As far as I'm concerned, my home borough of Queens is the food capital of New York City, Manhattan be damned. Well, that's not entirely true, but with the exception of Japanese, Queens is the best place in the city to find authentic Asian cuisine ranging from Nepalese and South Indian to Northern Chinese and Korean. Lately I've been asking my Korean dry cleaner for restaurant recommendations. When I dropped off some pants Saturday afternoon and told him that I had a bit too much to drink the prior night, he said I should head over to a spot in Flushing called Budnamujip for a steaming hot bowl of sahm-gyae tahng. He assured me that the ginseng-infused chicken soup would help sweat out my hangover and make me "strong." No doubt this was a backhanded reference to ginseng's reputed effect on male virility.

When I arrived at Budnamujip it was filled with noisy revelers who were well into their cups and would probably be finding themselves in need of some sahm-gyae tahng the next day. When the waitress brought over the bowl it was still boiling. It soon became clear this was no mere chicken and ginseng soup. For one thing, it contained an entire young chicken. The cavity was filled with rice and all sorts of other goodies. The first sip of the blazing hot broth was a tad bland, though this was readily fixed with a few shakes of pepper and a bit of coarse sea salt. As I dug in all sorts of treasures emerged: whole jujubes, or dae chu; bits of chestnut; several cloves of garlic; and a piece of ginseng. By the time I finished picking the chicken clean skin and all and slurping up every last bit of broth, I felt like a new man. So new that I had paranormal abilities and clearly envisioned an article on sahm-gyae tahng's restorative powers by Elaine "One Pot" Louie.

When I asked a gent at the next table whether sahm-gyae tahng, was good for curing hangovers he nodded and laughed. Then he held out his arm with his fist raised in the air and said "makes you strong." If you'd like to try making your own sahm-gyae tahng, here's a great recipe.

So here we start -- prepraing now for the aftermath that will ensue tomorrow. If you're looking for a quick fix, we think we might have found it, but unfortunately for those of us who will be ringing in the New Year in the four time zones from PST to EST, we're out of luck. Berocca, which is actually a multi-vitamin from Bayer, is also "known" as a powerful hangover anitdode by which boozers fom the UK and Australia swear. It's very handy, since it's a single tablet.

Why does it work? The tablets include vitamins B and C, magnesium, zinc, sugars and salts that were sucked out of your body by all that booze. Of course, since we can't get Berocca here, we can simply make sure we drink and eat foods with the same good vitamins and minerals.

You know that either tonight or early tomorrow morning, we're going to be seeing quite a few "remedies" for the inevitable - the hangover. Everyone has their little regimen of tricks, whether it's gulping down a gallon of water before going to sleep or indulging in breakfast-before-bed.

However, the folks over at Borba eschew all the old wives' tales and have, instead, put together what they believe is the ultimate hangover helper -- Replenishing Hangover Recovery System. It's a kit that includes 4 Replenishing Aqua-Less Crystalline Packettes that you mix with water and chug to help with how you feel, as well as a few other things that help with how you look.

Borba's Replenishing Hangover Recovery System is available online for $25. (The actual retail value of the entire package is $98).

The "road to the palace of wisdom" may be paved with excess, but that doesn't mean you have to wake in the gutter feeling like complete scum. Just scummy. On that rare occasion that you overdo it on the booze and end up with what is medically known as veisalgia, you have to take pre-emptive measures in order to be at least intellectually presentable the next morning.

• Before walking or getting a ride home from the party/bar/friend's start drinking water. Alcohol is diuretic and you need all the water you can handle at this point.
• Upon arrival home, continue to down water while you cook something light. Don't get fancy with flambes. These recipes are from The Sunday London Times and I have made several variations of the simple Spinach Pasta. I went heavy on the garlic and drank tons of water. Plus, you can always take a peek at some of our other favorites for the "morning after."

I say this as someone who used to drink a lot. I don't anymore, but maximizing water hydration (even while drinking), and eating pasta before crashing seemed to help. However, there are a lot of factors that lead to a hangover; you pay to party, body and mind.

Also on Slashfood:
Hangover helper, help her hangover
Best meals for the "morning after"
Soon dooboo jjigae...oh my!

In search of "something to ease my mind back into the day," and "something to tighten up the valves downstairs," Fraser at blogjam combined his two favorite hangover remedies-Pepto-Bismol and ice cream. It looks like a pretty standard vanilla ice cream recipe, plus the addition of a bottle of Pepto. The color apparently wasn't what Fraser hoped for, so some red dye had to be added as well. The results? Fraser says the ice cream tasted similar to black cherry, and that the vanilla tamed the Pepto taste a bit. Its medicinal properties are still questionable, however.

Some may think of Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, and Cinco de Mayo when they think of "drinking holidays." But don't discount the Fourth of July. When you're out there on the lawn being shocked and awed by the fireworks, you may not be paying attention to the five margaritas you just drank. Oh boy. You are going to be hurting the morning after.

Some say the best way to cure a hangover is to drink more. Others say it takes two tylenol and cup of coffee. Whatever you do to "cure," you still have to eat something, even if the thought of it makes your stomach turn. Here are my top eight picks for what to eat "the morning after." Or afternoon, as it were.

1. Bacon and eggs at the closest diner - Or perhaps it's sausage and eggs. Better yet, make it all three. Whichever it it, the dish will give you protein, and more importantly, the grease will help. Who knows why. Just use it as an excuse to eat bacon and sausage.  
2. Benito's nachos - We'd like to think that you've gone home, tried to sleep, and woke up at 10 am on the "morning after," but hey, if it's an all night rager and breakfast is at 4 a.m., Benito's Taco Shop in LA is open 24 hours. Lots of options, but the nachos are easy to share, and again, same principle as #1. Grease.
3. Jamba Juice - Oh boy. You are dehydrated. You screamed so loud and talked so much that your jaw hurts. The best thing to do is have a smoothie - hydrating and no chewing required. The flavor is up to you, but something off the "secret menu" couldn't hurt.
4. Pancakes from the same diner as #1 - Maybe your diner-style breakfast isn't bacon and eggs. Pancakes work well, too. Carbs are our friends. They make us happy. And syrup? Well that's like a liquid dose of happiness. Besides something about pancakes makes me think that they are sponges soaking up all the evil alcohol.
5. Pho from anywhere you can find it - The broth is hydrating and rich with whatever nutrients came out of the beef that was cooked in it. The noodles go down easy. And since alcohol numbs even your taste senses, a good, generous shot of sriracha will perk you up. 
6. Bloody Mary, you lush - Well, if it's true that the best cure for a hangover is another drink, then a Bloody Mary has got you covered. Like a Jamba Juice smoothie, it's liquid, and it even has tomato juice, which is healthy, along with some roughage in the celery.
7. Instant ramen at home - It's the same, rehydrating, salty concept at #5 Pho. However, you don't have to go anywhere. You don't have to do anything. Just add water and nuke it. Of course, you'll be in a sodium-bloated paradise the next day. 
8. This one's for you. What's your food remedy for that queasy, headachy and not-so-fresh feeling?

The best way to avoid a hangover is to drink in moderation and stay hydrated throughout the night. There is no "cure" for a hangover.
A team at the University of Pennsylvania examined eight remedies reputed to lessen or even cure the symptoms of a hangover, including such items as propranolol, fructose/glucose, prickly pear extracts and a yeast based product. The team also noted that very few studies have been done to test such remedies and even fewer have been reliably conducted. Their findings revealed why because there is no conclusive evidence that any of the tested remedies actually prevented or cured a hangover.
There are too many home remedies to test every one, but logic should reveal that if food items such as bananas, eggs and milkshakes acutally cured hangovers, people would have noticed by now. Feel free to try toast and honey, if you're so inclined, but it is best to avoid "the hair of the dog that bit you" and other home remedies in favor of good sense and self control to avoid a hangover.