民蔬記-Memories of Homegrown Vegetables

蔬記童年自家草舍後有采畦，大半畝見方。年種黃瓜，冬瓜，南瓜，紫茄，瓠子，豇豆，辣椒。

香瓜，西瓜亦隔歲一植。另有韭菜，蒜苗，莧菜，青菜地，皆是農人度日之蔬。

茄子可置鐵鍋米飯上，蒸爛，加蒜頭搗糊，撒油鹽即食（今不複薪爨，但思此味，猶如仙人馭風遠去而芳香無窮）；亦可紅燒（餘旅居生涯中常佐之物也）。

Memories of Homegrown Vegetables

Behind our thatched cottage in my childhood, there was a vegetable patch, about half an acre in size. Every year, we grew cucumbers, winter melons, pumpkins, purple eggplants, bottle gourds, cowpeas, and chili peppers.

Muskmelons and watermelons were also planted every other year. There were also plots of leeks, garlic sprouts, amaranth, and leafy greens—all staples for farmers to sustain their lives.

Eggplants could be steamed until tender over rice in an iron pot, then mashed with garlic, drizzled with oil, and sprinkled with salt for a simple meal (now that we no longer cook with firewood, the memory of this flavor lingers like an immortal’s ethereal fragrance, lingering endlessly). They could also be braised in soy sauce (a frequent companion in my years of wandering).