A birthday toast … in Sea-buckthorn juice
Tuesday lunchtime and we closed the office to go to a special Birthday lunch. I have said before that Birthdays are a big deal here in Kyrgyzstan. This one was especially important as it was a 30th Birthday – a landmark, a round figure.
I made reference in my “toast” to the 1968 film starring Dudley Moore, “30 is a dangerous age, Cynthia”. In this romantic comedy, the main character, Rupert Street, is a piano player and composer who decides that he is going to compose a musical and get married before he reaches the age of 30. His problem is that, when the film opens, he has just six weeks to fulfill his ambition. The script is light and full of fantasy and feels like it just a vehicle to provide openings for the musical numbers to make an appearance, but it fit in well with the mood of the “swinging-60’s”.
Personally, even though I quite liked Dudley Moore, and his piano playing, but I wasn’t too fond of this film. To me, the most memorable thing about it was the title.
Anyway, I pointed out that to Aybek that he had reached yet another milestone, but it was only one amongst many. He had already, for example, passed 360 – months that is, and 1500 – weeks that is, and also 10,000 – days that is, 250,000 – hours that is, 15,000,000 – minutes that is and even approaching the ripe old age of 1,000,000,000 – seconds, that is, (he should pass that particular milestone on September 26th, next year).
I wished him luck, health, wealth and happiness and many such landmarks.
It’s funny how things then went off at a tangent. Everyone was interested to know why we thought that 30 was a dangerous age. I am not sure that I got it right, but I said that I thought it was probably because it was the first of the “landmarks” when people began to feel their age. They were still young and vibrant at twenty, twenty-one and even when they reached their quarter century, but that thirty seemed to take out of their youth into an age when they already had a certain amount of experience and were settling down and accumulating responsibilities, like raising a family.
The toast was in Champagne, but as it was in the middle of the working day, and we all had work to get back to, we were fairly abstemious. I suspected that evening would see more festive celebrations as he would be surrounded by family and friends of his own age.
On the table there was also tea and fruit juice. The juice was interesting and it took me some time to identify the taste. At first I thought it might be Raspberry, but it turned out to be Strawberry and Apple.
That’s one of the things that first struck me when I came out here over fifteen years ago, (180 months, 750 weeks, 5000 days, 125,000 hours, 7,500,000 seconds ago), the range of diversity when it came to fruit juices. I was used to a simple palate of Orange, Apple, Grape, Pineapple, Grapefruit and Tomato juice, not forgetting Multivitamin. Here, I suddenly found myself faced with a bewildering choice of Apricot, Banana, Carrot, Grenadine, Mango, Peach, Pear, and Strawberry, to name just a few … and then there was a huge variety of mixes. What’s more, people didn’t just buy pack of juice from the supermarket, they actually made their own: Compot, Kisel, and juice.
I am not sure what flavours of fruit juices are available in Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s and Asda these days, but I suspect that even though there is likely to be a much wider choice than there was, that I wouldn’t be surprised if this variety wasn’t one of the things about life in Bishkek that I would miss.
There is, however, one fruit juice that I haven’t tried. I only came across today in an interesting post on the Wanderlust site:
My travels have inspired me to open a new fresh pressed juice bar in Vancouver, Canada. After trying Seabuckthorn berry Juice in Nepal, I wanted to bring this drink back home. I wondered what other juices and drinks there are around the world that I do not know of?
What Juices or drinks have you tried around the world, that are original to that region? What are some of your favorite juices? Do you have any juice recipes that you would like to share? Any dialogue about juices from around the world or juice in general. I appreciate any and all suggestions! I look forward to getting the juice dialogue going!
Cheers,
Zach
http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/mywanderlust/forum/juice-around-the-world_2843
Now, it may seem strange for a plant with this name to be growing in landlocked Kyrgyzstan, but it does, abundantly, with golden berries and sharp spikes. The berries are an important source of winter food for migratory birds, but the mass of thorns make harvesting them difficult for humans, and the bushes are normally shaken so that they fall to the ground and then picked up.
Tourists driving to, or from, Issyk Kul in late summer will people selling jars of the yellow berries by the roadside. They may also come across some jam or jars of golden “oil” made from the berries which are high in vitamins and are also in traditional medicinal remedies for things like coughs, digestive problems, poor circulation and to alleviate pain. It’s even claimed that they can be useful in the fight against cancer and several viruses. The Soviets apparently use the oil it to treat radiation burns.
Here it is known by its Russian name “Oblipica”, but it probably got its Western name from the fact that in Europe it is usually found growing near the coast. In Asia, however, it is widespread in dry semi-desert areas where other plants cannot survive the dry conditions, and also in sub-alpine regions, (often above the tree line). They tolerate salt well, but demand bright sunlight in order to grow profusely.
The plant is extremely useful as well, because its roots and foliage bind the soil and prevent it being washed away or bleached by summer floods. Indeed, in China, it is used extensively in conservation projects.
I am told that some people not only make fruit juice from the berries but also wines and liquors, but I haven’t come across them myself. Perhaps I need to go to Tibet, like Zach, or perhaps India, where apparently there is even a beer which is made from them.
Anyway, I wish Zach luck in his enterprise … and many landmarks wether they be seconds, minutes, hours, days weeks, months or years.
Bishkek