Foochow Wooden Stool

 

In the early years furniture for the shops and homes were very simple and spartan.

A stool like this was used as a dining stool. Although coffee shops might have the ubiquitous German chairs with marble tables many shops continued to use these wooden stools.

They were very sturdy and they could be stack probably up to ten stools together.

Good wood was oten used and they were made to last. No a single nail would be sued in their making.

Although the stool looks very simp;le a lot of craftsmanship has gone into its making.

Pom Pian

 

These cakes are in fact sweet pastry with a nice sugary filling. They have been around in Sibu for as long as I can remember. They are also individually wrapped in grease paper. Freshly made and just out of the oven they taste wonderful.

This pom pian was my paternal grandfather's favourite biscuit with his afternoon tea. My grandmother would buy the biscuits in the morning so that he could have them fresh every day. The children and grandchildren could also have a good share of this delicacy.

The most famous Sibu biscuit shop was called Wan Hin owned by the Toh family. Their biscuit shop was sited along Blacksmith Road but their address was however on Island according to Ah Seng or Toh Kie Seng one of the sons,now in his fifties. Their fame spread up and down the Rejang River Basin and no Foochow marriage could be complete without their wedding cakes or leh pian.

Their products were sold in Kapit ,Kanowit, Bintangor, Sarikei and even Mukah and Bintulu.

Besides pom pian they also sold kompia,mooncakes and other sweets.

More Casuarina Trees

 

Sweet Memories of a Traditional Foochow Kitchen in Sg Maaw

The traditional Foochow kitchen in Sibu in the 50's and 60's could be considered the biggest room in the house and was definitely the centre of soical activities. It would have a huge cement stove with a huge kuali and three or four areas for fires to be lighted up.

An interesting wooden sink ,no longer seen today,would be at the side. Usually the stove faced east. One or two food safes would be found in the kitchen. A stone grinder was always part of this kind of Foochow kitchen. A huge wooden round table would be placed by a window and that was where the family would eat. Two other tables could folded and placed at a corner,ready for a big group of visitors!!

I remember three of these kitchens very well: my maternal grandmother's in Sg. Maaw,my paternal grandfather's in Sg Merah and my own mother's kitchen on Kung Ping Road. These were simple but spacious. It was not the physical space that was the most important or significant but the activities and fond memories associated with them.

I remember my grandmother's kitchen in Sg. Maaw as a place where my uncle Pang Sing made his paus or steamed buns each evening to entertain all the nieces and nephews who came to visit.

His strong arms would knead the dough made out of at least five kilos of flour and soon we had a huge pau in the kuali steaming away.

The huge pau (kosong ie. without any filling),,measuring at least one and half feet in diameter and well risen, would be taken out piping hot to the delight of all the children. He would generously slice about 30 thick slices for all of us plonk a lot of Golden Churn butter on them . Most of us would add sugar to the slices and we would get some kaya too. Young and old .big and small would quickly take a slice each and bite into the hot slice which might even burn our fingers a little.

This was the joy of making pau. This was the kind of family joy that we had. Although it was just a humble bun, I felt that it was food fit for a king.

Sometimes grandmother Lau Lian Tie would have about ten grandchildren visiting her during the school holidays. And the three families living together already numbered more than 15 too!! It was a large extended family living under one roof and the kuali had to be huge to feed us all.

Nonetheless our aunties were able to cook enough food for all of us without raising an eyebrow. Meals were deliciously prepared and placed on the two or three tables. Chopsticks and spoons were placed prettily on them and the bowls with chicken designs were ready for our fragrant rice. Eating together was just so much fun. At about nine each evening we had this marvellous huge pau coming out of the steaming kuali. The fragrance of a great steaming bun is memorable.

Our kitchen was huge enough for four tables meant for ten each .This kind of space will never be found in any home today. And this kind of family lifestyle could only be in our fading memories.

The floor being wooden we could always hear the resounding steps made by running children. Those were happy sounds. Laughter was infectious .

Under the big kerosene lamp my uncle would be fanning himself with a palm fan and grandmother would be sitting on the Lang Doh (open corridor) leading to the kitchen and smiling with satisfaction that we were having a night snack before turning in.

Today more than forty years later all of us cousins are still in touch with each other and some staying close like before . We still bond well together because we were once one family "eating from the same cooking pot".

Bless be the ties that bind!!

We are like the flour dough kneaded well together by the love of our uncles and grandmother.

We used to laugh and say that our Foochow yeast is strong and is fermenting every where with great strength. And then we must always remember that when grandmothers cook they cook with love and the aroma from their kitchens will always be with us for the rest of our lives. This aroma is a touch of love on our shoulders when we need to think of something to comfort us or to lift our spirits for a moment.

Questions from Teenagers : Where do you keep your secrets?

I took this black and white photo in 1979. This depicts the small road and the left gate of the Methodist Secondary School at that time. Two casuarina trees lined the road on the right. The bigger one,nearer the school is not in the photo.

What does this photo remind me of? Two important things in my life when I was a young and naive teenager - asking questions and keeping secrets.

Teenagers of olden days did ask a lot of questions but they did not get as much help then as they can nowadays. Sometimes only a forum could enable them to ask some questions and get some answers. Most of the time even parents did not wish to answer their pertinent questions.

When I was young I would ask my mother questions. The questions she did not want to answer would get me this answer " Ask your father." And I knew that I need not ask those questions again.

Teenage boys in particular were keen to know, in all their sincerity about growing up, love and life. When I was a Guidance teacher in the Methodist secondary school, I was asked on very salient question during a forum for teenagers : " How do I get girls to admire me?"

I replied off the cuff (and partly based on my own youthful experience) : "you need to be a basketball player and be able to shoot lots of baskets or you need to play games well and be a star" . That was before Beckham, or Yao Ming, or Federer.

In the years which followed I observed that what I said was very true. The best sports boys get all the beautiful girls.And some of the married sports men in town also get lots of girls to admire them.

Girls never did dare then to ask "How do I get boys to admire me?" Today magazines the Internet and friends can help them.

Another question which was very popularly asked of teachers was "how do you keep your secrets?"

My answer was :"It is easy. Tell it to a big tree and it will keep your secrets. You will not have the burden of that secret. But the tree has."

I will let you into my secret .

Yes indeed it was very helpful. All children were brought up to know that once you reveal you own inner thoughts to another person and she becomes the second person to know what you think she has the burden of keeping it. If she tells another person your thought, it won't be secret and private any more. The whole world will know.

It is good to train our young up to be P and C most of the time.

Indeed I told my own secrets ,or when some one told me to keep things P and C, to the casuarina tree outside the school staff room.

It was a beautiful casuarina tree which must have been planted by missionaries. There was another huge casuarina tree in the Methodist Primary School. We used to admire these trees as they were so majestic and decorative. Casuarinas are not the natural flora of Sibu.

Many years later the beautiful casuarina tree outside the staff room was cut down and I felt very sad about its demise. I felt as if I had lost a friend. It had seen me growing up to a young woman and it had listened to my secrets.



So tell a tree your secret. In the movie "In the Mood for Love"Tony Leong Chou Wei told his secret to a tree in Cambodia.

Young athletes would continue to get the most beautiful girls. Other young girls would lose their hearts to them and it would be unrequited love for many of these poor girls.


Whatever it takes I would advise children to ask a lot of questions. And some answers must be given.

And with regards to secrets - I would still say the same thing - tell it to a big tree to unburden yourself.

If you don't have a tree to talk to, the God of the Universe would be delighted to listen to you.