This sure looked like a lot of ginger as I dumped the 7 pounds worth on the countertop before starting to peel it with a spoon. Yeah, a spoon. I’d seen one of those handy shortcut compilation videos of how to do things easier or fix stuff instead of throwing it out and I can tell you that peeling this much ginger with a paring knife or peeling utensil creates a lot more waste and is no more efficient. Unless you were reading my blog last year you’d be justified in asking incredulously, “What does anyone use so much ginger for? Well, last year I actually prepared 20 pounds of the stuff but then after running out I let it go as the preparation time is a grinding slog. I’ll get to what this ginger is destined for shortly.

Yesterday, I ventured out to a nearby Asian store as you cannot buy good quality ginger in this quantity from a traditional grocery store; they’d have this amount on display for a month until it’s all shriveled up. Most of what I saw at Albertson’s was just that, dry and shriveled. Getting back in the late day I would have been a fool to try starting the preparation as the process requires about 6 hours from start to finish. After peeling all this ginger I had to slice it into fine matchstick-sized pieces which caused two blisters on my index finger, one of them kinda severe. With the aroma of ginger filling our place I was ready to start salting, pressing the water out of the ginger, and rinsing it, over and over again. All that took nearly 6 hours and then I juiced a dozen limes to get the cup of lime juice I needed to pour over my greatly reduced lump of sliced ginger and with a couple of tablespoons of salt, I was ready to shove the stuff into quart jars.

I’m making the prime ingredient in Burmese Gin Thoke or ginger salad. The fried crunchy stuff I can order from Amazon and the cabbage, bird’s eye chilies, tomatoes, ground shrimp, and fish sauce that round out this salad are all easy enough to get, but the ginger is nowhere to be found.

Today’s exercise was actually for my own mental health and acted as a bit of therapy. The events of late last week through yesterday turned into a compulsive obsession for me to follow as many details as I can. The problem is that I become a bit neurotic and seriously anxious. While some part of me wants this to inspire my writing and thinking about social issues, there’s an element of panic that is unwelcome. So, today I immersed myself in the kitchen after an extended four-mile walk to start the day. I’d love to get out for a bit more walking, but at 109 degrees (43c) out there that doesn’t really sound appealing. Of course, we need to get out there at some time due to our statewide curfew that’s been imposed for the hours of 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., but I don’t want to veer into that subject matter today.