Little One's New Love- Ang Ku Kueh

Different kuehs

Traditionally, Ang Ku Kueh (Hokkien for Red Tortoise cake) are red in colour, filled with cooked mung beans or grounded peanuts and sugar.The soft sticky skin is made from glutinous rice flour and sweet potatoes. Now there are a lot more varieties. Ang Ku Kueh are presented on  square pieces of banana leaf.

From the above picture, the red ones contain the fillings of traditional grounded peanuts or mung beans.  The purple and black are variations, containing yam and mung beans with salt respectively. The white kueh is not a ku kueh but it is one of my favorite with grated coconut fillings. I have bought this as a package from Seng Siong due to sudden craving for Ang Ku Kueh. I personally likes variety and hence chosen the pack of assorted flavours. I offered Little One the kueh to try a small bite, I was not a fan when I was young because it was sticky and oily! So, when she said she likes it and ate one whole kueh, it surprised me!

The Origin

Ang Ku Kueh are shaped like tortoise shells because the Chinese traditionally believed that eating tortoises would bring longevity to those who are eating it. Also, they bring about good fortune and prosperity. Each Ang Ku Kueh are made from mould with the Chinese Word 寿 which means longevity. 

When is it available?

Ang Ku Kuehs are traditionally prepared to celebrate auspicious Chinese festivals (see Wikipedia) , birthdays and baby showers. Now it is available all year round in some supermarket (eg, Seng Siong), some pastry shops and bakery such as Bangawan Solo. I do see some food centres which sells them and also some shopping centres in Orchard. Don't buy a lot unless you intend to share. Food made from glutinous rice are very starchy and filling. There is some popular stalls which sells this kueh, I have yet to try. Ji Xiang Confectionery at Everton Park. Poh Cheu at Bukit Merah Lane 1. Kuehs and Snacks at Bukit Merah Lane 1 too. If you do, please let me know your review.

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Little Development (Jan to Mar 15)

This year, Little One is attending morning session at her Kindergarten. I made that arrangement last year, I thought she would probably need to get used to waking up earlier in the morning since majority of Singapore's Primary School operates in a single (morning) session. I thought we would probably have more time in the afternoon for some home schooling or outdoor trips. But alas, she is getting grumpy especially when I ask her to sit and study. I realised she is not getting enough sleep and most of the time, she spends the whole afternoon napping away. Hence, for the whole quarter, I had not done any homeschooling except during the school holidays which we recapped and reinforced on what she had learnt in school.

Nevertheless, here are some of her academic milestones. Mostly are skills development for entering Primary One next year.

Spelling
The school alternates English and Chinese spelling. Most of the words are relatively simple but some I do find bombastic for her age.

Show and Tell
She did only once last term. Teacher informed parents via communication books to prepare her for the big day. We prompted her with questions and asked her to remember her answers. According to her teacher, she did rather well.

Articulation and reporting
Little One is talking more about her school, sharing what she has been doing in school. She talks about her friends too. I am surprised at this age they already have cliques of friends which they would hang out during playtime. She even told me about her friends disputes which sort of upset her because she wanted to be friends with all of them. She definitely start earlier than me as I only had my own cliques during Primary One.

More responsibility
The school is engaging her with more responsibility like keeping her readers in the cubby hole. She is also to bring her stationery to school and is held responsible for all her belongings.

On my part, I made her checked her bag each night prior the school day to ensure she bring everything (which is just a pencil case with stationery and a communication book) she needs to school. I also made her read her spelling list and note when is the spelling date so that she could learn her spelling on time. Most of the time, I have to remind her over and over again because she tends to forget about them. I am also entrusting her to purchase items and teaching her to count her coins.
This term I shall see how she fare. This week, I have not seen much improvement. Probably due to the one week holiday break about a fortnight ago, she had.forgotten her routine.

Next year, she will be in Primary One. I am pretty nervous at the rate she is going. I wonder whether she would fare well when the time comes.

Health issues
Little One had hearing problem earlier this year. Yes, she had hearing problem. We brought her to see doctor twice and now finally solved. I hope to share this on my blog when I find time to draft it out.

Other activities

Speech and drama 
Little One attended a 5 day speech and drama class over a period of 5 weeks. It was a workshop conducted by the library. I had signed her up to test whether she likes such classes. It turned out that she does not really like drama classes although she does enjoy watching.

Frying egg
Little One learnt to fry an egg despite not having a schedule for her to work around the kitchen this quarter.

Street Smart skills -Memorising numbers
I made Little One memorise phone numbers so that she would know what numbers to call when there is a need to. This is, I think, an important survival skill.  I started with hubby's number. However, I remind her that she is not to call daddy when it is not required. In near future, I would teach her where to seek help from when she needs it.

Outings

Despite the "lack of time" to do anything together with Little One, we managed to visit quite a number of places last quarter. Most are done during the weekends and school holidays. Others are done when we managed to squeeze some time out. Many of these are her "first" trips.


Walking trails
We went for Tiong Bahru Heritage Trail. It was her first guided neighbourhood heritage walk this year. Last year, we signed up for Balestier walk. It has much interesting stories and sites to visit. I particularly like the air raid shelter and stories of it. The air raid shelter is not opened to public. I think the only way to visit it is to sign up for its heritage trail.

Tan Tock Seng's grave. One of the must see in Tiong Bahru

We made our rounds in Emerald Hill. It is a neighbourhood located near Orchard Road. It was former homes of wealthy Peranakans. Hence, if you are in Orchard Road, you can take a walk down this lane to have a look at the pretty Peranakan houses.

I think it is pretty cool to have such lovely house number plate!

This quarter, we also took a walk in Wessex Estate. This area is very peaceful and quiet. You will find lots of black and white colonial bungalows here. Besides these, you would find the Colbar Eating House (Cafe Colbar) which has a history as early is 1953.

Black and white bungalow

1st Exposure to Amezaiku

In the midst of Chinese New Year, which is celebrated on the first 15 days of the 1st Lunar month of the Chinese Calendar, I attended and exposed myself to Japanese Candy Art Sculpturing (Amazaiku). On the 3rd March, it is Hina Matsuri Festival (Doll Festival or Girl's Festival) which is celebrated in Japan. I am very interested in cultures and hence went ahead to the Lecture & Demonstration on Amazaiku conducted in Japan Creative Centre (JCC).

I brought Little One along too as there was no one who could take care of her that day. There were also a few parents who brought their children along.

The whole session was conducted by Ms Minori Baba, a Japanese born in Kobe. Before the session start, she prepared her ingredients required for amazaiku in front of us using a portable induction cooker.

A sticky glob of hot candy. 

Ms Baba speaks Japanese and fortunately, there was a translator to help translate to English. She introduced herself as a passionate candy sculptor artist. She loves to cosplay and she works at a Japanese Radio Station as a DJ. As that day was Hina Matsuri, she introduces to us why Japanese celebrates this special day. At the same time, she introduced various types of Japanese sweets which are enjoyed during the celebration , before proceeding to introduce the traditional Japanese Art Candy Sculpturing "Amezaiku".

Introducing the Hinamatsuri Sweets

What is Amekaiku?
It is a traditional Japanese art of sculpturing candy into various.animals, things and characters. Today only about 40 people are practicing the art in Japan. Ms Baba started her candy art skills in 2006 and she mastered her amezaiku skills by herself. Since then Ms Minori has been doing candy art shows everywhere, she is able to handle hot candies which are of 80-90 degree celsius without gloves in order to sculpture a candy into different forms. Her amezaiku equipment includes a special scissors called "Nigiribasami", brushes and food colouring. Sculpting candy had to be done fast before it hardens.

The artists start with balls of soft candy,dyed with food colouring, attached to the end of wooden sticks. The candy is pinched, pulled and cut into the desired shape. Finishing touches, like eyes, the whiskers are painted on with food dyes.

In the past, amezaiku artist blew into the balls of candies to help enlarge them but nowadays, for hygiene purpose, they use pump instead.

After the lecture, Ms Baba demonstrated amezaiku in front of us. According to JCC, she is the only candy sculpting artist who can make candies while singing a song. Ms Baba made 3 candies, (a dragon, Ponyo in a shape of a goldfish, and Totoro) in front of us. It was such an eye-opener! The candies were given to 3 lucky children. The candies can be stored for a few months if not eaten. I was glad Little One enjoyed watching the making of candy art!

Ms Baba singing to the tune of Totoro while making one. She used a pump to pump the body of Totoro.

Look at these cute candies! Too lovely to be consumed in my opinion.

I believe Amezaiku is a dying art in Japan because it is not easy handling hot candies at 80 degree Celcius. Many beginners burn their hand. Candy Sculpturing Artist such as Ms Baba had trained herself to get used to the heat. She had trained herself to make these amazing and beautiful candies. The reason she likes doing amezaiku is because of passion. She loves to put a smile on everyone's face when they see her candy art.

I could not upload any of the video I have taken at JCC. But here is a video of Ms Baba sculpting Hello Kitty. Hope you enjoy watching too!





Ps: The video of Ms Baba in action is on  my facebook page

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Chinese Custom - Wedding

While I attending a talk about Chinese motifs on ceramic in library @ Chinatown. These are what I saw exhibited in the library on the way to the programme zone. It was as though I had stepped into a mini musuem.

Qun Kua 裙褂(Traditional Chinese wedding dress)

It is a two piece garment. Qun being the skirt and Kua the jacket. Originated from the Manchurian but was later evolved and being widely worn by the Cantonese during weddings. There should be a dragon (symbolising the groom) and a phoenix (symbolising the bride) embroidered down the front of a traditional qun kua. In the past, only the king and the imperial members can wear dragons and phoenixes on their robes. The qun kua can also be adorned with auspicious embellishments like peonies (symbolising prosperity) or pomegranates (symbolising blessed with numerous offsprings). It was originally black top and red bottom. Now, this combination is reserved for elderly women. Then, it has evolved to entirely red as red is a lucky colour for chinese. In olden days, only the first wife is allowed to wear red, concubines have to wear lighter shades such as pink or peach.

Wedding procession

裙褂 - spotted "butterfiy motifs" which means "hu die" in Chinese. It is a phonogram for 福叠 "fu die" which means loads of happiness

Peonies 

Wooden craved Bridal sedan

Bride's dowry?

Even the chair in it is carved!

The exhibit showcased only these wedding related items. There are also panels describing Chinese custom such as wedding, baby shower, birthday for the elderly as well funeral. Do drop by if you are in Chinatown Point.

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