Ms. Tanijima's Cooking for One: A Solo Life Can Still Have a Wonderful Food Landscape

General News Jan 1, 1970By Emily Carter 0 views

Text / "A Life Alone"

Ms. Tanijima (a culinary researcher) began living alone again exactly when she had just passed the turning point of life (that is, age 50). After her two sons grew up, she started a second act of life completely different from before.

"I cared for my mother for three years, living every day as if fighting a war. It goes without saying that I was frantically busy, and my mood was even more depressed, often sinking to the very bottom. But precisely because I went through those days myself, I learned to cherish the rest of my life. I have always felt this was the message my mother wanted to convey to me."

Five years ago, Ms. Tanijima returned once again to living alone. This time, she saw a completely different landscape. "I felt I had really grown old, and I truly felt all kinds of unease, though fortunately I also felt a sense of relief. Although nothing in the world goes exactly as one wishes, it is enough to be willing to try many things and face them with a positive attitude. Now, even the most inconspicuous little things can make me happy, and I have become much more tolerant toward others. So-called life is probably a process of accumulating experience after experience and gaining from it."

**The balcony garden is a "little field of dreams" full of grace**

Ms. Tanijima's home has a balcony that extends outward, directly facing the Meguro River. How should this small space be described? Ms. Tanijima likes to call it "a place where sunlight lingers." It is bathed in sunlight all year round, and even in the bitterly cold depths of winter, bougainvillea still compete to bloom, putting on a lively display. "Although it is called a garden, most of what I grow is edible ingredients. I come out here two or three times a day; it has already become another room, and at the same time my experimental field."

Besides herbs such as tamarind and rosemary grown from seed, several bamboo sieves dot the space. It turns out that Ms. Tanijima is "sun-drying vegetables," and she is extremely keen on it. The reason she took up the idea of drying vegetables is that there are often more vegetables than she can cook. "It is just me alone, so cooking half a cucumber or half a box of wood ear mushrooms is enough, and no matter how I cook, there are always vegetables left over.

Now all I have to do is cut up these leftovers and spread them out on a bamboo sieve. Once the vegetables are dehydrated and completely dry, the texture and flavor are completely different. Dried vegetables can be used directly to cook sweet-and-sour fish, and are also suitable for soaking in water to rehydrate and then simmering in soup; their uses are wide-ranging and extremely versatile. Using up all the ingredients leaves me feeling even more refreshed."

Indeed, when living alone, ingredients often spoil before they are cooked, causing waste. However, by drying leftover ingredients into dried vegetables or making them into pickles, they instead become delicacies that can be enjoyed at any time. This also demonstrates wisdom, because having to eat something that was not finished and would otherwise be wasted was originally a kind of pressure; now it has all become a pleasure.

As we age, it is impossible to be completely free of unease and loneliness. "While I still have physical strength and mental energy, I will quickly muster the courage to do what I want to do. The physiology and psychology of every stage of life change, and being able to accept this positively and age gracefully is, one could say, the very best thing." That is what Ms. Tanijima says.

(This article is from the book "A Life Alone: A Little Lonely, Yet Uniquely Free," published with authorization from New Nature Publishing House)

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Ms. Tanijima's Cooking for One: A Solo Life Can Still Have a Wonderful Food Landscape

The balcony garden is a "little field of dreams" full of grace

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