Thursday, January 15, 2004

A little tradition, a little innovation….

Supper with Sha and Helena is always a pleasure, but that pleasure was significantly compounded by the presence of Helena’s dad, visiting from Berlin where he works with an international aid agency.  He greeted us warmly and his English was excellent, which I appreciated because my German is nonexistent.  I hope he enjoyed meeting us but we certainly enjoyed meeting him.

Upon arriving, we were ushered into the kitchen to sit around a circular table for a traditional Russian new year’s celebration.  First, I was made to wear a heavy woolen cap that came to a point at the top and had earflaps and a broad brim, with a red star and hammer-sickle emblem in the front.  It’s sort of what I imagine an elf might ware if conscripted into the soviet army.  It was both warm and hysterical at once; all evidence has been destroyed.  Once I was humiliatingly haberdashed we peeled and cut in half three semi-hard-boiled eggs and each of us set half an egg, yolk-up, on a spoon.  We then each seasoned our eggs, in ritualistic turn, with salt, cumin, curry, paprika, worestershire sauce, mustard, and pepper, and we poured each other a shot of vodka.  We ate the seasoned eggs and chased them with a shot, ensuring a curried and boozy new year in the storied soviet tradition. 

Our conversation that evening covered all the territory from the difference between European religious fundamentalism and the US version, to the origins of various chemical names (and if anyone out there can fill me in on why Potassium is “K” I’d be grateful), to the impact of physical geography on local sociology, and ending with a rousing and compelling discussion of early 20th century art, focusing in particular on symbolism in Chagall and Kandinsky.  We ate indulgently of eurochocs and KinderRiegels and authentic Berlin stollen, with pear-cinnamon-basil sorbet and red ginger-red port sorbet to revive our palettes. 

But for me the highlight was Helena’s demonstration of her company’s forthcoming invention, which is a system that uses a laser to project a keyboard onto any flat surface, and a sensor that reads when any “key” is struck.  We cheerfully typed at length on their wooden dining table and watched our words appear on-screen.  What a trip.  Considering as my keyboard is where I store little souvenirs of all the lunches I eat at my desk, which is most of them, a 2-D system without room to hide oakcake crumbs and yogurt splashes can only be an improvement.  I may not have much worth saying but at least I might as well keep my hands clean as I say it.