Tonics

Perhaps tonics and elixirs are a waste of time and money.  Perhaps they have a placebo effect.  I'm not sure.  That said, there are two tonics that I enjoy.

Ginseng

Panax ginseng tonic in small one shot bottles.  When I leave a client site, I often feel sort of spaced out, as if I might accidently walk in front of traffic.  If I open a one-shot ginseng tonic, insert the little straw and suck it down I immediate feel better.  And if I don't feel better, I open a second one and have that two - without fail, that does the trick.  My imagination?  I'm not sure.  In any case, I always have three with me.

Spring wine.

In his towering book, 'The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity, Daniel Reed shares an ancient recipe for Spring Wine.  The ingredients are highly controversial and I will not yet reveal them here.  But a short story is in order.  I went, with a Chinese person as a translator, to a herbalist in the heart of Sydney's Chinatown and showed the old herbalist the recipe.  I asked my translator to ask him what would be the effect of drinking such a tonic.  Instead of answering in words he clenched and shook his fists like a victorious tennis player and grunted clearly indicating great vigor.