Abacus Seeds

We often read in the newspapers and the blogosphere about ‘neighbours from hell’. Thankfully, my family are quite blessed to have wonderful neighbours. For example, every festive season, one of our neighbours, Mrs Yong, who is an excellent cook, never fails to send over some of her special dishes. Thus, even though nobody in our family can cook, our children are not deprived of the traditional Chinese dishes that their parents used to enjoy in the kampong days.



One of my favourites is a dish called Suan-pan-zi (算盘子) or Abacus Seeds (pictured above) which we got to enjoy last night at reunion dinner. This, if I am not mistaken is a Hakka dish. It is not easily available at the food centres in Singapore. I once bumped into an old friend at a food centre in Ang Mo Kio Ave 4. Apparently, she had made the trip all the way from Bedok to enjoy this dish. I know of another stall at the Shunfu food centre near my former working place in Jalan Pemimpin that sells this dish. Nevertheless, I assure you that those you find at the food centres are no match for my neighbour’s.

The Suan-pan-zi gets its name from the pieces of ring-like yam that look like the beads of an abacus. It is an auspicious dish because those who eat it will have a roaring business in the year ahead. Their abacus which is traditionally used to tally your earning will not stop ‘clacking’. Other ingredients in the dish are minced pork and dried prawns. Of course it is best eaten with freshly pound chilli.



The photos below show two other dishes that our neighbour sent over last night. I am afraid, I do not know about the significance of these dishes as far as Chinese New Year traditions are concerned.




I end with a note of advice to those readers who are good cooks; such as Aiyah Nonya. Cook a bit extra and pass them to your neighbours. This is the best way to promote good neighbourliness; something which seems to be sadly missing in modern-day, highly stressed Singapore society.

Here’s wishing all readers a blessed Chinese New Year.


Related post: Five things I do not miss about Chinese New Year

What do you do when you have sore throat or a cough?

What do you do when you have sore throat or a cough? Why, take some medical hornets and olives of course. Yes, that what my mother would get for us from the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) shop or Yok Choy Poe (药材铺). In Cantonese, this medicine is called chook fong yok lam (竹蜂药榄). “Chook fong” is bamboo wasp or hornet, and “lam” is olive (橄榄). Yes, it’s really ugly looking. She would boil it in hot water and make us drink the water.



Nowadays it’s difficult to buy such products. Maybe the bamboo hornet or wasp is an endangered species. Anyway, for the worthy cause of educating my younger readers, I bought a small packet to show you what it looks like. Hope my friend Siva and his fellow wildlife conservationists will not condemn me.

By the way, does anyone know why TCM shops always wrap their products in pink paper? That’s a genuine question, not a quiz question.

When we lived in the kampong, we had a TCM shop just a stone’s throw from our house. Guess what we called the shop owner? Yok Choy Poe lou (药材铺佬) of course! He was a Khek (Hakka). You may recall that our kampong was a Hokkien kampong. Practically everyone was Hokkien until when I was older. As far as I could remember, we were the only Cantonese family, and this TCM shop owner’s family was the only Hakka family. Across the road to the right, was a Hock Chew guy who ran a small coffee shop (with attap roof). Guess what we called him? Fook Chow lou of course!

In our kampong we had a lot of ‘lous’; e.g. fei fatt lou (barber), kopi char pou lou (coffee shop owner), mai yu loe (fish monger), mai arp lou (duck seller) etc. Good thing no koon choy lou (undertaker)

While I am at it, let me show you some photos of other equipment that the TCM practitioner uses. My father-in-law used to run such a shop in his younger days in Ipoh; which explains why my wife knows quite a bit about traditional Chinese herbs. When she was little, being one of the oldest children, she had to help out in the shop. Life was tough for her.

After my father-in-law passed away, a couple of years ago, we found these gadgets among his things. I will just show you the photos and you try to figure out what they are used for. That way, I don’t have to embarrass myself by giving the wrong ‘education’.

Dining in the ‘old days’ (by Peter Chan)

Today where there are more avenues to pub, club, munch and dine apart from hot spots in the Orchard Road area. When I look back from my time, we have made immense progress in the F & B industry. So I don’t regret one bit that the “good ole days” have changed.

Fig 1: GH Café on the right side of Battery Road towards Bonham Street (circa 1960)

Fortunately for me my father was able to take me to those wonderful joints like the GH Café down in Battery Road and Polar Café in High Street. On my own, I could not afford to pay for a bowl of Hokkien Prawn noodle soup, not until I earned my first buck.

Whilst clearing my old junkies, I found this great menu list from the Goodwood Park Hotel to remind me of the time when I was able to sit down for a big nice meal at a time when only “Upperty Ang Mos” could do so effortlessly because it was charged to the company’s entertainment expense.

It was not really difficult for me to finger through the menu list to place my order. The Gordon Grill was famous for its tender juicy meat on the trolley; everybody knew about that. There was my old friend “Captain Wong” the Maitre d ‘Or who recommended me the best cut. “US Prime Tenderloin, 150 grams just right, medium to well done”, said Captain Wong. For the starter, I chose Scottish Smoked Salmon, remembering the unpleasant experience I had with the Scottish Haggis dish at the Tanglin Club bar. Then I decided on dessert which was cheese cake, a house brand of the hotel. You can bet nobody came close to this unless it was the Singapore Hilton. Today I was told that the Pan Pacific Hotel has the best of the lot. Then I rounded it with Irish coffee. A bottle of red white was not particularly exciting for me because I knew very little about wine – the “Year of Manufacture” and making suitable comments about its quality. I thought those things were very bourgeois. However if you like to know the reason, it was because a bottle would set me back at least $70. That was too much for the taste.

Captain Wong had looked at me very much amused but I did not catch the hint. It was actually too much for a native Singaporean because our generation never had big appetite for western food.


Fig 2: Gordon Grill’s menu list and the inside pages

When the bill came, I crossed the $200 mark which was still within my initial estimates. How nice to sign-off with an American Express credit card: I never forgot NEVER TO LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT. In those days having an American Express card was much sought-after than a DINERS CLUB. VISA and MASTERCARD had not made their presence felt until the 1980s. After I left the hotel, I came down with indigestion and a big bill to foot from next month’s salary.

Fig 3: Another of the inside pages of the menu

I just wonder how different was I from my children who are now young working professional with a bigger pay-packet than the time when I started working? Maybe if I was born 30 years later, I can join the “Sentosa Foam Party” but then I remember before there was a foam party, there was a wilder one called the “Wet T-Shirt Party” in Angeles City.


Fig 4: Captain Wong on the left standing and observing a waiter serving the guests

The next article I will touch on clubbing, again because I found an old poster in my store-room.

Old Buildings Quiz (6)

Can you identify this old building? To make it easier for you, I show 2 views taken from different directions. I took these pictures more than a year ago. At that time, it looked uninhabited, so just maybe it might not even be around today.

Hints:

1) It’s located near the sea.

2) Up to a couple of years ago, it was headquarters for a certain sport association. But I believe this building is probably at least 30 to 40 years old. What it was originally; I have no idea. Hope some reader can enlighten us.

ANSWER

This building is located between Nicoll Highway (above photo, left) and Stadium Road. It is next to National Stadium car park B. Across the road (right of this photo) is what used to be the Marine Coast Guard HQ which moved out a few months ago. I used to go there quite often for my brisk walking exercise with my friend Chuck. At that time, my son used to have his kayaking training there. But nowadays they train at the MacRitchie Reservoir. At that time I saw a sign saying this building was the headquarters of the Singapore Netball Association. Subsequently that association was shifted to another location near to the Stadium Boulevard side. I took these photos because I suspect they will tear it down pretty soon when they start constructing the new Sports Hub.

The above is a 1960’s photo of the Nicoll Highway and Merdeka Bridge (Thanks to Memories of Singapore for use of this photo) As you can see, the building was already there before the present National Stadium was built. According to my friend Peter Chan:

"This building was a look-out tower for aircrafts landing at the Old Kallang Airport. When there was Kallang Airport (up to 1955), it was used by the Royal Singapore Flying Club which later shifted to Paya Lebar Airport and now at Seletar Airport."

Where was the location of Changi Grammar School?

I am a bit confused by the discussion between Peter and Tony in the earlier post about the Changi Grammar School. Was it at Loyang Avenue or was it at Upper Changi Road? As it is quite difficult to follow the discussion without photos and maps, I have added these below. Now please continue the discussion so that readers will not be confused.

1) The Location mentioned by Brian Mitchell which is along Loyang Avenue near to Changi Village, near to the Maranatha BP Church.

Below is a map of the location.






2) The Location mentioned by Peter. This is along Upper Changi Road near to the Changi Chapel and Museum

Below is a map of the Upper Changi Road in the vicinity of Cosford Road and Abingdon Road where the CPG Airport Development Division is presently located.



Below are some photos that I took last year of the CPG Airport Development Division complex, also site of the former Changi Grammar School (or so I thought)