Last weekend was a sorry one for me. It was, and this is why I maintain my privacy, the time of the month. Time of the month when my lower abdomen feels like pythons writhing in the very inside of me, my legs get "soft" or lembek as is the Malay term for it, they get cold and clammy and feel like they are unable to hold my weight up. Nausea and general exhaustion reign supreme as the emotions of the day. Despite the faithful doses of Evening Primrose Oil and exercise the day before, all the necessary prep before to ensure the least amount of suffering, and much to my chagrin - it's my weekend! - it happens and takes me down like a disease in itself. Dramatic yes, but as much as I wish it is NOT, what I recount is a story that is all truth. And I humbly beg your pardon for my over-the-top descriptions.
So I pad around in my sweatpants, clutching my pillow pathetically, and I want to eat nothing but hot, heaty food (heaty is the kind of food that warms you from the inside, like Bak Kut Teh, curry - no acid and chocolate chocolate chocolate).
But nothing, and I repeat, nothing comforts like ginger. It doesn't work, let me tell you. The nausea, the absurd feeling of coldness in 38-deg C equatorial weather, is all still there. From my various attempts on ways to prevent the dreaded pains, I have found that nothing works like swimming the day before the day. But a combination of a chronically painful right shoulder (doctor's recommendations) and general laziness to pack myself to the company pool after work tend to get in the way of those plans.
Right. To the ginger. Nothing works better to warm the stomach, then the chest, and then the ginger somehow manages to permeate and warm the entire body. Serious comforting for a body in serious need of it, ginger syrup dissolved in warm (no, hot) water and gulped down in desperation and relief.
And what magic it works on an empty stomach too, as part of the first meal of the day. I've been dripping teaspoonfuls of ginger+syrup into my peanut butter sandwich breakfasts all week. Sitting quietly in the office, early bird that I am, chasing away my hunger pangs with this and my thermos of extra-strong Nescafe as my laptop boots itself and the workday begins.
And, the weekafter, on my sofa I sit in solitude on this Saturday morning, with a mug of hot chocolate sweetened with this syrup for, again, breakfast.
View of Saturday morning through my bedroom window
And, maybe later, I will try out Molly Wisenberg's banana cake with crystallized ginger and chocolate chips.
Obviously this jar will not last till my next episode. Fortunately, it's so easy to make it's almost laughable. Cut up the ginger (preferably old) into thin slices (say 5 inches worth), place in a heavy-bottomed saucepan with 12 tablespoons white sugar and 2 cups of water, low heat. I didn't even bother to brush the sides of the pan or anything, just covered it and left to do half and hour on the elliptical while grimacing (at Paula Abdul)/cheering (at Adam Lambert/Chris whatshisname) American Idol along, cleaned the living room and had my bath. Syrup reduces, ginger turns a bit transparent-ish.
Cool, decant to jar, store in the fridge, and snuggle up in the comfort of knowing that comfort is a teaspoon away.
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