Down Home at the Homeopath's with The Flu and The Critical Mom

The first thing is the living room, I mean the waiting room, but it looks like the former.  So soothing.  Gorgeous velvet pillows checked in magenta, tan and brown squares atop a black leather sofa so like ours at home--except that non-standard usage of our couch (children jumping on it or sitting on it with such gusto that several springs have lost their verve) has rendered ours less than pretty, and covered with black duct tape to hide the holes.

So there we are in the low-lit lovely room, with paneled walls that remind me of what I imagine a Nantucket ship's captain's cabin would look like in the 1800s.

We sit coughing and sneezing until we are called into the doctor's office.  She is a Chinese lady.  I think she's my age or maybe four years older but it turns out she is 71.  She peers at us as we talk, asking about symptoms.  And what medications are we taking?  Nothing.  A Krill oil capsule.

"What is medication?" she asks.  Anything that goes into your mouth can be construed that way, especially coffee, peppermint, wine, and ethereal oils, all of which are now strictly VERBOTEN.  Instead, we are handed a little vial, and in the little vial are five or six of what look like grains of salt on steroids.  These must be dissolved under the tongue.  I take mine.  No water or food for an hour before and an hour after.

Actually I am so dizzy I forget this, and drink hot water as soon as I get home.  But I get well anyway.

Beats antibiotics any day.  My health insurance covered it.  

Wooo wooo.  Try homeopathy?
There's nothing like the flu, and statistically speaking, homeopathic treatments work better and faster than antibiotics and other stuff.  The cure didn't work fast enough for my husband, who couldn't stay in bed and had to go to the office and then went to the regular doctor in hope of getting a quick antibiotic fix.  But the doctor only gave him a plant-based decongestant, a few more mineral-and-herbal remedies, and a prescription for antibiotics that was only to be used in desperate circumstances, which the doc trusted would not occur.
I'm still a little sick, but I made a big pot of chicken vegetable soup.  This is the real thing, Jewish penicillin if you will, so try it:

In a big, deep pot, put a 3-lb (about 1.5 kilos) chicken.  Half a "soup chicken" will do.  Peel and slice in half four carrots and lay them on top of the chicken.  Peel and slice in half one large onion and add that.  Peel and slice in chunks a few pieces of celery root, or a few stalks of celery.  I added fresh parsley.  Add enough water to cover all, and bring to a boil.  Then let simmer until the meat is practically falling off the bones.  You can skim the fat or scum off the top from time to time while the soup is cooking.  When the meat and vegetables are  really soft, lift them out and put them in a bowl.  Pour the soup through a sieve into a separate bowl and discard the grease and slime in the sieve.  Chop the vegetables and add them into the broth, which is now all back in the pot.  Remove and discard chicken skin, cut meat into small pieces and return to broth.  Add salt and pepper and stir.  Serve hot.