THE COMMON GROUND

While I’m here in Rjazan I am staying with a family, Sveta and Dima. Sveta, is all about herbs, plants and learning how different spices and foods can be used to help medical problems as well as to be used as preventative measures.

“I’m there,” I think to myself. Here is the common ground. Did I mention that she doesn’t speak must English? I don’t speak much Russian.

We started trading recipes and talking about how each of us uses different foods (with the help of Dima’s translations). Sveta has taught me how to make some Russian dishes as well as giving me some different medicinal reasons for eating some kinds of food.

My recent struggles with my stomach have caused me to view ginger in a whole new way. It is no longer an accent to a dish I am cooking. Because of my stomach, I now make tea from ginger (with some dates and honey) to ease the nausea and sometimes the pain. Recently I discovered uncrystallized ginger at the store. Now I carry it with me, especially when I travel. It has become like Pepto Bismol for me. Now I carry Pepto Bismol AND ginger.

The other evening Sveta was not feeling well. She was having some digestion problems. Later that evening we had a discussion about remedies for digestion and I told them that I use ginger. Her eyes got big and she asked me why and how do I use ginger. Ginger is new to Russia. They have just recently been importing it here and not many people know what to do with it. I brought out my Trader Joe’s version of uncrystallized ginger and had her try a piece. The next day she asked if I could give her another piece. I gave her the bag out of empathy.

The day after that she asked if I would teach her how to make crystallized ginger because in our discussion of ginger I told her I had found a recipe for making it and was going to try it. Yesterday she came back from the store with a large piece of ginger.

And our common ground continues.