總有數天是這樣。
每年當農曆年剛過、春天之始時，山上總有數天淹沒在一片白裡。窗外鑲起一片謐靜的白，花在霧裡，樹在霧裡，一切生命都在雲霧之中，迷迷矇矇。山嵐繚繞，我在茫茫裡打開雙手，看着掌心裡的空氣，沒捉穩，又溜走了。
「白茫茫大地真乾淨」，我想起紅樓結尾的一句。
In My Misty Hair Left Your Perpetuity
Somen in Soy Milk Soup
- Words & Photography / Jo
風靜氣凝，萬物定格在氤氳雲霧裡，時間大概也沒再流動。在動的只有我，大概。走在迷霧之中，眼睛看見了卻抓不到。如果沒法捉緊，暫落在臉上可以嗎？我想像赤裸地被雲霧簇擁是怎樣的感覺。
衣襟不沾一點水，髮絲卻盡是濕濡。以為走過了，不著痕跡，每根髮絲卻把這一路上的山霧留下，一點一滴，斑斑戚戚，驅不散。我把山霧藏在髮絲裡，或許一天當青絲變銀髮，更好湮沒在山霧裡。
It always looks like this for a couple of days.
When Lunar New Year passes, at the beginning of spring, the mountains are enveloped in the sea of white. Muted whiteness framed in windows, flowers in mist, trees in mist, all lives were shrouded in the mountain haze. I opened my hands amidst, looking at the air in my palms – in my loose grasp, it slipped away.
“So clean the earth in the expanse of white”, it reminded me of the last line in Dream of the Red Chamber.
In still wind and air, everything was frozen in the haze, perhaps time as well. I was the only one on the move, perhaps. Walking in the mist, I saw it but could not grasp it. If I couldn’t hold it in my hands, could it stay on my face for a moment? I pondered how it felt when being hugged by the mountain mist naked.
No trace of dampness on my clothes, yet my hair was soaked. I thought I walked through it without a trace. Every strand of my hair however gathered it all along the way, bit by bit, drip by drip, welled up, undispersed. I had haze hidden in the hair. Perhaps when my black hair turns grey one day, it falls better into oblivion amidst.
豆乳湯素麵
材料：
幼素麵 1 束 / 50克
無糖日本豆乳 1 杯
鰹魚汁醬油 1.5 茶匙
雞蛋 1 隻
本菇 10 克
海鹽 適量
水 5 杯，另加煮素麵用的水
油 適量
步驟：
- 小鍋裡加入4杯水，煮沸熄火後加入一杯室水，以湯匙輕輕放入雞蛋，水要蓋過雞蛋。放上鍋蓋，15分鐘後拿出雞蛋，去殻備用。溫泉蛋的蛋白應呈白色。
- 素麵煮90秒或按包裝指示的時間煮熟。煮好後瀝水備用。
- 平底鍋以中火加熱，下油，放入已洗淨瀝水的本菇。一面煎至微黃後加鹽，高火翻炒至熟透。
- 豆乳倒在鍋裡以小火加熱，煮沸後加入鰹魚汁醬油，拌勻熄火。
- 素麵放在碗裡，澆上豆乳湯，加上溫泉蛋和本菇即可。
Somen in Soy Milk Soup
Ingredients:
Thin somen 1 bunch / 50g
Unsweetened Japanese soy milk 1 cup
Bonito sauce 1.5 teaspoon
Egg 1 piece
Shiitake mushroom 10 g
Sea salt A pinch
Water 5 cups, plus more for cooking somen
Vegetable oil A drizzle
Steps:
- Add 4 cups of water into a small pot and bring it to the boil. Add 1 cup of room temperature water when the pot is off heat. Gently ladle in an egg, put a lid on and submerge it in the water for 15 minutes. Remove the eggshell and set aside. The egg white of the onsen egg should be white and opaque.
- Cook the somen for 90 seconds or according to the time instructed on the noodle packaging. Drain and set aside.
- Heat a pan over medium heat, add a drizzle of oil and put in the clean and drained shiitake mushrooms. Sear one side to golden colour and then season them with sea salt. Stir fry them over high heat till the mushrooms are cooked.
- Heat up the soy milk over low heat and bring it to the boil. Add the bonito sauce, stir well and turn the heat off.
- Place the somen in a bowl, pour over the soy milk soup, and top it off with the onsen egg and shiitake mushrooms.
Jo Liu
It’s raining outside, crisp and bleak. Three chubby sparrows took shelter on my balcony and I gave them the baguette bits left on my breakfast plate but they flew away. I stayed in, played Damien Rice on vinyl and made apple crumble. Repeat.
Instagram: foodialoguehk
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