My mom's chicken soup

I am having one of those days.  I woke up this morning with blocked nose, sore throat, watery eyes, feeling horrible basically.  I don't get sick often, but at least once a year, I'll catch a cold that zaps all my energy and I don't like it.  I just realised the last time I was feeling like this was exactly this time last year.  Strange. 

I called my mom and she told me to make chicken soup.  Somehow around midday, I managed to pull myself together, went to the market and bought some chicken.  Like many chicken soup recipes, my mom's chicken soup is simple and comforting.  In a pot, place the chickens, I use six drumsticks, a couple of unpeeled cloves of garlic, one peeled medium onion, sea salt, a cube of chicken bouillon and cover with water.  Let it come to the boil and then add a handful of goji berries.  If you never seen goji berries before, they look almost like dried cranberries, maybe a savoury version of it.  These berries add a lovely sweetness to the soup and they're very good for you as they contain vitamin c, beta-carotene and iron.  Many supermarkets have them these days, or you can always look at your local health food stores.

As the chicken cooks, I like to skim the white foamy frothy stuff that rises to the surface of the soup.  There's no need to do this, but I like to have clear broth not cloudy.  Let the soup simmers for 20-30 minutes and adjust the seasoning with more salt and white pepper if you wish.  Serve with rice.

This chicken soup, a marathon of Scrubs, and a good nap... And I feel much better now.  I don't know why and how but chicken soup just have the medicinal qualities that actually help to cure the common cold.

Thank you Mom.