If my mom has decided not to cook and my brother and I have made other plans for dinner, my dad resorts to cooking one of two meals for himself: corned beef or steamed egg with smoked oysters.
On Friday night it was the latter.
I had to take creative liberties with the name of this dish, because it wasn't necessarily something born out of a plan (or recipe, for that matter)
In a small shallow bowl, he beats an egg. To it, he adds oil, ginger, canned smoked oysters, salt, pepper, diced onions, dried seaweed bits, and a whole chili which he leaves on top. He steams it on the stove, or using the rice cooker if he feels like it.
It's a strange dish to begin with, but its strangeness is amplified when encountering it for the first time wrapped in cellophane the morning after. However the more I've encountered it in the fridge, the more I've started preferring it for breakfast.
Best with sliced green onions, and chili flakes thrown on top.
Pairing it with a fruit smoothie may not be everyone.
It's strange how time can affect how you enjoy things. Time happened to affect how I read The Republic of Imagination, a book that had been sitting on my shelf for a couple years.
I love Azar Nafisi's books because I love the way she talks about literature. She is able to make books that are usually only touched by literature students more accessible, by weaving her personal experiences within her literary analyses of these stories. Reading it; however, I was confused about how a book that was suppose to glorify literature and the humanities sometimes felt like it was glorifying America. At the time she was writing this book, I think America did seem like a place of progress - especially coming from an individual who was negatively affected by the Islamic Revolution in Iran. But in 2017, I think most people would have to stop and question how true that might be - not only of the US but our world in general.
In the epilogue she writes about James Baldwin. She recalls a time when Bobby Kennedy had said that Baldwin could be president in 30 years time. Baldwin responded saying that it would be more interesting to know what kind of country the first black person would be president of, rather than the day the first black person would be president. She suggests that Baldwin would have celebrated the election of Barack Obama. But then there's me in 2017, wondering how he would feel knowing that Obama's presidency was followed by Donald Trump's.
She says, "Certain victories have been won, major victories, but new problems have arisen, and some of the old ones have resurfaced in new garb" (Nafisi 2014, pg. 296). But in 2017, we're realizing that old problems haven't just resurfaced. Instead we might have been too distracted by "major" victories, like Obama's presidency, to notice that "old" problems may have never disappeared at all.
My breakfasts are usually built off what was made the night (sometimes nights) before. Although that approach to making meals sounds like desperate times are being had, there is no time more desperate than finding something to eat at my fiancé's place. Everything he has is usually pre-packaged, including this yogurt cup that came with what looked like a space helmet filled with an adequate amount of granola.
But who cares about temporary hunger or fresh food or any first world problems for that matter, when you're reading A Little Life. I haven't read a book as long as this one since Ulysses, but I actually loved this one. Stories about friendship tug at me the most because I find friendships to be more self-sacrificing than romantic relationships.
In this book I read thoughts I've had and wondered if someone else shared.
I also saw feelings articulated that I have found difficult to articulate in the past.
A book must be able to do one of two things in order for me to really feel.
As someone who tries to control their emotions - I count on knowing that.
References
The Republic of Imagination: A Life in Books by Azar Nafisi (apparently the subtitle has changed to America in Three Books?)
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