LONG LIVE GOODNESS

Deepavali desserts and traditional snacks

My ex-student Arvin designed this Deepavali greeting

May the light and joy of Deepavali be with you Annu

The intricate design of the rangoli

Dishes to explode your taste buds. I love them!

The muruku is good as a TV snack

Garlands of flowers sell well for Deepavali celebration

For the sweet tooth and the guests of the house

How could you turn down all these good stuff if served infront of you?

Road decorations lining up Serangoon Road

Mango leaves to ward off evil

Earthern clay lamps for the right ambience

Serangoon Road by night bathed in thousands of ligths

Briyani as a main dish served to guests

Ladies adorn their hands with henna-painting

Stainless steel utensils are commonly used in Indian homes

Traditional dances performed during stage shows

Prayers to thank the god are performed before Diwali

Happy Diwali to all

LIGHT VS DARKNESS

Deepavali is a festival celebrated by the Hindus. The young and the old, the poor and the rich join in this merry-making. They give expression to their happiness by lighting earthen 'diyas' (lamps), decorating the houses, bursting firecrackers and inviting close and dear ones to their households for partaking in a sumptuous feast. The lighting of lamps is a way of paying obeisance to god for attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace, valor and fame. There is another logical answer to why light the lamps? It is through the light that the beauty of this world is revealed or experienced.

If you are invited by your host for Deepavali, be prepapred to sit at a table laden with Indian cooking. Briyani, thosai, idli, apom, puttumayam, puri and naan make it difficult for you to start your feast. Dishes like chicken curry, keema, dhal, fish sambal and massala will keep your head spinning in making that important decision on what to put inside your mouth first. The Hindus would prepare numerous traditional cakes and sweets for the day too. Among them are "murukku", "omopadi", "athirrsam", "achi murukku", "laddu" and "mysore pahu". These are made a few days before Deepavali. 'Open houses' are practised to invite their non-Hindu friends over to be part of the festive mood.

On the eve of Deepavali or even weeks prior to the festival, Hindu homes are washed and kept clean. Stainless steel pots and kitchen utensils are scrubbed shining to reflect your face. Mango leaves are strung at the doorway and clay lights are lit. Rangoli or kolam are drawn in front of the door using coloured rice. The kolam forms an intricate floral design on the ground which signifies religious believes. Instead of a kolam hand drawn with rice flour what one would probably see are stickers with intricate kolam motifs pasted in front of a Hindu home in Singapore today. It is believed that the Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi, will only enter a home that is adorned with a kolam. Modern Singaporeans adorn their homes with tinsel and plastic decorations shaped to look like mango leaves. It is also common to find 11 mango leaves used to decorate the main door of the house where the Hindu believed that it will attract positive energy and charge away evils.

The morrning is welcomed with an oil bath. It is one time in the whole year that children volunteer to leave their beds long before the day begins. In fact, the traditional oil bath at 3 a.m, is the only chore that stands between them and the pre-dawn adventures. They emerge, nicely cleaned to get into their festive attire, and light up little oil lamps, candles and scented sticks (agarbathis). Then the whole family will make their way to the temples where prayers are held in accordance with the ceremonial rites.

Festivities for the day would include feasting on traditional dishes and sweetmeats, visiting friends and relatives, offering prayers to the Lord, and lighting of oil lamps around the home. The rows of oil lamps placed in the home are believed to usher in all that is good. Children celebrate the day playing with sparklers.

To Hindus, darkness represents ignorance, and light is a metaphor for knowledge. Therefore, lighting a lamp symbolizes the destruction, through knowledge, of all negative forces - wickedness, violence, lust, anger, envy, greed, bigotry, fear, injustice and oppression and suffering. Most devout Hindus tend to be vegetarian, but that doesn't change the fact that Deepavali is the day to savour the many delicious Indian delicacies such as sweetmeats, rice puddings and the ever-popular murukku.

As for me, I baked some pineapple tarts and gave to my Hindu friends.

Legend of Deepavali
Once upon a time the kingdom of Pradyoshapuram was ruled under a demon named Narakasura. Under the demon rule, the villagers suffered a lot of hardship as the demon tortured the people and kidnapped the women to be imprisoned in his palace. Seeing the wickedness, Lord Khrishna set out to destroy the demon and the day Narakasura died was celebrated as Deepavali thus Deepavali is the celebration of the defeat of evil demon Narakasura, by Lord Krishna.

Images are taken from google and websites

YELLOW GOLD

The glossy golden pineapple filling tarts ready for a bite

Tarts in the shape of a pineapple.

Bolster-shaped tarts

Nicely baked tarts to tempt your salivary glands

Roll the dough on the back of a fork for this effect

Generous mound of filling heaped on golden brown pastry

The dough with the crater for the pineapple filling

The tart mould and cutter with a preset floral design

Nenas Moris which I hunted in Johor Bharu

Lots of patience required to simmer the pineapple flesh

Caramelised pineapple fillings shaped into balls

The mould and the pair of tweezers for making the tarts

My tray of tarts ready to be presented to friends

Air and coold the tarts before keeping them in bottles

One piece is never enough for you to try mine

My Deepavali gifts for my friends

PINE FOR TARTS

My mum has a wonderful recipe for the pineapple tarts she has been making since we were young. I simply love the taste of the pastry which is not too soft and crumbly nor does it coat and stick onto your enamel when you put it into your mouth. But it is perfect for the bite that you have been longing and yearning for - something sweet and lingering to enjoy a lovely afternoon tea with. The crust should taste creamy with a slight salty taste to it. The next bite should allow the pineapple filling to be mixed with the not too sweet pastry to make your eyes roll upwards while your soul float to some far away idyllic islands. The sweet and creamy combination of the pastry and the sweetened pineapple jam which by now should be moist with the enzymes in your saliva must be relished till you are ready to push the ball of heaven down your digestive tract.

Now that mum has definitely declared that the kitchen boundary is no longer under her iron-nail regime, the task of making those delicious pineapple tarts fall on me. The first thing I had to make sure was that the tarts would taste just as good or even BETTER than what mum used to bake. Off course deep down, I know that I would never beat mum’s superb culinary and baking skills no matter how hard I try.

I swear by using only one brand of butter for the dough to maintain as close as possible the quality of tarts which mum used to bake. It’s got to be SCS salted butter for me and nothing else. We have faithfully used this brand of butter since 1960s and I would never switch for another brand for all the cookies and cakes I need to bake.

Another ingredient important for baking successful fluffy tarts is the pineapples. You need to choose the right pineapples for making the jam or the filling. Honey pineapple would be too watery. Sarawak pineapples would be too coarse in texture. We would hunt for Nenas Moris to get the perfect formula and sweetness to fill in the crater of the tart dough. It’s a tough job to remove the hard and scaly skin of the pineapples. Then you have to scour those beady eyes of the fruit before chopping and blending the flesh for the right smoothness and required consistency that you desired for.

I usually discard the core stem of the fruit. However, when we were young, my siblings would devour the core as reward for chopping the flesh of the pineapples. Some of the juice of the pineapple has to be squeezed before you add the sugar. Too much juice means that you have to boil and stir it longer. The mashed pineapple is next boil over a slow fire to caramelise it. To give the extra shine and gloss, I usually add a dollop of butter as the last ritual to making the pineapple jam.

As for the flour, my top choice brand is the Orchid brand from Australia. Its lightness and airiness usually result in very good dough. Sieve and air it in room temperature for a day or two before using it. Once the dough is ready, make it into several balls. While you roll out a ball of dough, cover the rest with a piece of wet towel to prevent them from drying up. The dough should not crack or stick on the rolling board when you flatten it with the rolling pin. With the cutter, press the floral shape of the tart and lift it up gently, making sure it does not stretch and go out of shape. At this stage the dough is very pliable and has to be handled gently.

Nowadays, the tart cutter comes with a pre-cut design, so busy housewives and career women need not use any tweezers to pinch the design around the circumference of the cut and pressed round shape of the tart dough. It’s a good idea to prepare the pineapple fillings into small balls first before you put them into the crater of the dough. This way, you would ensure that the fillings are of the same size. Bake straight away once a tray is ready for the butter in the dough may melt under room temperature and harden your pastry when it is baked.

I feel great when the glossy golden pineapple filling pops out against the rich yellow pastry for attention when I pull the baking tray out from the oven. The heavy aroma of the freshly-baked tarts would envelope the house. My sons and husband would come scrambling from their hide out for a taste of the heavenly tarts. And where were they when I needed them most in the kitchen?

IN SERVICE

Started teaching in 1977

The group of teacchers in the print advertisement

Met some friends during the photoshoot

All of us have more than 3o years of teaching service

Standing proud as a teacher

PRESS ADVERTISEMENT

Together with 60 over teachers, we were featured in a 2-full page advertisemnt in the Straits Times to commemorate Teachers’ Day this year. The advertisment was a special feature of long-service Education Officers (EOs) who have been in service for at least thirty years. Many of them have dedicated their lives to nurturing students and the MOE would want to express their heartfelt appreciation through the special feature. It was a time to celebrate the years of dedication and commitment of many of our teachers.

The advertisement also acted as an inspiration which the teaching service would like to highlight on Teachers' Day. It was also an attempt to woo the correct target audience ie. students, mid-careerists to join teaching.

Time flies. I have been in service since 1977. I love my vocation and making the connections with the young.

CHARCOAL AND SAGA

The melancholic eyes pleading for a master

I will bow to all of your requests

No I won't mess up the house nor the upholstery

The super sharp pointed ears and elfin-looking shaped face

The downcast face that invites pity and love

The saga tree with its still green pods (www.NatureLoveYou.sgu.sg)

The dry curly pods with the red saga seeds dispersed throgh the explosive method

(www.NatureLoveYou.sgu.sg)

They gave me endless hours of playing during my childhood days

The black-white feathered body

Specks of white contrast with black for the wings

Wing span stretches half of my lower arm

Saga's red round beady eyes

Dark reddish brown head and neck

The long and narrow beak

An injured leg hinders its flight to freedom



PETTY OVER PETS

4th Oct was World Pet Day. Guess what? My family ended up with two pets as a result of that event.

First, my son met a black cat at his cousin's Tampines flat. He played with it for a while. He returned to the same flat the next night and the cat was there again. It followed him wherever he went. My son had been pleading with me for him to keep a cat since he was young, but I never relented. He once owned a kitten for a few days when he was seven years old but the cat escaped when we forgot to close the wooden door. I had firmly put my feet and weight down ever since for him not to have a pet.

Defying all previous orders and warnings, my son brought the skinny, scrawny and pathetic-looking cat home last Thursday. He had enlisted extra backup from his elder brother to fetch him at Tampines and both of them sneakingly went into the house with a box in my younger son's hands. I almost jumped out of my seat when he said that they had brought a kitten home and like the cat's melancholic eyes, he pleaded with me to keep Charcoal; the name we gave her because she was as black as the night.. Charcoal’s eyes met mine. She seemed to be pleading and begging for some mercy. The momentarily meeting melted my heart. Looking at the starving and malnourished kitten, my husband and I relented. She was so pitiful and helpless - vulnerable and exposed to so many dangers in the open.

Charcoal with the elfin-looking face knows where he belongs and is trying to win me over slowly. She has already built a personal relationship with my two sons and husband. She seems to be attached with all the males in the house. Charcoal is a bit reserved with all the ladies in the house: myself, my mum and my maid. Has that got to do with gender preference?

My sons can keep Charcoal under one condition. Everything concerning looking after Charcoal comes under their job scope and responsibilities. Charcoal has not messed up the house and she goes to the litter box to do her stuff. Nobody teaches her that. She is a kitten of the 21st century learner – self-directed, independent and a concerned citizen. Wow! That's great!

What else did I end up for World Pet Day? Last night my husband and I picked up a struggling bird which tried to continue its flight but failed at the walkway. It did not move as we neared it. We scooped it up and marvelled at the beautiful black and white feathers under its body. The round deep red-beady eyes stared at us helplessly. I birth-certificated (a word I coined) him as 'Saga'. Do you still remember the scattered saga seeds we used to pick and play with long ago during our kampung days? I think the flower child of the 60s-70s would know the red saga seeds that had brought us endless hours of pleasure as our childhood game. Your partner and you need to come up with the same number of saga seeds. The handful of saga seeds are thrown on the floor and using your pointer finger you make a cross between two saga seeds. The ides is to flick and hit the saga seeds. If you succeeded, you pick up one seed as your win. You continue flicking and hitting the seeds until you stop hitting a pair.

The last standing beautiful umbrella-shaped saga tree I came across five years ago was the one opposite SOTA building, Cathay Cinileisure. When I saw the Saga tree giving shade to weary-feet tourists and locals, I relived my childhood days and went round collecting and bringing the seeds home from its burst pods. The tree disperses their seeds by literally exploding the dry pods. The hanging green pods turn brown and curl up as they dry. The sides of the pods dry up at different rates and this creates tension which causes the pods to split open, forcibly catapulting the small bright red seeds for several feet in all directions. The seeds are usually found littered under the tree. I introduced the saga-seed game to my sons and we ended up playing for hours. I don’t see the tree anymore and I think it had been axed down since.

I once went to a Chinese cemetery at Sime Road to study the graveyards to understand why some graves were sited at the higher while some ended at the lower ground. The reason I received was because of the social and economic status of the dead. If the dead had come from an influential family, the grave will be on higher elevation and vice versa. The red shiny saga seeds were all over the undulating ground. I bent down to pick a few to bring home but was cautioned by a Chinese friend not to take anything from the burial area unless I wanted the sprit of the dead to follow me home. No thanks! Horror movies already make my hair stand so I won’t need any encounter of the third kind for that spooky feeling. I immediately returned them to its original place.

Coming back to Saga, the bird – we couldn’t really identify what bird it is. Saga’s long and curved beak seems to suggest that it eats small aquatic creatures. Nevertheless, we had a neighbour who is a bird lover. He rears beautiful canary. I suggested my hubby to pay him a visit. My hubby brought Saga down to his flat. He too could not tell us the specie which Saga belongs to. We ended up with a cage from him to let Saga recuperate before we take our next course of actions.

Two pets within a week. It was a little hard to swallow. My husband and I foresee one common thing. We will be shelling out from our own pockets to buy pet food. Now, not only do I have a family to return home to, there are two pets I can pour out my feelings too.

Anyone out there knows what bird Saga is?

Latest update:

A friend of mine from Nature Society identified Saga as non-native bird of Singapore. Saga belongs to a specie known as a hooper.