Children and young people these days are so fortunate. They get to enjoy all kinds of international cuisines be it western, Italian, Japanese – you name it, they’ve eaten it!
During my time, a plate of Ah Kow’s kampua noodles at Kiaw Siong was the special Sunday treat and that too, only when my brother and I behaved during the church service. On the rare occasions when we were brought along to attend a relative’s wedding luncheon or dinner, we would look forward to the Sibu Foochow sio bee…
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…and the Foochow fried noodles…
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…but the highlight would be the dessert at the end – canned longans and peaches in sweet syrup, served cold. These days, the kids would not even give it a second glance.
Sometimes, my father would go out to catch the 2nd show, starting at 9.15 p.m. and he would come home at around 11 something…and more often than not, he would buy some Foochow fried noodles from this guy that he called Tong Merah who had a food stall on the upper floor of the former Sibu market or from another Ah Kow – the one at the back portion of Ban Chuan, next to the Cathay Cinema (now Star Cineplex). Then he would wake us up to eat…and how we cherished the special treat on those nights! I guess that explains why even until today, I can eat at any time of day…unlike some people.
9 years later, my sister was born…and she did not want to eat rice or porridge, just noodles and in those days, instant noodles were unheard of. So, every day, my father had to take the blue and white insulated plastic food carrier with a gold-coloured handle to town and buy chin t’ng mee (noodles in clear soup) for her…
Chin t’ng mee is actually the soup version of the kampua noodles, 50 sen a bowl at the time, with meat…and 30 sen without…
How we would wait, wishin’ and hopin’ that she could not finish and how we enjoyed and savoured every bit of whatever was left over on any day.
Gosh! We certainly were a deprived lot then, unlike the young ones today…
Comments on: "Wishin’ and hopin’…" (36)
Hmm…meaning that each time you guys would be hoping for those on the same table to be full and…then you could eat their portions right? :p
Yes, and in those days 10-12 HUGE dishes…so by that time, most would be too full to eat anymore and there would be a lot of leftovers. That was why everytime our mums went to such luncheons or dinners, we would be waiting anxiously for them to come back…wishin’ and hopin’ that they would tapao some of the sio bee home… It was like finding gold, I tell you!!! Young people today don’t know how lucky they are to be able to eat what they want anytime…
Ya you are so right, those days when i was a little boy, eating bak kut teh was like a a new year’s celebration, like once in a year,, now my boys have tasted cusiine from east to west…….why lah like that?
But i still find the simple home cooked meals are the best… you know i must really try Kampua mee,you have been saying for so many times now.
good weekend ckigu
They are so very lucky these days…unlike us in the past. Yet they complain and complain. Sigh!!! You can fly to Kuching direct from Penang, bring your family there on a holiday – use the cheap airline…book early, can be really cheap… I can always fly over there to take you all around. They have kampua in Kuching too…and many other yummy specialties! Tak kalah lah…if compare to Penang! LOL!!!
during my time where got bak kut teh.. never tasted them before till i m working .. those days fish balls and all varieties were sold at 5 sen or 10 sen one..my mum would take a tiffin carrier, walked to the back lane of the shops where the stall was.. one whole family less than RM2… can makan cukup cukup… i miss the taste of that stall.. no one can make such good nice taste anymore..
Yes, somehow life was pure and simple then…and everything tasted like heaven! We may still get to eat the same thing today but it may no longer be as nice. Is it because we have so many nicer things now, so they have paled in comparison…or things were actually nicer in those days way back when?
Yes, kids these days are very lucky to have so many food joints mushrooming around. My childhood is abit like yours, Cikgu. Back then my dad were not that well off, and we almost never eat out. My mum would cook for us every day, breakfast, lunch, tea and supper. And treats like KFC or even A&W comes almost 6 mth once or just on birthdays. So different from now…
Well, at least your time, you had KFC… When I started teaching in the 70s, the students in the small town thought that a hot dog…was dog’s meat! Even during those days when I was a child myself, there were many things that I did not know of – having never seen or heard of them…and even now, there are too! Some of the younger lot know a lot more!
*blush* Liddat when I was young I oso very jakun. I used to think that hot dog was dog meat. *pengsan* Told my i dowan eat dog, and he laughed his head off!
Good grief! And you are so young…and when you were young wasn’t that very long ago. Gosh! You didn’t watch tv? Or read Archie comics…or Garfield cartoon strips? Don’t tell me you were a fan of Along… These days, it’s Cuma and Ciki! Eyewwwww!!! Hahahahaha!
Ooo… when I was a little girl… my parents din let me watch TV so much. The most oso Sesame’s Street and Thundercats. There was no comic books for me.. but there’s a lot of those Ladybirds books… yunno… fairy tales. So there was no hotdogs in my dictionary until I was 9! LOL… and I thought it was dog meat… hahahaha! They called it dog ma… so tot it’s dog la!
Kesian! Good also…no need to know all these days. Best to stay simple. I was teaching in a small town upriver and I brought some students to Sibu for some competition. Then they were laughing away at a roadside stall selling hot dogs. They said how come Sibu people eat dogs meat? Well, they do actually…but not in a bun at roadside stalls. LOL!!!
ehhh i love those canned longans n peaches too! hehe. me salah nampak or wat now? 50 sen a bowl?!
In the 50s and 60s – 50 sen with meat and 30 sen without meat. Of course, people in those days earned a lot less…but that, of course, does not, in any way, mean that they were poorer…
Yap, those longans/peaches served cold at wedding banquet are indeed the highlights. Nowadays, we worried about the high sugar content and it being highly processed etc.
So last time, can eat but no money. Nowadays, have money but dare not eat.
Life’s little ironies… But the young ones these days do not share the same sentiments as we people at the time – they can buy them from the supermarket anytime they like. No such luxury for use then…and these days, they have all kinds of desserts they wouldn’t want to give a second look at the longans and peaches at all, all the tiramisu, their creme brulee and what not.
lol…how nice to be woken up in the middle of the nite for supper..
i like that idea
You do? Some people cannot eat if you wake them up in the middle of the night…or if it’s too early in the morning. Not me – I can eat anytime of day, rain or shine! LOL!!!
ooh…. love those sio bees.
So after u wake up to eat the noodles you go right back to sleep?! Let me guess, have to drink Milo some more. hahah.
Yup…we would stagger to the dining table, eat everything…and go straight back to sleep. Nope, MILO was earlier, before going to sleep – with condensed milk!
Wish i was treated for even attending church xP
It was a treat in those days…and actually, many did not even have that “luxury”. They would go straight home from church. These days, you go to a coffee shop after the service, you will see it packed – the same faces you have seen earlier inside the church! Come…come to Sibu and I’ll give you a treat…even without attending church!
I think our ‘palate’ is over-exposed and so spoilt for choice nowadays! Having said that, simple food still the best for me, sio-bee,kolos,kampua, bring it on! My son was asking me the other day whether he can have ‘kampua n piannik’ in kching? haha! N tomoro requesting me to cook swak laksa,loves his belachan, so guess I am on the right track here in raising a true swkian…LOL! but the girls…gone case,all turned ‘angmor’ already…lol!
I guess your son takes after the father and your girls take after you – so very teng! Hahahahaha!!! Yes, can get kampua and pian nik in Kuching, Hock Chiew fried noodles also…at Mekong. I remember Lucas loves that!!! Yum…yum… Counting the days. 1 month plus to go…..
I had Ah Kow Kampua next to the Fire station – it was so lousy. will not go back there again.
I can’t remember the last time I had it – maybe not since my school days. I did drop by for the beef noodles a few times though… Still o.k.
I am young… and food here is pretty damn deprived too. Just like a Kampung. Hahaha
Wellington food. Pfft!
Better have a few choices of delicious stuff like back in your days rather than… horrible and horrible and expensive in NZ. Haahaha
What? Lucky you! Count your blessings… Here, people pay an arm or a leg to eat “fresh” “air-flown” Australian beef and New Zealand lamb – paper-thin chops, mind you…not those thick slabs that you people have over there, so fresh that they are still oozing with blood…but personally, I prefer our own local delicacies anytime – simple, very tasty…and cheap!
The description in your blog exactly reflects my feeling during those times in the 1970s. So similar on the eagerness in waiting for parents to come back with the left over dishes. We even quarell over kompia and chin nun miang among brothers and sisters on who had taken more and who had taken less….. Those unforgettable events in the old days…………
Yes, those were the days…the good old days. Nice to think back sometimes and recall all those lovely times way back when.
My dad was the only sole breadwinner back then and though he made enough for his family of 6, we hardly dined out.
Once in a blue moon, dad or mom would give us some money and ask us to pack soup noodles or wantan mee from our neighbour who operated his stall from home. It was considered a luxury to 4 of us back then. Looking back, life was so simple.
The best part was we were so happy, so happy to get those little treats once in a blue moon…unlike the young people today.
All these hawker food tasted fantastically nice when we were young…! LOL!
Yes, sheer heaven…!!! How we cherished what we could get to eat to the very last drop/bite!
eh, my donuts i got them from Cold Storage only leh.. 6 biji for RM4.99 only
I dun waste money on expensive donuts for nothing oso 
So cheap!!! Looks exactly the same…. Really no sense spending so much money – more than double for the same thing, not that they taste a whole lot better, perhaps not even as nice.
Those branded ones are very sweet leh! They might be soft but very sweet .. me kenot tahan! Anyway, I don’t want to spoil ethan.. just let him eat cheap stuffs lah. he want branded stuffs, let him grow up and work for it.. hahaha..
Yes, most of the time, young people have extravagant habits…because of the parents. They brought them along and taught them from young. Leadership by example…
i want a bowl of chin t’ng mee….need something plain now…
Ya, sometimes we really yearn for something simple, refreshing…like after all the rich and heavy food during Chinese New Year.
i’ve updated my post for u uncle bwahaha!
I don’t wanna go and see… Coming from you, I know it is not going to be anything good! You horrible boy! Tsk! Tsk! Hahahahahaha!!!
P.S. I saw already. Hey! You’re actually not as horrible as I thought. Now I have to take back my words… Hahahahaha!!!
“Thou shall not doubt me” -christopherism 16:7
xD
Omigawd!!! The 11th Commandment? Muahahahahaha!!!
Haha…we must be in the same generation! I remember those days when the Sibu kampua was 30 sen a plate without meat. That was what we could afford. Now, it’s expensive. During my recent trip back, we ate everyday!! I think Sibu kampua is still the best
Yes…and a movie ticket cost 50sen…right in front of the screen. And everybody moved around on bicycles… My friends and I even went to the dances at Sibu Recreation Club on bicycles. Dunno if you’re old enough to know or have heard of that place… LOL!!! Btw, welcome and thanks for dropping by. Will link you…
I used to hear story from my dad telling me those days, they only can have drumstick during their b;day and soft drink (F&N orange) during CNY. bla bla bla…..
Yes..agreed nowadays, people are all very lucky indeed.
Drumsticks! Ah! We did not have a problem. There were only two boys initially – so everytime, my mum cooked chicken…my brother and I would get a drumstick each, my father would eat the wings…and my mum, so selfless and loving, would eat the parts of the chicken that nobody wanted to eat. That’s why till today, none of us would eat the “tail” – the parson’s nose…or the claws and even the neck. 9 years later, after my sister was born, the drumsticks were cut up into bite-size pieces so we never enjoyed that one-drumstick-each privilege ever again…
yeah, i gotta agree with you how fortunate and spoilt kids nowadays, and yet they keep on complaining not given the best.. just a good example: we don’t even have money for a glass of mamak teh tarik, and kids nowadays are holding a cup of ice-blended starbucks coffee easily…
Precisely…but if we think of it, who taught them to be like that? They may be influenced by television and movies and much later in life by their peers but most of the time, it’s the parents who bring them to such places and expose them to all the expensive stuff… When that is their upbringing, can’t blame them at all, can we?Well, like it or not, times have changed – things are different now.
P.S. Btw, welcome and thanks for dropping by. Will link you in my blogroll…
hmmm… I’m only missing Kompia from sibu.. not really a fan of foochow fried noodles.. hehe
Somehow, we were never really crazy over kompia when we were small…though I did like eating chu-nu-miang that my mum would buy when she went marketing…
hungry but too tired to eat. Just back from long journey. May you have a good weekend, STP
I’m never too tired to eat. But when tired, I prefer something refreshing and clear…like porridge or chin t’ng mee – noodles in clear soup.
Remember my pulut ahh… hahahahah!
Pulut apa? She’s hungry…sampai too tired to eat. She’s supposed to buy you pulut from somewhere?
not buy, Cikgu…she wants me to make..*pengsan* Had potluck dinner with her making curry chic and me nasi kunyit. Cyn made acar and a lot of other stuffs :p
Wah! That one like Queen kah! Just order…or off with the head! Hahahahahaha!!!!
LOL… buy buy tak main la. Wun ask her to buy wan. Always ask her to cook oni. LOL. Every now and then, we do potluck, Cikgu. No special occasion. Saja wanna makan and chit chat. LOL…Kat can make really nice nasi kunyit wan, but I can’t. My pulut always turn either too soft or too hard.
So ask Kat to make lorr…since that week I told her I’ll be making curry chic. Ngam la…pulut+curry. LOL…
My nasi kunyit…rice one. I’ve eaten pulut ones a few times – the last time at the nyonya place at Tropicana. Really nice. Must try and cook with pulut one of these days…
I think… they sked I turn into a vampire… sux their blood cuz too hungry, den very cham loh, that’s why feed me! LOL.
Or they see you so skinny…like starving famine victim from Ethiopia…so kesian! LOL!!!
So did you bribe your little sis some toys for a bowl of noodle that time?
No, she was a toddler then…so no negotiating! All we could do was to sit beside her like hungry wolves and wait till she had had her full…and did not want to eat anymore. Joy to the world…we would pound on the rest and eat it all up! LOL!!!
Ah, this makes me think back of all those tales mum used to tell me when I was little…. about how my grandpa would go to the market and surprise them with fruit, and how happy my mum and uncles would get over a basket of longan ..Oh, and tales of how my mum, being the youngest and only daughter would get ‘treats’ i.e goreng pisang and ice cream was only for very very very special occasions .. I guess people from that time really knew how to savour and appreciate the little things in life. A lot of life lessons my generation missed out on ..
Ya…our time, little things meant a lot and every little thing that we got would make us so very happy and how we cherished moments like that. When supply increases, price decreases…and likewise, when people get too much of everything too easily, the value drops…and they tend to take everything for granted.
You have a nice blog post today my friend. You made me recall good things during my childhood. I suddenly remembered the snacks and candies that are so popular back then and is now forgotten.
Now I am missing those foods that became part of my childhood life.
Thanks. I guess that’s what old people do all the time – think back and remember all those things in the past…and recall how much better things were way back then.
next time I’m there, I wanna try all of these!
When? When? Come on over…you can try everything, I’ll see to that! LOL!!!
Yeah…the ching tong mee…the dry version is always getting so much spot light than the soupy one. aaaaa……so much memories..
Yes, it always stays in the shadows – but I quite like it. Well, I like anything in clear soup…so I will have it sometimes for a change. Old people – lots of memories. More to come!