A mundane cold is a nice thing to have, if you stop to think about it.

With all of the ups and downs of chronic cancer (I always wonder, am I feeling low because of the chemo or something worse?) it's actually rather pleasant to just have a normal mundane cold.

Besides, with a cold there's always something you can do for it. As one "cure" after another comes into fashion, Jerry and I tend to just add them on, with the result that today, besides my usual curcumin, vitamins, and other meds I took:

• vitamin C
• zinc
• grapefruit seed oil (yuck)
• elderberry extract (yum)
• we're out of echinacea, and besides, maybe I've stopped believing in that one
  

I used to ask my students what they took for colds. The oddest was a garlic-and-honey tea suggested by a Brazilian student. That's one I think I'll skip. A Japanese student told me that she always had the special garlic soup her grandmother made, and when I pointed out that she could get all the ingredients here, she said, "Yes, I get ingredients, but not grandmother."

Andrea Chessman, in The Roasted Vegetable, suggests a garlic soup, though she doesn't promise it will cure a cold (maybe because it features ten mothers instead of one grandmother). Here's my interpretation:

Ten Mothers (or one grandmother's) Garlic Soup

Cut the top, woody part off 2 heads (not cloves, heads) of garlic, oil them, and wrap them in foil. Roast at 425 for about 45 minutes.
Squeeze the soft pulp into a saucepan, add 5 cups broth, and simmer for a few minutes.
Cut the stems off 4 cups spinach leaves, chop the leaves coarsely, add to the broth, and simmer for a few minutes (but not too long).
Serve hot.