Elizabeth Large's top 10

In honor of high fever, muscle aches, sore throats, coughs and even a touch of nausea, last week's Top 10 Tuesday at baltimoresun.com/diningatlarge featured my 10 favorite foods (and drink) to have when you have the flu:

Orange juice/ginger ale. This isn't an either/or. It's orange juice mixed with ginger ale half and half over ice because for some reason at the time you need orange juice most, it tastes worst. The ginger ale cuts the acidity and is bubbly, which adds interest at a time when not much is interesting, including whether you live or die.

Chicken noodle soup from Eddie's at Roland Park. Last winter when I had the Endless Cold, I stopped at Eddie's every night for a week and picked up either chicken noodle or Maryland crab. One or the other was always available. Either will work, but the chicken noodle was my favorite. Please post below if you have other sources to recommend.

Saltines. With or without the soup. An essential.



Spicy ramyun noodles with egg from Nina's Espresso Bar. (Ramen noodles to us Americans.) Nina's is the Korean cafe near The Sun, which you wouldn't exactly guess from the name, and this is the best $5.75 you can spend when you're sick and have a stuffy nose. Better than Afrin.

Raita and rice. I discovered this combo during my last Brush with Death, chronicled on this blog. I believe the raita contains enough probiotics to conquer any flu bug, but that's just my justification for craving Indian yogurt/salad at a time like this.

Baugher's canned peaches in heavy syrup. Opening a can of these was a desperation move on my part. (I had very little sick food in the house when I was last under the weather.) But they went down remarkably easily, and the heavy syrup, which would normally be gaggingly sweet, tasted even better than the peaches.



Jamba Juice. We have a slight problem here, folks. We don't have a Jamba Juice in the Baltimore area as far as I know. The closest is D.C. When my daughter lived in Beverly Hills, Calif., she had a Jamba Juice franchise a couple of blocks from her apartment. Once when I was visiting her and caught a bad cold, I lived on Jamba Juice for the duration of my short visit. My cold was gone before I left. Maybe other smoothies would work, too, but I've never had any others.



Wonton soup from Jumbo Seafood in Pikesville. You may begin to see a soup pattern here. I recommend the Hong Kong Style Crystal Won Ton Soup ($7), with "crystal wonton, dim sum style, thinner wrapper filled with chicken & shrimp."



Spumoni ice cream (or gelato). Unfortunately I haven't seen it around here anywhere. The last time I had it was in Venice, incredibly smooth and creamy and just the thing to calm an incipient sore throat.

Hot tea with lemon and sugar. Two things I never put in my tea normally taste right when I have a cold or the flu. I have no idea why.

Readers talk back

Cinnamon toast and hot chocolate were always good when I was a kid, but, then, so was Lipton Ring-o-Noodle soup. Come to think of it, that's what my wife likes when she feels like dirt.

Posted by: bra1nchild

Thai noodle soup from Noodles & Co. Preferably with a bit of extra fresh ginger grated in. I swear this soup is a cure-all!

Posted by: Joyce W

Sticking with the soup theme, my DH is a big fan of hot and sour soup, spicy as hell. For me, Pho. But all those ginger recom- mendations are sounding good, too.

Posted by: Frequent Little Italy Restaurant Visitor

I think this may be my version of Jamba Juice. ... Naked's Green Machine Juice. It is amazingly good and filled with so many healthy things. I get a large bottle for $4 at BJ's instead of buying the small $3ish bottles at the grocery stores/convenience marts. Some will not want to even taste it ... most folks don't drink green things. The overwhelming flavor for me is apple. Try it, it works. I've staved off two colds this year by drinking copious amounts of this juice.

Posted by: Misha the Veggie Lover

A simple HOT TODDY made w/ either moonshine or Seagram's 7. I think my mom made it w/ water, butter, sugar, Lipton tea bag or 2 (for a big cup) and of course a little of the secret ingredient metioned above. I prefered the Seagram's 7 over the moonshine. ... Also a hot creamy rice pudding like cereal she would make w/ toast broken into it helped.

Posted by: Brad