Figs

My grand mother had a very sweet tooth. She loved sweet tea best BUT was not exactly fond of condensed milk. However she liked Horlicks very much. Interestingly she loved her Ovaltine best of all, which she made rather for herself, as a treat whenever she had something on her mind. It was her pick me up.

She loved preserved Chinese fruits like dried longans, persimmons and figs.

When we were young we were not aware that dried figs were good fruits. But she just enjoyed eating the fruit which she knew as No Flower Fruit. In those days before the Internet we could not see the beauty of the fresh figs. We just saw the wrinkled dried fruit.

My grandma would buy a dollar's worth of dried figs and longans from the Chinese sinseh shop called Poh Nguong, for us to try. These dried fruits

were eaten as snacks and I believe in those days, she was homesick fo her Dong Shan or the Hills of Tang.
My first taste of fresh figs was in London and I did not have the opportunity to tell her how good the figs were as as passed away not long after that.

I only wished that she, my mother, myself and my little daughter were able to enjoy both the dried figs and the fresh figs together, as four generation under one roof.

Figs are valued as fruits which are good for our lungs and spleen.