It's been years since I've had a cold. My body tends to find more creative ways to be uncooperative and fail me, but this sniffling, sneezing, getting chills and feeling achey stuff is so foreign that I hardly know what to do.

Feed a cold, right? Is that what they say? Sure. It just so happens that I also feed a perfectly healthy body. But let's not quibble. Sniffle.

When I first started feeling icky, I went to my refrigerator with one word in my mind: healthy.

After recently wishing I had fresh fennel and teasing out that craving with brown sugar fennel ice cream in San Francisco, I had stocked up on my favorite crunchy vegetable, which happens to be favored as a digestive aid by the Italians. I also had some delicious ruby red grapefruit in the pantry. Which are the two ingredients I need for one of my favorite salads.
Segmented grapefruit, sliced fennel, salt, pepper, olive oil.

If I were feeling a bit fancier (or even the slightest bit energetic, really) I would have put this over baby arugula and topped it with parmesan shavings and toasted pine nuts. But just like this, it made me feel like a million bucks. For a few minutes.

The next day, I was still feeling fairly terrible. Call me Californian, but there is no comfort like Mexican food if you ask me. I decided that if I was going to feel like crap, I might as well have a drink to take the edge off. I proceeded to pick up tacos from my favorite stand (which happens to have won a James Beard Award and is within spitting distance of my apartment). They serve them with these pickled jalapenos that I love; they are so spicy that I bet they cure diseases by scaring them out of the body.

I mustered the energy to try and recreate the Michelada Classica that I liked so much from Loteria Grill, and I think I definitely got it right but I need to get the Dos Equis lager next time instead of Corona Light (which is truly awful).

Carnitas tacos from Yuca's, two jalapenos. Michelada cocktail with Tapatio, Worcestershire, lime and a rim of salt and crushed boullion.

I proceeded to pass out immediately after eating this last night. And haven't quite recovered yet.

In a rare break from a recent spate of Zone bar and instant ramen meals, I went to Loteria Grill tonight before we went to a show in Hollywood.

The Michelada Clasica made me swoon. I love Mexican food and beer, and I especially love it when my beer tastes like Mexican food. The Michelada is a beer cocktail served on ice in a salt-rimmed pint glass, and it should always be served the way Loteria Grill does it: with Worcestershire sauce, Tapatio, Maggi (which I had to Google: it's boullion!) and fresh lime juice. It really hits the spot on a hot August day, but the spicy-ness of the Tapatio warmed me up tonight.

The tacos I chose from the broad-ranging menu were easily the tamest: shredded beef and carnitas. I prefer the carnitas at Yuca's but the beef at LG was juicy and tender. On the way home, I told myself that next time I'm getting a shredded beef burrito _ which is something I never order. Though, I might be too curious to order something I've already tried.