I grew up being closer to my grandma, from my father’s side. She will come and take care of us when my parents were away for holidays when my siblings and I were very much younger… So we will all sleep in the same room with her and she will tuck us all in bed. She will wake up really early doing the laundry and cooking, and even clean us up… I remember she used the brush that was used for laundry to bathe us too.. muahaha.. ouch! Granda have really long hair… so she will redo the “sanggul” after bath… I will then sit there, watch her and help her segregate the different pins for her hair…she will let us play and watch tv all day… haha… and when the roti (bread) man comes on his bike in the late afternoon, we will then make grandma buy us some tit bits :P
During school holidays, I will request dad to send me back to “kampung”, my dad’s home in Kepala Batas… and it’s really a wooden kampung house with toilet located outside of the house (I’ve never used it…believe me.. I am usually constipated or I just somehow manage to keep “them” until I’m back home, cause it’s dark and scary out there!), with chickens and ducks, pet cats and dogs, source of water came from a well at the wet kitchen area, and grandma still cooks using firewood that time! So I pretty much experienced the real kampung life, enjoying myself climbing trees, helping grandma taking water from the well, collect the firewood in while she chops them to pieces, putting firewood in the cooking stove (kid’s like to play with fire :P), playing with pet cats, and even collecting chicken eggs from the coop! Grandma said must make sure the mother hen is not there, and when collecting, be sure to not collect all in but leave one there.. so the mother hen will not “merajuk”(gets upset) that we took all her eggs… cause if she does, she will then go deep in to the bushes and lay her eggs there which ended up, eaten by snakes or biawak (some kind of monitor lizard which is slightly smaller than the komodo dragon)..
And grandma will bring me anywhere she goes… there was this one time she brought me to a Siam Wat, I can’t recall where.. dad would know… cause we do go once in a while on any occasion, accompanying grandma there… oh yea.. she speaks thai too :D I was either 8 or 9 that time… and it was the Loy Krathong festival… so we over night at her friends house and I just blindly follow her where ever she goes… I could remember this festival as I could recall releasing the handmade styrofoam based lotus flower-like raft into the river….
We then renovated the home from wooden to brick walls with new layout, and after that I did not manage to go and stay anymore… and grandma was also sick, battling with cancer but she did come to stay at our place instead…. I was 10 when she passed away… and I still miss her dearly… the house anyways have also been sold… so I will have no chance to go back anymore… :(
It has been a long while now… just the Sunday that have just passed, was her 16th death anniversary… so we as Chinese do all these offering and prayers…
Dad just bought a new Nyonya/Peranakan cookbook and was eager to try… apparently, some of the dishes was cooked by grandma before… dad, being a filial son, of course would want her mother to savour the best and her favourite food :D So he did all the cooking, and we, the rest, do the eating :P That is what dad will usually do.. if the offering is for his family, he will then prepare everything…
Offerings for grandma, her family members and friends that have passed… I even offer her a cup of kopi o (black coffee)!
Dad cooked all these… hebat kan? (great right?) hahahaha
The all time favourite, jiu hoo char… we finished the whole plate (like mountain) up that day itself..
Roast pork, to be eaten with “air asam”(tamarind juice with shrimp paste, chilies and shallots)
I think this is the Inche Kabin, marinated deep fried chicken…
It’s really nice… :D the meat was succulent, juicy and the flavour was just nice…
Masak titik Soup.. I have no idea why it is called masak titik.. I think there are different version of this soup.. the one dad cooked is from the cookbook… it has got green papaya, winter melon (or some other melon I can’t differentiate when eating), salted fish meat, shelled prawns with some hint of chili boh… well, I’m explaining this based on my own palate’s translation because I did not check the ingredients from the book.. hahaha.. anyways, it tasted like hokkien/prawn noodles soup… with all ingredient added, the soup tasted very sweet… and to avoid dad eating the prawns (high cholesterol), my sis tried to kill me by forcing me to eat them all up.. since she can’t do the job… :P Mom said the one grandma cooked tasted slightly different and nicer… I can’t recall though…
I have no idea what the name of this dish… it’s salted fish… and I’m not a fan… I first thought it’s just deep fried fish meat, so I put the whole piece in my mouth and I went… “woaahhh~!” and wrinkly faced!
Peranakan Acar Fish (Fish pickles). Acar fish is fish that are deep-fried and then pickled in rice vinegar, turmeric, julienned ginger and vegetables, sliced garlic and red chili.
Fried eggs in tomato sauce gravy with spring onions, chili and onion slices.
So you tell me.. how to lose weight laaa… hahaha…
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