Thursday, February 01, 2007

Yin up the Yang

Like yin and yang, it makes an awful sort of sense, doesn't it... that a man of healing ( well sort of ) finds himself paired with the man of a thousand ills, as he calls himself now. Although I'm hardly in the pink of health myself ( with my occasional bouts of infection ), in comparison Charming Calvin always fares much worse since he seems perpetually in the heated throes of an ongoing battle with nasty Pestilence.

Of course for a seasoned warrior of such bloodied skirmishes, Calvin has developed several peculiar though supposedly sure-fire methods of dealing with the terrifying Plague. Me, the wicked practitioner of Western medicine, I do my best with lots of fluids, hours of rest and the regular vitamin C shots.

Growing up as I did, I never had the chance to deal with much archaic superstition or dusty old wives' tales - since although my maverick grandmother did step off an outmoded wooden junk from China, she certainly didn't consider transporting outmoded hackneyed practices with her ancient dowry chest. Shockingly modern, this educated old lady - possibly one of the reasons all her grandchildren are wild unprincipled heretics.

Little disbelieving rebels all of us, certainly a far cry from Charming Calvin coming from hardy, ruddy-faced peasants' stock. Coming from this esoteric background, my man has all sorts of queer little ideas about food, associating dishes and the different ways of preparation with the ancient forces of yin and yang - practicing what I would call Chinese food therapy.

Like the names itself, Yin foods are cooling, while Yang foods tend to warm the human system. Together, Yin and Yang combined in balance produce the perfect balance, an equilibrium! Which is why at the moment Calvin avoids fried foods, hot curries and red meats, claiming the internal heat in those dishes would only help fuel the inner fire within therefore worsening his illness.

Yin overdose
A little overdose of yin?

My suggestion for him to douse himself in chilly ice water ( that much yin certainly would quench any inner fire, wouldn't you think? ) was only met with a baleful stare so I kept myself silent to listen to his lecture on the venerable recipes passed down from his salt-of-the-earth forefathers. After all although I've been brought up with Western medicine, I do believe that all supposedly silly traditional beliefs have a slim thread of truth somewhere if you look hard enough. Why else would I place so much faith on that noxious black concoction ( supposedly cure-all! ) they serve in chinese medicine stores?

Ooh. Which reminds me I need to get him some winter melon and barley - though I'm curious what happens if it gets too cooling? :O

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't worry :)
i'm very sure you have plenty of ways to warm him up ;)

Michael said...

What food combination will satisfy the VORACIOUS appetite I have since the temps dropped below freezing? Do humans have some kind of hibernating reflex, Dr.? I just can't stop putting things into my mouth. What's a man to do?

Anonymous said...

Watermelon.

Or mandarin oranges. He was talking about it in the car, saying about how it was cooling for the body. =P

MrBunnyBan said...

I was wondering about that concoction you believed in so much...

Musang said...

well, i'm curious too... feed him with as many cooling foods as possible, and let see the result.

you might start a medical journal even.

subject #1: calvin.

savante said...

True enough, jl!

Hmmm... I think we need to conduct a study on that first, michael. Care to be the subject?

I think that was the fever talking, shane. Believe mandarin oranges can be quite heaty.

But the noxious concoction can be quite nice, ban.

Will consider that, musang. But then again, Michael might be subject #2.

Paul

Jonzz said...

Hi. If I'm not wrong, mandarin oranges actually are heaty in nature and in addition, they aggravate coughing.

nyonyapenang said...

if he is having a wretched, hacking cough, I suggest he stays away from mandarin oranges and longans too.

Anonymous said...

yin yang is alliterative too...

so between you and Charming Calvin, which one is yin and which one is yang? :)

Anonymous said...

Heaty / Cooly... bah.

Louis goes on about that too.

If there's so much truth in that, why is a nice greasy chilli laden mamak dish sooo good after a night of copious alcohol intake?

savante said...

Yeah, I told him that too, I think, jonzz. Thanks for confirming that.

Longans too? Whoa, didn't know that, nyonya.

Wouldn't you like to know, allvin :)

But it works, doesn't it maxius?

Paul