Healing water and magic mushrooms?

If it's on Wikipedia, it must be true:   "Lithia water contains various lithium salts, including the citrate. An early version of Coca-Cola available in pharmacies' soda fountains called Lithia Coke was a mixture of Coca-Cola syrup and lithia water. The soft drink 7Up was originally named "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda" when it was formulated in 1929 because it contained lithium citrate. The beverage was a patent medicine marketed as a cure for hangover. Lithium citrate was removed from 7Up in 1948.
 Gielen, Marcel; Edward R. T. Tiekink (2005). Metallotherapeutic drugs and metal-based diagnostic agents: The use of metals in medicine. John Wiley and Sons. p. 3. ISBN 0-470-86403-6."

Here's someone else with Judd's precise reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_oBF5IeBL0

We were in Ashland Friday night to have dinner with a friend from work.  Zach started at the VA the same day as I did and we were the only two in "New Employee Orientation" for a week. We bonded. He's a clinical pharmacist with specialty in mental health. He's about the age of our kids but he's been a fun friend to check in with every so often.  He invited us out for ramen at Hiro Ramen in Ashland, confirming with a friend that it was the preferred noodle house in the area.

The ambience was authentic and casual. We had two waiters doting on us and within minutes had a mouth-burning bowl of tasty, hot ramen which we proceeded to splash all over. The curtains between the dining area and the kitchen had this iconic Japanese dude with small hands going at a similarly iconic Japanese lady with even smaller hands. 

After we hugged Zach good bye, we took a stroll around Ashland.  Judd, on his search earlier in the day for morels, had passed Standing Stone Brewery and we went back to see if they were any good at brewing.  Judd said they were. Continuing a walk around Ashland, we encountered the famed Lithia Springs. Judd had just read about Lithia park in our Oregon hiking book, the park designed by the same designer of Central Park  New York. All the trails in the park have a Alice in Wonderland/ Through the Looking Glass theme ; Bandersnatch Trail, Jabberwocky, White Rabbit trail, Red Queen, Caterpillar, etc.  We hiked right to the healing water fountains and Judd had a dose. After he staggered to the curb and spit it out, I chose to forgo my healing.


Saturday, Judd had a date at Blades and Bourbon, a barber with expertise in straight razor/hot towel shaves and a man-cave waiting room with, yes, bourbon at 10am or beer (sadly, the keg-er-ator was not working.) (Aside:  I did not know kegerator was actually a word.) Judd was not used to pomade in his hair. Pomade is from the French < Italian because, yes, they used to include apple ingredients. As soon as he got home, Judd washed the apple juice out of what hairs he had left.

The manly waiting room

Chris, the owner, at Judd's throat

hot towel heaven

AFTER

After the haircut and shave, we hit the food trucks downtown. On weekends, only 3 choices were available but we made do. While Judd was eyeballing the waffle menu, I chose the "Word on the Street" menu.  I got a jungle love taco; Judd got a Korean BBQ taco. My fried plantain, with ginger hash, pickled onions and garlic aioli taco was way better than Judd's.

Judd prepared the morels he had found at the Medford Co-op. They looked scarier than hell. We had them breaded in masa and fried, plated over our leftover eggplant/zucchini lasagna which wasn't exactly virtuous but was pretty excellent since it had real sausage in it.

Last evening we were invited by our landlords George and Jane, to attend the 90th annual Jackson County Humane Society, Toast for Tails auction and dinner. WoW! What a gala! Complimentary Champagne, wine and beer ! Appetizers delivered while you bid early/bid often. Keep-the-glass-party favors.  It was nice to get to know George and Jane better as well as the other table mates they'd invited. A great dinner and a great cause!