Thursday, July 3, 2014





Mortar & Pestle; Aromas from A Peranakan Kitchen


“Lai, lai, chiak”, or “Come, come and eat” are familiar words in my
household. Grandma always made sure there was something to eat, no
matter what time of day.

This book is inspired by my childhood and growing up in a Penang
Peranakan/Hokkien family. The best part of those years was spending time
with my grandmother, mother and aunts when they were in the kitchen,
mainly watching them as they prepared items from simple desserts to
elaborate main dishes. Chinese festivals were excellent excuses to spend
even more time in the kitchen, making festive favourites such as kee chang
and ee, which remain my favourites to this day. Cooking and eating, I feel,
brings families closer together.

I still crave the comforting aromas of mee hoon kueh soup simmering in the
pot, or delicious pancakes, eaten fresh and warm straight out of the frying
pan. I find myself smiling when I think about the eager wait for delicious
asam laksa soup with finely minced ikan kembung. The smell of fish would
bring cats to our back door, looking for leftovers. Teatimes would be time
for bee koh moi (sweet black glutinous rice), gandum (sweet wheat pearls) or
ang tau th’ng (red bean soup). Ah, such pleasures. How I miss those days.
Through this book and the recipes inside, I hope to share my memories of
a Peranakan childhood: food, traditions, festive seasons, and more.
So, lai, lai. Join me as I revisit my childhood flavours.


Here are some preview of the delicacies inside the book...




Books are available at MPH and all major bookstores all over Malaysia and Singapore.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Mortar&Pestle

Our cookbook, Mortar & Pestle ; Aromas from a Peranakan Kitchen is just released in late February 2011. It is a significant beginning after two years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears. We painstakingly spent almost every weekend for a few months trying to get the pictures done. The nights were spent editing and correcting the recipes at first and after that is done, we had to deal with the touch up and never ending layout correction. It is difficult, no doubt. My help came from a great friend of mine who could thankfully was heaven sent! I thanked God for her. The rush and all had me sleeping at 3am everyday and had taken a huge toll on everything around me. So, if you asked me if I do it all over again? I would say yes but perhaps differently!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

So much to do

So much to do and its already a year gone by??? How time have passed and it is again Christmas! When we were kids, a day is like a week, a month is a few months sometimes even a year, I wondered what happened? Apparently it is not not enough time in one day where everything has got to happen at the same time at the same place to the same person!!!

Friday, April 10, 2009

What is Peranakan?

Some definitions of Peranakan from Wikipedia.

Peranakan

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Peranakan and Baba-Nyonya (traditional Chinese: 峇峇娘惹; Hokkien: Bā-bā Niû-liá) are terms used for the descendants of the very early immigrants to the Nusantara region, including both the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java among other places, who have partially adopted Malay customs in an effort (chronological adaptation) to be assimilated into the local communities. While the term Peranakan is most commonly used for those of Chinese descent, who are also known as Straits Chinese (土生華人; named after the Straits Settlements), there are also other, comparatively small Peranakan communities, such as Indian Hindu Peranakans (Chitty), Indian Muslim Peranakans (Jawi Pekan) and Eurasian Peranakans (Kristang).[1]

Baba House Museum in Malacca, Malaysia, an area where many Peranakan Straits Chinese lived.

In both Malay and Indonesian, 'Peranakan' means 'descendants'. Babas refer to the male descendants and the Nyonyas the female. The word nyonya (also commonly spelled nonya) may originate from the Portuguese word dona, which means 'lady'. The word Peranakan is also used to describe Chinese Indonesians.[citation needed]

Contents

[hide]

Ancestry

Most Peranakan are of Hoklo (Hokkien) ancestry, although a sizable number are of Teochew or Cantonese descent. Originally, the Peranakan were part Chinese, part Malay, and part descended from the original inhabitants of Princess Hang Li Po of Malacca. Written records from the 19th and early 20th centuries show that Peranakan men usually took brides from within the local Peranakan community. Peranakan families also frequently imported brides from China and sent their daughters to China to find husbands.

Language

The language of the Peranakans, Baba Malay (Bahasa Melayu Baba), is a dialect of the Malay language (Bahasa Melayu), which contains many Hokkien words. It is a dying language, and its contemporary use is mainly limited to members of the older generation. English has now replaced Baba as the main language spoken at home amongst the younger generation.


In Indonesia, its use is limited to informal occasions, young Peranakans occasionally add up new words (and lose some words) for their own slang. Young peranakans can still speak their creole language, because the language is close to Bahasa Indonesia, the first language of the country, and because normally Indonesia's diverse ethnic groups speak in their mother tongue except for formal occasions. This holds true as well for the Javanese language where its existence has subsided to being an informal language, except for cultural events in Yogyakarta.

[edit] History

In the 15th century, the city-states of the Malay Peninsula often paid tribute to various kingdoms such as those of China and Siam. Close relations with China were established in the early 15th century during the reign of Parameswara when Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho), a Muslim Chinese, visited Malacca and Java. According to traditional accounts, in 1459 CE, the Emperor of China sent a princess, Hang Li Po, to the Sultan of Malacca as a token of appreciation for his tribute[citation needed]. The royalty and servants who accompanied the princess initially settled in Bukit Cina and eventually grew into a class of straits-born Chinese known as the Peranakan.

The Peranakan retained most of their ethnic and religious origins (such as ancestor worship), but assimilated the language and culture of the Malays. They developed a unique culture and distinct foods. Numerous sources claim that the early Peranakan inter-married with the local Malay population; this might derive from the fact that some of the servants who settled in Bukit Cina who traveled to Malacca with the Admiral from Yunnan were Muslim Chinese. Other experts, however, see a general lack of physical resemblance, leading them to believe that the Peranakan Chinese ethnicity has hardly been diluted. Some Peranakan distinguish between Peranakan-Baba (those Peranakan with part Malay ancestry) from Peranakan (those without any Malay ancestry). The Peranakan often sent their sons and daughters to China to look for spouses. The religion of the local Malay population was Islam, which forbids inter-marriage with other religions without conversion first, although intermarriage may have sometimes occurred. In the early 1800s, new Chinese immigrants to the Straits Settlements bolstered the Peranakan population. In Indonesia a large population of Peranakans can be found in Tangerang, West Java.

Over the centuries, the Peranakans have evolved a unique culture that maintains many Chinese traditions, such as celebrating the Lunar New Year and the Lantern Festival, while adopting the customs of the land they settled in, as well as those of their successive colonial rulers. There are traces of Portuguese, Dutch, British, Malay and Indonesian influences in Baba culture.

By the middle of the twentieth century, most Peranakan were English or Dutch educated, as a result of the Western colonization of Malaya and Indonesia, and of the propensity of these people to easily embrace new cultures. Because the Peranakans readily embraced English culture and education, administrative and civil service posts were often filled by prominent Straits Chinese. The interaction with the British and Dutch also caused many in the community to convert to Christianity. The Peranakan community thereby became very influential in Malacca and Singapore and were known also as the King's Chinese due to their perceived loyalty to the British Crown. Because of their interaction with different cultures and languages, most Peranakans were (and still are) trilingual, being able to converse in Chinese, Malay, and English. Common vocations were as merchants, traders, and general intermediaries between China, Malaya and the West; the latter were especially valued by the British and Dutch, since the Babas also enjoyed good relations with the Malay community and served as advisers to the royal Malay courts[citation needed]. In fact, the term "Baba" is an honorific term in Malay, probably derived from Hindi/Sanskrit Baba, which literally means grandfather or father, and is used as a term of reverence and affection for an elderly gentleman.

Associations

Associations of Chinese Peranakan include the Peranakan Association of Singapore and the Gunung Sayang Association, a performing arts group. The Peranakan Association has about 1700 members, and the Gunung Sayang has about 200 members. Although the Peranakan Association consists of a mix of young and old, the Gunung Sayang Association has primarily elderly or retired members. In Malacca, there is an Indian Peranakan Association known as the Chitty Melaka. This is a tightly knit community of [2]. Chitty Peranakans display considerable similarity to Chinese Peranakans in terms of dressing, songs and folk dances.

Culture

Multichrome enamel porcelain tea tray with a traditional Peranakan fenghuang (Chinese phoenix) motif, c. 18th century

Historical and cultural items from the Baba culture are displayed in cultural establishments on Heeren Street, Jonker Street and other streets in the same neighborhood in Malacca and in Penang in Malaysia, and at the Peranakan Museum in Singapore. There one can find museums displaying furniture, food stuff, and even traditional clothes of the Baba and Nonya. There are also a small number of "Nyonya" restaurants in Singapore, Penang, Malacca, Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, and the West. Free weekly street shows featuring Baba performances, and traditional and pop Chinese cultural performances are found in Jonker Street in Malacca (Melaka). The shows are part of the night market (pasar malam) scene, and are usually crowded with shoppers, both local and foreign.

Ayam buah keluak, a traditional Peranakan dish

The Peranakans were partially assimilated into the Malay culture (especially in food, dress, and language), while retaining some Chinese traditions (religion, name, and ethnic identity), thereby creating a fusion culture of their own. For example, from the Malay influence a unique "Nyonya" cuisine has developed using typical Malay spices. Examples are Chicken Kapitan, a dry chicken curry, and Inchi Kabin, a Nyonya version of fried chicken. The women (Nyonyas) often wear the baju kebaya - a Malay garment seen most notably as the uniform of Malaysia and Singapore Airlines' female flight attendants - and beaded slippers called Kasut Manek. Traditionally this exquisitely-crafted footwear was hand-made, and worn by Noynyas. Making kasut manek required much patience, as in the past they are strung, beaded and sewn onto canvas with tiny faceted glass beads from Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic). In modern times, glass beads from Japan are preferred. Traditional kasut manek design often have European floral subjects, with colors influenced by Peranakan porcelain and batik sarongs. They were made onto flats or bedroom slippers. But from the 1930s, modern shapes became popular and heels were added.

In Indonesia, the Peranakans develop their own Kebaya, most notably 'kebaya encim', and developed their own batik patterns, which incorporate symbols from China.

Proposals of marriage were made by a gift of a pinangan, a 2-tiered lacquered basket, to the intended bride's parents brought by a go-between who speaks on behalf of the suitor. Most Peranakans are not Muslim, and have retained the traditions of ancestor worship of the Chinese, though some converted to Christianity. The wedding ceremony of the Peranakan is largely based on Chinese tradition, and is one of the most colorful wedding ceremonies in Malaysia and Singapore. At weddings, the Dondang Sayang, a form of extempore rhyming song in Malay sung and danced by guests at the wedding party, was a highlight. Someone would begin a romantic theme which was carried on by others, each taking the floor in turn, dancing in slow gyrations as they sang. It required quick wit and repartee and often gave rise to laughter and applause when a particularly clever phrase was sung. The melodic accents of the Baba-Nonya and their particular turns of phrase lend to the charm of this performance.

Peranakan culture is disappearing in Malaysia and Singapore. Without colonial British support for their perceived racial neutrality, government policies in both countries following independence from the British have resulted in the assimilation of Peranakans back into mainstream Chinese culture. In Singapore, the Peranakans are classified as ethnically Chinese, so they receive formal instruction in Mandarin Chinese as a second language (in accordance with the "Mother Tongue Policy") instead of Malay. In Malaysia, the standardization of Malay as Bahasa Melayu — required for all ethnic groups — has led to a disappearance of the unique characteristics of Baba Malay.

In Indonesia, the peranakan culture is losing popularity to modern western culture, but to some degree Peranakans try to retain their language, cuisines and customs. Young Peranakans still speak their creole language, although many young women don't wear the kebaya, and marriages normally follow western culture.

The migration of some Peranakan families, particularly the well-to-do, has led to a small Peranakan diaspora to neighboring countries, from Vietnam[3] to Australia[4]. However, these communities are very small, and with the increasing use of the various languages in their respective countries, the use of Peranakan Malay or Baba Malay has been diluted.

Peranakans

Malaysia

  • Tan Cheng Lock (Tun Dato Sir) - Founder and first President of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA)
  • Tun Tan Siew Sin - Third President of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA)

In Singapore

See also

Notes

Further reading

  • Lee Chin Koon: Mrs. Lee's Cookbook. Nonya Recipes and other favourite recipes.
  • Mahmood, Datin Sari Endon: The Nyonya Kebaya: A Century of Straits Chinese Costume, ISBN 0-7946-0273-8
  • Rudolph, Jürgen (1998). Reconstructing Identities: A Social History of the Babas in Singapore. Singapore: Ashgate. costumes
  • Khoo, Joo Ee (1998). The Straits Chinese: A Cultural History. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: The Pepin Press.

External links

Friday, March 20, 2009

Legitimate Work From Home Jobs

Legitimate Work From Home Jobs

Find Work From Home Opportunities

By Jennifer Wolf, About.com


Looking for legitimate work from home jobs can be daunting. There are so many scams out there, and frankly, many distracting "career opportunities" that don't live up to their potential. To protect the investment of your time and energy - which are extremely valuable - consider the following:
  • Know your qualifications. Make a list of the unique skills and talents you have to offer. For example, if you're looking into companies that "homesource" their customer service representatives (that is, they hire individuals who can do the job out of their homes), then having a smooth, pleasant, and clear phone voice is essential!

  • Know what you are looking for. In addition, make a list of the jobs you are looking for. What interests you? What are your scheduling and income needs?

  • Have realistic expectations. It can take months and years to develop the credibility with a legitimate work from home company to get to the point where you're earning the equivalent of full-time work.

  • Realize that you may still need child care. Working from home while taking care of your kids is extremely demanding. You may find that you need to hire sitters for at least part of the hours you'll be working from home.

  • Be honest about your capabilities. Don't sign up for a work from home job that requires you to have a faster computer than you really have, or one that demands a quiet, peaceful atmosphere in the background at all times if your kids will be present during your work hours.

  • Avoid jobs that require extensive, unpaid training. In general, stay away from opportunities that would require additional schooling or unrealistic amounts of unpaid training time.

  • Avoid jobs that require you to spend money in order to apply. This is a sure sign of a scam!

The following companies offer legitimate work from home opportunities. In addition, if you're looking for part-time supplemental employment, consider starting an at-home business you can operate alongside your kids, such as baby sitting, pet sitting, or doing freelance work.

LiveOps
  • Work from home as a customer service agent using your own computer and telephone

  • New employees earn $6-$8.50 per hour

  • Work as many or as few hours as you choose

  • This company charges applicants a $30 background check fee once you've been accepted as an independent contractor for LiveOpps
Working Solutions
  • Agents are not assessed any fees to work for the company

  • The type of work varies, from data entry to customer service work

  • Earn $7.20-$30 per hour


JetBlue Reservations Crew
  • Jet Blue reservation specialists actually work out of their homes

  • Apply online

  • Candidates must have at least two years of customer service experience


Tutor.com
  • Tutor students in subjects like math, science, English, and social studies

  • Set your own hours

  • Get paid while you're training

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Vick- unsafe for children under 2 years old

Not sure how true this is but apparently its been all over so here it is;-

Friday, March 6, 2009

You've Raised the Children; Time for a Job?

You've Raised the Children; Time for a Job?

  • By NEAL TEMPLIN

I had a working mom, so I assumed my wife would be one, too. Clarissa Acuña, the woman I married, also planned on having a career of her own.

But we were both wrong. Clarissa hasn't worked since the summer of 1991, shortly before she had delivered our third child.

At the time, it no longer made sense financially for her to work. After paying taxes on her wages and child care for three children, we wouldn't have come out ahead.

But over the years, that fateful decision has locked us into two different roles. I work and earn. She takes care of the kids.

Having a stay-at-home wife has given me enormous career flexibility. Unlike some of my colleagues, I've never missed days because of a sick child. I've been able to work late when needed, travel whenever I wanted for stories, and move around the country for better jobs.

That's the upside. There are also big downsides. There's good reason to believe that Clarissa, who is bilingual and has a marketing degree, would have been successful in a multitude of careers. She never got the chance.

And as the kids grew older, living on one salary was a squeeze financially. I come from a long line of cheapskates. But I've been made cheaper because it was tough supporting three kids -- particularly putting the eldest two through college -- on one salary.

Periodically, I bring up the subject of Clarissa rejoining the work force. It's not so much the extra money, though I do worry about our household being completely dependent on one wage earner in a contracting economy. Mostly, I just think she's ready for something new, and she's very talented.

We talked about it the other day. She points out that every time it seemed our kids had grown up enough for her to start working, something would happen to change that.

A few years ago, our youngest boy came down with a painful neurological disorder, which flares up periodically. Clarissa was the one who toted him to the doctor and stayed up with him when he had a rough night.

"Every time we started to ponder about work, he would get sick," Clarissa reminds me. "I needed to be home. If I had been working, I would have quit."

But that son is now a junior in high school, and he won't be in the house forever. Clarissa is rapidly approaching that day when she has to decide whether she wants to go back to work -- or find something else to do with her time.

Every family has to navigate these decisions differently.

Vickie Bajtelsmit originally trained to be a lawyer. Then, when she was 25 years old, she says she looked at a legal career and thought, "I can't be a successful lawyer in a high-powered firm if I want to have kids."

So Ms. Bajtelsmit decided to become a college professor. Today, at 51, she is chair of the finance department at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

She says she deliberately picked a career with flexible work demands. Still, there have been times when her workday was upended by a sick child. "I've often said jokingly to my female colleagues, 'I wish I had a wife,' " she says.

For those women who do leave the work force, re-entry isn't easy. Clarissa is all too aware of this. Is there an element of fear about working again after 17 years at home?

"Yes and no," she replies. "It's not as if I would get the plum job at this point anyway."

In fact, Clarissa believes one of her strengths is that she's flexible. She proved this the last time she worked, after graduating from college in 1989. She started as a customer-service representative at a consumer-finance company and was soon promoted to a much better-paying sales job.

Clarissa still isn't sure she wants to go back to work. She says she could opt to stay home and work on hobbies like gardening or photography. And she might do some volunteering. After all the times she moved the family for my career, how could I complain?

But Clarissa also believes she'll know the right time to return to work. And if she does, she'll eventually find the right job. "Life just comes to you if you wait long enough," she says.