Unique advice for curing a hangover

Sylvia Carlock, an advice columnist who writes about home remedies for Bajo El Sol and other Spanish newspapers, dedicated a recent column to a reader's inquiry about hangover cures.

I was surprised she didn't tout what I've long heard is a popular remedy in border communities: menudo.

She did recommend homemade chicken and vegetable soup. Garnished with drops from a lemon, she said, it replaces potassium the body has lost to alcohol.

She also recommended drinking fruit juices and plenty of water, and getting lots of rest. Another remedy, she said, is the herb White Willow Bark, mixed in a glass of water.

“Of course, the best way to prevent a hangover is to begin by not overindulging in alcohol,” she said in her column, written just before New Year's Day last week.

More than a few people may have wished they followed that advice as they ushered in 2013.

Oh well, let that be a resolution for the next New Year's Eve.