With the long slog through winter comes the inevitable seasonal cold that brings headaches, red noses and the deeply-ingrained instinct to crawl under the blankets and hibernate until spring. While your co-workers gorge on Cragels you'll be stuck at home trying to summon the will to walk to your refrigerator, and while ordering delivery is tempting, if you can boil water you can have comforting cold cures inside your body in just a few minutes. When I get sick, these are two go-tos to soothe symptoms and get me back into the land of the living. Sick Person's Chicken Soup: I'd call this recipe "lazy" but that would overlook the ultimate lazy-person's soup: opening a can. We can do better than those sodium bombs and get even more chicken cure with not much more effort than boiling water and cooking pasta. Chicken broth also works here but I like the deep, chicken-y flavor of the stock. I used ditalini pasta but any short-cut variety would work; or just break spaghetti into smaller pieces.

1 32-ounce carton chicken stock 1/2 cup short cut pasta 1/2 cup cooked chicken, chopped (optional) 1 garlic glove, smashed 1 dash soy sauce few dashes hot sauce a few shakes of dried herbs: oregano, thyme, sage, onion Pour stock, water, garlic glove and bay leaf into a pot and bring to a boil. Stir in salt, pasta and dried herbs. When the pasta is about 3 minutes away from being cooked (according to directions on box) add in the chopped chicken, soy sauce and hot sauce. Test pasta for doneness and broth for seasoning; if necessary, add more salt (stuffed noses mean inhibited taste abilities!). Remove bay leaf and garlic clove. Serve immediately in mugs or a bowl. Herbal Wine Hot Toddy: Boozing while you're ill isn't recommended but a tiny bit of wine can help take the edge off when you're fighting the good fight. The whiskey variety works great for warming yourself on a chilly evening and we're employing a similar tactic here, only substituting wine for whiskey and adding some herbal remedies for cold relief.

This bedtime drink combines the antioxidant powers of herbal tea with lemon (vitamin C!) and honey (throat soother!) with a little bit of red wine, which will help your cough-racked body relax and help you fall asleep. 1 bag fruit-flavored herbal tea like Red Zinger 6 ounces boiling water 2-3 ounces red wine juice from half a lemon (1/8 cup or so) 1 tablespoon of honey (or more if you have a sweet tooth) Pour boiling water over the tea, wine, lemon juice and honey and let steep according to directions. buying wine online lawsYou may want to microwave the mixture so it's extra hot: the steam works wonders for relieving congestion.best wine trips in usa Want more like this? best wine to have with greek food

Get the tastiest food news, restaurant openings and more every Friday with the Gothamist Weekly Digest. Ever experienced a nasty case of food poisoning? There's a high chance you have: most of us will experience a food or waterborne disease at some point in our lives, usually relatively harmless and short-lived ailments with symptoms such as stomach pains, vomiting and diarrhoea. More than 200 diseases are caused by unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses, toxins and chemical substances, according to the World Health Organisation.glass of wine on the beach Some people may suffer more severe and long-term consequences, including kidney and liver failure, brain and neural disorders, reactive arthritis, cancer and even death.the best wine tours san francisco Food-borne and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases kill about 2.2 million people annually, according to WHO estimates, most of whom are children. best wine bar in sf

Pregnant women, the sick and the elderly are also particularly vulnerable to foodborne diseases. In Hong Kong, there were 214 reported food poisoning outbreaks last year, affecting 1,009 people, according to statistics from the Centre for Health Protection. Nearly 70 per cent were victims of bacterial contamination. The positive news is that these were the lowest figures for food poisoning since the earliest data available in 2000, but the reality is that most cases, as WHO director-general Margaret Chan put it, are "largely under-reported".best value wine brand "Most people suffering from diarrhoea do not consult a physician. good wine to have with indian foodDiseases and deaths might be attributed to other causes, even when the food that people have eaten is the culprit," Chan said in a commentary in the Lancet medical journal last November.best english wine in india

Hong Kong's heavy reliance on food imports, coupled with the increasing globalisation of food production and trade, makes food safety more complex and all the more essential. Just last year, many local food outlets were affected by the Taiwanese gutter oil scandal and the rotten meat from a Shanghai food supplier. The arrival of warmer weather also increases food poisoning risk, since bacteria thrive in warm environments. To raise awareness of the importance of food safety along the whole length of the food chain - from production and transport to preparation and consumption - the WHO has designated tomorrow's World Health Day theme as "Food safety: from farm to plate, make food safe". Here, we highlight hazards in 10 common foods based on information from Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety. They're essential for good health, but leafy vegetables are also a key culprit of food-borne illnesses. In the US, they're the largest source of food-borne contamination, accounting for about 23 per cent of the 9.6 million cases of food-borne illness each year, according to a study released in 2013 by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most of the US cases were caused by norovirus, which is spread to produce from water contaminated by faeces. This may be present from production and processing, or may occur through improper handling and preparation. Leafy greens could also be contaminated with bacteria - most commonly Escherichia coli strain O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica - which can come from human or animal excrement; for example, from run-off from nearby farms, communities or from contaminated irrigation water. Pesticides are another source of contamination. Pesticide residual problems are more commonly seen in leafy vegetables such as Chinese flowering cabbage, Chinese white cabbage, spinach, water spinach, garland chrysanthemum, matrimony vine and Chinese kale. Prevention: soak and wash vegetables thoroughly; blanch vegetables in boiling water for one minute (cooking eliminates both E. coli and salmonella); Most illnesses from eggs are linked to salmonella. The bacteria can be introduced to eggs via external faecal contamination of the shells, or from infected reproductive tissues of poultry prior to shell formation.

The tricky thing is that contaminated eggs may look normal. Proper egg handling and cooking should destroy most bacteria. However, the bacteria can multiply in raw or "runny" eggs, food items that contain raw eggs (such as mango pudding and mayonnaise), or egg dishes held at improper temperatures (such as scrambled eggs at a buffet). Prevention: avoid eating raw or undercooked eggs and their products; buy eggs from reliable sources. The consumption of raw tomatoes has been linked to a number of salmonella outbreaks. The bacteria can enter tomato plants through roots or flowers and can enter the tomato fruit through small cracks in the skin, the stem scar, or the plant itself. Prevention: avoid buying bruised or damaged tomatoes; consume cut tomatoes as soon as possible, refrigerate leftovers promptly and throw away those kept at room temperature for more than two hours. The toxins involved in mushroom poisoning are produced naturally by the fungi, and most mushrooms that cause human poisoning cannot be made non-toxic by cooking, canning, freezing, or any other means of processing.

Prevention: don't pick and consume wild mushrooms; don't buy mushrooms that show signs of spoilage; wash and cook mushrooms thoroughly before consumption. Flies are attracted to the odour of fermented food such as soy sauce. A bottle of soy sauce that's not properly covered is an open invitation to flies to lay eggs on the liquid. In 2006, the Centre for Food Safety received a number of complaints from the public regarding the presence of larvae inside bottled soy sauce. Prevention: close the lid tightly and clean the soy sauce bottle thoroughly after use; store opened soy sauce properly. A favourite food of many Hongkongers, these Japanese food items have a very short shelf-life. Bacterial contamination can come in various forms: Vibrio parahaemolyticus is commonly found in seafood, whereas Staphylococcus aureus and salmonella species may be introduced into food by cross-contamination or improper handling during food processing. Vibrio parahaemolyticus can breed exponentially in room temperatures of 18 to 22 degrees Celsius in just a few hours.

Symptoms of poisoning include diarrhoea, vomiting, mild fever and abdominal pain, usually within one to two days of being infected. Prevention: the bacteria can be destroyed by heating at or above 75 degrees Celsius for 30 seconds. Obviously, that's not ideal for most sushi and sashimi, so your best bet is to ensure they arrive chilled on your plate - and polish them off quickly. Commonly sold in summer, the fruit may be treated with chemicals to prolong shelf-life. Sulphur dioxide, for example, is used to prevent skin browning and post-harvest disease. Some people may have an allergic reaction to the chemical. Prevention: buy longans from reputable shops; store separately from other food to prevent cross-contamination; refrigerate and consume within two weeks; wash thoroughly before eating; avoid biting the husk of the fruit; consume the flesh as soon as possible and discard any left at room temperature for more than two hours. Known locally as laap mei, these meats come in sausage, pork and duck versions.

Among their ingredients are nitrites, which inhibit the growth of Clostridium botulinum and its toxin production. However, nitrites may react with other substances found in meat and form nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic. Consuming a significant amount of nitrite can also cause methaemoglobinaemia, whereby red blood cells lose their ability to bind oxygen, resulting in hypoxia. The condition is characterised by headache, weakness and breathlessness, and a bluish discolouration of the skin and mucous membranes. Infants and young children are more susceptible to this condition as their digestive and methaemoglobin reductase systems are still immature. Prevention: buy lap-mei from reliable retailers; restrict intake among young children. Raw beans - soya, green and red kidney - contain a natural toxin called lectin, which acts as a natural insecticide. If the beans are not cooked properly, it can cause symptoms such as extreme nausea, followed by vomiting and diarrhoea.