easy iced tea

It's so nice to have access to a kitchen from time to time in my travels, and even nicer that I've got the time to make iced tea! The recipe is super simple - essentially throw anything and everything you like into a large pot of boiling water, add some honey, let it cool off and place in the fridge until it chills. 

For this particular tea...

1 L boiling water

3 limes, halved and squeezed

1 orange peel

1 small knob of ginger, grated

2 cinnamon sticks

handful of green tea leaves

handful of mixture of dried hibiscus, dried apples, and dried berries

honey (or any other sweetener), to desired sweetness

Steep the goods in the hot water, then place in the fridge to cool. Enjoy on a hot day when you're sweating uncontrollably every time the fan rotates away from you - so, typical day in Thailand!

on fighting colds

When something's prickling the back of my throat and I'm feelin' foggy...

1. Warm water with cayenne and lemon

2. Miso soup, properly prepped*

3. Kale, pineapple, coconut green smoothie

4. Milk, garlic, and honey**

5. Home-brewed spicy ginger tea***

6. Crystallized ginger

7. Kombucha

8. Super spicy soup****

9. My hot water bottle

10. Ass on couch!

     *Boiling miso paste kills its enzymes, so what I like to do is grab a bit of ginger, a tablespoon or so of miso paste and a tablespoon of soy sauce, and blend them in a few cups of water or broth (depending on how strong you want the taste of miso). You can heat it slightly on the stove if you like, but do not boil! To finish, I chop up some green onion and throw in some wakame with a sprinkle of cayenne - yum!

     **When I was little and had a sore throat, my mother would boil milk on the stovestop and add garlic and honey to it. As a vegan, I can imagine that it would work just as well with alternative milk (especially since dairy should be avoided when ill, anyway)!

     ***I love fresh tea. Sick or not, my favourite is boiling a kettle of water, grating up a TON of ginger and turmeric root and tossing it in along with a few sprigs of fresh mint, some lemons, and a generous pinch of cayenne. Ahh!

     ****My soups are pretty much all the same- a bunch of veggies blended together with jalapenos and/or cayenne (although I'll admit, one of my favourites at the moment has got to be butternut squash with orange juice)