John Zheng
Sudden Change
His wife decides to put the house on a diet. Each morning while his wife may still be in the dream of a butterfly, John gets up to cook oatmeal according to her new directions:
- Use water, not milk (her theory is that milk is good for babies. If adult animals don’t drink milk, why should adult humans?)
- When water boils, reduce fire to medium
- Add two cups of heart-healthy oats and ten dried wolfberries
- Simmer in small bubbles for 15 minutes
- Then add two spoons of black sesame powder
- Simmer for 5 more minutes
- Turn off the gas
- Pour the porridge into two blue flower bowls
- Drop in three walnut halves and squeeze in two spoons of raw honey
“Why can’t I use sugar?”
“Sugar isn’t good for the blood.”
“Why must I cook oatmeal every morning?”
“Because it’s a food remedy to enhance digestion.”
No more red meat, Calrose rice, potato chips, soft drinks, and frosted flakes. After a day’s work, she prepares for herself a plate of lip-smacking fruit salad and John makes two banana sandwiches spread with crunchy peanut butter. The old-fashioned stir-fry becomes a mouthwatering memory.
hunger moon the big pink lady after walking laps
About the Author
John Zheng has authored Enforced Rustication in the Chinese Cultural Revolution and published haibun and tanka prose in cho, Haibun Today, Southern Quarterly, and Spillway. His latest book is A Way of Looking, a collection of haibun and tanka prose.