Page 11
Sally Gets Ready for the Year
of the HorseSugee Cake
|
Page 11
Sally Gets Ready for the Year
of the HorseSugee Cake |
IT IS NEW YEAR AGAIN. Sally has been making cakes all week, 24 hours a day. She makes more sugee cake than she needs; relatives and friends have to be remembered. Brandy, the stuff that makes the taste special, is excluded from those reserved for one or two friends whose Buddhist teachers forbid alcohol in any form. In between, she is busy preparing ang pow. The red envelopes are gifts from her bank. Sally does not understand the Chinese characters on them but she supposes that it's ok because they come from the bank. She places two new five ringgit notes into each packet. This year her relatives will call, except for cousin Jenny. Jenny's father in law died less than one year ago and Jenny is old fashioned and will not visit for a year, although many young people stay home for only 49 days From a Sony CD player in the corner of her modest flat, Cliff Richard is singing The Young Ones. Jane and her husband Beng come through the door, bringing with them a huge hamper, prepacked by a department store. Jane sports a red blouse, very red. "Year of the horse", she explains "Ah yo! My favourite" Jane cries. She does not mean the cake. She is a worshipper of Sir Cliff. "All day they play koong see, koong see!", she complains. "And Christmas is Jingle Bells and Jingle Bells and Jingle Bells. So sickening!" Beng looks at the table laid with ground nuts, red kua chee , kuay kapek, lem pen , kuay bangkek , kuay bulu and cheo hua . Oh! he says haven't seen lem pen for years, and puts one into his mouth. Jane protests. "It's not New Year yet!" Beng ignores her. He picks a mandarin orange from a box on the floor and proceeds to peel it before eating it |
Pnee Hoo Ch'ar Jane says, "Grandma is preparing pnee hoo ch'a, jui hoo ch'a, kiam ch'ai ar, gulai kay and ... what's the other?" she asks Beng. "Ah ya! Can't remember everything" she turns to Beng, embarrassed"Don't ask me!" he shrugs utter ignorance. Sally supplies the missing link. "Kay ch'ar kor " she says. Sally ought to know. She was brought up by her grandmother. Which was long ago enough. Sally says to Jane, "Your grandma's lucky. She has a Filipino maid to help her" Beng proposes that we visit Mr Lee on the first day of the New Year. 
"No", I say, "Mr Lee always visits and drinks from house to house on the first" Beng is shocked. "What! He comes from China and yet does not know that the head of the house must be at home on the first?" Beng likes to drive around on New Year's eve to gaze at houses all lighted up. He is saddened that the practice of turning on all the lights until dawn is dying. He says there are fewer cars on the road this season. Must have been a drop in visitors. Used to be 100,000 cars invading Penang every year. Beng thinks it's the slump |
| Ten Ringgit Sally tells Jane she is putting ten ringgit into each packet and asks if it is ok. Jane says she has no idea; it's only once a year so why worry? Sally says that in the fifties ang pow she received had 20 cents in them (the cost of a bowl of mee ). Some had 40 cents. She had heard of the dollar ang pow but never had the luck to get such a big one but it was common in the sixties when a bowl of mee hit one dollar. Jane listens, then says, "Why not make it two ringgit?" Cousin Jenny drops in. She says, " Make it two ringgit if too many kids come". Jenny has brought Sally some celery, green apple and carrot for her morning drink. "I know you must be busy making cake so I bought you these at the market just now" "Ah la! You are very ho sim", Sally is grateful. She's into alternative medicine. "You will visit this year?". It is a gentle reminder to Jenny of her duties, for Jenny is younger then her. Jenny says: "It's ok lah! I married a Cantonese and they say its ok as long as I don't give ang pow." Her husband, Chong, who has parked the car and brought in the baby in a cradle says, "We Cantonese give two ang pow, one from father and one from mother" He has scored one against the Hokkiens. Sally says, "The Honkies like to show off. I see in the papers they even give $100." |
| Beatles David drops in. He's had the traditional New Year hair cut and looks younger than usual. He brings a bottle of whiskey and two pomelos. He begs Jane to play the piano. She obliges with a Beatles song, then follow "Feelings" and other tunes of their times. She plays well. "Come over tomorrow", David says. "My mother is making kiam ch'ai boay " . It's a favourite and everyone says ok. Chong asks David to come in on the 3rd day of the new moon for a drink David says he can't make it. It is Valentine's Day and he and his girl friend are celebrating with western food at RM125 + + a head. David and girl friend and their friends are infected with the religion of the shopkeepers. They strictly observe "Mother's Day" as well as "Father's day". "Where's your girl friend?" Sally asks. David says she is busy preparing dinner for the ooi lor for the family on New Year's Eve. "Where can I get purple roses?", he asks Sally. "I don't know", Sally says. "What for?" "For my girl friend of course! It's the latest thing!", and he says good bye Before she goes Jenny reminds Sally to put up the ang ch'ai. "Before five," she warns. As Sally cleans up she grumbles,"Red hair, blue hair and now purple roses! These guys are crazy!" The door bell rings. It is Tay See, her nephew, who is studying in London. He says, "Sorry, I brought you two mangoes because I could not get any nice oranges" She gives him a beer and she is glad when he leaves after news about other relatives in England. For Sally has to get ready for the ooi lor at her dad's place tonight. Her husband, Lak Kee, was lucky to get a flight back from Australia and will be here in time for dinner. They will go to Sally's family tonight because Lak Kee's parents died a few years back, when a sleepy express bus driver crashed into their car. # ************************* |
| _________ ang ch'ai - a red silk banner hung over the lintel inscribed with auspicious words or images. Those who are strict insist on the banner being put up early in the morning and in any event, not later than 5 in the evening. ang pow - red packet in which is placed money in pairs say 2 one dollar notes which is given to visiting children and unmarried adults. The money has to be given in pairs e.g. two RM5 new notes, or RM1 together with a new ten cent coin. cheo hua - (stone flower) - a jelly like sweet called cheo hua because of its hard shiny appearance gulai kay - chicken curry ho sim - kind hearted horse - 2002 is the year of the golden horse jiu hoo ch'a - a dish of fried cuttle fish and vegetables mainly sengkuang (mengkuang in the gardening books) kay ch'ar kor - chicken cooked with mushrooms kiam ch'ai ar! - a soup of duck, pig's trotters, salted mustard green, and sour plums kiam ch'ai boay - so called because it is supposed to be the left overs of food all cooked in one dish but in fact a carefully prepared soup full of pork and salted mustard green kuay bangkek - small biscuits made from alooloo (arrow root) flour. kuay bulu - a soft cake made of egg, sugar and flour koay kapek - delicate folded crepe biscuits popularly called "love letters" kua chee - melon seeds lem pen - a horse hoof shaped biscuit of delicate lightness mee - noodles made from flour ooi lor - the New Year's Eve dinner when the family gathers round the hot pot ("steamboat") for the Annual Reunion pnee hoo ch'a - small slices of dried sole |
| The Asian Centre Resource Library and matters Asian Telephone 604 657 1371 |
| Image of Penang Island by Tina Choong
The Penang File, a non-profit magazine, is sponsored by the family of Ooi Boon Lay and made possible by the initial efforts of Tai Keat Eam and Lee Khai |
| ______ INDEX Point to the article that you want to read, and CLICK Home Artist Baba Sayings China Street Fort Cornwallis Horse Year Jaffna Rojak Market English True Baba 15th Night |
___________________ The Penang File Issue 20 |