FocusPositives

I wanted to share a small bit of happiness with you that made my day. I learned a super helpful tip from my mom. If you love coconut juice you will love this method, it requires very little effort. Bonus tip at the end. A little violent but very easy to open the coconut to access the coconut meat.  Hope you will find the tips useful.

I got the chills all day yesterday and was fearful of getting sick again. After a day of shivering I finally recalled a recipe my mom’s friend taught me.  A few years ago my mom suddenly fell ill and I was panicking since she never got sick. I made her this ginger rock sugar tea and it worked very well on her. I have since used it on myself every time I felt the first sign of the chills. I wanted to share this with everyone and keep this in my notes so I won’t forget again.

This tea is tasty and warms you up quickly. I sip the tea in bed and sleep the bug off after I finish the tea.

Ingredients:

• Ginger, 3-5 slices with skin peeled
• Rock sugar to taste

Directions:

Peel and slice ginger. You can add more if you can handle the heat.

Heat a clean pot with medium heat for a few minutes.

Stir or flip the ginger slices over continuously, like flipping pancakes.

You want to dry it out. The key is to make sure the ginger does not burn. If it burns you may have a sore throat after you drink it. It takes a few minutes, if you notice the ginger burning lower the heat and lift the pot from the stove to cool it off.

Once the ginger is dry, pour 1.5 cups of water into the pot.

Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat to a slow simmer and simmer for 15mins.

Add small pieces of rock sugar. Add according to your own taste.

Once the rock sugar has melted pour in to cup and sip while it’s still hot.

June 2013@ Back yard, Goji berries.

April 2011@ Back yard, Goji berry flowers blooming

Fresh goji berries tastes bitter sweet. It has a bright red orange color, smaller then raisins and have shinny delicate skin. It’s addictive to eat, unlike the dried ones the seeds are not as noticeable or hard. In Chinese herbs it’s known to be good for your eyes. I’ve also been repeatedly told the same by my trusted mom. It’s great for those, like me, who stares at the computer screen, phone or gadgets almost every waking moment.

Goji berries tea benefits: Original source

枸杞子茶：枸杞子中含有丰富的胡萝卜素、维生素B1、维生素C、钙、铁等，具有补肝益肾、明目的作用，连续饮用两个月，就能起到明目、强壮筋骨、改善疲劳的作用。特别是对长期使用电脑引起的眼睛酸涩、疲劳、视力减退等问题的人，更有帮助。

Goji berries tea benefits: (Translated on Google translate)

Goji berries also known as wolf berries are rich in carotene, vitamin B1, vitamin C, calcium, iron, etc., Good for the liver and kidney, improve eyesight, continuous drinking for two months, you can brighten eyesight, strong bones and muscles, improve fatigue. Especially for long-term use of computer generated eye soreness, fatigue, vision loss and other problems, the more helpful.

For more information about Goji berrie you can read up more on the subject here.

How I make my Goji berry tea: (Super easy)

Take hand full of Goji berries and boil in a few cups of water for about 15min. Pour into a cup and add a teaspoon of honey if you like. Drink tea and eat berries.

Disclaimer:

For me this is valuable information passed on from my family and now I passed it on to you. This is what I do, you can try it if you like but I don’t guarantee anything for you. Try at your own risk.

I learned this recipe when I visited my aunt in Hong Kong after college. It’s feels nice to cook for someone you love voluntarily. I am super lazy so this is rare. I’d like to do this more often. Seeing the one you love enjoy the food you cooked so much that they over stuff themselves and lay on the couch afterwards farting is just priceless. 😛

These are guesstimates of the quantities of ingredients for 2 people. You can always adjusts the ingredients as you learn. That’s how my mom always taught me cook.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 medium tomatoes (I like more tomatoes vs potatoes)
• 1-2 potatoes
• 2 eggs
• 2 cloves of garlic (or as much as you like, I love garlic, I use a whole bulb)
• black pepper, salt, sugar (to taste)

Preparation:

In a pot boil enough water to cover your tomatoes. Add the tomatoes in when the water boils and bring it to a boil again and turn off the heat after about a minute. Drain and flush tomatoes with cold water. The skin should break and make the tomatoes a lot easier to peel. Peel and slice the tomatoes into big chunks. Peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes about little less then 1/2″ wide for fast easy cooking. Chop garlic.

Cooking Directions:

Grease and heat a pan and scramble the eggs, make sure not to over cook, put the egg in a bowl. Using medium heat, I then use the same pan because I am lazy, add some oil, garlic and salt then stir in the potatoes for a minute or so add in enough water to half cover the potatoes. Lower heat, cover and cook for 5-10 minutes in a low simmer. Check on them to see if they are cooked and soft enough after 5 minutes, if not, cook longer, make sure the water does not dry out. When most of the water has evaporated add the tomatoes, stir and cook for a few minutes more, a lot of juice will come out of the tomatoes, you can either cook longer to condense the juice or you can leave it. I like to leave it, it’s great over rice. At this point you can add a bit of sugar to take away the sourness, add a little bit at a time to your taste. The same with the black pepper and salt. Last, stir in the eggs and turn off heat. Serve over rice.

For a noodle option:

I like to prepare the noodles or spaghetti ahead of time and stir it in the mixture the last minute and cook an extra 2-5mins, the extra juices in tomatoes soak into the noodle making it a lot tastier. You can chops some green onions and place them on top for more color and flavor.

It’s a fast, easy, healthy, and hearty meal that takes less then 1/2 hour to prepare. Enjoy! Share with me how it turn out.