Green Tonic

When I was little, I used to come down with strep throat fairly regularly. But I almost looked forward to it. I'd get a box of chocolate candies, a few days off from school, and some attention. And in some ways, I still don't mind getting sick. It's a chance to slow down, to watch trashy television without judgment, and to be taken care of. It can actually be kind of fun. Except for the whole 'being sick' part.

Whenever I come down with a full-blown fever or flu — the sort where I feel truly awful, like I barely fit into my own skin — well, then I can be kind of insufferable. I tend towards the overdramatic, the nobody has ever been as sick as me or this is why people used to die from the flu sentiments. I know, I'm awful. But the upside is that it makes me fairly sympathetic to the illnesses of others. And so, when my neighbor was feeling lousy this past weekend, I made her a fresh glass of this tonic.

I've never paid much mind to juicing or raw foods. But when you're sick, there's nothing like clean, fresh-squeezed juice to cut through the fog of illness. In this version, the fresh-squeezed lemon and orange give you a tart burst of vitamin C, the ginger clears a path right through to your sinuses, and the parsley just feels healthy. It may just be the placebo effect, or the basic goodness of rehydration going on. Or just that sometimes, when you're feeling lousy, it's nice to sit back and be taken care of.

Green Tonic

makes 1 fairly large serving (but hey, you're supposed to drink a lot of fluids)

1-inch ginger, roughly chopped
juice of 1 meyer lemon
juice of 1 orange
large handful parsley, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon maple syrup
carbonated water

Place the ginger, citrus juice, parsley and maple syrup in a blender, and puree until smooth. Pour through a cheesecloth-lined strainer, squeezing to extract all the possible juice from the pulp. Pour into a glass with ice, and top off with seltzer. Drink and be healed!