Well, here we are in cold and flu season. Seems like it has touched every household this year. Whether you are struggling through a cold yourself or cleaning up the meatballs your kiddo threw up all over the bathroom (Whose idea was it to feed them meatballs?!?!), we have all felt the effects of it.
I’m a relatively healthy person. Okay, I have good intentions, at least. I make a respectable effort to drink the water, get the sleep, and do the exercise, but somehow I’m not appeasing the immunity gods this winter. They’re just not having it. The essential oils, the vitamins, the voodoo…nothing is working.
I can feel my second cold of the season coming on. Like a freight train. Or a Mack truck. A really big one. Not that they make small Mack trucks. In any event, a giant vehicle is running over my head. And then backing up over it again.
At first, I just felt extremely tired. But we’re all tired, right? I mean, it’s January. It’s grey. It’s cold. It’s iguanas-falling-from-trees-cold. So I didn’t think much of the exhaustion, until that telltale tickle showed up in my throat.
And then I remembered the medicine ball. This is probably the very first time you have heard of this magical drink. Okay, maybe not. Most likely not. But in case you haven’t heard of it, the medicine ball is a hot beverage with purported cold-fighting properties. You can find it on the Starbucks menu, although I think they call it something fancy like a honey citrus mint tea. It’s still a medicine ball.
Many folks make their own versions, because, let’s be honest, Starbucks likes to steal all our money. To combat this thievery, there are lots of homemade medicine ball recipes floating around cyber space. Just so you know, mine is the best.
I’m not promising it will cure what ails you. But it might. Either way, I am here for it, because it is freaking tasty. Or hekkin tasty, as Tucker B would say. Have you seen his videos? Oh my gosh, you should really watch one…assuming you have two hours to waste when you inevitably get sucked down the rabbit hole of watching hilarious dog videos on YouTube. This one would be a good place to start. It’s a classic, all the way back from December 2019, entitled “My Dog Reacts to Giant Cockroach.”
But I digress. My medicine ball is phenomenal. Here are the things you need to enjoy this blissful treat.
I start by filling a giant insulated mug half-full of lemonade, then topping it off with water. If you’re feeling sassy, you can go heavier on the lemonade. Then I pour the mixture into my tea kettle and wait for the whistle.
While it’s heating up, I add two tea bags to my mug – one Tazo Refresh Mint, and one Tazo Organic Peachy Green. (Side note: Tazo tea is just plain better than that Teavana stuff they are hawking at Starbucks these days. You probably don’t feel quite as strongly as I do about this issue, but, hey, we all have our causes. And Starbucks really lost their claim over my discretionary spending when they dropped the Tazo tea. But don’t get me wrong, I still buy their coffee. Let’s not get crazy here.)
Once the water/lemonade is hot, I pour it back into the mug. And then. And then. I grab a spoon and dip it into the honey. Any spoon will do. No need to measure exactly. We aren’t doing brain surgery here. However, just any honey will absolutely not do. You should really use some local honey. I get mine from my friend John Jacobs. If you live locally to me, you, too, can get your honey from John Jacobs. Only don’t get too much, because if you affect my medicine ball supply I will get crabby.
I stir the honey around the mug until it has dissolved. And that’s it.
If the medicine ball doesn’t fix my cold, at least it makes having a cold a little more bearable. And at least this cold chose me and not the kiddos (knock on wood). I’d volunteer to be sick over them any day. Finally, let us all pause to thank the heavens that I haven’t been struck with the dreaded “man cold.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time to lie in bed whining for a week. On the bright side, that would allow for a lot of time with Tucker B videos.
Cheers.