
sorry you are feeling poorly. I like ginger ale and pretzels when I am not feeling good; I get in bed & all the animals pile on (3 cats and a dog) and we snooze.
I miss rootbeer. It is hard to come by in the UK.
That butterscotch tea sounds yum.
get well soon!
What a way for a constant lurker to make her first post… 🙂
Sorry to hear that you’re sick. 🙁 I feel your pain, though. Right now I’m laying on my couch nursing the tail end of a wicked stomach flu. My one requirement when I’m sick is to be home. I came back from college and let my mom baby me for a while. 🙂 I go through an awful lot of tea, but I still can’t handle my beloved chai lattes, so lately I’ve been drinking chamomile or tangerine zinger tea, but I love Celestial Seasoning’s Sugar Plum Fairy when I want something with more spice. Other than that, all I need is a good book, a big blanket, and all four seasons of Monty Python. 🙂
Patty, sure hope you’re feeling better now. Glad you’ve got some comfort rituals to help you through it. I am a bit of a tea junkie (second only to my love of perfume) and that tea you mentioned sounds fabulous! Any chance it can be found over here or is it only to be had from Paris?
I am struggling with the ‘flu as we call it( anything that resembles sniffles and a slight raise in temp is the ‘flu, ok?!). Dosed myself with ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine and layered on the oudh oil and Abdul Samad al Qurashi’s white amber. Lovely!
Feel better Patty:)
Sorry to hear you’re sick. My ritual lately, if you want to call it that, when any illness strikes is to just hunker down under the covers and SLEEP all day and then sleep some more. And I think my body likes that “repair time.” So now that I’m officially old, I just roll with it. I also love a little bit of rice or tapioca pudding in lieu of any other nourishment, or a big honkin bowl of the most amazing chicken soup (Caldo de Pollo) made by one of the local Mexican taquerias.
Can’t wait to hear more about that Margiela thing… I just got in on a little split of it this morning. Feel better!
Gosh, sorry you’re feeling sick. When I am sick, yes, I am in the clean sheets gang. I generally mist them with some lavender sweet water. As for food, well, I have a thing for kimchi soup when I have a respiratory thing — and for Arroz a la Cubana (white rice, fried bananas, and fried egg) for anything else.
And might I suggest Spicy Limon flavored Cheetos if you have a sore throat? It’s just the thing to blast it back into healing-mode. Have I convinced you I’m completely insane yet? 🙂
I need my own bed.
Be well, sweetness.
Me too. With fresh clean sheets, the best in the house. I can feel like I’m on death’s door, but I will use every ounce of energy I have to change the linens.
I have a hot toddy in the early evening, which makes for an early bedtime. You know the old saying: booze a cold, starve a fever…
My favorite thing to get through a cold is Vicks Vapo-Rub. Slather it on your chest and stick it up your nose. It probably has no real medicinal value, but I just feel better when I use it. My brother swears by Zicam tablets, but I’ve never tried them.
Early in my marriage I had the flu and sent my hubby to the store for soda crackers and ginger ale. He came back with Ritz Crackers and 7-Up. Said he thought I’d like them better. Truth was, that was what HE preferred. I never let him forget that.
When I’m sick, I want to be left alone. Fleece pajama pants and a big fluffy robe are good. And I want scrambled eggs and toast, and some old movies to watch. (Not long after my husband & I were married, I got pneumonia and wanted him to go to the video store to fetch some old classic movies – in my head, I’m thinking Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, It Happened One Night. You know. In he walks with Spartacus and Fiddler on the Roof. So wrong.) Hope you are feeling better soon, P.
R – are you sure we were not separated at birth?=)) El O has a weird habit of not telling me when he rents a potentially great movie but will always invite me to watch a Porky’s, without fail. it’s just so strange…=))
P – I was churlish in my haste to post earlier today – get well wishes were there, just not typed in1!~o)
xoxo >-)
I have no tolerance for being sick… I drug myself into oblivion with Ambien and wait for it to be over. Hope you feel better soon!
I also came down with with the regular old flu just yesterday (courtesy of my SO), so I’ll commiserate with ya. Being sick right now is sooo not helping my ridiculous schedule this month! I’ve been coping with gargantuan quantities of black tea with lemon and honey, Tylenol, Mucinex-D, oatmeal, ginger beer, salty sunflower seeds and pistachios (to help the throat), and the odd shot of Drambuie. 😉
I am not able to deal with any strong smells, as they sick in the back of my throat and make me nauseous, so no comfort smells for me.
So sorry to hear that you are sick – hope it’s short in duration.
I grew up with my father, and he wasn’t much of a cook, so when I was sick – and only when I was sick – I would get a Happy Meal from MickeyD’s as “comfort food”. And as gross as that may sound, now it’s the only thing I want when I finally “give in” to a cold. The only problem is getting one of my friends to drive through McDonald’s to get me a Happy Meal….and when I finally DO convince someone to grant me my “sick wish” (that’s what my dad always called it) inevitably I get a frantic phone call, mid-order, from the friend who agreed to bring me a Happy Meal, “What toy do you want!!!”…..nothing makes me feel better when I’m sick.
Get well soon.
I love this 😡
Whenever I had a sore throat (or pretended to) my brother would provided me with a constant stream of Jamocha shakes from Arby’s. They were just the thing, even if I was the only human on earth to have strep and GAIN weight l-)
Wishing you well soon, P.
With kids at home, I’m not allowed to GET sick. If I have a cold, I just keep truckin’… which is stupid, because I know I’d get better faster if I rested. I usually can manage to curl up on the couch with some hot tea, though. Peppermint tea is very good for the sinuses, and I have a lemon-ginger that helps with nausea.
If I can sneak a hot bath without people banging on the door and begging for stuff (“Mom, make me a quesadilla?, Mom, can I let the dog out, Mom, do we have any more milk?”), so much the better.
Oh, get better soon!
The stomach flu is going around school :-ss I’m dreading it. It’s been awhile since we all had a good bout. And I hate that more than anything, it’s a nightmare dealing with everyone, particularly if I’m sick too.
I find it interesting what people eat as “comfort food” when they’re sick, everybody’s childhood rituals. My mom often made me soft-boiled eggs on toast. Now, a soft-boiled egg is enough to make many perfectly well people feel ill just looking at it, but if I’m feeling particularly sorry for myself, that or the cream of wheat is just the ticket. @};-
Feel better soon, Patty.
I like a hot fragrant bath, too. Sage tea is very good when you are sick–steep a healthy tablespooon of dried sage in hot water for about 10 minutes, strain, add honey and lemon to taste. If you don’t care for the taste, make the sage tea, skip the lemon and honey,and gargle with it.
Then I like to put on clean pjs and curl up in bed with a good book.
Keep drinking the hot spice tea Patty! The cinnamon and other spices WILL knock off a flu virus or bacterial infection, its amazing how anti-cootie the essential oils are (as found in the spices). I’m always amazed when people like spicy tea- personally I don’t like chai and all that, more of a green herb gal myself. I suspect that Francesca’s right that you might not like the taste of sage. Be Well sistas! By the way my computer did something wierd and i lost 1/2 my “flower buddie” FB friends, feel free to refriend me if you haven’t heard from me (or not if thats how you feel!)
Steam inhalations, saltwater sinus baths and very hot showers helps me a lot. I am usually not allowed to wallow – my peeps are incapable of managing without 200,000 questions (do we have any toilet paper? 10 rolls in the linen closet. oh. okay) so it obviates the whole point of trying to rest whilst sick. however, sometimes they come through and bring me hot chicken soup (I make tons of it and put it in quart freezer bags).
And tea, of course. I love peppermint tea. With a dollop of honey. when I tire of that, Constant Comment decaf is next in line.
And bourbon. not in the tea. next to the tea. Much better.
xoxo >-)
Peppermint tea is my very favorite, followed by Constant Comment, that’s too funny. I think CC gets overlooked a lot of the time. I’m with ya on the bourbon, too. :*
Oh, I think Constant Comment is the bees ~o).
women of EXCELLENT taste, all around!^:)^
I rinse my sinuses out at the first tickle of a cold or other virus, and that really seems to help stave off illnesses (or make their duration much shorter). But when I’m forced to give in, like you, I totally give in to it. Because I can’t taste or smell anything, I eat boring, super-healthy things and lose a couple of pounds, too. It’s sort of like the spa from hell ….
Be well!
I personally hate not being able to breathe, so I go to the steam inhalations of essential oils – eucalyptus, tea tree, lavender, thyme. I’ve also found straight lavender e.o. applied over the sinuses on the face works wonders for the congestion – and is great for the skin!
Feel better soon!
Oh, and I agree that tea will cure what ails you.
I bitch and moan
:((
and make my husband wish that one of us was dead.
My ritual is soup, preferably Marcella Hazan’s incredibly delicious (and simple) escarole and rice soup, but good chicken soup ~:> with matzoh balls or kreplach carried to my door by a guy on a bike will do me just fine, too. I also drink hot water mixed with a whole lemon and a ton of honey, not because it has any healing properties, but because I like it.
Wrap up tight and feel better soon, doll 😡
Um, make that “the juice of a whole lemon” because hot water with a whole lemon in the cup would be awkward and, you know, stupid :-j
Yea! Another Marcella Hazan fan here. I love her Minnestrone recipe – it’s the best.
She’s a cranky old thang, but boy she can cook.
Hey, the memoir “Amarcord: Marcella Remembers” is one of the most entertaining books I’ve read in the past couple of years. I’ve still got to pick up one of Hazan’s classic cookbooks… you reminded me!
Sorry you are feeling sick! Feel better soon! My ritual is to put on beautiful music and have hot tea– wear a fresh flannel granny gownand sleep/read/sleep/read through the day. Works for me!:)>-
I like to whine. A lot. But only to the dog, who couldn’t care less.
On top of that, frequent langourous bubble baths with essential oils mixed in. You are so right about the soothing qualities of spiced tea fragrances. I have an organic chai that smells like cardamom, mace, orange peel, licorice, vanilla and caramel. I often fix it before the bath and let it sit in the bedroom while I steam myself. When I come back, it has brewed, cooled down to drinking temperature and scented the boudoir nicely. I alternate this with fruit tisanes from France (my favourite is Poire Vanille) and Celestial Seasonings Black Cherry mixed with their Raspeberry Zinger.
Then I go back to whining.