The Essentials of Encouraging: Crystallized Ginger

I'm gonna be writing a handful of posts on essentials for encouragers. Just like I did for gainer essentials, but a little more broken up cause I'm busy.

One of the unwanted side effects of getting a guy really stuffed, is that after the moment has passed and the sexual charge of it all has faded, your gainer may be suffering from an uncomfortably full belly, and quite possibly a bit of an upset stomach from all of the rich food crammed into it. Now, my guy loves to eat just as much as I love to encourage him, but sometimes he has a bit of a sensitive stomach. I always feel bad when he feels sick after a particularly enormous meal, or playing around in bed with doughnuts and half and half, or something. What usually happens is after we finish things up in bed, he hits the tums and we cuddle up and call it a night. He's very stoic about it ( "Small price to pay for a growing belly" he says), but being the meddling perfectionist that I am, I wanted to try and hunt down some safe, simple, natural ways to calm an upset stomach.

So I started researching. My favorite stomach calming method is crystallized ginger root. Remember how your Mom would bring you ginger ale with the bubbled stirred out when you had an upset stomach as a kid? Same concept, but more effective. Ginger has been used for centuries as a way to fight nausea all over the world. On top of its stomach settling effects, ginger is considered a natural aphrodisiac, and may be helpful in lowering cholesterol and fighting heart disease! How awesome is that! And it's really pretty! Look! LOL


Here is a simple recipe I like for do it yourself crystallized ginger. Use high quality, as fresh as you can, organic ingredients and you will find yourself with an effective, tasty way to quiet any gainer's upset stomach.

Two more ginger related items I'm intending to try soon are Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur, and the always wonderful Payard bakery's Domain de Canton ginger truffles. I picked up a bottle of Domaine de Canton after reading about it and realizing it was on Fresh Direct, and am seriously debating wandering across the park to Payard to grab some truffles. I intend to use the Domaine de Canton in a handful of cocktails to accompany the major feast I have planned for the boyfriend this weekend, so I'll report back on how well it works as a method to calm an upset stomach (or prevent one).

If you're intimidated by the recipe for crystallized ginger, you can always buy it at a store. Most grocery stores will have it, but it won't be as fresh and generally awesome as it would be if you make it yourself. And also, if you're an encourager and intimidated by a recipe that has 3 ingredients, one of which is water, you need to take a cooking class, a.s.a.p. Every encourager worth his salt knows how to cook -a topic I will get into more next time. Have a great weekend everyone, and please, if you have any other stomach settling tricks, post 'em in the comments section.