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Friday 19 January 2018

Taking Comfort where You Can

Each winter it is the same, he resolves to stay strong and not succumb.   He fails.   Max catches a common cold and it turns into something nasty and long lasting.     He makes a terrible patient.  Enough said.

Besides medication, rest and tlc he sometimes needs comfort food.    The kind of foods which his mother used to make for him, like chicken soup.     I have learnt, over the years, that it is pointless making real chicken soup from scratch because what he craves is tinned cream of chicken soup.   Just like Mama used to dish up.  It does have to be a certain well known brand though.    Offer him at any other time and he does not like it, so it must be something to do with the comforting memories and emotion it evokes.

When he tires of that one, spaghetti on toast works wonders!   His mother was a lovely woman but cooking was not one of her interests, although she made absolutely the best Yorkshire Puddings ever, they never failed.

Image found on google


When I have been ill and want to eat something, but don't know what, I turn to poached eggs on toast, just like my mother used to make for us, failing that a slice of hot buttered toast will always hit the mark although these days I prefer it to be toasted on both sides, unlike when I was young and loved to have the soft squidgy side to contrast against the buttery crunchy side, for some reason.

Image found on google


So how about you?   What foods do you turn to?

11 comments:

  1. An orange, peeled and segmented and presented to me on a plate - by someone else! :-)
    The first proper food I want after an illness is always a poached egg on toast. Of course, thinking about it, that’s what my mother used to make too.

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    1. An orange is great, unless you have Mumps, I speak from experience!

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  2. Rice Krispies with ice cold milk, no sugar, and perhaps a banana sliced on top. Yes, poached eggs hit the spot, too, but not boiled eggs. I don't know why, but I can eat poached eggs but boiled eggs give me indigestion. I used to love, when young, Huntley & Palmer Breakfast biscuits. They had a glossy sheen to them and lovely and crunchy and a taste all of their own, and those with some butter on top and a little salt sprinkled on top, heavenly! Oh, I wish they're bring back Breakfast Biscuits (that was the name of them, I'm not just speaking of a biscuit for breakfast.)
    I also used to love Campbell's Tomato Rice soup, but that's not off the market. It's years, though, since I bought a can of soup, I make my own all the time, from simple veggie soup to Pestou and Minestrone. When you are under the weather, a bowl of almost any soup is welcome, isn't it.
    Also, might I suggest for those recovering from flu or anything nasty, plain Complan, milk, and a soft banana all in the blender to make a very tasty and nourishing milk shake.
    Margaret P

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    1. Homemade soup is so much nicer, isn't it. I don't remember Breakfast biscuits at all, but the idea of having one with butter and a little salt has set my taste buds into imagination overdrive! He does like milkshakes, so will try to get some 'enriched' ones down him, thank you for the suggestion.

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  3. I meant that Campbell's Tomato Rice Soup is now off the market. Sorry, silly typo.
    Margaret P

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  4. Your Max is the perfect patient! Wish mine would eat soup out of a tin or spaghetti on toast. That's my sort of meal when recovering! K wants chicken soup made with a real chicken, the greek way, just like his mother made. He wants to make it for me when I'm ill but just the smell of it turns me off.

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    1. Only if your idea of a perfect patient is a grumpy, poorly, man who won't rest properly! Granted he is relatively easy on the food front though!!

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  5. Mum used to make me a hot toddy, ie hot milk with wisky in it and a spoon of sugar. Cant say her pached eggs were that good as they were done in one o fthose egg poachers. My wife on the other hand does know ho wto do them and has introduced me to them

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    1. Bill, you have just brought back a memory - my mother used to sometimes make me a warm milk with a splash of brandy and some sugar, how could I have forgotten that!

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  6. Always, always Heinz tomat soup with sliced bread to dip. I never eat it as a rule, too sweet by half for me. It’s what Mum gave us if we were ill and it is still the best when recovering from illness.

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    1. Whatever works!
      I tried some a while back, I know what ou mean about sweet!

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Lovely to hear from you.
I will try to answer comments in the next post.