The Reason Somen Tasted So Good — What I Realized During a Health Consultation — 2026/6/2 (Tue) R8

This morning, I had a health consultation.

It was scheduled to begin at 9:50 a.m. and last about twenty minutes, but the consultation before mine ran long. Even after it was my turn, the nurse took her time and listened carefully to what I had to say.

It felt less like a health consultation and more like a counseling session.

As I talked about which hospitals I had connected with since moving to Matsuyama, what I had been doing over the past month, my mahjong class, exercise programs, and medical appointments, time passed surprisingly quickly.

Toward the end, the conversation turned to a simple question:

“What has become easier since you moved here?”

The first thing that came to mind was food.

When I was younger, I enjoyed cooking.

I made pickled plums, baked cakes, and baked cookies.

One of my pleasures was making birthday cakes for my children.

But as the years passed, meals became more than just something enjoyable.

There was shopping, organizing ingredients, planning menus, cooking, eating, and cleaning up afterward.

I had done these things as a matter of course for many years, but in the years after retirement I often found myself saying,

“I don’t want to cook anymore.”

“I don’t want to go grocery shopping.”

Especially after it became just my husband and me, the portions became smaller, the variety of meals decreased, and the burden gradually felt heavier.

Originally, I had planned to take the bus to Gintengai after the consultation.

But it was raining, and the consultation had gone on longer than expected, so I decided to stay in my room instead.

While thinking about what to have for lunch, I noticed a package of somen noodles on the shelf.

I like udon too, but somen only takes two minutes to cook.

That seemed good enough for today.

Along with the somen, I had a few fish-and-nut snacks, sesame-soybean jelly with kanten, raisins, and prunes that my husband had sent me.

And that simple bowl of somen tasted surprisingly good.

Then I realized why.

I had cooked it exactly the way I liked it.

The noodles served in the dining hall are usually a little softer so that they are easier for everyone to eat, but I prefer noodles that still have a slight firmness to them.

Such a small difference, and yet it made me feel completely satisfied.

As I reflected on the past month during the health consultation and then sat alone eating my somen, I realized how much of a burden I had finally set down.

It is not that I have lost the enjoyment of cooking.

Rather, I have been freed from the responsibility of managing meals every single day.

Perhaps that is why a bowl of somen, cooked for only two minutes and made just for myself, tasted so very good.

#EdenNoSono
#HealthConsultation
#SeniorLife
#MealsAndDailyLife
#Somen
#LivingAlone
#LifeInMatsuyama
#DailyJournal
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