Alone in the Kitchen with an Onion
One of my onions grew a plump white sprout.
So plump that I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. I left it alone for a week.
Then two weeks.
Then three weeks.
It kept getting taller and plumper. At some point the unthinkable thought of throwing it out became the unthinkable thought of letting it die. For a thing trying so hard to live on nothing, what kind of creature am I to thwart its life? So I placed it in a clean container that used to contain prunes, put in some soil leftover from another plant that I’ve long transfered the custody to my mom for its better chance of survival, and poured in water. I told my mom about it, but she said don’t have high hope. I wasn’t hoping for anything, I just wanted to give it what it wants: soil and water. I placed the pot outside during the day and took it in at night so that it doesn’t get cold. The sprout grew, turned green, and another leaf came out. Then I took a trip home for two weeks, thinking that the onion, having a watery body, should be okay without watering for two weeks.
When I came back, I saw the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen of an onion: several skinny green long stalks sprouting out, tall and cheerful. Thank you for surviving, Onion. You make the apartment alive.
I’m not complaining that I’m living alone. I chose this studio apartment instead of sharing because I was looking forward to living alone all my college years. My college roommates were nice people, I don’t dislike them. One girl was there for maybe 2 weeks total the entire year we shared the dorm room, I liked her. There are just songs I want to turn the volume up to for hours on end, meals I wanted to eat while watching a movie on the computer, times to laugh or cry without explaining to two quizzical and not necessarily empathetic eyes. Times to do crazy dance. Times to burn stuff in the microwave and send the alarm screaming. I was tired of asking for and giving explanations. The best thing about living alone is that you can do whatever you want.
The worst thing about living alone is that you can do whatever you want. The only thing I’ve cooked for myself since February is garlic scrambled egg and rice. I skip lunch everyday. I thought I was bad. But Ann Patchett stuck to her Saltine diet for months: “I ate slices of white cheese on Saltines with a dollop of salsa, then smoothly transitioned to Saltines spread with butter and jam for dessert. I would eat as many as were required to no longer be hungry and then I would stop. […] Day after day, month after month, I stuck to my routines like a chorus girl in the back row.” Actually, maybe her diet has more variations than mine. But you get the point. Dining alone means dining with the person who you want to hide and to expose to the world at the same time, the person that only you know.
That person takes many forms, and that person goes through many phases, some pleasant, some weird, most are captured in the collection Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant. The beans and cornbread phase (Jeremy Jackson), the asparagus phase (Phoebe Nobles), the chili phase (Dan Chaon), the instant noodle phase (Rattawut Lapcharoensap) (I’ve gone through this phase my self – Sapporo Ichiban, original flavor – until Berkeley Bowl rearranged their aisles and I couldn’t find the packages for weeks, I contemplated boycotting Berkeley Bowl). There’s eating alone with glory, enthusiasm (Mary Cantwell, Dining Alone), a sense of self-declaration, independence, defiance (Jami Attenberg, Protective Measures), most often for a lady at a restaurant, and usually in the first days of eating alone. There’s eating alone to observe (Colin Harrison, Out to Lunch), to indulge (Anneli Rufus, White-on-White Lunch for When No One is Looking), to be relentlessly particular about your food and give no room for compromise (Erin Ergenbright, Table for One). These things happen when one has been eating alone for a long time, and accept it.
There’s happy eating alone because of a desperate need to escape the everyday hustle (Holly Hughes, Luxury), the joy is temporary like fireworks. There’s sad eating alone with a boiling thirst for companions (Laura Calder, The Lonely Palate). Then there’s the mellow eating alone because of permanent solitude, and although feeling lonely to the bones, in some way the lone diner religiously ties himself to that loneliness as if he couldn’t live without it, his repetitive meal is his only and last company. “What does an introvert do when he’s left alone? He stays alone.” (Jeremy Jackson, Beans and Me)
The person with whom I dine the most, me, has taken all of these forms. I found that amusing and sad, but to make things worse, I saw my friend in Haruki Murakami’s The Year of Spaghetti, “[tossing one handful of spaghetti after another into the pot] like a lonely, jilted girl throwing old love letters into the fireplace”. Eating alone is like dressing yourself when you’re invisible, you know you should make it good, but you wonder if it’s worth the hassle. Is that why the masked superheroes never change their outfit?
I noticed my onion doesn’t like direct sunlight, and it needed more soil, so today I went to a garden store begging for a plastic bag of soil. (I thought about digging up a cup from the neighborhood at night, but that wouldn’t sit right.) On the bus, I sat across from a boy, 12 years old he said, just far enough that he didn’t notice me watching him eat and close enough to see that it was gomiti in a loose broth with bits of carrots and green bellpeppers. Then I realized the book forgot one kind of eating alone: eating alone among a lot of people who aren’t eating. What do you feel then?
Garlic Scrambled Eggs over Rice (serves one for 3 meals)
– 4 cups rice
– 8 eggs
– 1/2 clove garlic, thinly sliced
– 1 tsp salt
– 2 tbs sugar
– 1 tsp oil
Cook rice. Oil the pan. Brown the garlic(*). Break and scramble the eggs. Add sugar and salt. Serve on or mix with rice.
(*) I used to add onion too, until Onion sprouted into a friend.
You can certainly see your skills in the paintings you write. The world hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart.
1Very good blog! Do you have any recommendations for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m completely overwhelmed .. Any tips? Thanks!
2hello there and thanks to your info – I’ve certainly picked up anything new from right here. I did alternatively expertise several technical issues the usage of this website, as I skilled to reload the website many occasions prior to I may just get it to load properly. I had been pondering if your hosting is OK? No longer that I’m complaining, however slow loading circumstances instances will sometimes impact your placement in google and can damage your quality score if advertising and ***********|advertising|advertising|advertising and *********** with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and can glance out for a lot extra of your respective fascinating content. Ensure that you replace this again very soon..
3Whats Going down i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It absolutely helpful and it has aided me out loads. I am hoping to give a contribution & help different customers like its aided me. Great job.
4Hey I am so glad I found your blog page, I really found you by accident, while I was browsing on Yahoo for something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a incredible post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have bookmarked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up the excellent job.
5Real clean website , regards for this post.
6Hey there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
7I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. kudos
8Dead indited subject material, appreciate it for information .
9Hello there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it is really informative. I’m going to watch out for brussels. I’ll appreciate if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
10It’s really a great and useful piece of info. I am glad that you shared this useful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
11certainly like your web-site however you need to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I to find it very troublesome to inform the truth then again I will definitely come again again.
12Wohh precisely what I was looking for, regards for putting up.
13I got good info from your blog
14F*ckin’ tremendous issues here. I am very satisfied to peer your post. Thanks so much and i’m taking a look forward to touch you. Will you please drop me a mail?
15Hey! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to take a look. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Great blog and wonderful style and design.
16I think this is one of the such a lot vital info for me. And i am satisfied reading your article. However wanna remark on some basic things, The website style is perfect, the articles is actually nice :D. Just right task, cheers
17You have brought up a very superb points, regards for the post.
18Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!
19Very interesting topic, appreciate it for putting up.
20Hi my family member! I wish to say that this article is amazing, great written and come with approximately all important infos. I would like to look extra posts like this .
21This web site is really a walk-through for all of the info you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll definitely discover it.
22Thanks for another informative site. The place else may just I am getting that type of information written in such a perfect means? I’ve a undertaking that I am simply now operating on, and I have been at the glance out for such info.
23Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it.
24I truly enjoy reading on this web site, it has fantastic content. “One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly.” by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.
25Can I simply say what a relief to search out someone who actually knows what theyre speaking about on the internet. You positively know methods to bring a problem to gentle and make it important. More individuals must learn this and understand this facet of the story. I cant consider youre not more widespread because you positively have the gift.
26I got what you intend,saved to favorites, very nice website .
27he blog was how do i say it… relevant, finally something that helped me. Thanks
28Very nice design and style and wonderful subject matter, absolutely nothing else we require :D.
29You really make it seem really easy together with your presentation but I to find this topic to be actually something that I think I’d never understand. It seems too complex and extremely vast for me. I’m looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
30I have been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or blog posts on this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this site. Reading this info So i am happy to convey that I’ve a very good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most certainly will make sure to do not forget this site and give it a look on a constant basis.
31I like what you guys are up too. Such intelligent work and reporting! Carry on the excellent works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my website :).
32Great work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher! Come on over and visit my web site . Thanks =)
33Some really nice and useful information on this website , also I conceive the style holds fantastic features.
34Hi, i think that i saw you visited my website thus i came to “return the favor”.I’m attempting to find things to improve my web site!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!
35Whats up are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own. Do you require any coding expertise to make your own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!
36Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your content seem to be running off the screen in Ie. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The design look great though! Hope you get the problem resolved soon. Thanks
37Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this website. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s tough to get that “perfect balance” between usability and visual appeal. I must say you’ve done a excellent job with this. Also, the blog loads extremely quick for me on Opera. Superb Blog!
38Hey! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My site discusses a lot of the same topics as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you are interested feel free to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Excellent blog by the way!
39I have been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this website. Thank you, I’ll try and check back more often. How frequently you update your web site?
40Unquestionably imagine that that you said. Your favourite justification seemed to be at the net the easiest factor to consider of. I say to you, I certainly get irked even as other folks think about issues that they plainly do not understand about. You managed to hit the nail upon the highest and also defined out the entire thing without having side effect , other people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks
41I’m really impressed with your writing talents as neatly as with the format in your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it your self? Anyway keep up the nice high quality writing, it’s uncommon to look a great weblog like this one nowadays..
42Yay google is my king assisted me to find this outstanding internet site! .
43I will immediately take hold of your rss as I can not in finding your e-mail subscription hyperlink or e-newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Kindly allow me recognize in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.
44Very interesting points you have remarked, appreciate it for putting up.
45I’ve read a few good stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you put to create such a fantastic informative website.
46Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!
47You could definitely see your skills in the paintings you write. The world hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe. Always follow your heart. “The most profound joy has more of gravity than of gaiety in it.” by Michel de Montaigne.
48Good write-up, I’m normal visitor of one’s blog, maintain up the nice operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor for a long time.
49Nice blog right here! Additionally your web site rather a lot up fast! What web host are you using? Can I get your associate hyperlink on your host? I wish my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol
50