Before we had an oven, we used makeshift ovens. One of the ways to bake a small cake was to use an Indian styled aluminium curry pot. Charcoals are place on the cover to raise the heat and the cake would be cooked evenly. That really worked. We did make some cakes for a few Chinese new year and even a few small fruit cakes!! My mother was not impressed, but she just smiled.
In fact we were to find out later that many cultures in the world also used the idea. A fire is built below the ground in a hole and a put is put on the fire. A chicken or a cake would be put in the middle of the pot. Then the pot is covered and hot charcoals would be placed on top. This leads to a fantastic underground roasting.
Making cake is never my mum's cup of tea from the time ladies came around to recruit members for WI. Thus she was one of the few ladies along our street who did not learn how to bake.
But my father was keen to make her happy and bought her a second hand New World Oven when a British Officer returned to the UK. The whole family was over the moon for in those days not many people owned a good oven.
This led to lots of baking by my sisters using the splendid oven. Our aunts came and roasted chickens too. It was good to have an oven.
2 comments:
Dear Sarawakiana,
My name is Laura and I am a filmmaker residing in Kuala Lumpur. I came across your blog entry on the gold teeth capping trend: Gold Teeth and Dental Care in Sibu Then and Now; and found it really fascinating. I have been reading several of your blog entries and I really do enjoy your personal anecdotes and history narratives.
I am currently doing a documentary series on the topic of local stories from all over Malaysia. I would really like to get in touch with you in regards to documenting this gold teeth story in moving picture form as I feel more Malaysians especially the younger generation, should be aware of such interesting cultures that's coming from all over Malaysia especially from the Sabah and Sarawak region.
Sharing here is the link to some of my works just to ensure that this is not a scam or spam.
https://vimeo.com/lauralow
My email is laura.low.jia.xin@gmail.com.
Please do drop me an email and I can further explain the project with you via email.
Really hope to hear from you soon. I really love to tell this story and I think it would be such a great insight into the early dentalcare and healthcare system in Sarawak.
Regards,
Laura
P.S: I had previously commented on the blog entry itself. But was worried you might not have read it. So apologies for writing here instead.
Big sister fruit cake!
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