I was told on good authority that one has reached a certain milestone in age when he or she reminisces about the good old days. Well, my cousins, sisters and I did just that during this Chinese New Year (CNY).

We recalled that we really looked forward to CNY as it was the only time in the year when we had new clothes, pyjamas and shoes. We had fun and the opportunity to bond with our cousins when we made CNY goodies like pineapple tarts, love letters, kueh bangkit and kueh bolu together. It was also the only time of the year where we got to eat homemade yam cake, Foochow nian gao, Foochow fishball and yen (Foochow wanton) soup, ngoh hiang, chicken cooked with red rice wine, and hot and sour soup with fish maw and sea cucumber. We could also help ourselves to soft drinks like Kickapoo, Sinalco, Green Spot, Fanta, and etc. There was the thrill of receiving angpows and we were allowed to use up to 50 cents of the angpow money to buy expensive ice cream like goodie stick and drum stick. We were also allowed to gamble during CNY, playing blackjack with our relatives. The stakes were low and only the adults were allowed to be bankers. It was all in good fun and there were no sore losers.

We talked about working in our family’s coffee shops during our school days. We had to work before or after school, depending on which session we were in. We took orders from customers, prepare the butter and kaya toast, serve food and drinks, washed used cups and plates, and wiped the table tops. When there were fewer customers in the shop, we had to prepare the plastic bags for soft drinks and remove stones from bags of coffee beans. The aroma of coffee beans being roasted with margarine and sugar filled our shops once a week. Our shops were closed for only one day of the year i.e. the first day of CNY, so it was a holiday for us.

Although we had to work before or after school, there was time to go fishing in the pond in Potong Pasir, catching guppies in drains and playing rounders, hantam bola and kuti kuti with our neighbours. Nights were usually spent at the nearby open air cinema. We watched all kinds of Chinese movies – ghost stories, love stories, the butterfly lovers, Liu San Jie, etc. As I was my mum’s regular companion for the movies, she would buy me an ice ball covered with red and green syrup.

We ended up talking for hours and we agreed that it was time well spent together.