Thursday Thirteen - Food Memories

Here are 13 memories associated with food from my childhood.

1. FISH: Steamed fish with ginger, coriander, Chinese mushrooms and soy sauce was a regular at our dinner table. We must have had it 3 times a week. Definitely not one of my favorites. Thanks to this, I'm not a big fan on fish at all.

2. Lap Cheong: This is a chinese sausage made with pork. I loved it and still do. My mother used to make these at home and hang them in the front garden to dry and harden. I didn't need anything else with my rice if I had this.

3. EGGS, BOVRIL, RICE: When I was 11, my piano lessons were on Wednesday nights and it was always a real rush to get home from school, have dinner and then go out again for the lessons. To make things simple, my mother always fried an egg sunny side up and we had this with Bovril and rice. I liked this.

4. PRAWNS: The only "seafood" I like are these huge prawns from Tanjung Tualang. And actually, they aren't from the sea but from the river instead.

5. CHAR KOAY TEOW: Each Saturday, after evening Mass, we would have Char Koay Teow for dinner at a neighborhood coffee shop. It was at this place that I first saw hail.

6. KFC: I think KFC was the only fast food restaurant Ipoh, Malaysia during my childhood. Back then, nobody in my family spoke about eating healthy and I have a vivid memory of my mother taking my brother and I there for dinner here before going to watch Superman IV in the cinema opposite the restaurant.

7. McDONALDS: The first one opened in Kuala Lumpur around the time I turned 10. I remember my father returning from a business trip to KL with cheeseburgers for my brother and I.

8. PIZZA HUT: I believe Pizza Hut came after McDonalds. We didn't get to try it out because my brother took one step in the restaurant and ran straight out again. He was nauseated by the smell of the cheese!

9. CHEE CHEONG FUN: This was my favorite breakfast growing up. Its basically a big sheet of rice noodle that is rolled up. The best place to have this was from a really grumpy guy who was a little like the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld.

10. NOODLES: In the first grade, my mom would give me RM0.20 on some days so that I could buy a bowl of noodles during the break.

11. SANDWICHES WITH CRUSTS ON: On other days, I took sandwiches with peanut butter. I was always really envious of my best friend because her mother used to cut the crusts of the bread while mine always had it on.

12. SAUSAGE ROLLS: When we moved to Brisbane, I loved having sausage rolls for morning tea at school.

13. BEETROOTS: Prior to moving to Brisbane, I didn't know about beetroots. At a school camp, I was attracted to the vivid colour and filled my plate with some. Ugh! I regretted it!