Chai

One of the good things I remember about my childhood was my father's cold remedy. I grew up in the northern part of Germany where we don't get a lot of snow, but lots of icy rain that would soak right into your bones. Of course, wet winters make for perfect breeding conditions for all sorts of respiratory ickies. My father was a physician who believed in the value of home remedies, and when we'd come down with the cold, he'd cook us up a pot spicy milk tea from a recipe he'd brought from his home country, India.

We'd call it his cough tea. He'd call it "chai," the Hindi word for tea. These days, chai is a favorite among the terminally hip, but that doesn't change its curative qualities -- even it they are only psychological.

Here's what you need:

2 cups of milk. For those of us who are lactose intolerant, soy milk is a very good substitute.

1 cup of water
2 teabags (black tea)
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp cardamon
1/4 tsp black pepper
15-20 whole cloves
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1-2 thin slices of fresh ginger root

Be very careful with the ginger. When in doubt, less is more. Ginger can be a very overpowering spice.

Boil all ingredients in a saucepan for about 10-15 minutes. Sweeten the chai to your liking. Drink it as hot as possible.