Whine, no cheese

[otrere]

I guess I've got the same damn cold that everyone else on the continent has right now! My sinuses are trying to split my head in two. I went to the Chinese restaurant on the corner for the heal-all of hot mustard and hot-and-sour soup - but when I asked for mustard, the waitress had no idea what I was talking about ("yellow hot paste-stuff" didn't do me any good either) and the hot-and-sour soup was almost as thick as jelly, and only mildly spicy after I dumped about a tablespoon of the chili oil into it. Now I'm scared to search out a Thai place for Pho, my other sick-day favorite. I think my experiences with Thai food are closer to "authentic" than the standard Americanized Chinese food I'm most familiar with, but I know that things can take unexpected turns when altered for the local palette (such as the elimination of cilantro from all German "Mexican" kitchens.)

Anyway, enough feeling sorry for myself! If I can stop coughing long enough to think, I'll hunt down something.