Grandfather's Special : Pig Tails and Black Beans

My grandfather was a very frugal man and did not spend much on himself. He worked hard all his life and left behind a good fortune for his seven sons, wife and eldest grandson, which was the normal Foochow wealth distribution at that time.




On days he could take the bus from Sungei Merah to Sibu, he would alight at the bus terminal (to get the best value for his bus ticket) and go straight to his friend the butcher to get a pig tail, which was then so cheap that it was almost free at 50 cents or less per piece. In those days the tail bit was not as long as today's cut. Whereas today the butchers would cut more than 1 foot long from the tail end to the backbone.

This was according to Goo Poh that his only treat he would get for himself. Later several of my aunts confirmed his special liking for pig tail soup.




Today a tail would cost around RM18.00.

Sometimes, Grandfather would buy some kompia for his sister, my goo poh who was a teacher at the Methodist kindergarten. He would also buy enough kompia for his grand children who would have their break at goo poh's apartment. By 9.30 a.m. we would see him (from our classroom)  walking slowly up the steps to goo poh's apartment, with one or two paper wrapped packets in his hands.

My equally frugal father would let us kids (my sister Sing and brother Hsiung and myself) share one tin of Milkmaid for our break with cream crackers for the whole week. To stretch the tin of milk, we would not spread the sweet milk on our biscuits as most kids would. My father could not let us sponge on Goo Poh, whose teacher salary in those days must be less than $150 per month.

Sometimes Grandfather would buy a few packets of kampua kosong for us kids to share.That would be our extra food .

He would asked us if we received red marks in our tests.  Because our Goo Poh was on the staff, he would know everything.  I suppose we kids learned very fast. Better marks meant we would have more food from him!! He was a very fair man as he treated us all equally. No one would receive the lion's share. No one would receive less.

However he did not do that every week.

After visiting us, he would then go home by bus.

My Grandmother Siew and he would only take the car when he had some business to do, like visiting an office, or visiting a relative. But most of the time, he preferred to take the bus. Bus fare was then only 10 cents from Sibu to Sungei Merah. It was quite far for him to walk from the bus stop at Kwong Ann Primary SChool to his house on the hill. But he did enjoy his walk. And he never failed to bring his Chinese lacquered umbrella.  (My frugal grandfather never learned to drive a car and my Grandmother Siew was probably one of the first few Foochow women in Sibu who had a driving licence.)

He would look forward to his pig tail and black beans broth.