Can you at least numb the area with local anesthetic first?

Your body can’t stop dry heat from conducting out. If the blood in the vessels of your brain and head are hotter than normal, then you will feel warmer to the touch. There’s no way for your body to become more insulating except by wearing more layers or a blanket. The amount of heat lost via dry conduction is much less than what would be lost due to sweat. Water carries much more heat than air, and when it evaporates, it also removes more heat by conduction. That’s why if you get sweat on your shirt and then move to a place at room temperature, your shirt will feel uncomfortably cold.

Also when you feel someone’s forehead, your hand is a better heat conductor than air, and your hands and extremities also tend to run colder than your core body temperature, so foreheads feel warm to the touch even at normal temperatures.

I don’t have a background in physiology, but in materials science, so I understand heat conduction. If I made a mistake, someone who knows could chime in

That’s a lovely story, thanks for sharing!

Glad I'm not the only one here who knows about them.

I live right near Joey’s Falafel and I’ve ordered there several times. They’re located in a gas station and have no seating. That in itself isn’t a problem, but worth noting. Their falafels and Shawarma are acceptable and very cheap, but they are definitely not even close to the best I’ve had. Mamoun’s in New Haven is a lot better, but even theirs isn’t as good as what I’ve made at home. Joey’s has a small menu with just shawarma, falafel, hummus, fries and a few others things, and also hamburgers/hot dogs. Do not get the hamburger. It’s cheap, but it’s worse than McDonald’s.

I’ve noticed the same thing. I think it’s due to a few major factors. First, more Americans are becoming “foodies” and more adventurous in what they are willing to try. They’re becoming more accustomed to flavors that weren’t part of the American/European palate 50 years ago. So immigrant chefs can stick to what they used to make back home and locals will still go there. Second, there are more and bigger immigrant communities and in more cities. It used to be that Chinatowns, Little Italy and so on we’re only in major cities like San Francisco and NYC, but there are immigrant enclaves in every small city too now, so they have a reliable clientele of others from their home country.

The third major factor is availability of more high quality ingredients. New York style pizza developed because Italian immigrants couldn’t get the same cheese and fresh tomatoes they had back home. So they switched to mass produced low moisture mozzarella instead of fresh, and came up with a new style which was no less delicious and legendary, but still different. Today, nearly any ingredient on Earth can be sourced and either made locally or shipped anywhere in America for a reasonable price. The Syrian restaurant I mentioned has the best hummus and baba ghanoush because they can source tahini from Syria or another Arabic supplier directly, and it’s much higher quality than what you can buy in American grocery stores.

It’s seriously out of this world. I don’t know Syrian food specifically so I can’t tell you what makes it authentic, but it definitely feels authentic and the food and Turkish coffee and baklava is unbelievably good. Look at the Google reviews. There’s people from Aleppo who say it’s the best Syrian food they’ve had outside Aleppo and travelers saying it’s better than anything they could find even in major cities in North America. Even though it’s only a few years old, it’s legendary among locals, but still pretty unknown outside the area. But it’s only about 30 minutes from the CT border. I only know about it because my sister lives in Providence and she took me there in 2019.

If you do go, I’d be curious if you could report back and see how it compares to other middle eastern restaurants in the area.

Edit: also I’ve been to Zohara and the food was good, but I see what you mean about it’s authenticity. Although it’s Israeli and not Arabic. Aleppo sweets is a lot better imo.

Not in Connecticut, but very nearby in Providence Rhode Island, there’s a place called Aleppo Sweets, started a few years ago by Syrian refugees. It’s not actually a sweet shop, it’s more of a cafe and they do make traditional pastries, but also authentic small dishes and probably the best hummus and baba ghanoush I’ve had in my life (I’ve had a lot of hummus). Their food is simple but everything is 10/10.

But since your innate immune system ramps up during a cold or flu, would that make it less likely to catch other respiratory pathogens during that time?