As far as her mom was concerned, tea fixed everything. Have a cold? Have some tea. Broken bones? There’s a tea for that too. Somewhere in her mother’s pantry, Laurel suspected, was a box of tea that said, ‘In case of Armageddon, steep three to five minutes’.
from Illusions by Aprilynne Pike
Old-Fashioned Fruitcake
This reminds me so much of the matron of my boarding school – her remedy for absolutely everything was to give you a glasss of Lemsip (a cold remedy that included some paracetemol and lemon,which she pronounced Lumslup) and send you for a walk around the school’s lake. Everyone agreed that she would give you this even if you broke your leg! Fortunately I remained well for the most part while in her care. Maybe that was her strategy!
It could be worse! Lemsip’s not so bad. I knew of an old lady who gave cod liver oil for everything – internal or external! People were known to have miraculous recoveries when they saw her coming 🙂