Magical Korean Curing Recipe

I lived in Florence, Italy, for a year in a flat in the heart of the old city with 6 other artist. It was not your average set up. We were all in Overseas arts programs (6 in a Canadian program and one in an American program). I had one Korean roommate, 4 English-Canadians, one American, and one Italian-Canadian roommate (who spoke some Italian which came in handy with our Italian speaking landlord who was always worried we had made the living room into a 7th bedroom to reduce the rent. Of course not, we told him. Of course we did! They would always have me, blond and innocent looking (!?) cooking in the kitchen when he would come to collect the rent. He seemed to think that all was under control if someone like me was making homemade
food.)

Anyway...this is a blog about a recipe, not my Italian landlord. My roommates liked to drink, smoke and listen to music late into the night. I loved them all, but lived a very different lifestyle. I was up early, cooked all my own healthy vegetarian food and didn't drink or smoke. So you would think that they would be the ones with the severe hangovers, wouldn't you?

One morning after my roommates had had a particularly rowdy night. I woke early in the morning and upon opening my eyes found the room spinning. I shut them quickly. I tried to get up and make my way to the bathroom. My balance was completely off and I crashed back and forth down the hall way, falling along the way and just barely reached the bathroom. I threw myself at the toilet bowl and vomited. I closed my eyes and the room stopped swimming. I opened them and couldn't make out up from down and threw up again. I continued this until I was dry heaving hoping each time my eyes opened I would be okay. I kept my eyes shut and felt so weak that I groped for a toilet roll put it under my head and just lay there not moving on the bathroom floor with my eyes shut.

Not knowing how much time had passed as I tried to sleep, I heard my Korean roommate, Mija getting up. I could hear her footsteps coming down the hall and into the bathroom where she found me half conscious on the floor.

"Michal, are you okay?" she asked.

"Mija, I am so sick." I opened my eyes to peer at her and instantly the room started spinning out of control again and I quickly sat up and hugged the toilet again to begin dry heaving all over again.

Mija was not put off in the least. She was a roommate I was in awe of. She could chop food faster and more professionally than anyone I had ever met. AND she could split an apple in two with her bare hands. She would wedge her thumbs on either side of the stem and in one swift movement snap the thing in half. I have tried it so many times and have never been able to copy her.

She leaned in very close to where my face was practically in the toilet and examined me as if I were a scientific specimen.

"There is nothing coming out" she announced at my dry heaving. "That is not good. Come with me." She helped me up and half supported me into the kitchen.

"Sit down" she said as she got busy with a pot of water, ginger and an unknown citrus quantity in a jar sitting on the counter that she told me her mother had brought her from Korea.

Once it had boiled she poured me a cup of it, made me drink it, and then led me back to bed and told me to sleep. I slept 4 hours until the afternoon. When I awoke I felt perfectly fine. Years later I deduced I must have had vertigo that morning. I don't know what was in that concoction Mija made me, but whenever I am ill I try to mimic that drink and I always feel much better.

RECIPE:
1 pot of water
ginger - peeled and sliced (amount depends on how spicy you like it)
marmalade - several big scoops (amount depends on how sweet you like it)
Boil it all up and drink!