苗 – m i s s t i f f i e . n e t

After lunch, my little get-away, a mid-day nap and getting my hair did…. me and my mom and aunts headed off to another one of my favorite restaurants in Taichung, 神農.

Some beautiful fluffy flowers….

Some complimentary small dishes while we wait for our foods…. with some delicious medicinal tea.

Everything on the menu is medicinal and have “curing” things about them and are cooked and paired correctly to help make us healthier.

甘蔗苗 [Sugar Cane “Seedlings” directly translated] which – if I’m correct, and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong – is the tips of the Sugar Cane plants. They are not “sweet” like the normal sugar cane or fibrous – they remind me of bamboo shoots, super tender and delicious.

Mixed Asian Mushrooms…. yes, literally those puffs that look like sponges are mushrooms. NOM! And if you know me, I ADORE mushrooms.

Those puffs are Bear’s Head Mushroom aka Hericium.

“In China and Japan, species of Hericium are highly valued for their medicinal properties;^[11] in particular, H. erinaceus is used intraditional Chinese medicine.^[12] In recent decades there has been considerable research interest in the bioactive properties of this species, and several compounds isolated from H. erinaceus have biological activities, including cytotoxic effects on cancer cells, stimulatory effects on nerve growth factor synthesis,^[13] antimicrobial and nematicidal activity, and antitumor activity.^[14]^[15]

Hericium species can be purchased in dried form for use in cooking and as medicine.”

– Wikipedia

Boiled Shrimp topped with some 木耳 [Wood Ear, a fungus] and 红枣 [Red Dates].

Boiled Dumplings 水餃 – they’re so good,with 薺菜 [Shepherd’s Purse] and pork. Simple and delicious – just how I like my everything haha. Yep, even the dumplings are super healthy for you.

Medicinal use for 薺菜 [Shepherd’s Purse]:

“When dried and infused, it yields a tea which is still considered by herbalists one of the best specifics for stopping haemorrhages of all kinds – of the stomach, the lungs, or the uterus, and more especially bleeding from the kidneys.

Its haemostyptic properties have long been known and are said to equal those of ergot and hydrastis. During the Great War, when these were no longer obtainable in German commerce, a liquid extract of Capsella bursapastoris was used as a substitute, the liquidextract being made by exhausting the drug with boiling water. Bomelon found the herb of prompt use to arrest bleedings and flooding, when given in the form of a fluid extract, in doses of 1 to 2 spoonfuls.

Culpepper says it helps bleeding from wounds – inward or outward – and: ‘if bound to the wrists, or the soles of the feet, it helps the jaundice. The herb made into poultices, helps inflammation and St. Anthony’s fire. The juice dropped into ears, heals the pains, noise and matterings thereof. A good ointment may be made of it for all wounds, especially wounds in the head.’

It has been used in English domestic practice from early times as an astringent in diarrhoea; it was much used in decoction with milk to check active purgings in calves.

It has been employed in fresh decoction in haematuria, haemorrhoids, chronic diarrhcea and dysentery, and locally as a vulnerary in nose-bleeding, which is checked by inserting the juice on cotton-wool. It is also used as an application in rheumatic affections, and has been found curative in various uterine haemorrhages, especially those with which uterine cramp and colic are associated, and also in various passive haemorrhages from mucous surfaces.

It is a remedy of the first importance in catarrhal conditions of the bladder and ureters, also in ulcerated conditions and abscess of the bladder. It increases the flow of urine. Its use is specially indicated when there is white mucous matter voided with the urine; relief in these cases following at once.”

Read more about it here.

Delicious Noodles tossed lightly in a 苦茶油 aka Tea Tree Oil, which translated directly into English is Bitter Tea Oil.