Simple Pleasures – Tea

The tea of my childhood, milky and a pale brown with a tinge of orange, was a drink I never really appreciated until I left Singapore. During my Singaporean childhood, I looked forward to trips to the coffeeshops and the hawker centers. In the mornings, I might go for “ta hui tsui” (unsure of the spelling), long Chinese bread sticks deep-fried in coconut oil, nasi lemak, roti prata stuffed with egg and beef curry, carrot cake or the kueh-kueh etc. In the afternoons, there was char kwuay teow, mee siam, Hainanese chicken rice, bandung, ice kacang, and fishball noodles etc. to choose from! In the evenings, I could have satay or eat whatever I hadn’t eaten earlier in the day. Of course, I did not go to these places everyday; my family mainly enjoyed them together on the weekends. Sometimes, if our pocket allowances allowed it, my schoolmates and I would treat ourselves after school on the way home.

The tea of my childhood evokes warm thoughts of a past long gone but not forgotten. I always loved to watch Dad enjoy anything and everything he ate or cooked for the family. He put love into his cooking. He never learnt to cook formally in a hotel school in Switzerland as I did. Yet, he cooked like a master and he used his heart. How many men do it the way my father does it? I must say that nothing tastes better than Singaporean food or the food that I grew up with. First class European cuisine cannot even compare to what emotions Singaporean cuisine reminds me. If I could not have anything Singaporean today, then at least I have my teh tarik because it’s easy to make. Filipinos generally do not have their teas with milk. I like to have mine with ginger or cardamom sometimes if it is available. Ah, teh tarik! It does indeed pull or awakens my senses and I get to reminisce the good old days.