First food memories, of a heritage near-forgotten
The first thing that comes to mind is the days preceeding Chinese New Year sometime in the 1980s, when I'd sit in the back yard with Aunt Viv in front of a clay stove of hot charcoal fire, baking kuih kapit (love letters, pic left taken from 5xmom). Those days of sitting squat on short red stools (that was usually used to for those washing clothes, tsk) and clamping light, sweet mix into two circular metal moulds were the fondest memories of traditional female bonding for me. My aunt was my mother-figure who taught me how to be the 50% Malaysian Chinese that I was. Tasting the light crisp wafer, and also getting messy in the sweet powdery flour of the kuih bangkit is my most favourite of all childhood memories.

In fact, when I'd recently began seeing the pie tee in local cafe menus, I thought was having deja vu . Like a treasure hunter trying to prove I remember this dish as a child, I rummaged through the dusty unused kitchen utensils and found this strange L-shaped iron with a wooden handle on one end, and a solid jagged cup shape on the other. I instantly knew and recalled that it was my Aunt Viv's pie tee mould. Of course, tasting the commercially made pie tees could never replace the ones my aunt used to make for us at home. *^_^*

A teary home economics lesson
Going to an all girls' school meant that one of our basic (and not PC =P) lessons in Kemahiran Hidup (home economics) is cooking. I loved our school's big & bright kitchen, located on the first floor just below the science labs. It was such a torture to be listening in science class and smelling the delicious aroma of Malaysian dishes being experimented on in the a different kind of science lab just below us. It was either wishing recess came earlier, or we could skip class & run off downstairs to eat whatever the other girls were cooking! Hahah...

When it finally came our turn to cook, I was excited at the thought of finally making edible savories that wasn't the brownies I kept experimenting on at home. As far as I remember, we learned to make fried rice, fried kuey teow, pastry sardine rolls, egg sandwiches... and my ultimate favourite, onde-onde! The little green glutinous coconut balls with gula melaka (palm sugar) filling was such a joy to make and eat! Especially when, with the right consistency of gluten and flour, they were light & chewy enough to pop the gula melaka into your mouth!! On my first try, they were a magical experience. But I had only so few to take home & savour alone, that I kept them in the fridge hoping to have the meagre three pieces last a lifetime. You couldn't imagine my horror when the next day they were gone! My brother had greedily finished everything and left none for me. I cried. I think mum consoled me that I could try to make it again. Unfortunately for me, the magic only lasted once and I don't think ever tried again after that...

Who says men can't cook?
I thank my paternal great grandmother for the torturous amount of work she put my dad & his older siblings (including my Aunt Viv) through in the kitchen. =P I think that if it weren't for her, I'd never be able to enjoy these childhood food memories & my father's delicious home cooking!

My father's side of the family was a matriarchal family whose roots encircled around the Thai Hokkien & Penang Nyonya food culture. And my great grandmother believed in child labour. ^_~ That meant that my father, in days lacking electrical food appliances, had to slave with the pestal & motar to make any form of sambals (chili pastes) or sit in front of charcoal stoves for hours... But the benefit of all that labour is a lifetime of childhood memories to feed on. Whether its Penang laksa, lam mee, any Penang Nyonya dish or the simplest Western food, when my dad cooks - it's a feast!!! *^__^* My ultimate favourite was his pandan chicken (pic above). Though I'd sadly say he refuses to employ child labour like his grandmother did, I remember the few times I got my hands yellowed from wrapping those delicious tumeric marinated chicken in pandan leaves before they were fried.

I swear my dad isn't just an excellent cook, he's also a creative one. Growing into adolescence meant that my brother & I would rarely sit at the family table for dinners. So to make it more appealing, my dad stood his firm ground of having the family eat together, and made a simple meal a feast for the eyes. He would meticulously put a bowl shaped rice each on our plates and spooned enough servings of vegetables, meat & gravies along the sides of the rice. It felt like eating at a fancy restaurant at the comfort of your own home. I swear, that's not the only thing I remember of my dad and his cooking. If I had the time and space, I could rattle on and on... =P

The other 50%
To be fair to my Filipina side of my heritage, I must recall the very few opportunities I get to taste their delicacies. My mum for one, is the opposite of my dad. He confesses for her that she never knew how to cook until she stepped on Malaysian soil. But that didn't mean that my mum never tried to introduce us to the food she grew up with.

The most popular one being the chicken adobo. This chicken dish carries a strong pungent taste of white vinegar amidst soy sauce gravy, which I loved to shower over my rice. And though I generally disliked the strange tastes of Filipino food, which tends to be sweet, sour or bland, this was one I could survive growing up with. The others are mostly seasonal likings to which I ate til I got sick of it... Hahah... Isn't that what kids do? The most memorable one being the kalamay na ube(pic left) - a steamed concoction of ground glutinous rice mixed with ground ube (yam).Then topped with latik-brown bits on top, which is curdled coconut cream. This is one helluva sweet dessert that I can't get out of my mind. Its lumpy creamy texture is almost like the mooncake's red bean paste, only heavier.

And of course the other Pinoy dish of my childhood memories is the infamous balut that I blogged about previously. ^_~

This is really a long walk down memory lane. And I think although I merely blogged about four specific memories, I think it's more than enough. It was really refreshing reminiscing on the food that actually signifies a past, a heritage and relationships with my loved ones. For this, I would love to tag the following fellow friends to share their own memories...
* Alda Tan - my brother, just to see if he shares similar memories
* Seadevilyn - cos I know she adores reminising on her Kelantanese delicacies
* The Visitor - whom for once, I'd like to hear him talk about food other than pancakes and horror films =P
* TanDeeJay - my Filipina "twin", so you can read more about Pinoy food

That aside, in the tradition of this meme, below is the list of previous taggers before me. When it's your turn, simply move down the list, dropping number one from the top spot, moving the numbers down, and placing yourself in the number five spot, linking to each:
+ Oswego Tea
+ Masak-Masak
+ Babe in the City KL
+ Funky Cookies
+ Midnite Lily