I’m not feeling quite up to par

That’s what my grandpa McConnell used to say when he didn’t feel so well.

I have this cold and I’m not wiped out, but I have no fire. Today I took naps, read, soaked in my neighbors bathtub full of Epsom Salts with lavender & eucalyptus essential oils, used up a couple of boxes of tissues, took too many kinds of herbal supplement remedies, went to tai chi but shouldn’t have…..anyway…………

I needed to prepare something for dinner so I came up with this miso soup. This soup feels kind and friendly to me yet puts it’s hands on it’s hips and shakes it’s finger at whatever is ailing me. I’m just tipping my bowl to slurp the last drops out right now.

To make one BIG bowl of soup, I sauteed in a bit of olive oil:

• some garlic
• lots of fresh ginger
• hot peppers from the garden. If I didn’t have hot peppers I would have used red pepper flakes
• mushrooms

Then added:

• cubed tofu
• chopped lacinto kale
• enough water to make soup
• tablespoon of dulse (a seaweed high in vitamins, especially B, minerals, trace minerals, and good source of electroytes. This adds a bit of a salty flavor but is relatively low in sodium!)
• teaspoon coconut oil
• yellow miso at the last minute

I’m headed back to the couch to read and fall asleep again.